Since the century began, natural resources have been under pressure, threatening development and public health. Soil exhaustion, water shortages, loss of forests, air and water pollution, and degradation of coastlines have affected many areas. since the world’s population is growing, it has been a global challenge to improve life standard without deteriorating the environment.
Most of the developed countries currently consume resources much faster than they can be regenerated. And also the countries with rapid growth in population are exploiting nature to meet their needs.
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Monday, November 16, 2009
Environmental education needed.
Due top Pollution, resource depletion, and overpopulation problems general public is being more concerned about the environment. The best way for effective deeling with the environmental problems is to develop an environmental education system fully. The environmental education should specially focus on children because children are the hosts of the future. Therefore, it is necessary to develop positive attitudes towards the environment since the early childhood. Unfortunately, environmental education has been limited. This is partly because it is a relatively new. One of the major problems is that the current information on the subject is not easily accessible to the people. Another important barrier is the lack of instructional materials. Society needs to develop environmental education not only through the regular school study for children but also for everyone through different public media like television, radio, and the web.
Falling Fertility
Thomas Malthus forecast in 1798 that population growth would outstrip the world's food supply. But with industrialization fertility fell sharply, first in France, then in Britain, then throughout Europe and America. When people got richer, families got smaller; and as families got smaller, people got richer.
Now fertility is falling in developing countries like Brazil, Indonesia, and parts of India. The fertility rate of half the world is now 2.1 or less - the magic number that is consistent with a stable population and is usually called replacement rate of fertility". Between 2020 and 2050 the world's fertility rate is expected to fall below the global replacement rate.
From this the author concludes that "Worries about a population explosion are themselves being exploded."
The transition from a rate of five to that of two, which took 130 years to happen in Britain - from 1800 to 1930 - took just 20 years - from 1965 to 1985 - in South Korea. Mothers in developing countries now have on average three children. Their mothers had six. In some countries the speed of decline in the fertility rate has been astonishing. In Iran, the fertility rate dropped from seven in 1984 to 1.9 in 2006 - and to just 1.5 in Tehran.
For subsistence farmers, who risk falling victim to drought, a family of eight may be the only insurance against disaster.
If you have a generation or two in which fertility is neither too high nor too low and in which there are few dependent children, few dependent grandparents - and a bulge of adults in the middle - you have the recipe for economic opportunity.
Malthus's heirs say there are too many people for the Earth's fragile ecosystems. It is time to stop - and ideally reverse - the population increase. To celebrate falling fertility is like congratulating the captain of the Titanic on heading towards the iceberg more slowly.
If the poor copy the pattern of wealth creation that made Europe and America rich, they will eat up as many resources as the Americans do, with grim consequences for the planet.
In principle, there are three ways of limiting human environmental impacts: through population policy, technology and governance. The first of those does not offer much scope. Population growth is already slowing almost as fast as it naturally could. Only Chinese-style coercion would bring it down much below that.
Mankind needs to develop more and cheaper technologies that can enable people to enjoy the fruits of economic growth without destroying the planet's natural capital.
Now fertility is falling in developing countries like Brazil, Indonesia, and parts of India. The fertility rate of half the world is now 2.1 or less - the magic number that is consistent with a stable population and is usually called replacement rate of fertility". Between 2020 and 2050 the world's fertility rate is expected to fall below the global replacement rate.
From this the author concludes that "Worries about a population explosion are themselves being exploded."
The transition from a rate of five to that of two, which took 130 years to happen in Britain - from 1800 to 1930 - took just 20 years - from 1965 to 1985 - in South Korea. Mothers in developing countries now have on average three children. Their mothers had six. In some countries the speed of decline in the fertility rate has been astonishing. In Iran, the fertility rate dropped from seven in 1984 to 1.9 in 2006 - and to just 1.5 in Tehran.
For subsistence farmers, who risk falling victim to drought, a family of eight may be the only insurance against disaster.
If you have a generation or two in which fertility is neither too high nor too low and in which there are few dependent children, few dependent grandparents - and a bulge of adults in the middle - you have the recipe for economic opportunity.
Malthus's heirs say there are too many people for the Earth's fragile ecosystems. It is time to stop - and ideally reverse - the population increase. To celebrate falling fertility is like congratulating the captain of the Titanic on heading towards the iceberg more slowly.
If the poor copy the pattern of wealth creation that made Europe and America rich, they will eat up as many resources as the Americans do, with grim consequences for the planet.
In principle, there are three ways of limiting human environmental impacts: through population policy, technology and governance. The first of those does not offer much scope. Population growth is already slowing almost as fast as it naturally could. Only Chinese-style coercion would bring it down much below that.
Mankind needs to develop more and cheaper technologies that can enable people to enjoy the fruits of economic growth without destroying the planet's natural capital.
Natural resources
The natural property of a nation is called its natural resources. The fertile land, Forest, minerals, water sources, fossils fuels, etc. is natural resources. These are the resources of the country naturally available. Planned utilization of natural resources directly effects in the national development.
All of our many manufactured articles are made from the earth's natural resources. We obtain all our materials, and many of the resources which we use to provide energy, from the earth.
Some resources are being constantly produced in the earth. They are called renewable resources.
Others are not being replaced. They are called non- renewable resources.
Planned way of use of Non-renewable Resource:
The problem of a future shortage of some of our important resources must be faced. The answer to the problem will be a combination of four approaches.
(a) Replying more heavily on renewable resources: If a non-renewable resource becomes scarce, its price goes up. This can result in alternative renewable resource becoming cheaper than the non- renewable resource, so the renewable resource will be used instead.
(b) Increasing product lifetime: We must try to make products made from non-renewable resources last longer. For example, most cars are made of steel, which contain large amount of iron. The iron rusts. If every car could be made to last longer, then less iron would be needed by the motor industry.
(c) Recycling: Much of what we throw away could be reused. Glass, for example, can be crushed, remelted and reused. Glass made in this way requires much less energy than glass made from starch. Many people already take their empty glass bottles to bottle banks. If more and more people were encouraged to do this, the amount of resources need to make new glass could be greatly reduced.
(d) Opening up new resources: Improved technology is continually allowing resources which were previously unavailable to be extracted from the Earth.
All of our many manufactured articles are made from the earth's natural resources. We obtain all our materials, and many of the resources which we use to provide energy, from the earth.
Some resources are being constantly produced in the earth. They are called renewable resources.
Others are not being replaced. They are called non- renewable resources.
Planned way of use of Non-renewable Resource:
The problem of a future shortage of some of our important resources must be faced. The answer to the problem will be a combination of four approaches.
(a) Replying more heavily on renewable resources: If a non-renewable resource becomes scarce, its price goes up. This can result in alternative renewable resource becoming cheaper than the non- renewable resource, so the renewable resource will be used instead.
(b) Increasing product lifetime: We must try to make products made from non-renewable resources last longer. For example, most cars are made of steel, which contain large amount of iron. The iron rusts. If every car could be made to last longer, then less iron would be needed by the motor industry.
(c) Recycling: Much of what we throw away could be reused. Glass, for example, can be crushed, remelted and reused. Glass made in this way requires much less energy than glass made from starch. Many people already take their empty glass bottles to bottle banks. If more and more people were encouraged to do this, the amount of resources need to make new glass could be greatly reduced.
(d) Opening up new resources: Improved technology is continually allowing resources which were previously unavailable to be extracted from the Earth.
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