Nature and environmental politics

We can live on this planet thanks to basic components which are needed for human existence – the water, the air and the soil. These components with the flora and fauna form nature. People need nature for their life. Nature gives us nearly everything what we need for our life. It was time when we haven`t respected nature. Nature was something unimportant for many people. But the time has changed. Now nature is almost the most important thing in the man`s life.

For me, nature is very important. I like going out to a forest, to listen to how birds sing, how creek bickers etc. Nowadays, you can find only a few places which are whole. In nature I look for relax and peace. I draw strenght there.

The nature we call environment too. The environment means surrounding in which people, animals and plants develop and exist. People do not always care for the environment as they should. People tend to prefer their own convenience and luxury over a healthy natural environment. People want more cars, bigger houses, the latest computer technology, and packaged foods, etc. to make their life more comfortable. Increases in the human population have had dramatic effects on the environment. Constant demand for new materials, changing industrial requirements and rapid economic growth have all contributed to “environmental stress”. The presence of a mixture of gases in the Earth`s atmosphere is fundamentally important to us – tampering with it could result in profound consequences for life on Earth.
We are much more often forced to think about the quality of the air, water and soil, because the environmental problems affect all countries of the world.

The most serious ecological problems of today are the pollution of air, water and soil, the weather changes, acid rains, the warming up of the Earth`s surface, the breaking of the ozone layer, the destruction of tropical rain forests and disappearance of many species of animals and plants.

People are polluting the planet which we live on. Pollution is damage to the air, sea, rivers or land caused by chemicals, waste and harmful gases. Pollutants include toxic waste, pesticides, and fertilizers. Pollution takes many forms:
· Water becomes polluted when waste poisons water. People, animals, and plants need clean water to live.
· Land becomes polluted when waste materials poison the ground. Some poisons leak into underground water.
· Air becomes polluted when fumes poison the air. People, plants, and animals need clean air to live.

Human beings have basic life sustaining needs. We need air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat, and space to live and move. Our home planet is changing all the time. As more and more people live on Earth, it becomes more crowded. The air that is breathed is shared by more people, the water that is drunk is shared by more people, and the space in which we live and work and raise our food is shared by and must support more people.

Water pollution is spreading. Streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans are being polluted. Trash, sewage, waste, and chemicals are all being discharged into or seeping into the water. This pollution can poison the water that people drink and that supports plant life – plants are eaten by people, it can poison or kill the animals, including those kept for food.
Water can be polluted by conventional agriculture, in which chemical fertilisers are used instead of manure. But we can`t forget, that the normal households are also polluting the water. In the majority of houses, chemical based cleaning products are used.

People are producing more waste, and the space for disposing of this waste is diminishing. This waste can pollute the ground and the groundwater below it. New techniques make some landfill areas usable again, but then other areas need to be used for landfills.

Acid rain makes trees grow more slowly, they grow old too quickly and then they die. It`s very aggressive.
Factories and power plants don`t pollute only the air alone, but also the ground and water. Many factories do not have an efficient cleaning system and they discharge their waste into the water system.
Air is essential for life – not only for humans, but also for animals and plants. Although all living beings share the air, only people pollute. Traffic plays a large role in the creation of air pollution. The car industry is booming. Cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles, and aeroplanes are an integral part of our contemporary way of life. They all produce exhaust, which often gets trapped in the cities due to the wind currents created by the cityscape, causing smog in heavy congested areas.

A big polluter is a heavy industry. Some factories emit sulphur dioxide. This poisonous gas gets into air and in combination with water make sulphuric acid in the clouds. It later falls as acid rain which kills trees, makes soil infertile and pollutes water and ground.

The ozone layer in the atmosphere serves as a filter for the sun. It protects us from dangerous UV rays from the sun. Due to the damage to this layer, there is an increase in skin cancer. It is believed that the hole in the ozone layer causes changes in the weather patterns. The hole was caused by the industrial and technological way of life and it`s getting larger. It is caused by the use of the gas Freon, as well as the vast amount of carbon dioxide released from cars, power plants, and homes.
The areas of the largest ozone hole are Antarctica, South America, Australia and New Zealand.

During the last hundred years we have produced a huge amount of carbon dioxide (from burning oil, coal, petrol, gas, wood, etc.). The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere works like the glass in a greenhouse. It allows heat to get in but it doesn`t allow much heat to get out. So the atmosphere becomes warmer because less heat can escape. So the Earth`s surface is constantly warming up. Because the temperature is higher, the sea levels are rising. They have already risen by 15 cm since 1880. Maybe they will rise another one and a half meter before the year 2030.

Destroying of forests. In many countries the trees have been cut down because the land was needed for animals or crops. In other parts of the world the trees are cut down because their wood is wanted. This wood is used for buildings or it`s made into furniture.

The soil in the forests is very thin, but it is protected by the trees. When the trees are cut down, the soil is washed away by the rain or blown away by the wind. Soon nothing can be grown on it. The forest becomes a desert.
When a forest is destroyed, that aren`t only trees that are lost, the home of millions of animals and plants are destroyed too.

In the last few years people have burned huge areas of rain forest. It means that there are fewer trees, and of course more carbon dioxide. And we know that rain forests are the biggest producers of oxygen.

Reduce, reuse and recycle. These three important words can be learned by children. One day, perhaps when these children are grown up, most people will reduce their usage of disposable, one-time-use items and reduce the amount of solid waste. People will reuse any materials they can and hopefully will recycle materials they can`t use. There are technologies that can change waste into something different and useful.