Environment

Essay No. 01

For its survival, humanity has to depend entirely on the environment. Therefore, it is in its own interest that humanity protects and preserves the environment as well as it can. Man has recognized this fact since the beginning of history, and has, until recently, had a well-balanced and harmonious relationship with the environment. In fact, it is this relationship that enables humanity to exist as it does.

Unlike that of plants, man’s interaction with the environment is not complementary or mutually beneficial. Whereas plant life’ survives by creating its own food with the help of natural elements like sunshine and water, and in return, enriches and nourishes the environment by its existence, we cannot either create our own food or return to Nature what we take, from it. Hence, our existence is bound to cause an inevitable burden on the environment. This aspect makes protection of the environment more important to us, and the rest of the animal species, than to any, other form of life or creation.

However, the need for environment protection is not as obvious as that for eating food or drinking water, because the virtues of safeguarding the environment, or the effects of degrading it, are not immediately or directly evident. Unlike the certainty of death for a person who avoids food and water, the consequences of environment manipulations are not often definite or accurately predictable. Moreover, since the effects of environment degradation are often felt long after or far away from where it takes place, relating it to its effects in a convincing manner is difficult. The absence of clear and definite cause effect relationships in the issues concerning the environment often makes the issues highly controversial and volatile. Nevertheless, ignoring the importance of environment protection can only be at the cost of our collective survival.

Though the aims and methods of environment protection were known to Man even in the early periods of history, the need for it was never felt as much as it is now. We generally believe that our progress, particularly in the past two hundred years, was so hectic that the environment could not service our increased needs without ruining itself. As our demands grew, so did the pressure they exerted on the environment. But this line of thinking overlooks the yet unknown aspects of the environment. We do not know with certainty what the true characteristics and capacity of the environment are, what the potential of the environment is, to sustain a population as big as ours, how severe a pressure we exert on it, owing to our extravagant lifestyles; or, whether the pressure is so great that the environment may be ruined by it beyond repair. Obviously, no argument on any issue related to the environment can be won convincingly without a definite knowledge of these aspects. The real challenge that environment management faces is due to the ignorance and confusion over the true nature of the environment. They are spread more nearly equally between those that wish to protect the it, and those that, knowingly or unknowingly, harm it. In other words, the alarm of the environment lovers is as unwise as the disdain and complacency of the exploiters. The ideal exercise to tackle the issues of the environment is, therefore, to adopt a middle path; between the extremes of zealous protection and thoughtless destruction.

The first step in such an approach is to adopt a positive attitude towards environment management. A feeling of hope and optimism should replace our present tendencies of carelessness and dejection. We can have the best perspective of the environment from the viewpoint of its utility and importance in life. With such a consideration, the focus of environment protection will shift to us humans. If we appreciate that it is we who need a healthy environment more than the environment needs us to protect it, we shall have taken the right step forward in solving the problems related to the environment. The change in focus will force us to take care of the environment as a matter of necessity, rather than as a gesture of charity. Environment preservation will then follow as naturally as our instinct to care for ourselves.

The next step is to change our outlook towards progress and development. We cannot afford to think, as some of us do, that they are inconsistent with environment protection. Humanity, owing to its characteristics, cannot survive without progress, and cannot progress without harnessing the environment. With a population of nearly six billion, and with consumption levels and lifestyles unmatched by those of any other creature, the pressure that we exert on the environment may be enormous. But we cannot be certain that we are exploiting our resources to the extent that they will be exhausted soon. We should see our present concern for the environment as a signal to reform and rethink our programmes. Technology has a very important role to play in this exercise.

Technology may have been responsible for such environment-degrading operations, as the construction of dams, or mining of the earth. But it has also proved that it is capable of clearing the debris it creates. We can, therefore, assume that technological innovations will help us manage our resources more efficiently; harness alternative energy sources that will enable us to avoid pollution, and modify our lifestyles, so that we may be much less of a burden on the environment than we are now.

Essay No. 02

Environment

Broadly speaking, environment can be divided into two parts: physical (non-living) and biological (living). The non-living parts comprises soil, culture, topography and all that is present or occurs over soil causing the existence of climate. The living part comprises J plants, human beings, animals, birds, insects, bacteria-fungi, etc-

The climate is determined by the factors such as heat (temperature), light, air, wind, humidity, rainfall, availability of water, etc. It determines the effects of temperature. on soil which may be plain, rocky, sandy, marshy; etc. The revolution of the earth cause alternation of day and night and rotation of seasons respectively. We read in geography and geology about the imaginary lines such as the Equator, the Tropic of Cancer, the Tropic of Capricorn, the Longitude, the Latitude, etc. and how rocks, deserts, lakes, glaciers, etc. are formed:

We learn about the emergence and changing patterns of mountains, rivers, plateaus, continents, oceans, seas, volcanoes, etc. Thus, several subjects in essence are concerned with the study of environment in one way or the other.

Meteorology tells us about the present and possible future state of temperature, winds, storms, cyclones, rainfall, clouds, etc., over a particular region which may be large or small. Now with the help of meteorological satellites predictions regarding weather may be made more reasonably over vast areas and may be over the major part of the earth.

Weather and climate are different things in the sense that the former tells us about the climatic conditions of a region for a short period, but the latter is the general perception of the annual weather persistence that is present at a particular place or in a specific region. As for climate, it may be micro or macro. Micro climate expresses climatic condition over a small local area. Macroclimate means climatic conditions over a large area, or a forest mountainous or desert area.

The most serious modem environmental and climatic problems is global warming. According to the data collected from several parts of the world; the year 2005 was the hottest year. Most of this data has been collected by the climatologists of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. It is based on the information gathered from 7200 weather stations in the world.

A clear sign of global warming is available from the fact that several glaciers over the Himalayas have disappeared and several others arc melting away with the depletion of ice caps. It is said that the planet’s temperature rose by just 1 to 1.5 degree Fahrenheit over the past century. It is expected to rise further by 1 degree Fahrenheit between 2000 to 2030 and an additional 2 to 4 degree by 2100.

The scientists tell us that the global .temperatures in 2005 were about 1.36 degree Fahrenheit (0.75 Celsius) above the average between 1950 and 1980. This information is based on the analysis made by NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies. This can cause concern when we learn that worldwide temperatures in 1998 were 1.28 degree Fahrenheit (0.71 Celsius) above that 30 year average. It is also learnt that the average temperature is higher in the northern hemisphere than that in the southern hemisphere.

Many scientists are of the belief that global warming is the result of greenhouse effect which is caused by the increase in atmosphere of the ratio of eases like carbon dioxide due to burning of fossil fuels, fumes emitted by automobiles, smoke released in the atmosphere by the chimneys of mills, factories, etc. and human activities.

Some other scientists believe that the warming climate is the result of a natural cycle. The scientists of the former type are also of the view that the unusual natural happenings, like unprecedented high temperature in the Gulf of Mexico violent hurricanes (Katrina, Rita, etc.). Unusual rains (as in Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, etc.) are because of this global warming. It is also believed that at present the ratio of CO, (Carbon Dioxide) in atmosphere is the highest since about 60 million years ago.