ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION.
OUR ENVIRONMENTS
What is environment?
Environments: the
surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or
operates, the natural world, as a whole. Generally, refers to all things
surrounding us other examples includes. Water sources such as lakes, Rivers,
Natural forces such as Earth quake and Volcanic actions such as in Kilimanjaro
mountains Arusha, And Mount Meru in Tanzania.
Are environments important to our life?
Actually Yes environments are
important in our life because of the following reasons.
ü Economic
Importance: That is
presence of beautiful and natural gifted environments, boost tourism, provide
catch for fishing, shrimping, oystering industries, decrease health care costs,
provide environment for ecotourism industry. Example in Tanzania, Animal
reserves such as Ngorongoro, Mikumi and Katavi also the highest mountain of Kilimanjaro.
ü Social : Use of surface
waters for recreation, decrease prevalence of water-borne diseases, increase
quality of life, increase quality of water entering aquifers. Also support life
of organisma such as human being through engaging in irrigation agricultural
practices, then cash crops and food or domestic use crops.
ü Supports life: Plants and other wild
animals depend from our environments in order to survive. Such as because of
fertile soils more plants grow and wild and domestic animals eat them ,Hence if
there is no rainfaill they wont survive.
ü Example consider the picture below:
Environmental destruction
The sum
total of all surroundings of a living organism, including natural forces and
other living things, which provide conditions for development and growth as
well as of danger and damage. This
include biotic and abiotic soroundings of an organism or population and
consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their
survival,development and evolution.Examples include the marine environment,the
atmospheric environment and the terrestrial environment.
Environmental destruction
is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air,
water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction
of wildlife; and pollution. It is defined as any change or disturbance to the
environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable..
Environmental destruction is one of the ten threats
officially cautioned by the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change
of the United Nations. The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction defines environmental degradation as "the reduction of the
capacity of the environment to meet social and ecological objectives, and
needs". Environmental degradation is of many types. When natural habitats
are destroyed or natural resources are depleted, the environment is degraded.
Efforts to counteract this problem include environmental protection and environmental
resources management’. Example. Merelan Arusha is good example where there is
huge holes resulted by mining activities contacted.
Example of picture of environmental destructions.
Figure .01.
Causes
of Environmental destruction
ü
Overpopulation and
Over-exploitation of Resources, Because increase in human population: there is a lot of pressure on the utilization of natural
resources. This often causes over-exploitation of the natural resources, and
contributes to environmental erosion. According to a study by the UNEP Global
Environment Outlook, excessive human consumption of the naturally occurring
non-renewable resources can outstrip available resources in the near future and
remarkably destroys the environment during extraction and utilization.
Overpopulation means more
pollution and fast extraction of natural resources compared to how they
are being replaced.
ü
Agricultural Practices
Intensive agricultural practices have led to the decline in
quality of most of our natural environments. Majority of farmers resort to
converting forests and grasslands to croplands which reduces the quality of
natural forests and vegetation cover. The pressure to convert lands into
resource areas for producing priced foods, crops, and livestock rearing has
increasingly led to the depreciation of natural environments such as forests,
wildlife and fertile lands.
ü Intensive agricultural practices destroy fertile lands and
nearby vegetation cover due to the accumulation of toxic substances like bad
minerals and heavy metals which destroy the soil’s biological and chemical
activities. Runoffs of agricultural wastes and chemical fertilizers and
pesticides into marine and freshwater environments have also deteriorated the
quality of wild life habitats, natural water resources, wetlands and aquatic
life.
ü
Landfills
One of the calamitous effects of landfills is the destruction
of nearby environmental health together with its ecosystems. The landfills
discharge various kinds of chemicals on the land adjacent to forest, various
natural habitats, and water systems such as underground and surface water which
makes the environment unappealing to the survival of trees, vegetations, animal
and humans.
It even interferes with the animals interactive food chains
because the chemicals contaminate plants, and waters which are consumed by the
animals. Besides the foul smell from the landfills and periodic burning of the
wastes make living in such environments unbearable.
ü
Increase in
Deforestation
The act of deforestation (cutting down of trees) has impacted
on the world in terms of depreciating the natural environment and wildlife. It
has also impacted on humans on the account of changes in environmental support
processes such as weather conditions. Some of the reasons for deforestation
include farming, construction, settlement, mining, or other economic purposes.
For more than one hundrend years, the number of trees on the planet has
plummeted, resulting in devastating consequences such as biodiversity loss, soil
erosion, species extinction, global warming, and interference with the water
cycle.
ü
Environmental
Pollution
Most of the planet’s natural environments have been destroyed
and a large portion is under huge threat due to the toxic substances and
chemicals emitted from fossil fuel combustions, industrial wastes, and homemade
utilities among other industry processed materials such as plastics. Land, air,
and water pollution pose long-term cumulative impacts on the quality of the
natural environments in which they occur.
ü Seriously polluted environments have become insignificant in
value because pollution makes it harsh for the sustainably of biotic and
abiotic components. Pollution impacts the chemical compositions of lands, soil,
ocean water, underground water and rocks, and other natural processes. Air
pollution from automobiles and industries that results in the formation of acid
rain which in turn brings about acidic lake is a good example of how the environment
is degraded by pollution.
ü
Improper Land use
Planning and Development
The unplanned conversion of lands into urban settings, mining
areas, housing development projects, office spaces, shopping malls, industrial
sites, parking areas, road networks, and so on leads to environmental pollution
and degradation of natural habitats and ecosystems. Mining and oil exploration,
for instance, renders land unusable for habitation and causes other forms of
environmental degradation by releasing toxic materials into the environment.
Improper land use has led to the loss and destruction of millions of acre of
natural environments across the globe.
ü
Natural Causes :Despite the fact that environmental degradation is under
normal circumstances associated with anthropogenic activities, natural causes
are also contributors. Natural events such as wildfires, hurricanes,
landslides, tsunamis and earthquakes can totally lower the survival grade of
local animal communities and plant life in a region. These disasters can also
destroy alter the nature of the landscape rendering it unable to support life
forms on it. Besides, occurrences such as hurricanes and flooding can wash or
force the migration of invasive species into foreign environments which can
lead to its eventual degradation.
Example. see the figure of environmental degradation.
Figure:02. of volcanic erruption.
Effects of Environmental destruction
ü
Impact on Human
Health
Human health is heavily impacted by environmental
degradation. Reduction in water quality is responsible for more than two
million deaths and billions of illness annually across the globe. Due to
environmental degradation, the results include water scarcity and decline in
quality foods. Reduction in air quality is responsible for more than 300,000
deaths annually and millions of chronic diseases.
ü Landfills increase the risk of hazardous materials getting
into the food chain which causes biomagnification and the ultimate risk of
developing chronic diseases. Altogether, the toxic wastes and harmful chemicals
from factories, agriculture and automobiles cause illnesses and death in
children and adults.
ü
Poverty
In the majority of developing countries, poverty is
attributed to poor crop harvests and lack of quality natural resources that are
needed to satisfy basic survival needs. The inadequacy basic survival resources
and lack of quality of food is the direct result of environmental degradation
in the regions. Most vulnerability situations brought about by water shortages,
climate change, and poor crop yields in developing countries are tied to
environmental degradation. Hence, the lack of access to adequate basic needs
such as water and food directly induce poverty.
ü
Atmospheric Changes
Environmental degradation can alters some of the natural
process such as the water cycle and the normal processes of animal and plant
activities. Also, environmental degradation aspects such as deforestation and
mining destroy the natural land cover. This, together with air, water, and land
pollution pose several atmospheric alteration threats. The alterations include
global warming and climate change which can increase the risks of climatic
natural disasters, and ozone layer depletion which increases the risk of skin
cancer, eye disease, and crop failure.
ü
Loss of Biodiversity
Degradation of the environment has recorded a continued
destruction of wild forests and the damage of natural ecosystems that has
greatly contributed to the mass extinction of species. The number of threatened
species persists to multiply worldwide whereas some have completely gone
extinct. This is because of the human activities such as acidifying water
systems, over-exploitation of natural resources, overpopulation, and the
deliberate and indirect destruction of natural systems necessary for the
survival of different species. These anthropogenic activities simply alter the
natural process combined, thus, destroying the natural ecosystems supporting
biodiversity.
ü
Scarcity of Natural
Resources
Environmental degradation through aspects such as over-exploitation
of natural resources, pollution, and deforestation can contributes to the
scarcity of resources particularly arable land, water, genetic resources,
medicinal plants, and food crops.
Envionmental Preservation
Environmental Preservation: Refers to the
process of Protecting environments for future or currently use. Example. Introducing
laws and polices of supporting environmental protection. Environmental
preservation is necessary because Earth's resources are limited and
threatened by human activity.Environmental protection focuses on
efficiency, protecting wildlife and flora, and minimizing carbon footprints.
Importance
of environmental preservation
To protect/save our
lives.
The environment supports the life of each and every living
thing on earth. We rely on the environment for life. When it is protected we
are assured of better health. Food, quality air and so much more. As the late
professor Wangari Mathai said and I quote, “if we destroy the environment, the
environment will destroy us.” This is so true because it is the environment
that sustains our life.
The environment has suffered due to the scientific
inventions.
A lot has been discovered over the years. Many of these
inventions tend to be harmful to the environment, though it is a way of the
human race trying to make their life better. Factories have been built in so
many places around the world. The emission of harmful gases into the air is on
the increase. The dredging of oil in the sea is also another case. Trees are
being cut down to create space for more land. With all this going on, the
environment remains at or mercy for protection.
Discharge of carbon
gases.
The first thing everyone with a good amount of money is
thinking about is how to get a car. The purchase of cars has grown over the
years. The worst part is that there are not many cars that are environment
friendly. Most of them use fuel which when burnt, releases carbon into the air.
Factories are also playing a role in this. Carbon gases are not in any way
friendly to the environment and this is why we need to protect it.
Use of low grade
plastics.
The chemicals that go into making plastics is highly toxic
and it poses serious threats to the environment. Burning of plastics during
their production and even after use releases toxic fumes into the air. The
toxins can also leak into the soil and ground water causing contamination. This
makes it difficult to grow plants and even pose a challenge to hormones in many
living things.
Biodiversity is
important.
For the environment to be a better place to live,
biodiversity has to be a part of it. In science it is said that during the day,
plants use carbon dioxide, while humans breathe in oxygen and breathe out
carbon dioxide. This is a form of exchange plan. Plants help to reduce carbon
dioxide in the air, which in turn benefits humans. Each living has a role to
play in the environment. It makes the world a better place to live in.
It is our moral
obligation.
We owe our existence to the environment. It is our role to
ensure that the environment supports us and other living species in a
comfortable way. The only way we can pay it back is by protecting it in all
ways possible.
Environmental
hazards are dangerous.
When we look at our water bodies, they have become dumping
grounds for dangerous chemicals. Most factories throw their waste into the
lakes and oceans. These chemicals end up in the food web such as mercury in
fish. These foods end up on our plates and the end result could be serious
diseases. The air we breathe in and what our skin comes into contact with is
crucial. When we have harmful gases in the air it is a threat to life.
Prepared by: A. Chelesi
Viewed by: Sir. Mlugu
Approved by: Masomo Yetutz Stationary
visit: www.masomoyetu.co.tz
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