MAN is himself responsible for the damage done to his environment. His impact on the surroundings has been to his own disadvantage.
Though rapid economic growth has been necessary to supplement the ever increasing human population, economic success has come with heavy environmental price. And this price is slowly eroding away Earth’s ability to sustain life, thus putting Man’s future into question.
Surfing through the Net one comes across some really resourceful web sites that aim to highlight the problem of environmental destruction and also provide some solutions on this issue. From global warming to deforestation, extinction of species, depletion of the Ozone Layer, water pollution through industrial chemicals are also equally important ecological issues that need to be immediately addressed before it gets late.
The United Nation’s Environment Network (www.unep.net) summarizes the latest facts and figures, news, causes and possible solutions of the present environmental threats.
Scientists see a real threat of climate, changing rapidly and dramatically over the coming decades and centuries. The Climate Change link contains substantial material on the greater climatic extremes experienced in some parts of the world. Other than the causes and effects of climatic changes, to highlighting the treaties and conventions on environment, the site also graphically illustrates the emissions of CO2 along with the target of Kyoto Protocol to reduce this emission to a certain level.
Some social and economic causes for global warming are also explained through various reports and features followed by some solution to counter the warming suggested unanimously by the scientists.
To identify which regions of the world exhibit the different effects of global warming you can visit www.climatehotmap.com. Regions of the world where these changes are visible or are expected to occur are highlighted with some particular indicators. For example heat waves, ocean warming, glacier melting, spreading diseases, downpours, drought, coral reef bleaching etc.
This site about the early warning sign clearly explains the global nature of climatic changes. North America and Europe show the highest number of indicators. If you want to read further on this topic you can visit www.globalwarming.org and http://globalwarming.enviroweb.org.
Higher demand for timber by the paper, construction and furniture industries and clearing of land for agriculture has led to an increase in the rate of ‘deforestation’. The impacts of deforestation on climate are also very significant. The site http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Deforestation/ is completely dedicated to the process of deforestation, its causes and its aftereffects. The explanation is to the point and very easy to understand. Cutting of trees upset both the carbon and hydrological cycle. After deforestation the soil loses its fertility within few years and due to this farmers seek to clear up other land for farming. All these consequences are given in the After Deforestation link.
The site also summarizes the effects of deforestation on biodiversity. The Earth’s biodiversity is comprised of up to 80 million different kinds of plants and animal species in which some of them are extinct and some have been brought on the brink of extinction. Their disappearance means the occurrence of ecological imbalance, which is one of the main factors on which the sustainability of the environment depends. We are losing up to 137 species worldwide each day! This is upsetting the interdependent relationships. We are losing species that might show us how to prevent cancer or help us find a cure for AIDS.
Other organisms are losing species they depend upon, and thus face extinction themselves. Another site www.redlist.org is an IUCN portal that features the IUCN Red List of threatened species.
The list of Threatened Species provides taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information on different species and also their relative risk of extinction. The Ozone Layer protects the earth from the dangerous ultra-violet rays. The use of CFCs (Chloroflourocarbons) in aerosol sprays, air-conditioners and refrigerators has led to the depletion of Ozone Layer and thus an increase in the exposure to the ultra-violet rays. The site www.epa.gov is one portal, that contains substantive information on this issue. One can find information on ‘ozone depletion’ right from the scratch, about the regulatory approach to protecting the Ozone Layer, and information on alternatives to ozone-depleting substances. This site is very user friendly and explains everything in a very comprehensible way.
Man cannot afford to keep the economic activity at bay. What he needs to do is to strike a right balance between ecology and economy. Sustainable development is the key need of the hour.
MAN is himself responsible for the damage done to his environment. His impact on the surroundings has been to his own disadvantage.
