Module 4 - FEA 115 Environmental Sciences Lecture Notes PDF

MODULE 4 FEA 115 – NATURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION, ECOLOGICAL IMBALANCE AND THEIR EFFECT ON HUMAN HEALTH DR. A. S. AJAYI DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, UNIVERSITY...

MODULE 4 FEA 115 – NATURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION, ECOLOGICAL IMBALANCE AND THEIR EFFECT ON HUMAN HEALTH DR. A. S. AJAYI DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN INTRODUCTION In today’s world degradation of environment is one of the most serious challenges before the mankind. The planet without human population has been also suffering from these problems with the areas under human inhabitation. Environmental degradation is a wide- reaching problem and it influences the health of human population greatly. The environment is deteriorated of as resources such as air, water, and soil are depleted. The recent activities in the field of socio-economic, institute and technology plays a major role in degrading our environment. The interactions between human beings and the environment have often been viewed mechanistically. The degradation and depletion of natural resources, climate change pressure on green areas have become major concerns for human life. In response to these problems, an extremely important function of ecosystem is to provide healthy and sustainable environments for both natural systems and communities. Therefore, ecological planning is a functional requirement for the establishment of sustainable development of environment. With ecological planning human needs are supplied while natural resources are used in the most effective and sustainable manner and the maintenance of ecological balance are sustained. The present article recommends the various steps which should be taken for reducing environment degradation. It is necessary that governments, international organizations and communities should and must work together at all levels to combat the health risks to human kind associated with environmental degradation and its contributing factors, such as climate change. ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION This is the deterioration of the environment through consumption of natural resources, for example air, water and soil. It is the destruction of environment and the eradication of wildlife. It is featured as any change or enhancement to nature’s turf seen to be calamitous or undesirable. When earth’s natural resources are hand out and environment is conciliated in the form of surcease of species, pollution in air, water and soil, and intense evolution in population the ecological degradation occurs. Due to rapid increase in population and economic development the environmental resources are weakening because of this world is facing severe problem of environmental degradation. Environment pollution is worldwide issue and it has adverse impact on the health of human populations. Universal environmental pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions and acid deposition, as well as water pollution and waste management is deliberated as global public health problems, which should be examined from manifold perspectives such as social, economic, legislation, and environmental engineering systems, as well as lifestyle habits helping health promotion and reinforcing environmental systems to repel adulteration. It is observed that the problems of environmental pollution is intense in the developing world, where traditional sources of pollution such as industrial emissions, poor sanitation, insufficient waste management, polluted water supplies and exposures to indoor air pollution from biomass fuels affect humans. Recently, modern pollutants have emerged which are associated with traffic congestion and the use of modern chemicals in the home, in food, for water treatment and for pest control. Ecosystem has processes which sustain ecological balance: 1. The cyclic flow of materials from abiotic environment to the biosphere and then back to the abiotic environment. 2. Inside food webs the equilibrium of interaction is uphold. The above processes must be maintained in the ecosystem; any intervention in these cycles strikes ecological balance. The environment deterioration through depletion of natural resources like air, water and soil is called environmental degradation. It is the annihilation of ecosystems and the surcease of wildlife. Any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable is defined as environmental degradation. It is caused by the combination of increasing human population, continually increasing economic growth or per capita affluence, and the application of resource depleting and polluting technology. Environmental degradation is of many types. The environment is degraded when natural habitats are destroyed or natural resources are depleted. CAUSES OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION 1. A more basic cause of environmental degradation is land damage. 2. Pollution in whatever form whether it is air, water, land or noise is harmful for the environment. 3. Rapid population growth puts strain on natural resources which results in degradation of our environment. 4. Landfills pollute the environment and destroy the beauty of the city. They produce foul smell when burned and cause huge environmental degradation. 5. Deforestation is the cutting down of trees to make way for more homes and industries. It increases global warming into the environment. ECOLOGICAL IMBALANCE Ecosystems establish a state of balance where species coexist with other species. It can shift from a state of balance to a state of imbalance, if something happens in an ecosystem. When a natural or human- caused disturbance disrupts the natural balance of an ecosystem it is known as Ecological imbalance. This disturbance is any change that causes a disruption in ecosystem balance. CAUSES OF ECOLOGICAL IMBALANCE 1. Improper disposal 2. Throwing Toxic Waste into the Bodies of Water 3. A decrease of decomposers 4. Overpopulation 5. Landfills 6. Ruinous Agricultural Policies 7. A High Amount of Exhaust Gases 8. Degradation of Land and Soil Erosion 9. Deforestation 10. Faulty Utilization of Water Resources 11. Environmental Problems from Faulty Mining Practices HUMAN HEALTH Human Health is a state in which a human is able to work well physically, socially, mentally, and spiritually. It is a state of normal functioning of the human body. It aids to manifest the full range of one's unique potentialities within the environment in which one is living. It is primarily a measure of each person's ability to do something and become what he wants to become in life. We all are affected by environmental degradation, but it is women and children who bear the main burden. Environmental degradation exaggerates the imbalance between resources and population, and worsens the severity of poverty. So, interaction between poverty, population growth and environmental degradation impede sustainable economic development and worsen population health. Therefore to anticipate in the potential consequence of environmental change and act accordingly is important for health scientists. It is irony that the serious environmental problem is often unknown or unrecognized. IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH As a result of the environmental degradation human health might be at the receiving end. Areas exposed to toxic air pollutants can cause respiratory problems like asthma and pneumonia. Many people are known to have died of due to indirect effects of air pollution. 1. Diseases such as amoebiasis, hookworm and typhoid are caused by polluted drinking water. 2. Water polluted by chemicals such as heavy metals, pesticides, lead and hydrocarbon can cause hormonal and reproductive problems, damage to the nervous system, liver, kidney damage and cancer. 3. A polluted beach causes hepatitis, rashes, diarrhea, gastroenteritis, encephalitis, stomach aches and vomiting. 4. When exposed to ground ozone for 6 to 7 hours, scientific evidence show that Healthy people suffered from respiratory inflammation and their lung function decreased. 5. Air pollutants are mostly carcinogens and can put people at risk of Cancer. 6. On city folks coughing and wheezing are common symptoms observed. 7. Damages the endocrine, immune system, and reproductive systems. 8. Higher incidents of heart problems have been associated with high levels of particle pollution. 9. The release of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the burning of fossil fuels are causing the Earth to become warmer. 10. Toxic chemicals released into the air settle into plants and water bodies. When animals eat the contaminated plants and drink the water the poison then travels up the food chain to us. WAY FORWARD There is the need to put in place enforceable right for the protection of the environment both internationally and nationally. In this way there will be respect to a clean environment by the application of legislation as this will ensure enforcement and protection of the right to health. Pollution of the biosphere and the control of air pollution emission can be achieved by the following methods: gravity, surface sink/tree planting, precipitation, reduction in degradation, use of smokeless fuels, air pollution reduction by exhaust, use of treatment plants to purify water, incineration. 1. Increase the awareness to masses about environment. 2. On the basis of priority promote the culture of forestation. Minimizing the use of water and treating the water before discharging it in rivers and ponds. 3. Rain water harvesting should be practiced to reduce the ground water pollution and water scarcity. 4. Air pollution can be reduced by selection of proper fuel and fitting smoke stacks to factories with electrostatic precipitators, fabric filters, scrubbers and inertial separators. 5. Noise pollution can be reduced by efficient machines producing less or no sound. Noise absorbing may also be used. 6. The hazardous effect of fossil fuel should be introduced at school, college and university as well as community level. 7. The environment related laws should be strictly followed. Every living creature needs healthy environment. Vegetation, man and all other living creatures get affected if the condition of the environment becomes worse or polluted. Men have unlimited desires and they do different activities to fulfill them. We face the problems like floods, landslide, soil erosion etc. if the area of forest decreases. The environment affects our health in many ways. The interaction between the environment and human health has been extensively studied and environmental risks have been proven to significantly impact human health, either directly by exposing people to harmful agents, or indirectly, by disrupting life sustaining ecosystems. At worldwide environmental degradation poses a significant threat to human health. As harmful consequences of this degradation to human health are already being felt and could grow significantly worse over the next 50 years. At last it can be concluded that this is an area of research which has had little empirical work done to date and offers the potential for substantial work in the future.