Is overpopulation threatening the Earth?

Relevance of the topic: An environmental problem is a change in the natural environment as a result of anthropogenic impacts or natural disasters, leading to disruption of the structure and functioning of nature.

Environmental problems have arisen as a consequence of irrational human attitude to nature, the rapid growth of industrial technologies, industrialization and population growth.

The development of natural resources is so great that the question arose about their use in the future. Pollution of the natural environment has led to the progressive death of representatives of the plant and animal world, pollution of soils, underground sources, depletion and degradation of soil cover, etc.

The progress and fate of civilization depends on solving environmental problems, so solving the environmental problems of the modern world is an important and urgent problem.

The purpose of the project: To study the environmental problems of our time.

Project objectives:

• To tell about the causes of environmental problems in the world;

• Consider the typology and classification of environmental problems;

• Analysis of the main environmental problems;

• To consider and identify the main ways to solve environmental problems.

Environmental problems of our time

Until the very last period of the Earth’s history, the living systems of the planet evolved almost in complete harmony with the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere, without being influenced by human activity. But with the development of agriculture and industry, the human impact on the environment has become more noticeable. Widespread industrialization, especially over the past two centuries, has led to potentially dangerous levels of environmental pollution.

It can be said that pollution is the entry into the environment of any substances or energy in such large quantities or for such a long time that these substances or energy begin to cause damage to people and the environment. Easily spreading from one life support component to another, pollution affects all environmental parameters to one degree or another - anthropogenic and natural, physical and biotic. Atmospheric pollution

Back in the early sixties, it was believed that atmospheric pollution was a local problem of large cities and industrial centers, but later it became clear that atmospheric pollutants could spread through the air over long distances, adversely affecting areas located at a considerable distance from the place of release of these substances.

Thus, atmospheric pollution is a global phenomenon, and international cooperation is needed to control it. The most common atmospheric pollutants include gases such as chlorofluorocarbons, sulfur dioxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides.

Pollution can lead to a significant decrease in the natural concentration of gases that make up the atmosphere, such as ozone in the stratosphere. In combination with hydrocarbons and compounds of the NOx group, ozone can pose a direct danger to human health, and in addition, it is one of the important components of photochemical smog.

Dust, noise, excessive heat, radiation and electromagnetic fields are all air pollution. Depletion of the ozone layer

The Earth’s atmosphere consists mainly of nitrogen (about 78%) and oxygen (about 21%). A small part of oxygen is in the atmosphere in the form of ozone - oxygen molecules.

Ozone is concentrated mainly in the atmosphere at an altitude of 15-20 kilometers above the earth’s surface. Despite the small amount, the role of ozone in the Earth’s biosphere is extremely large and responsible. The ozonosphere absorbs a significant part of the harsh ultraviolet radiation of the Sun, which is harmful to living organisms.

She is a shield of life, but a shield regulated by nature. The ozonosphere passes the longer-wavelength part of the ultraviolet radiation. This penetrating part of ultraviolet is necessary for life: it destroys pathogenic bacteria, promotes the production of vitamin D in the human body. The state of the ozone layer is extremely important, because even a slight change in the intensity of ultraviolet radiation at the earth’s surface can affect living organisms.

Causes of thinning of the ozone layer:

• During the launch of space rockets, holes are literally “burned out” in the ozone layer. And contrary to the old opinion that they are immediately tightened, these holes have existed for quite a long time.
• Planes flying at altitudes of 12-16 km also harm the ozone layer, while those flying below 12 km, on the contrary, contribute to the formation of ozone.
• Release of freons into the atmosphere.

The most important reason for the destruction of the ozone layer is chlorine and its hydrogen compounds. A huge amount of chlorine enters the atmosphere, primarily from the decomposition of freons. Freons are gases that do not enter into any chemical reactions near the surface of the planet. Freons boil and quickly increase their volume at room temperature, and therefore are good atomizers.

Because of this feature, freons have been used for a long time in the manufacture of aerosols. And since, expanding, freons are cooled, they are still very widely used in the refrigeration industry. When freons rise into the upper atmosphere, a chlorine atom is split off from them under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, which begins to convert ozone molecules into oxygen one by one.

Chlorine can be in the atmosphere for up to 120 years, and during this time it can destroy up to 100 thousand ozone molecules.