We have recently embarked on a new project to publish a local magazine for tourists visiting the Kullu Valley with a view of promoting the work of local NGOs, voicing the views of local people and also to help those visiting the valley get a better idea of the life and culture of Himachal. We are working in conjunction with two other NGOs, the Himachal Pradesh Human Welfare Organisation and Maison Des Himalayas, a French organisation which has been working in the valley for many years.
We wanted to represent the views of local women and children in particular as these views are often not heard in the mainstream media. To encorporate these we ran workshops at two English medium schools in Manali and asked them to write about either education or environment. The following are the top five of these articles.
Education
Neelanishi Bhatnagar, Class X, Delhi Public School.
Education means to teach and train people mentally and morally. When we think of an educated person it conjures up an image of a smartly dressed, well-mannered and intelligent individual.
There was a time when countries could achieve economic success with cheap labour and low tech manufacturing. Low wages are still helpful but contemporary large scale development requires a sophisticated and at least partly a knowledge based economy. Making people literate is not the end of the road. Literacy not only means learning how to read, write and count but it should help people gain knowledge about our inherent values and a deep seated knowledge about the entire world. Only then will literacy lead to real education.
Education is not a preparation for life, education is life itself – John Deweyow.
Education opens new horizons, provides new aspirations, and develops values of life. The aim of education is knowledge not for facts but for values. It contributes towards growth of society, national income, cultural richness and increases the efficiency of governance. It helps them become aware of why they are deprived and helps them move towards change. Investment in human education yields a return just like investment in physical capital. Educated and better trained persons generate higher productivity resulting in higher income. Not only do the people gain themselves through higher income but society also gains in other indirect ways because the advantages of an educated population also spreads to those who were not directly educated.
A large population can be turned into a productive asset by spending resources on education, training of industrial workers and scientific resources. The government is taking steps to educate people through various educational schemes. For example, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (S.S.A.) is a significant step towards providing elementary education to all children in the age group of 6-14 years by 2010.
The empires of the futures are the empires of the mind – Winston Churchill
A child with investments made on education will definitely benefit from a high return in the future in the form of higher earnings and a greater contribution to society. Educated parents invest more heavily on the education of their children and this is because they have realized the importance of education for themselves. They are also more conscious of proper education and health along with nutrition and hygiene for their children. In contrast, disadvantage persons who are uneducated and lacking in all these qualities keep their children too in a similarly disadvantaged state.
Education promotes self respect of the individual. It results in better health awareness and care. It helps raise the status of women. It not only increases participation in the democratic process but also brings about an awareness of rights. It helps prevent exploitation and improves earnings. It gives individuals greater control over their own lives e.g. they ca write and read letters, sing, fill in forms etc. They are not easily befooled and hoodwinked by clever manipulating people. Education also promotes environmental awareness. Asrightly said by Sydney J. Harvies, “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.”
This we can say that education helps in the overall development of a state and its individuals. It helps in developing the individual’s personality and increasing their confidence and polishing their behaviour. Their communication skills improve. Not only this, education also enhances peoples dress sense and helps them learn now to carry themselves. They become aware of their role in society and their duties towards the betterment of the country. As Tony Blair has rightly said, “Ask me my true main priorities for government, and I tell you: education, education and education.”
Education
Pankhwu Bhatnagar, Class IV, Delhi Public School
“What does education often do? It makes a straight ditch out of a meandering brook” Henry David Thoreau
Education – the word itself tingles the mind. An educated population is an asset to the country. It yields better return results in both economic as well as mental growth of nation. This is because not only does the individual himself benefit through education but the population of a country as a whole benefits through him. Education opens up new horizons and provides new aspirations, researches and develops values in the mindset of people.
However, we must not confuse education with literacy. We must realize that being able to read and write is not education. Education is one which changes and exchanges our values along with increasing our knowledge about people and places. “Education is what survives when what has been learned, has been forgotten” B.F. Skinner.
But it is necessary to be literate in order to be educated. This can be achieved by developing primary, secondary and finally high level education centres. India has a very large education sector. There are a number of high education and research centres but very few of them impart good quality education. Education needs to encompass the overall development of mind and body of an individual. It develops communication skills, dressing skills and personality development skills etc.
The question that arises is how to impart literacy and education to every strata of society. In the past few years there has been tremendous increase in the number of educational institutions in India.
One of the major hindrances to education is widespread poverty in the country. Due to the high rate of reproduction it is difficult for people to educate their children. The government is trying to help by making primary and secondary education free. It is also distributing free midday meals. Moreover, since people are not educated themselves, they do not understand the value of education. It is necessary that we should not expect the government alone to do something. Literate and educated people should help out; spread awareness for education among the literate people and backwards areas. “Education is the movement from darkness to light”, Allan Bloom.
Thus we can say that education helps in the overall development of an individual personality. It makes him a self-confident, well-mannered personality. It makes him an asset to the society. His communication skills improve. The country as a whole benefits from his knowledge. Here is no limit to the heights a country can reach if its citizens are educated and knowledgeable.
Environment
Pallavi, Class X, Day Star School
“All things are connected with one another, and the bond is holy.”
Our natural environment is in close relationship with the living and non-living components. The living are the biotic components and the non-living are the a-biotic components. The activities done by biotic and a-biotic have some impact or the other on the natural environment. In this world of natural environment, everything is connected with each other. Every action that a human being or animal takes has an effect on one part of the environment, which in turn has another effect on another part. Even a small action on your part may have large consequences.
There are thousands of connections in nature. Of them some are vital for the survival and growth of all organization. Apart from food, organisms need water, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon etc. Such substances continuously move through the environment in cycles. They move from the non-living components to the living organisms, which consume them. Them the substances move back to the non-living part and the cycle continues.
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed”
Water is one of the most important elements on earth and is essential for the sustenance of life. It is the most vital connecting factor in the ecosystem. “Water is the most precious and highly vulnerable gift given to us by nature.”
Water is the most important element on earth, so people should not waste water and should not do such activities as deplete the water. We as humans should make the best use available water resources for human benefit, while not only preventing and controlling its depletion and degradation, but also developing it in view of the present and future needs. The most important aspect in water management is to treat water as an economic commodity to be used in the most profitable and satisfying manner. In the distribution of this economic good both equity and quality must be ensured.
“What would the world be, once bereft of wet and wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet; long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.”
Forests play a very important role in the life and economy of a nation. Forest vegetation and its occupying soil organisms make up as much as 90 percent of the total biomass of land. Due to deforestation, the stability of many ecological sub-systems has been greatly disturbed. Once forest cover is damaged, severe soil erosion takes place disturbing the entire ecosystem.
As forests provide us with many useful things, we must learn how to conserve them. The increasing degradation of forests, especially in mountainous and hilly areas leads to heavy erosion of the topsoil, erratic rainfall and re-occurring floods. Due to this there is an acute shortage of firewood and loss of productivity due to eroded and degraded lands. The Forest Conservation Act 1980 has been enacted primarily to check indiscriminate deforestation of forest lands for non-forestry purposes.
It is important to provide for the needs of the community for firewood and fodder. Planting of trees will help reduce soil erosion, floods, landslides and most of all, it will help in the restoration of the ecological balance. Those areas that are prone to landslides, areas having steep and precipitous mountains slopes prone to soil erosion and important watershed areas should be identified as reserves. In such areas felling of trees or grazing should not be allowed.
“Man owes the fact of his existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.”
Soil is a complex mixture of weathered rock material and the product of decayed organic matter. It comprises both organic and inorganic substances present on the earth. Soil is developed by formation of humus layers, accumulation of calcium carbonate and cauterization in which silica is removed while iron and calcium remain. It is most important for us to be aware of the indispensability and the need for its proper management in the most sustained manner. Soil erosion can occur naturally, when the top soil is removed by agents like wind and water, or due to inappropriate human activities, by unsustainable agricultural practices, mining, deforestation, over-grazing and so on. Soil is said to be depleted when its productivity is reduced by over-cropping, siltation, leaching, over-grazing, salination and soil erosion.
By soil conservation we mean the restoration, improvement and maintenance of topsoil and soil fertility through various collective measures which include restoration of the soil fertility and stabilization of soil through methods that prevent erosion.
There are many ways by which our environment gets polluted. There are many types of pollution that we all face. Air pollution is the presence of unwanted particles in the ambient atmosphere, generally resulting from the activity of man, in sufficient concentration, present for sufficient time and under circumstances which interfere significantly with the comfort, health or welfare of persons or with full use or enjoyment of property. Air pollution is caused by natural sources and man-made sources. Natural sources include volcanic eruptions and forest fires. Man-made sources include transportation, industries, mining, open burning and many other activities which humans do.
Air pollution can affect our body parts, leading to breathing problems, like shortness of breath, wheezing, chest pain, asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. Acute exposure to ozone leads to a reduction in lung function and breathing problems. It also causes irritation in the eyes, nose and throat and can cause severe headaches. Water is more vulnerable to pollution than air because it is not as free flowing and is also denser. Moreover, air is available in larger and more widespread quantities than water, that is why pollutants in the air are quickly dispersed by the wind. Every mistake we make shows up in our water in the form of toxic pollution, dead marine life and dried up streams.
Sources of water pollution are industrialized wastewater, street and agricultural run-off, sewage, industries with high organic lead, alkali manufacturing industries, petroleum processing industries, agriculture, mining operations, human and animal and chemical waste. Water pollution causes water borne diseases like typhoid, cholera, hepatitis, diarrhea and amoebic dysentery.
Soil pollution occurs due to physical and chemical changes that occur due to the presence of pollutants that render it unfit for productivity. Soil, when misused or mishandled, deteriorates in quality and results in depletion of nutrients.
Noise pollution may be defined as “any unwanted sound that causes annoyance, disturbance and prohibits concentration. Noise pollution is caused by industrial activities, mining, construction, urban environments, rural environments and transportation.
These are all the problems that humans have to suffer in this world. There are more problems that I did not mention here but these are the major problems. I, as a human, request all other humans not to be selfish and not to think about themselves, but to think about the present and future generations. Not to waste any kind of resources. To utilize whatever they have.
This article will tell you about many diseases that we can face. So, we need to overcome these types of problems so that the present and future generations can live happily, so please work upon this.
Environmental concerns
Tanvi Mehto, Class X, Day Star School
If all mankind were to disappear the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish the environment would collapse into chaos - Edward O. Wilson
Environment is the world which surrounds us, in which an organism lives. It is affected by physical and chemical factors as well as by organisms. The damage caused to the earth by human activities has been a major concern during the last fifity years.
The term pollution refers to the process of making air, water and soil dirty and harmful. Air pollution is the presence of unwanted particles in the ambient atmosphere of substances, generally resulting from the activity of man, sufficient in concentration, present for sufficient time and under circumstances which interfere significantly with the comfort, health or welfare of persons or with the full enjoyment of property.
There are two major sources of air pollution; man-made and natural. Natural sources consist of volcanic eruptions, forest fires, anaerobic decay processes.
The man-made sources consist of emissions of harmful smoke from airways, railways and vehicles. Poisonous gases liberated by major industrial units, industrial estates and medium industries. Pollution caused by thermal power plants, emission from domestic combustion units, chimneys and incinerators. Burning of coal and wastes. Dusts, soot and suspended particulate matles (S.P.M.) causes air pollution. Air pollution can be caused by building materials, micro-organisms, smoking and radon concentration. Other sources are mining and brick kilns.
Air pollution can adversely affect human health not only by direct inhalation but indirectly by other exposure routes through water, food and skin transfer. It affects the cardio-vascular systems, causes diseases like asthma, bronchitis, allergies, lung disease and heart disease. SPM concentrations cause increased mortality, morbidity, pulmonary malfunctioning with increased concentrations of substances. Abatement of air pollution includes control technologies. This involves modifying the fuel as combustion technique or removing pollutants from the fuel gases. Pre-combustion techniques involve the case of low pollutant fuels. To destroy pollution from the point of source the most important abatement is to educate people.
Water is more vulnerable to pollution than air because it is not as free flowing and is also denser. Unwanted particles in the water are called water pollution. The sources of water pollution are industrial wastewater, street or agricultural run-off, sewage, industries with high organic load, agriculture, mining operations, human and animal waste and chemical waste. Sewage wastes include organic and inorganic compounds. Industrial effluents having high organic load with high B.O.D. values cause depletion of the fish population in rivers. The other sources are water from oil refineries and steel industries. Water pollution causes many diseases like typhoid, cholera, hepatitis, diarrhea, amoebic dysentery and malaria to name a few.
Water pollution causes many illnesses in sea creatures. The leakage of toxic pollutants into the water leads to the death of sea creatures. This can cause diseases in human being when they consume the fish. Abatement of water pollution includes good technologies. The industries should be built far away from the cities. Emissions should be stopped at the point of source. The people should be educated, there should not be any oil spillage.
Soil pollution refers to the pollution caused by other pollution, i.e. water pollution, air pollution, radioactive pollution etc. The sources of soil pollution are polluted water and dumping waste. Substances which are biodegradable in nature, such as food scraps, wastes from food processing industries, human and animal excretions, slurry, organic hospital wastes and farm and poultry waste. Monomers used in polymer manufacture, heavy metals like lead, copper and arsenic cause bioaccumulation in plants and enter food chains. Lead affects the brain and nervous system in children and interfered with the development and maturation of red blood cells. Abatement of pollution can be started by farmers not using chemical fertilizers.
This article has talked about the different types of pollution, their sources, their effects and abatement. I’d like to say that in developing countries, due to lack of finances, awareness and technical know how, abatement of pollution will have to involve international help to overcome the mounting pollution levels. We need to overcome these problems so that our future generations will not have any problems.
Save your Surroundings
Tenzin Youdom, Class X, Day Star School
There is a bond between nature and human beings and this is such that if it breaks, there will be no life on this planet. We have to maintain this bond if we wish to survive. Nature herself tries to keep this balance by providing by providing various species of plants and animals which depend on each other and which are necessary for their survival.
But what did man do to keep this balance? In order to satisfy his greed he not only destroyed this balance but also endangered human life. Man has been exploiting the land and its resources. He has been clearing forest lands for agriculture. However, over the years agriculture practices have undergone a great change, which is creating an adverse effect on the planet. The demands of growing population for recreational activities, transportation and economic activities have added pressure on the land-use pattern.
In order to meet the demand for land, natural lands are being converted to other land-use patterns, resulting in destruction of land cover. Man is being so selfish that they only want to fulfill their demands, whether it results in the destruction of resources for future generations.
But today the problem is not that of resources but that of excessive exploitation of natural resources causing an imbalance which is not a good sign.
The adverse effects of this imbalance are already showing their presence. Global warming is one of the chief results of this environmental imbalance. The rapid increase in temperature results in the melting of ice and reduction of glaziers causing loss of life’s property, loss of vegetation etc.
People are interfering with nature in the name of development which had in fact brought more problems than doing good. Frequent floods, landslides, wasting away of agricultural land are the few problems which are easily seen. Besides, the damage to flora and fauna is not measurable.
The solution for these all mentioned problems is to preserve and protect the environment and put all your efforts into protecting it. If you are cutting down trees put five trees in for every one removed. Keep your environment clean. Use the land in a good way. Forests give us many things like medicines, fruits, shelter, habitation etc. and we are not aware of the real necessity of the environment which will not be good for human life in the future.
So, save the earth for your own sake
We wanted to represent the views of local women and children in particular as these views are often not heard in the mainstream media. To encorporate these we ran workshops at two English medium schools in Manali and asked them to write about either education or environment. The following are the top five of these articles.
Education
Neelanishi Bhatnagar, Class X, Delhi Public School.
Education means to teach and train people mentally and morally. When we think of an educated person it conjures up an image of a smartly dressed, well-mannered and intelligent individual.
There was a time when countries could achieve economic success with cheap labour and low tech manufacturing. Low wages are still helpful but contemporary large scale development requires a sophisticated and at least partly a knowledge based economy. Making people literate is not the end of the road. Literacy not only means learning how to read, write and count but it should help people gain knowledge about our inherent values and a deep seated knowledge about the entire world. Only then will literacy lead to real education.
Education is not a preparation for life, education is life itself – John Deweyow.
Education opens new horizons, provides new aspirations, and develops values of life. The aim of education is knowledge not for facts but for values. It contributes towards growth of society, national income, cultural richness and increases the efficiency of governance. It helps them become aware of why they are deprived and helps them move towards change. Investment in human education yields a return just like investment in physical capital. Educated and better trained persons generate higher productivity resulting in higher income. Not only do the people gain themselves through higher income but society also gains in other indirect ways because the advantages of an educated population also spreads to those who were not directly educated.
A large population can be turned into a productive asset by spending resources on education, training of industrial workers and scientific resources. The government is taking steps to educate people through various educational schemes. For example, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (S.S.A.) is a significant step towards providing elementary education to all children in the age group of 6-14 years by 2010.
The empires of the futures are the empires of the mind – Winston Churchill
A child with investments made on education will definitely benefit from a high return in the future in the form of higher earnings and a greater contribution to society. Educated parents invest more heavily on the education of their children and this is because they have realized the importance of education for themselves. They are also more conscious of proper education and health along with nutrition and hygiene for their children. In contrast, disadvantage persons who are uneducated and lacking in all these qualities keep their children too in a similarly disadvantaged state.
Education promotes self respect of the individual. It results in better health awareness and care. It helps raise the status of women. It not only increases participation in the democratic process but also brings about an awareness of rights. It helps prevent exploitation and improves earnings. It gives individuals greater control over their own lives e.g. they ca write and read letters, sing, fill in forms etc. They are not easily befooled and hoodwinked by clever manipulating people. Education also promotes environmental awareness. Asrightly said by Sydney J. Harvies, “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.”
This we can say that education helps in the overall development of a state and its individuals. It helps in developing the individual’s personality and increasing their confidence and polishing their behaviour. Their communication skills improve. Not only this, education also enhances peoples dress sense and helps them learn now to carry themselves. They become aware of their role in society and their duties towards the betterment of the country. As Tony Blair has rightly said, “Ask me my true main priorities for government, and I tell you: education, education and education.”
Education
Pankhwu Bhatnagar, Class IV, Delhi Public School
“What does education often do? It makes a straight ditch out of a meandering brook” Henry David Thoreau
Education – the word itself tingles the mind. An educated population is an asset to the country. It yields better return results in both economic as well as mental growth of nation. This is because not only does the individual himself benefit through education but the population of a country as a whole benefits through him. Education opens up new horizons and provides new aspirations, researches and develops values in the mindset of people.
However, we must not confuse education with literacy. We must realize that being able to read and write is not education. Education is one which changes and exchanges our values along with increasing our knowledge about people and places. “Education is what survives when what has been learned, has been forgotten” B.F. Skinner.
But it is necessary to be literate in order to be educated. This can be achieved by developing primary, secondary and finally high level education centres. India has a very large education sector. There are a number of high education and research centres but very few of them impart good quality education. Education needs to encompass the overall development of mind and body of an individual. It develops communication skills, dressing skills and personality development skills etc.
The question that arises is how to impart literacy and education to every strata of society. In the past few years there has been tremendous increase in the number of educational institutions in India.
One of the major hindrances to education is widespread poverty in the country. Due to the high rate of reproduction it is difficult for people to educate their children. The government is trying to help by making primary and secondary education free. It is also distributing free midday meals. Moreover, since people are not educated themselves, they do not understand the value of education. It is necessary that we should not expect the government alone to do something. Literate and educated people should help out; spread awareness for education among the literate people and backwards areas. “Education is the movement from darkness to light”, Allan Bloom.
Thus we can say that education helps in the overall development of an individual personality. It makes him a self-confident, well-mannered personality. It makes him an asset to the society. His communication skills improve. The country as a whole benefits from his knowledge. Here is no limit to the heights a country can reach if its citizens are educated and knowledgeable.
Environment
Pallavi, Class X, Day Star School
“All things are connected with one another, and the bond is holy.”
Our natural environment is in close relationship with the living and non-living components. The living are the biotic components and the non-living are the a-biotic components. The activities done by biotic and a-biotic have some impact or the other on the natural environment. In this world of natural environment, everything is connected with each other. Every action that a human being or animal takes has an effect on one part of the environment, which in turn has another effect on another part. Even a small action on your part may have large consequences.
There are thousands of connections in nature. Of them some are vital for the survival and growth of all organization. Apart from food, organisms need water, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon etc. Such substances continuously move through the environment in cycles. They move from the non-living components to the living organisms, which consume them. Them the substances move back to the non-living part and the cycle continues.
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed”
Water is one of the most important elements on earth and is essential for the sustenance of life. It is the most vital connecting factor in the ecosystem. “Water is the most precious and highly vulnerable gift given to us by nature.”
Water is the most important element on earth, so people should not waste water and should not do such activities as deplete the water. We as humans should make the best use available water resources for human benefit, while not only preventing and controlling its depletion and degradation, but also developing it in view of the present and future needs. The most important aspect in water management is to treat water as an economic commodity to be used in the most profitable and satisfying manner. In the distribution of this economic good both equity and quality must be ensured.
“What would the world be, once bereft of wet and wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet; long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.”
Forests play a very important role in the life and economy of a nation. Forest vegetation and its occupying soil organisms make up as much as 90 percent of the total biomass of land. Due to deforestation, the stability of many ecological sub-systems has been greatly disturbed. Once forest cover is damaged, severe soil erosion takes place disturbing the entire ecosystem.
As forests provide us with many useful things, we must learn how to conserve them. The increasing degradation of forests, especially in mountainous and hilly areas leads to heavy erosion of the topsoil, erratic rainfall and re-occurring floods. Due to this there is an acute shortage of firewood and loss of productivity due to eroded and degraded lands. The Forest Conservation Act 1980 has been enacted primarily to check indiscriminate deforestation of forest lands for non-forestry purposes.
It is important to provide for the needs of the community for firewood and fodder. Planting of trees will help reduce soil erosion, floods, landslides and most of all, it will help in the restoration of the ecological balance. Those areas that are prone to landslides, areas having steep and precipitous mountains slopes prone to soil erosion and important watershed areas should be identified as reserves. In such areas felling of trees or grazing should not be allowed.
“Man owes the fact of his existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.”
Soil is a complex mixture of weathered rock material and the product of decayed organic matter. It comprises both organic and inorganic substances present on the earth. Soil is developed by formation of humus layers, accumulation of calcium carbonate and cauterization in which silica is removed while iron and calcium remain. It is most important for us to be aware of the indispensability and the need for its proper management in the most sustained manner. Soil erosion can occur naturally, when the top soil is removed by agents like wind and water, or due to inappropriate human activities, by unsustainable agricultural practices, mining, deforestation, over-grazing and so on. Soil is said to be depleted when its productivity is reduced by over-cropping, siltation, leaching, over-grazing, salination and soil erosion.
By soil conservation we mean the restoration, improvement and maintenance of topsoil and soil fertility through various collective measures which include restoration of the soil fertility and stabilization of soil through methods that prevent erosion.
There are many ways by which our environment gets polluted. There are many types of pollution that we all face. Air pollution is the presence of unwanted particles in the ambient atmosphere, generally resulting from the activity of man, in sufficient concentration, present for sufficient time and under circumstances which interfere significantly with the comfort, health or welfare of persons or with full use or enjoyment of property. Air pollution is caused by natural sources and man-made sources. Natural sources include volcanic eruptions and forest fires. Man-made sources include transportation, industries, mining, open burning and many other activities which humans do.
Air pollution can affect our body parts, leading to breathing problems, like shortness of breath, wheezing, chest pain, asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. Acute exposure to ozone leads to a reduction in lung function and breathing problems. It also causes irritation in the eyes, nose and throat and can cause severe headaches. Water is more vulnerable to pollution than air because it is not as free flowing and is also denser. Moreover, air is available in larger and more widespread quantities than water, that is why pollutants in the air are quickly dispersed by the wind. Every mistake we make shows up in our water in the form of toxic pollution, dead marine life and dried up streams.
Sources of water pollution are industrialized wastewater, street and agricultural run-off, sewage, industries with high organic lead, alkali manufacturing industries, petroleum processing industries, agriculture, mining operations, human and animal and chemical waste. Water pollution causes water borne diseases like typhoid, cholera, hepatitis, diarrhea and amoebic dysentery.
Soil pollution occurs due to physical and chemical changes that occur due to the presence of pollutants that render it unfit for productivity. Soil, when misused or mishandled, deteriorates in quality and results in depletion of nutrients.
Noise pollution may be defined as “any unwanted sound that causes annoyance, disturbance and prohibits concentration. Noise pollution is caused by industrial activities, mining, construction, urban environments, rural environments and transportation.
These are all the problems that humans have to suffer in this world. There are more problems that I did not mention here but these are the major problems. I, as a human, request all other humans not to be selfish and not to think about themselves, but to think about the present and future generations. Not to waste any kind of resources. To utilize whatever they have.
This article will tell you about many diseases that we can face. So, we need to overcome these types of problems so that the present and future generations can live happily, so please work upon this.
Environmental concerns
Tanvi Mehto, Class X, Day Star School
If all mankind were to disappear the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish the environment would collapse into chaos - Edward O. Wilson
Environment is the world which surrounds us, in which an organism lives. It is affected by physical and chemical factors as well as by organisms. The damage caused to the earth by human activities has been a major concern during the last fifity years.
The term pollution refers to the process of making air, water and soil dirty and harmful. Air pollution is the presence of unwanted particles in the ambient atmosphere of substances, generally resulting from the activity of man, sufficient in concentration, present for sufficient time and under circumstances which interfere significantly with the comfort, health or welfare of persons or with the full enjoyment of property.
There are two major sources of air pollution; man-made and natural. Natural sources consist of volcanic eruptions, forest fires, anaerobic decay processes.
The man-made sources consist of emissions of harmful smoke from airways, railways and vehicles. Poisonous gases liberated by major industrial units, industrial estates and medium industries. Pollution caused by thermal power plants, emission from domestic combustion units, chimneys and incinerators. Burning of coal and wastes. Dusts, soot and suspended particulate matles (S.P.M.) causes air pollution. Air pollution can be caused by building materials, micro-organisms, smoking and radon concentration. Other sources are mining and brick kilns.
Air pollution can adversely affect human health not only by direct inhalation but indirectly by other exposure routes through water, food and skin transfer. It affects the cardio-vascular systems, causes diseases like asthma, bronchitis, allergies, lung disease and heart disease. SPM concentrations cause increased mortality, morbidity, pulmonary malfunctioning with increased concentrations of substances. Abatement of air pollution includes control technologies. This involves modifying the fuel as combustion technique or removing pollutants from the fuel gases. Pre-combustion techniques involve the case of low pollutant fuels. To destroy pollution from the point of source the most important abatement is to educate people.
Water is more vulnerable to pollution than air because it is not as free flowing and is also denser. Unwanted particles in the water are called water pollution. The sources of water pollution are industrial wastewater, street or agricultural run-off, sewage, industries with high organic load, agriculture, mining operations, human and animal waste and chemical waste. Sewage wastes include organic and inorganic compounds. Industrial effluents having high organic load with high B.O.D. values cause depletion of the fish population in rivers. The other sources are water from oil refineries and steel industries. Water pollution causes many diseases like typhoid, cholera, hepatitis, diarrhea, amoebic dysentery and malaria to name a few.
Water pollution causes many illnesses in sea creatures. The leakage of toxic pollutants into the water leads to the death of sea creatures. This can cause diseases in human being when they consume the fish. Abatement of water pollution includes good technologies. The industries should be built far away from the cities. Emissions should be stopped at the point of source. The people should be educated, there should not be any oil spillage.
Soil pollution refers to the pollution caused by other pollution, i.e. water pollution, air pollution, radioactive pollution etc. The sources of soil pollution are polluted water and dumping waste. Substances which are biodegradable in nature, such as food scraps, wastes from food processing industries, human and animal excretions, slurry, organic hospital wastes and farm and poultry waste. Monomers used in polymer manufacture, heavy metals like lead, copper and arsenic cause bioaccumulation in plants and enter food chains. Lead affects the brain and nervous system in children and interfered with the development and maturation of red blood cells. Abatement of pollution can be started by farmers not using chemical fertilizers.
This article has talked about the different types of pollution, their sources, their effects and abatement. I’d like to say that in developing countries, due to lack of finances, awareness and technical know how, abatement of pollution will have to involve international help to overcome the mounting pollution levels. We need to overcome these problems so that our future generations will not have any problems.
Save your Surroundings
Tenzin Youdom, Class X, Day Star School
There is a bond between nature and human beings and this is such that if it breaks, there will be no life on this planet. We have to maintain this bond if we wish to survive. Nature herself tries to keep this balance by providing by providing various species of plants and animals which depend on each other and which are necessary for their survival.
But what did man do to keep this balance? In order to satisfy his greed he not only destroyed this balance but also endangered human life. Man has been exploiting the land and its resources. He has been clearing forest lands for agriculture. However, over the years agriculture practices have undergone a great change, which is creating an adverse effect on the planet. The demands of growing population for recreational activities, transportation and economic activities have added pressure on the land-use pattern.
In order to meet the demand for land, natural lands are being converted to other land-use patterns, resulting in destruction of land cover. Man is being so selfish that they only want to fulfill their demands, whether it results in the destruction of resources for future generations.
But today the problem is not that of resources but that of excessive exploitation of natural resources causing an imbalance which is not a good sign.
The adverse effects of this imbalance are already showing their presence. Global warming is one of the chief results of this environmental imbalance. The rapid increase in temperature results in the melting of ice and reduction of glaziers causing loss of life’s property, loss of vegetation etc.
People are interfering with nature in the name of development which had in fact brought more problems than doing good. Frequent floods, landslides, wasting away of agricultural land are the few problems which are easily seen. Besides, the damage to flora and fauna is not measurable.
The solution for these all mentioned problems is to preserve and protect the environment and put all your efforts into protecting it. If you are cutting down trees put five trees in for every one removed. Keep your environment clean. Use the land in a good way. Forests give us many things like medicines, fruits, shelter, habitation etc. and we are not aware of the real necessity of the environment which will not be good for human life in the future.
So, save the earth for your own sake
Comments
amypritchard11@hotmail.com
many thanks!