Environment and Sustainable Development PDF

Environment and sustainable development 1. What is the environment? – definition 2. What are the elements that make up the environment? - Examples 3. Importance of the environment 4. Environmental pollution 5. How to preserve the environment - Tips for environmental protection 6. How has man changed...

Environment and sustainable development 1. What is the environment? – definition 2. What are the elements that make up the environment? - Examples 3. Importance of the environment 4. Environmental pollution 5. How to preserve the environment - Tips for environmental protection 6. How has man changed his environment? Definition: it is the set of chemical, physical and biological elements with which living beings interact. In addition, in the case of human beings, the environment also includes all the cultural and social elements that influence our lives. Within the environment, we can distinguish: Natural environment: climate, geography, fauna, flora and everything found in nature. Cultural environment: objects made by man or his socio-economic activities. Thus, the definition of the environment is that of a system formed by natural and cultural elements that interact with each other and are modified by human action. The environment is made up of the following elements: physical, chemical, biological, cultural and social. All these elements, both those we see - a mountain - and those we do not see - tradition - are related to each other and create the typical characteristics in which life develops - or not - in a specific place. Among the factors that create the environment are: plants, soil, water, air, climate and, especially, the human being. Human being is the living element that intervenes most intensely in the environment. First, he explored and travelled through it, then he used the resources that the environment offered them to improve their well-being and, finally, they modified it to make their life more comfortable. However, on many occasions, this human activity has ended up having negative effects on the environment, for example by depleting its natural resources, causing the extinction of animals or polluting it. 2. What are the elements that make up the environment? - Examples  The atmosphere, air and space.  Water, in whatever state it is, salty, fresh, maritime or continental, underground or surface, lakes or rivers.  The earth - soil and subsoil, the seabed,... etc.  All flora, both aquatic and terrestrial, in all its species.  Fauna, both aquatic and terrestrial, in all its species.  Microfauna, both aquatic and terrestrial, in all its species.  Microflora, both aquatic and terrestrial, in any of its species.  The main sources of energy.  Underground heat sources.  The climate and all the factors that determine it.  All mineral deposits, metallic or not, clay, salt mines. 3. Importance of the Environment The environment is the source of life for all species. The environment is the place that makes life possible, it is the source of water, food, fuel and all the raw materials that we use to build and improve our lives. The environment is our home, not only for humans, but also for all the animal and plant species that inhabit this planet. However, it depends more and more on our actions, so that the harmful uses we make of our environment have a negative impact, endangering its survival. The importance of the environment is such that ensuring its sustainability is ensuring our own, while the more we harm it, the more we harm ourselves and all the ecosystems around us. The importance of the environment is not just about preserving nature, but about being able to continue living on this planet, since it is from the environment that we get everything we need to live. 4. Environmental pollution Environmental pollution is the set of elements present in it that damage, harm and endanger the safety, living conditions, well-being and characteristics of ecosystems as well as the flora and fauna that inhabit them. In summary, we could say that environmental pollution is anything that harms the air, soil, water, flora and fauna. Some of this pollution is natural, for example, when a volcano erupts, it releases a large amount of gases and products that can damage the ecosystem. However, most of the environmental pollution is produced by human activities, whether through plastics in the sea, waste in the mountains or the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere that cause the destruction of the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect, deforestation and the extinction of species caused by this pollution. 5. How to preserve the environment - Tips for environmental protection Here are a series of actions that we can take that will help preserve the environment and the ecosystems that are there:  Use clean or renewable energy.  Do not use a car if we have other cleaner options.  Always recycle and reuse whenever possible.  Consume ecological products  Do not waste water.  Only buy the products we need.  Raise awareness among those around us so that they follow your example. 6. How has man changed his environment? After domesticating fire, humans began to modify their environment by promoting the production of certain useful plants, exterminating poisonous and dangerous animals, and setting fires to clear and open spaces. We can cite as an example, the aborigines who eradicated a large part of the forest thus causing the rarefaction of certain animal and plant species. A. La transition agricole Agriculture and livestock breeding appeared (independently) in the Middle East, China and Central America around 10,000 years ago. A gradual and simultaneous appearance with the evolution of hunting. Hunting activity caused the disappearance of several other animal species. Agriculture experienced a great expansion, fuelled by new food discoveries that helped improve living conditions and therefore extend the life span of living beings and promote excessive population growth. B. Industrial Transition Other than the effects of agriculture on fauna and flora, the appearance of forges, glassworks, shipbuilding, tanneries, etc. contributed to the deforestation and pollution of rivers. This concerned a limited part of Europe, then it spread to a large part of the world. The progression of the human population was accompanied by an almost perfect synchronism of our entry into a society whose industrial activity is based on the exploitation of fossil fuels, known as non-renewable resources. The latter (coal, oil and natural gas) have favoured the expansion of technological progress. These technological phenomena have improved agricultural productivity by the mechanization of ancestral agricultural activities. C. Demography: After a long period of low demographic growth, the human population experienced significant growth in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is estimated that it will peak at around 10 billion individuals by the end of the 21st century. One question arises: Could demographic growth be responsible for poverty, social instability, ecological crises, etc.? Since the advent of agriculture:  Population expansion implies more individuals to feed and therefore more space to cultivate. This fact necessarily implies a large exploitation of physical natural resources (water, soil, etc.) or living resources (marine fish, bovine heads, sheep, etc.)  Population growth is not homogeneous. In fact, six countries currently account for half of the annual growth. These are India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Indonesia. Developed nations have a stable population of 1.2 billion people. In some developed countries (Japan, Germany, Italy, etc.) the population has even declined.  The demographic problem is treated by politicians with many reservations. Indeed, reducing births primarily concerns developing countries. They nevertheless constitute a workforce and an insurance for the future. If the countries of the North accuse the population explosion of the countries of the South of being one of the major causes of environmental degradation. The latter in return affirm that ecological problems come essentially from the modes of development adopted by industrialized countries.