All of humanity faces the most important task - the preservation of the diversity of all organisms living on Earth. All species (vegetation, animals) are closely interconnected. The destruction of even one of them leads to the disappearance of other species interrelated with it.
Human influence on the nature of the Earth
From the very moment that a man came up with tools and became more or less reasonable, his comprehensive influence on the nature of the planet began. The more a person has developed, the greater the influence he has on the environment of the Earth. How does man influence nature? What is positive and what is negative?
Negative points
There are pros and cons of human influence on nature. To begin, consider the negative examples of the harmful effects of man on the environment :
- Deforestation associated with the construction of highways and so on.
- Soil pollution occurs due to the use of fertilizers and chemicals.
- Reducing the number of populations due to the expansion of areas for fields through deforestation (animals, losing their normal habitat, die).
- Destruction of plants and animals in connection with the difficulties of their adaptation to a new life, much changed by man, or simply extermination by people.
- Pollution of the atmosphere and water by various industrial wastes and by the people themselves. For example, in the Pacific Ocean there is a “dead zone” where a huge amount of garbage floats.
Examples of human influence on the nature of the ocean and mountains, on the state of fresh water
The change in nature under the influence of man is very significant. The flora and fauna of the Earth are severely affected, and water resources are polluted.
As a rule, light trash remains on the surface of the ocean. In this regard, the access of air (oxygen) and light to the inhabitants of these territories is impeded. Numerous species of living creatures are trying to find new places for their habitat, which, unfortunately, not everyone succeeds.
Each year, ocean currents bring in millions of tons of garbage. This is a real disaster.
Deforestation on the mountain slopes also has a negative effect. They become bare, which contributes to erosion, as a result, loosening of the soil occurs. And this leads to devastating collapses.
Pollution occurs not only in the waters of the oceans, but also in fresh water. Every day, sewage or industrial waste flows into the rivers in thousands of cubic meters.
And groundwater is infected with pesticides, chemical fertilizers.
The terrible consequences of oil spills, mining
Just one drop of oil makes approximately 25 liters of drinking water unsuitable. But this is not the worst. A rather thin film of oil covers the surface of a vast area of water - about 20 m 2 of water. This is disastrous for all living things. All organisms under such a film are doomed to slow death, because it prevents the access of oxygen to water. This is also a direct human influence on the nature of the Earth.
People extract minerals from the bowels of the Earth, formed over several million years - oil, coal and so on. Such industrial enterprises, together with automobiles, emit large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which leads to a catastrophic decrease in the ozone layer of the atmosphere - the protector of the Earth’s surface from ultraviolet radiation from the sun that causes death.
Over the past 50 years, the air temperature on Earth has increased by only 0.6 degrees. But that is a lot.
Such warming will increase the temperature of the oceans, which will contribute to the melting of polar glaciers in the Arctic. Thus, the most global problem arises - the ecosystem of the poles of the Earth is disrupted. Glaciers are the most important and voluminous sources of clean fresh water.
People benefit
It should be noted that people bring certain benefits, and considerable.
From this point of view, it is necessary to note the influence of man on nature. The positive lies in the activities undertaken by people to improve the ecology of the environment.
On many vast territories of the Earth in different countries, protected areas, reserves and parks are organized - places where everything is preserved in its original form. This is the most reasonable human influence on nature, positive. In such reserved places, people contribute to the conservation of flora and fauna.
Thanks to their creation, many species of animals and plants survived on Earth. Rare and already endangered species are necessarily recorded in the Red Book created by man, according to which fishing and collection are prohibited.
Also, people create artificial water channels and irrigation systems that help maintain and increase soil fertility.
Planting of diverse vegetation is also carried out on a large scale.
Ways to solve emerging problems in nature
To solve problems, it is necessary and important, first of all, the active influence of man on nature (positive).
To preserve mineral resources, it is necessary to improve the methods of their extraction (in the bowels of the modern methods of their extraction of minerals, 25% of metal ores, more than 50% of oil and about 40% of coal remain in the strata), and use them only for their intended purpose.
To solve energy problems, alternative methods must be used: wind and solar energy, tidal energy.
As for biological resources (animals and plants), they should be used (extracted) in such a way that individuals always remain in nature in quantities that contribute to the restoration of the previous population size.
It is also necessary to continue the work on organizing nature reserves and planting forests.
Carrying out all these measures to restore and improve the environment is a positive influence of man on nature. All this is necessary for the good of himself.
After all, the well-being of a person’s life, like all biological organisms, depends on the state of nature. Now all of humanity faces the most important problem - the creation of a favorable state and sustainability of the living environment.