"The annual emissions of gases that pose a greater threat to mankind in the world exceed 600 million tons ...; It is estimated that by the middle of the next century, one third of the earth's surface will be in danger of desertification, and 60,000 square kilometers of land will be desertification every year, threatening more than 60 countries ... "See these shocking figures. How do you feel, my friend?
Engels said ... we should not be too intoxicated with our victory over nature. Every time such a victory, nature retaliates against us. "Isn't it? From the appearance of forest ape180,000 years ago to the highly developed civilization era of human beings, human beings have never stopped asking for nature, and naturally they are "responsive", which further breeds human greed. They wantonly cut down trees on the earth, set up chemical plants and discharge pollutants and wastes. As a result, once the mountains and rivers were beautiful, the blue mother earth looked devastated and filthy. Why isn't this chilling?
At this point, mankind has not realized the seriousness of the problem, and still goes its own way, exchanging environmental pollution and ecological destruction for economic development. Let me give you a recent example:
In the early 1950s, Mulan River in our city was originally a crystal clear river, with fish and shrimp swarming everywhere, with children splashing and women washing rice and vegetables. However, in recent years, due to the neglect of environmental protection in factories such as Mulan Sugar Factory in the upper reaches of the river, the water quality of Mulan River has deteriorated and fish and shrimp have disappeared at will. Looking at the black foam floating on the stream and the dead chickens and ducks, who dares to swim in the river and wash clothes and cook with the river water? Farmers on both sides of the river irrigated their crops with polluted water, which reduced their output. Farmers have repeatedly asked the county authorities to solve the pollution problem, but for some reason, they have been dragging their feet.
Didn't the foam and livestock carcasses in Mulan River sound a wake-up call for us? When will the extinct fish and shrimp in the stream return?
Of course, environmental problems are not limited to these, such as the eight major public hazards in the world, Minamata disease in Japan, painful diseases, etc., all of which are caused by human ignorance of nature and digging their own graves. Indeed, environmental problems have been plaguing the whole world. But who directed this tragedy? It's people. When disaster befalls human beings again, when nature retaliates endlessly against human beings, human beings finally wake up and understand the importance of environmental protection. If human beings want to conquer nature, they must respect it. We should not only carefully transform nature, but also boldly practice and boldly improve it, so as to control nature and make our own interests develop harmoniously with nature.
Facing the severe environmental problems in China, we can't repeat the mistake of "pollution first, then treatment" in western developed countries. "Pollution first, then treatment" is a very unwise choice, and the cost of treatment is very high. We should not only speed up development and get rid of the constraints of environmental problems on China's economy, but also implement the policy of putting prevention first and combining prevention with control to protect the environment.
As a middle school student in the new era, I advocate students to improve their awareness of environmental protection, and also suggest that uncles and aunts join our team to contribute their strength to environmental protection and benefit future generations.
Because: protecting the environment is urgent!
2. On the unity of opposites between human beings and the environment.
As the master of the earth, human beings are closely related to the surrounding geographical environment from the day they are born. On the one hand, human life activities and production activities need to continuously obtain materials and energy from the surrounding environment for their own survival and development, and at the same time discharge wastes into the geographical environment; On the other hand, the environment is constantly forming and transforming certain substances and energy according to its own laws. Its occurrence, development and change do not care about human existence, either changing its objective attributes for people's subjective needs or changing its own development process for people's purposeful activities. There is a special relationship between human beings and the environment, which is both antagonistic and unified.
The so-called opposition, that is, human subjective needs and purposeful activities, is bound to contradict the objective attributes and development laws of the environment. Human beings must understand the environment and engage in production and activities according to the law of environmental development and change, otherwise they will be retaliated and punished by the environment, and environmental problems that are not conducive to human survival will follow.
The so-called unity means that human beings always exist in a certain environmental space with the environment as the carrier, and human activities always interact, restrict and transform with their surrounding environment. Human beings are not only the product of the environment, but also the shaper of the environment in a sense. It is impossible for human activities to take from the environment endlessly, and it is impossible to discharge wastes into the environment indefinitely. When human behavior is retaliated by the environment, which affects the survival and development of human beings, human beings have to adjust their behavior to adapt to the scope allowed by the environment.
For thousands of years, human society has developed in this relationship of unity of opposites.
When humans just differentiated from animals, this relationship of unity of opposites was already in the primary state. Early humans knew how to find food, make fires, make clothes, dig holes and compete for survival in various environments. However, due to its limited activity ability, it can only exchange material and energy with the environment through life activities and its own physiological metabolism process. At this time, the contradiction between human beings and the environment is not outstanding, and people's efforts are only aimed at adapting and utilizing the environment, but rarely consciously changing the environment.
With the enhancement of human activity ability and the improvement of tools used, human beings began to know how to change the environment, learned farming, breeding, clothing and living, and the population increased greatly. Especially in the era of agricultural civilization, people have turned vast barren hills and grasslands into fertile fields, and the development of water conservancy has provided a guarantee for the bumper harvest of agriculture. However, behind its development, the contradiction with the environment is outstanding. Due to uncontrolled logging and reclamation, serious soil erosion has been caused, the destruction of grassland has led to the expansion of desert, and unreasonable water diversion irrigation has led to the formation of soil salinization. The intensification of these contradictions turned the once prosperous Babylonian civilization into a desert, and also made the Maya unable to resist the invasion of drought, flood and sandstorm, and had to abandon their civilization and leave their hometown ... This was an early environmental problem. Regrettably, people did not arouse vigilance and did not realize that this was environmental retaliation. At that time, human productivity was not developed, the damage to the environment was not obvious, and the environmental problems had not reached the point of endangering human survival, so human beings still went their own way. In the modern industrial age, the situation has changed fundamentally. The productivity of human society, the number of human beings, the scope and scale of life are not the same as before. The idea that "man can conquer nature" occupies people's minds. While human beings are transforming the environment, the damage to the environment is also increasing. At the same time, the structural composition of the environment, the way and intensity of material circulation have undergone profound changes, and environmental problems have become clear. Modern industry has exploited a large number of underground mineral resources and put them into the environment. With the production and consumption of products, waste gas, waste water and waste residue are discharged, many of which are difficult to treat and assimilate, causing unbearable harm to human beings and creatures. With the continuous accumulation of these hazardous wastes, the environmental quality has gradually deteriorated and the ecological balance has been destroyed. Modern industry has also brought population problems and urbanization problems, and agricultural modernization has also spawned many environmental problems. It can be seen that human beings have played an active role in the process of creating a high level of material civilization, but also brought negative side effects to the environment, from the "black storm" in the United States in 1934 to the "artificial desert" in Inner Mongolia during the Great Leap Forward era in China. From the London smog incident in 1960s, the photochemical incident in Los Angeles and the Maas Valley incident in Belgium, to a series of environmental problems such as the sharp increase of population, the sharp decline of forests and the hole in the ozone layer in the world today, all of them are the revenge of nature on human beings. These are the concrete manifestations of the antagonistic relationship between human beings and the environment.
Of course, where there is opposition, there must be unity. From ancient people's passive adaptation to modern people's conscious transformation of the environment to adapt to human survival and development, it embodies the unified relationship between man and the environment. From arboreal to cave dwelling, from cave dwelling to folk house, from collecting natural food to developing agriculture and animal husbandry, these are the processes that human beings adapt to the environment. It should be said that this is also the process of the unification of human beings and the environment. With the emergence of modern environmental problems endangering human survival, human beings began to reflect on themselves and made a series of countermeasures, such as closing mountains, planting trees, planting grass, establishing nature reserves, paying attention to the control and development of resources and environmental governance. , so that human survival and development can better adapt to the laws of environmental development. In particular, human beings rely on their own wisdom and ability. Constantly transform the environment and create a space that is more suitable for human survival and development and in harmony with the environment, so as to reach the highest level of unified relations. For example, Britain's "Fog Capital Improvement", America's "Dead River Revival", Japanese "Garden Factory", China's "Three North" Shelterbelt and more than 700 nature reserves all illustrate the unity and improvement of the relationship between human activities and the environment.
Fortunately, protecting the environment and promoting ecological balance have become the knowledge of human beings in the world today. 1On June 5th, 972, the United Nations held a conference on "Man and Environment" in Stockholm, Sweden, put forward the slogan of "There is only one earth", adopted the Declaration on Human Environment, and named it "World Environment Day" on June 5th of the same year; Since 1976, many international conferences have been held to discuss and solve the problem of ozone hole in the atmosphere, and the United Nations has also adopted a resolution to stop using "chlorofluorocarbons" before 2000. 1992, the United Nations held a conference on "Environment and Development" in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, attended by heads of state. These countermeasures can be said to be new measures to promote the relationship between human society and geographical environment from opposition to unity.
It must be noted that the unity of opposites between human beings and the environment runs through the development of human society. With the development of human society and the increasing demand for environmental resources, this relationship is also developing. To solve the contradiction between human beings and the environment, on the one hand, we must rely on the development of productive forces and the progress of science and technology, on the other hand, we must vigorously raise the environmental awareness of the whole people and achieve a high degree of coordination between human beings and the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to straighten out the following relations:
① Establish the concept of sustainable development, that is, the current behavior or goal of human beings should be consistent with the long-term interests and destiny of the whole, and all kinds of production and life activities of human beings should be conducive to the living environment and obtain the greatest benefits;
② Human activities can continuously obtain material and energy from the environment, obtain a good living environment and long-term benefits, and live healthily and happily;
③ A benign complementary relationship can be established between man and nature, and between people, so as to realize the organic integration of all elements of the coordination system.
④ Human culture must promote social development and national progress, deepen people's understanding of natural utilization and establish a good social and economic environment;
⑤ In the great project of coordinated development between human beings and the environment, the organizational structure and knowledge structure of human beings must be sound, the consciousness of participation of the whole people must be strengthened, and the main decision-making must be correct; The coordination between human beings and the environment must be all-round, human beings must always be within the maximum environmental capacity or carrying capacity of the earth and must always be in the best living environment.
In a word, the unity of opposites between human beings and the environment is everywhere. To eliminate opposition and strengthen unity, we must coordinate the relationship between man and environment and achieve a high degree of coordination between economic benefits, social benefits and ecological benefits in economic construction. Only in this way can we ensure a high degree of unity between human sustainable development and the environment. Otherwise, those who only consider meeting the needs of human development, regardless of environmental quality, or even just consider immediate practices will only undermine unity and strengthen opposition. The needs of human development cannot be met, and the relationship between them cannot be improved. In addition, the legacy of environmental damage will also affect future generations.
3. Thinking about environmental problems caused by SARS.
-Thinking about environmental problems caused by SARS.
In the past 30 years, due to human destruction of forests, environmental pollution, improper engineering construction and other reasons, the ecological environment has been changed and destroyed, so that germs are in an active state, the propagation speed is accelerated, the spread range is expanded, and new diseases are constantly appearing, which is bringing disastrous consequences to human health. This paper aims to arouse people's environmental awareness and behavior.
Keywords: changes in the ecological environment are harmful to health
From late April to early May, 2003, "SARS" occupied most headlines, but it was not the only strange disease monitored by the World Health Organization. SARS, the deadly Ebola virus, has been raging in Central Africa for more than five months, and bird flu is sweeping chicken farms in Belgium and the Netherlands and infecting people ... terrible new diseases are emerging one after another. From 1970s to now, about 30 new diseases have been added, resulting in tens of millions of deaths. The American Institute of Medicine warned that infectious diseases will continue to appear. When studying the causes of diseases, ecologists found that most new human diseases originated from animals, and this process was influenced by accidental factors, even weather and climate. However, in contrast, human activities have a much greater impact on the ecological environment. Almost all acts that destroy the natural environment, such as changing land use mode, environmental pollution, improper construction of large-scale projects, will break the harmony between life and nature, change the ecology of germs and vectors, and improve the mobility of pathogenic microorganisms, thus producing disastrous consequences.
First of all, human beings destroy forests, break the natural ecological balance and provide opportunities for germs. In 1980s, farmers in Venezuela and Portugal leveled millions of hectares of forests and turned them into farmland. These farms attracted as many rats and voles as people. These rodents also brought a virus called Guanarito to this area, causing fever, shock and bleeding. More than 1 000 people were infected, and1patient ∕ 3 died. From 65438 to 0999, pig farmers in Malaysia cut down forests to expand the scale of aquaculture, resulting in homeless fruit bats beginning to inhabit rafters on the roof of the shed. The Nipah virus they carried polluted the drinking water of pigs, causing them to suffer from a severe cough called "Maitreya cough" (because it can be heard from so far away). The virus quickly spread from pigs to pig farmers, causing severe encephalitis, and the mortality rate of infected people reached 40%. The Malaysian government closed eight farms and slaughtered 1 10,000 pigs before finally putting out the epidemic. The same is true of Lyme disease in Connecticut, USA (the pathogen is Borrelia brucei, which is transmitted by ticks parasitic on deer and mice): people destroy forests in suburban development activities, causing foxes and bobcats to lose their habitats, and the number of mice carrying Borrelia brucei has increased sharply, thus making people infected.
Blind changes in land use patterns, such as the reduction of forests, the disappearance of a large number of wetlands and the reclamation of grasslands, have also destroyed the ecological balance and induced many diseases.
Secondly, environmental pollution provides a hotbed and channel for germs to breed and spread. The survival of human beings is inseparable from the ecological environment such as water, atmosphere and soil. Once these environments are polluted or destroyed, they will directly or indirectly harm human health, leading to the increase of "modern diseases" and environmental strange diseases. After studying the environmental problems in 1997 China, the World Bank pointed out that due to the aggravation of environmental pollution in China, environmental accidents occurred one after another, and the incidence of malignant tumors and respiratory diseases closely related to environmental pollution increased.
Thermal pollution not only leads to the thermal expansion of seawater and the melting of polar glaciers, but also causes the sea level to rise, accelerates the extinction of biological species, and does a lot of harm to human health. It completely reduces the normal immune function of human mechanism, including the enhancement of the heat resistance of pathogenic viruses or bacteria to antibiotics, and the change of ecosystem reduces the body's resistance to diseases, thus aggravating the complications and prevalence of various old and new infectious diseases. Thermal pollution raises the temperature, provides the best breeding conditions and transmission mechanism for infectious insects and pathogenic microorganisms such as mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches and fleas, and forms a new "mutual induction chain effect", which leads to the expansion and repeated epidemics of diseases caused by viruses such as malaria, dengue fever, schistosomiasis, scrub typhus and meningitis. Infectious diseases, especially those spread by mosquitoes, are showing a sharp increase trend at present. Recently, a strange disease caused by "West Nile virus" infected by mosquitoes was discovered in new york, USA.
The combination of coastal pollution and ocean warming may lead to toxic red tides and other diseases, such as cholera bacteria living in floating organisms. Some people think that the death of dugong along the coast of Florida in the United States at the end of the 20th century is related to the eutrophication of seawater and the toxic red tide caused by the rising surface temperature of seawater.
In addition, the environmental pollution caused by toxic or chemical substances, such as air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, radioactive pollution, domestic waste, especially medical waste pollution and poor environmental sanitation, will also cause other diseases that seriously endanger human health.
Third, improper construction of large-scale projects has caused changes in the ecological environment and created conditions for the reproduction and spread of germs. For example, Egypt's management of the Nile and the construction of Aswan Dam have changed the hydrological characteristics of the river, destroyed the ecological balance of the Nile basin, and increased the probability of people infected with schistosomiasis along the lower Nile. Schistosomiasis was first prevalent only in the season when the Nile was rich in water. After the completion of the Aswan Dam, the flowing rivers in the lower Nile ceased to exist because of the dam barrier, and the living water in the lower Nile became a relatively static "lake", which provided an environment for mosquitoes to breed and spread diseases, threatening the residents in the lower reaches of the reservoir with malaria and schistosomiasis, and the incidence rate rose sharply.
Numerous facts have proved that human activities that change the ecological environment may bring disastrous consequences to human health. Environmental pollution, climate change, population expansion, indiscriminate application and exploitation of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, invasion of tropical rain forests, reclamation of wetlands and unclean living environment all around the world will provide opportunities for various viruses. The ravages of SARS once again tell us that the human struggle to control infectious diseases is far from over. Facing the challenge of infectious diseases to the healthy survival of human beings, we need to take concerted action all over the world, not only in health and epidemic prevention, but also in ecosystem restoration and environmental protection.
Too much. Choose for yourself.