Unit The Environment and Environmental Problems

Part One Text A

Environment
Humans have always inhabited two worlds. One is the natural world of plants, animals, soils, air, and water that preceded us by billions of years and of which we are a part. The other is the world of social institutions and artifacts that we create for ourselves using science, technology, and political organization. Both worlds are essential to our lives, but integrating them successfully causes enduring tensions. Where earlier people limited ability to alter their surroundings, we now have power to extract and consume resources, produce wastes, and modify our world in ways that threaten both our continued existence and that of many organisms with which we share the planet. To ensure a sustainable future for ourselves and future generations, we need to understand something about how our world works, what we are doing to it, and what we can do to protect and improve it. Environment and Environment Science Environment (from the French environner: to encircle or surround) can be defined as (1) the circumstance or conditions that surround an organism or group of organisms, or (2) the complex of social or cultural conditions that affect an individual or community. Since humans inhabit the natural as well as the built or technological, social, and cultural world, all constitute important parts of our environment.

Environmental science, then, is the systematic study of our environment and our proper place in it. A relatively new field, environmental science is highly interdisciplinary, integrating natural of the world around us. In contrast to more theoretical disciplines, environmental science is mission-oriented. That is, it seeks new, valid, generalizable knowledge about the natural world and our impacts on it, but obtaining this information creates a responsibility to get involved in trying to do something about the problems we have created. As distinguished economist Barbara Ward points out, for an increasing number of environmental issues, the difficulty is not to identify remedies. Remedies are now well understood. The problem is to make them socially, economically, and politically acceptable. Foresters know how to plant trees but not to establish conditions under which villagers in developing countries can manage plantations for themselves. Engineers know how to control pollution, but not how to persuade factories to install the necessary equipment. City planners know how to build housing and design safe drinking water systems, but not how to make them affordable for the poorest members of society. The solutions to these problems increasingly involve human social systems as well as natural science. Environmental Dilemmas Imagine that you are an astronaut returning to earth after a long trip to the moon or Mars. What a relief it would be to come back to this beautiful, bountiful planet after experiencing the hostile, desolate environment of outer space. Although there are dangers and difficulties here, we live in a remarkable prolific and hospitable world that is, as far as we know, unique in the universe. Compared to the conditions on other planets in our solar system, temperatures on the earth are mild and relatively constant. Plentiful supplies of clean air, fresh water, and fertile soil are regenerated endlessly and spontaneously by geological and biological cycles. Perhaps the most amazing feature of our planet is the rich diversity of life that exists here. Millions of beautiful and intriguing species populate the earth and help sustain a habitable environment. This vast multitude of life creates complex, interrelated communities where towering trees and huge animals live together with, and depend upon, tiny life-forms such as viruses and fungi. Together, all these organisms make up delightfully diverse, self-sustaining communities, including dense, moist forests, vast sunny savannas, and richly colorful coral reefs. From time to time, we should pause to remember that, in spite of the challenges and complications of life on earth, we are in credibly lucky to be here. We should ask ourselves: what is our proper place in nature? What ought we to do and what can we do to protect the irreplaceable habitat that produced and support us? These are some of the central questions of

Unit 1 The Environment and Environmental Problems

environmental science. While there are many things to appreciate and celebrate about the world in which we live, many pressing environmental problems cry out for our attention. Human populations have grown at alarming rates in this century. Nearly 6000 million people now occupy the earth and we are adding 100 million more each year. In the next decade, our numbers will increase by nearly as many as are now alive in China. Most of the growth will be in the poorer countries where resources and services are already strained by present populations. Some demographers believe that this unprecedented growth rate will slow in the century and that the population might eventually drop back below its present size. Others warn that the number of humans a century from now could be four of five times more than that of our present population if we dont act quickly to birth rates into balance with death rates. Whether there are sufficient resources to support 6 billion humans let alone 25 billionon a sustainable basis is one of the most important questions we face. How we might stabilize population and what level of resource consumption future generations we can afford are equally difficult parts of this challenging equation. Food shortages and famines already are too familiar in many places and may increase in frequency and severity if population growth, soil erosion, and nutrient depletion continue at the same rate in the future as they have in the past. We are coming to realize, however, that food security often has more to do with poverty, democracy, and equitable distribution than it does with the amount of food available. Water deficits and contamination of existing water supplies threaten to be critical environmental issues in the future for agricultural production as well as for domestic and industrial use. Many countries already have serious water shortages and more than one billion people lack access to clean water or adequate sanitation. Violent conflicts over control of natural resources may flare up in many places if we dont learn to live within natures budget. How we obtain and use energy is likely to play a crucial role in our environmental future. Fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) presently supply about 80% of the energy used in industrialized countries. Supplies of these fuels are diminishing at an alarming rate and problems associated with their acquisition and use air and water pollution, mining damage, shipping accidents, and political insecurity may limit where and how we use remaining reserves. Cleaner renewable energy resources solar power, wind, and biomasstogether with conservation, may replace environmentally destructive energy sources if we invest in appropriate technology in the next few years. As we burn fossil fuels, we release carbon dioxide and other heat-absorbing gases that

cause global warming and may bring about sea-level rises and catastrophic climate changes. Acids formed in the extensive damage to the building materials and sensitive ecosystems in many places. Continued fossil fuel use without pollution control measures could cause even more extensive damage. Chlorinated compounds, such as the chlorofluorocarbons used in refrigeration and air conditioning, also contribute to global warming, as well as damaging the stratospheric ozone which protects us from cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation in sunlight. Destruction of tropical forests, coral reefs, wetlands, and other biologically rich landscapes is causing an alarming loss of species and a reduction of biological variety and abundance that could severely limit our future options. Many rare and endangered species are threatened directly or indirectly by human activities. In addition to practical values, aesthetic and ethical considerations suggest that we should protect these species and the habitat necessary for their survival. Toxic air and water pollutants, along with mountains of solid and hazardous wastes, are becoming overwhelming problems in industrialized countries. We produce hundred of millions of tons of these dangerous materials annually, and much of it is disposed of in dangerous and irresponsible ways. No one wants this noxious stuff dumped in his or her own backyard, but too often the solution is to export it to someone elses. We may come to a political impasse where our failure to decide where to put our wastes or how to dispose of them safely will close down industries and result in wastes being spread everywhere. The health effects of pollution, toxic wastes, stress, and the other environmental ills of modern society have become a greater threat than infectious diseases for many of us in industrialized counties. These and other similarly serious problems illustrate the importance of environmental science and environmental education for everyone. What we are doing to our world, and what that may mean for our future and that of our children is paramount concern as we enter the twenty-first century.

New Words and Phrases

artifact interdisciplinary get involved in remedy dilemma spontaneously intriguing [] [] [] [] [] [] n. adj. n. n. adv. adj.

Unit 1 The Environment and Environmental Problems

virus fungi demographer famine chlorinated chlorofluorocarbon stratospheric coral impasse paramount

[] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []

n. n. n. n. adj. ; n. adj. n. n. adj.

Exercises
EX.1 1) What is environment? 2) What is environment science? 3) List some pressing environmental problems that cry out for our attentio n. 4) Do you think that environmental conditions are better now or worse than they were 20 or 100 years ago? Why? 5) What responsibilities do we have to future generations? EX.2 To pull, draw, or stretch tight A situation that requires a choice between options that are or seem equally unfavorable or mutually exclusive. Proceeding from natural feeling or native tendency without external constraint To empty of a principal substance An extreme scarcity of food A colorless, odorless, incombustible gas, formed during respiration,

combustion, and organic decomposition and used in food refrigeration, carbonated beverages, inert atmospheres, fire extinguishers, and aerosols.

A predicament affording no obvious escape or deadlock Any of several simple gaseous compounds that contain carbon, chlorine, fluorine, and sometimes hydrogen, that are used as refrigerants, cleaning solvents, and aerosol propellants and in the manufacture of plastic foams, and that are suspected to be a major cause of stratospheric ozone depletionabbreviation CFC. EX.3

1) Where earlier people limited ability to alter their surroundings, we now have power to extract and consume resources, produce wastes, and modify our world in ways that threaten both our continued existence and that of many organisms with which we share the planet. 2) A relatively new field, environmental science is highly interdisciplinary, integrating natural of the world around us. 3) Compared to the conditions on other planets in our solar system, temperatures on the earth are mild and relatively constant. Plentiful supplies of clean air, fresh water, and fertile soil are regenerated endlessly and spontaneously by geological and biological cycles. 4) While there are many things to appreciate and celebrate about the world in which we live, many pressing environmental problems cry out for our attention. 5) Whether there are sufficient resources to support 6 billion humans let alone 25 billion on a sustainable basis is one of the most important questions we face. 6) Chlorinated compounds, such as the chlorofluorocarbons used in refrigeration and air conditioning, also contribute to global warming, as well as damaging the stratospheric ozone that protects us from cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation in sunlight. 7) In addition to practical values, aesthetic and ethical considerations suggest that we should protect these species and the habitat necessary for their survival.

Unit 1 The Environment and Environmental Problems

8) No one wants this noxious stuff dumped in their own backyard, but too often the solution is to export it to someone elses.

Part Two Text B

Environmental Pollution
We believe all citizens have an inherent right to the enjoyment of pure and uncontaminated air and water and soil; that this right should be regarded as belonging to the whole community; and that no one should be allowed to trespass upon it by his carelessness or his avarice or even his ignorance. This resolution, adopted in 1869 by the Massachusetts Board of Health, is the ideal of pollution control. Over a hundred years ago, therefore, pollution was already recognized as evil, and this resolution was an attempt to define the problem. Unfortunately, this definition is only an ideal, since total elimination of pollution would effectively require the elimination of modern civilization. The definition of pollution must therefore be more realistic if it is to be of practical value. It is important to understand that pollution can be defined in many ways, and the specific definition used in a specific case can be important. For example, if an industry spewing forth contaminants to water and air can convince the public and the regulatory agencies that by their definition they are not polluting, pressure to force them to clean up might never materialize, even though the results of the inadequate waste disposal are obvious. Many professions are directly involved in environmental pollution, and all have defined pollution to fit the specific need. It may be instructive to review of these definitions, and to comment on the rationale employed. The ecologist, trained to perceive life through a wide-angle lens, looks at pollution as something which upsets the equilibrium of a system. Typically, water pollution is defined as anything which brings about a reduction in the diversity of aquatic life and eventually destroys the balance of life, or any influence on the stream brought about by the introduction of materials to it which adversely affects the organisms living in the stream. These definitions have value to ecologists since ecologists are more concerned with the effect of outside force (people) on a stream or lake than with the direct benefits the watercourse might have to man. This is not to in any way belittle this approach since, in the long run, if we cannot adjust our

civilization to be compatible with the ecosystem, we will undoubtedly lose the conflict. In contrast to the ecologists who consider any manmade additions which are not ecologically compatible to the existing environment to be pollution, the engineers consider these additions to be pollution only if and when they precipitate an immediate adverse effect. Engineers pride themselves on being realists, able to analyze problems and present clean and neat solutions. Engineers have thus proposed definitions of pollution which are, to them, more rational than the clean as possible approach suggested in the first paragraph or the no change thinking of many ecologists. All of the engineering definitions have as a core the well-being (economic, physical, social) of humans. For example, some engineers suggest that since pollution control costs money, the benefits derived from a clean stream (or atmosphere) must be weighed against the benefits derived by spending the money on hospitals, roads, etc. The implication is that pollution is not bad in the absolute, but that as long as we dont start killing more people by cholera, typhoid, emphysema, etc. than we do on the highways, it is logical and prudent to build better highways and neglect pollution control. Other engineers define pollution as an impairment of the suitability of water (of air) for any of its beneficial uses, actual or potential, by man-caused changes in quality. Again the benefits to humans are emphasized, and pollution control is dependent on a favorable benefit / cost ratio. The Engineers Joint Council (composed of representatives from the various professional engineering associations) has defined air pollution as the presence in the outdoor atmosphere of one or more contaminants, such as dust, fumes, gas, mist, odor, smoke or vapor, in quantities or characteristics, and or duration such as to be injurious to human, plant or animal life or to property, or which unreasonably interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property. Although this longwinded definition seems to cover all bases, it avoids classifying emissions from remotely located power plants as pollution, since the smoke is not apparently harmful and certainly having the power to run the air conditioners and electric can openers enhances mans comfort. What is missing is an admission that air is not a wastebasket, and that a defense of such emission is untenable, regardless of their unmeasurable acute effect on plant or animal physiology. Probably the most widely accepted of the engineering definitions of pollution is unreasonable interference with other beneficial uses. By this definition, if the greatest beneficial use of a watercourse is waste discharge, then the use of the stream for swimming and fishing might be unreasonable. Value judgments are therefore required as to what uses a

Unit 1 The Environment and Environmental Problems

stream, lake, or air over a city might have. If reasonable men decide that it is reasonable to use a lake as a septic tank and air as wastebasket, then we are doomed to such a reasonable existence. In all fairness, however, it must be noted that this type of thinking is changing: Engineers are becoming more aware of their social responsibilities, and very few will still espouse the use of a stream as an open sewer even if this might be the most economically sound beneficial use. The World Health Organization (WHO) thinks of air pollution as anything harmful to humans, animals, plants or property. The WHO mosquito control programs using DDT sprayed from airplanes would qualify as air pollution under this definition. Others argue that pollution occurs when an additional user of a scarce resource will cause others to have to incur additional costs or suffer disutility associated with congestion. Although economically sound in the classic sense, this concept views air quality, for example, as being acceptable until some detrimental effect is noted, an argument which presuppose that all effects of pollution are known, a blatantly false supposition. Further, the blotting out of a sunset with smoke cannot be calculated in dollars and cents. We could go on quoting definitions of environmental pollution, but the point has been made. Not everyone views environmental pollution in the same light, and not everyone agrees on the short as well as long-term effects. It should be clear, therefore, why some people feel that the pollution problem is not taken seriously enough, and why at the same time others feel that governmental agencies have become too strict with regard to the control of industrial and municipal discharges. Perhaps we cannot define pollution to everyones satisfaction, and probably there is no need to do that as long as we remember that there are many definitions (and hence opinions) of environmental pollution. Early man spent his entire existence surviving. The procurement of food and shelter for the family took all of his time. When farming and hunting advanced to the point where not all of the available time was devoted to the necessities, man had time to specialize. Some people became carpenters, or potters, or politicians. With increased specialization, man began to better his life style. This had two effects: the population and the per capita consumption of goods both increased. Until the 16th century, man was still not very proficient in producing food or controlling disease, and famines and plagues held the population within bounds. But with the industrial revolution and the birth of modern medicine, the world population began to climb wildly. The earth is now crowded with people, and all of them consume resources, and create waste. The

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waste must be returned to the earth in some form, and often this process destroys or alters the ecology. Over population is not, however, the only danger. In economically developed countries, consumption of both manufactured and natural resources has increased tremendously within the last few decades. In fact, the problem with pollution in many countries today is mainly that of over-consumption, while population growth is responsible for only about one tenth of the increase in the use of natural resources (and the related pollution). The consumption spiral seems to have no end, except when we finally run out of resources. This is clearly unacceptable. One solution is to drastically alter our habits as consumers. As long as there is no tax on the use of natural resources (there is in fact a reward for using some, such as the oil depletion allowance), the education of consumers is a reasonable alternative. Unfortunately, this runs counter to human nature, and the prognostication is not good. It is safe to state that the roof of our environmental pollution problems is the tremendous leap in human population, accompanied by an even greater increase in per capita consumption of raw materials. Although environmental pollution is difficult to define, we do know that we are perilously close to permanently spoiling our home. We must immediately control population growth and strive either to limit consumption or develop better means of recycling our resources. We can only hope that people of the world will soon embrace the environmental ethic, before we permanently foul up our spaceship.

New Words and Expressions

spew rationale equilibrium belittle approach in the long run precipitate adverse well-being cholera [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] v. n. n. v. n. v. adj. n. n.

Unit 1 The Environment and Environmental Problems

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typhoid emphysema prudent neglect impairment fume

[] [] [] [] [] []

n. n. adj. v. n. n.