In our daily life, there are many things related to the environment. From the perspective of environmentalists and environmental concerns, we can find that the environmental awareness of our society really needs to be further improved. To cite a few examples in daily life, seemingly trivial things are actually related to global environmental problems.
1 light up the city and light up the energy.
Lighting cities is one of the progressive goals of many cities and one of the official achievements. However, urban lighting needs to consume energy, and "over-lighting" needs to consume extra energy, which should be considered. The city where I live is near the Yangtze River. In the evening, you can read books and newspapers almost anywhere on the main roads of the city. There are at least four pairs of extra-large lights at the intersection, which can be described as "bright as day". Together with various architectural landscape lights, advertising spotlights and special green lights for green belts, it adds a lot of color to the city. However, according to estimates, each street lamp only needs one electricity fee per year, far exceeding the income of a laid-off worker who works for one year. Someone vividly said that "there is a laid-off worker standing under every telephone pole". Environmental protection is not against urban lighting, "excessive lighting" will lead to a series of problems. When there is a shortage of coal and electricity, it is said that when you see a ship carrying coal on the Yangtze River, you should stay first and then talk about the price, which shows the shortage of energy. The scene of classroom lighting "shining with the sun" can also be seen everywhere. When luxury becomes a fashion, saving becomes an act that people despise, and all waste, including energy waste, has become a serious environmental problem.
2 doors and windows are wide open to blow air conditioning
In the cold season, there is no indoor heating equipment, or in the hot and long summer, the sound of air conditioning reverberates between tall buildings like mountain torrents. If there is no air conditioning, no electricity, and no cheap and convenient new heating or cooling technology is widely used, how can we spend such a day? The relevant state departments advocate that the air conditioner should not be turned on too low in summer and too high in winter. This is one of the means to save energy. We often see offices with windows open and air conditioners blowing around us, so how much electricity do we need to warm or cool our small space? How much greenhouse gas will be emitted by extra power consumption? Do we need to stipulate that we can't open doors and windows and blow air conditioners?
3 Disposable and "incompatible"
Using disposable products has become a part of our life. Disposable plastic bags are needed everywhere: rice bowls, lunch boxes, chopsticks, water cups, ballpoint pens, shoe covers, gloves, hats, tablecloths, raincoats, packaging bags for almost all goods, and so on. It's countless. The use of disposable products virtually produces a lot of garbage and wastes a lot of resources. For example, in a disposable ballpoint pen, there is a "compatibility" problem between the refill and the pen holder (this problem didn't exist before). You can't just buy a refill and put it in any pen holder. Sometimes you will encounter such a problem. There is almost no difference between buying a refill and buying a set of pens, and there is no special refill retail for original pens, so many used ballpoint pens don't know what to do with them. A primary school student needs more than 40 ballpoint pens in a school year, and a junior high school student needs more than 100. A high school student needs it more than a junior high school student. With the traditional statistical method, only primary and middle school students in China waste a lot of resources by discarding ballpoint pens. It has been widely publicized that disposable chopsticks consume wood, cut down forest resources and cause soil erosion and sandstorm. Buy food with cloth bags and baskets, refuse to use plastic bags, and there have been publicity reports. The development and use of disposable products is indeed a misunderstanding for our country with poor resources and large population.
Tap water for car washing
Cars have become fashionable. "Did you buy a car?" Instead of "have you eaten?" Greetings, cars become daily necessities, and car washing naturally becomes daily. Where does the water for car washing come from? So is tap water. Everyone knows that China is short of water. Water shortage in southern water towns means lack of clean water, and many ditches are discharging sewage. There is little rain in the north, and there is water shortage. Groundwater has become the object of development, and water has become a scarce resource. And "water is the source of life", a day can not be without water. Cars need to be cleaned, just like people need to wash their faces. Washing cars with drinking water is a big problem that needs to be solved as soon as possible. Recently, Australia suffered from the worst drought in a century or even a thousand years, and many rivers dried up. The government forbids watering lawns with hoses, washing cars with hoses and supplying water every other day, and has set up a hotline to encourage citizens to report people who waste water resources. Queensland, Australia's largest state, became the first state to use reclaimed water as drinking water. Queensland Prime Minister Peter Betty said that if the drought continues, all residents in Australia will be forced to drink purified sewage. "You either drink water or die. We have no choice. This is the golden liquid, life and death matter "(quoted from: Yangzi Evening News 2007- 1-30).
I just want to say that there are still some problems in China people's awareness of environmental protection. In a fashionable phrase, it is called "details make the future". Daily chores are not trivial details. Where can we start to solve this problem? Actually, it doesn't matter by comparison. It is important to face up to the existence of the problem first-to improve the environmental awareness of Chinese people.
protection measures
In the final analysis, human protection of the environment is based on the protection of the increasingly depleted resources on the earth, and the protection of water resources is the most basic condition for human survival and development. Below, the author talks about some superficial understanding on how to protect water resources in modern production and life.
First of all, we should establish the consciousness of cherishing water and carry out water resources warning education. For a long time, most people generally think that water is an inexhaustible "cornucopia", which is wasted in use. I wonder if I consciously cherish it. In fact, the water resources on the earth are not inexhaustible. Especially in China, the per capita water resources are not rich, the regional distribution is uneven, and the year is unpredictable, with great inter-annual differences. Coupled with serious pollution, water resources are even more scarce, which is vividly reflected in the repeated water cuts of the Yellow River. National water resources utilization projects such as "Yellow River Diversion Project" and "South-to-North Water Transfer Project" are aimed at solving the water shortage problem in some areas, but we should think deeply: Where can we "divert water from the Yellow River" when the water in the Yellow River is exhausted? The water in the south is polluted. How to "transfer water to the north"? Therefore, people must establish the consciousness of water crisis, take saving water resources as our conscious code of conduct, and carry out water resources warning education in various forms.
Secondly, we must develop water resources rationally to avoid the destruction of water resources. Water resources development includes surface water resources development and groundwater resources development. Water resources are used by the state. Therefore, the development of production and domestic water must comply with the relevant provisions of the Water Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) and make overall plans. When exploiting groundwater, because the water quality of each aquifer is quite different, it should be exploited by layers; Contaminated diving and confined water shall not be mixed; For exploration projects that expose and penetrate the water layer, layered water sealing and hole sealing must be carried out in strict accordance with relevant regulations to effectively prevent water pollution and ensure the sustainable development of water bodies.
Modern water conservancy projects, such as flood control, power generation, shipping, irrigation, aquaculture water supply, etc. , while exerting one or more economic benefits, it will have a certain negative impact on the natural environment and social environment of the project location, upstream and downstream, estuary and even the whole basin, and may also cause water resources destruction in a certain range. Therefore, since 1970s, many countries have carried out environmental assessment on water conservancy projects. In China, environmental assessment is needed in the feasibility study stage of water conservancy projects. Large and medium-sized projects should prepare environmental impact reports, and small and medium-sized projects with little impact on the environment should prepare environmental impact assessment tables. In addition, the destruction of water resources by some mining industries can not be ignored. For example, coal mining discharges 0.88 cubic meters of water for every ton of coal mined. According to the annual coal mining of 300 million tons in our province, the loss of groundwater resources is as high as 250 million cubic meters, which has caused great damage to the geological structure of groundwater. For another example, unrestricted deforestation will cause serious damage to vegetation, and it will also have a certain impact on soil and water conservation and surface burial of water resources.
Third, improve the utilization rate of water resources and reduce water waste. The key to effective water saving is to reuse water resources by using "reclaimed water". If reclaimed water can be used in the whole society, it will not only bring considerable economic and environmental benefits, but also form a good atmosphere for cherishing water resources in society. At present, many large and medium-sized enterprises have developed and utilized reclaimed water. For example, all mines in Huozhou Coal and Electricity Group use reclaimed water to sprinkle water underground and flush toilets on the ground, which has achieved good economic and social benefits. In addition, the effective utilization of water resources is regulated by economic leverage. Because water control is not in place, many places have flowing water, and some places will "hold bowls and pray". Therefore, it is necessary to install an effective water metering device and implement the principle of using more water and charging more, so as to achieve the purpose of saving water. Urban water quota management is an internationally accepted method. On the premise of scientific verification of water consumption, adhere to the principle of classified treatment. Different water prices shall be imposed on citizens' domestic water, industrial and commercial enterprises' water and government institutions' water, and the excess shall be appropriately raised to cultivate citizens' habit of saving water.
While saving water resources, we should avoid ineffective waste. In winter in the north, water pipes are prone to frost crack and serious water leakage, so special attention should be paid to prevention and inspection; With the development of social economy and the acceleration of urbanization, in order to alleviate the shortage of water resources, in addition to vigorously saving and protecting water resources, inter-basin water transfer has become an inevitable choice for cities in northern China, which will inevitably bring about changes in the relationship between supply and demand of water resources, so water rights trading must be implemented; Since China implemented the "welfare water" system, water has not been treated as an economic commodity. Therefore, in the preparation of water resources, the market mechanism is usually replaced by the control method. At present, we should change our ideas, recognize the natural and commodity attributes of water resources, follow the laws of nature and value, truly treat water as a commodity, rationally allocate water resources by using market mechanisms, and reduce resource waste.
Fourth, carry out water pollution prevention and control to realize comprehensive utilization of water resources. Water pollution includes surface water pollution and groundwater pollution. Industrial wastewater, industrial garbage, industrial waste gas, domestic sewage and domestic garbage produced in the production process can all cause water pollution through different infiltration methods. For a long time, environmental incidents caused by direct discharge of industrial production sewage are common, which have brought extremely bad effects on human production and life. Therefore, effective prevention and control of production and domestic sewage should be carried out. Cities can adopt centralized sewage treatment; Industrial enterprises must implement the "three simultaneities" system of environmental protection; According to the different properties of production sewage, corresponding sewage treatment measures are taken. In short, we must resolutely implement the supervision and management system for water pollution prevention and control, adhere to the principle that whoever pollutes will control it, strictly implement the one-vote veto system for environmental protection, promote the sewage treatment work of enterprises, and finally realize the comprehensive utilization of water resources.
Water is the material basis for the existence of life on earth, and water resources are the primary condition for maintaining the sustainable development of the earth's ecological environment. Therefore, protecting water resources is the greatest and most sacred duty of mankind.
One way: explore new water sources.
It seems a paradox that a planet mostly covered with water is facing a water crisis. However, on earth, this is indeed a fact. 97% of the water on the earth is seawater, which can neither quench thirst nor irrigate farmland. Some countries lacking fresh water in the Middle East, Caribbean and Mediterranean often use seawater desalination (that is, extracting drinkable fresh water from Aral Sea water) to solve the water shortage problem. With the reduction of seawater desalination cost and the increase of fresh water demand, countries in temperate regions are paying more and more attention to the ocean.
Large-scale seawater desalination equipment appears in the United States, one of the countries with the richest freshwater resources in the world. As part of a plan to reduce pumping from depleted aquifers, Florida's water conservancy officials plan to build a plant that produces 25 million gallons of desalinated water every day, relying on seawater desalination to supplement the region's future fresh water demand. Houston is also seeking to extract desalinated water from the Gulf of Mexico in case of fresh water shortage in the future.
For centuries, people have used evaporation and other technologies to extract fresh water from the ocean. People heat salty seawater to promote evaporation, and then collect the water formed after evaporation and evaporate it. Salt and other impurities will be left behind after seawater evaporates. This process is not complicated, but it requires a lot of heat energy and is expensive, which is unbearable for other countries except a few rich countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In order to reduce the cost, modern seawater desalination plants recover heat energy during evaporation.
A technology called membrane seawater desalination has the potential to reduce costs and may expand the influence of seawater desalination in the world. At present, desalinated water accounts for only 0.2% of fresh water extracted from nature. Membrane desalination relies on reverse osmosis: in this process, a semi-permeable membrane is placed between a certain amount of salt water and fresh water; The high pressure exerted by salt water makes water molecules (instead of salt and other impurities) permeate to the pure water side. This method is essentially to "squeeze" fresh water out of salt water.
In the past few years, most research on seawater desalination has focused on reverse osmosis, because reverse osmosis seawater desalination plants occupy less space and save energy.
Although the reverse osmosis seawater desalination device can save energy, the membrane originally used is made of polyamide fiber or cellulose acetate sheet. They are not durable, and they are often scrapped in less than three years. These materials are easily corroded by pollutants contained in untreated water, especially chlorine, which will harden the membrane; There are also some microorganisms that will hinder the formation of the membrane. Another problem is that the pretreatment mechanism for filtering sediments and bacteria must be extremely strict. At present, a new generation of ultra-thin synthetic membrane is made of polyamide membrane. Although it will still be corroded by pollutants, this new membrane is stronger and has better filtration effect, and can be used for 10 years.
Technical improvement is very important, but it is not enough to promote seawater desalination all over the world. In the next 10 year, with the deepening of the understanding of cities and other consumers, seawater desalination is likely to continue to grow healthily, regardless of whether the technical improvement can be sustained.
At present, the most optimistic estimate is that about 1% of the world's drinking water should not be provided by12,500 desalination plants. There is no doubt that this is just the beginning. Soon, the water in your cup may come from the sea. Method 2: Fresh water shipping
On land, pipelines can transport fresh water for a long distance at low cost. If only we could do the same thing on the ocean. One way to transport water at sea is to use tugboats to haul sealed plastic or fiber water bags.
Since 1997, British Freshwater Trading and Transportation Co., Ltd. has used giant polyurethane bags to transport water from the Greek mainland to nearby tourist islands to meet the demand of tourists for fresh water during the tourist season. The fresh water supply company based in Oslo, Norway also uses fiber bags to transport water from Turkey to Northern Cyprus.
Aquarius has produced eight large bags weighing 790 tons and two large bags weighing 2200 tons, each of which can hold 500,000 gallons of water, and also produced sample bags that are 10 times larger than the bags currently used. Last year, northern Europe also began to produce large bags with a capacity of 8 million gallons.
Water bags are cheaper than water tanks, but there are still some technical problems, especially it is difficult to produce such a huge bag that can resist collision at sea. It takes less than 60 miles to transport fresh water to Greek islands and Han Pr, but so far there have been many accidents in which water bags burst during transportation.
Another manufacturer of water bags is Spragg Company in California, USA, which has adopted an extra idea to solve the problems of oversized water bags and sea transportation. The company obtained a patent for a zipper with teeth exceeding 1 inch, which can connect water bags like a covered trailer. This company has demonstrated this technology, but it has not been commercialized.
So far, this method is only used to transport fresh water to coastal areas with extreme water shortage, stable demand and high price. For those areas where there is no choice, water bags are also a good solution.
1, saving resources and reducing pollution.
(1) Be proud of saving water. Turn off the tap at any time to prevent dripping.
(2) Use detergent carefully and use soap as much as possible to reduce the pollution of chemicals in detergent to water quality.
2. Green consumption and environmental protection choice
(1) Use unleaded gasoline, cadmium-free lead batteries and phosphorus-free detergents to reduce water and air pollution.
(2) Buy low-priced household refrigeration appliances and hairless mousse to reduce the pollution to the ozone layer.
3. Repeated use for many times
Try to use disposable goods less and use durable goods more. If disposable plastics and lunch boxes are not used, white pollution will be reduced; Do not use disposable chopsticks; Bring your own shopping bag or basket.
4. Classified recovery and reuse
Do not throw waste batteries, waste plastics and other garbage and waste; Classify garbage, turn waste into treasure, recycle resources and benefit mankind.
5. Protect the existence of all things in nature.
Do not hunt and use rare animals and protect animals, and cherish and protect wild animals and plants; Afforestation, care for every inch of green space, every flower and every tree around you.
3. The surge in demand for paper-saving pulp is one of the reasons for the increase in wood consumption. The annual consumption of wood for papermaking in China is 1000.
10,000 cubic meters, 6.5438+0.3 million tons of imported wood pulp. The large consumption of imported paper not only causes forest destruction, but also seriously pollutes rivers and lakes due to the sewage discharged from pulp production (the pollution caused by paper industry accounts for more than 30% of the whole water area). ), the used paper can be turned over to make draft paper, note paper, or made into a notebook; An expired calendar can be wrapped in a book bag.
4. Waste utilization, such as: candy paper can be folded into lighting or door curtains, old clothes can be made into mops and so on. Support and participate in waste paper,
Recycling of waste glass, plastics and metals.
5. Reduce domestic garbage and consciously classify garbage.
6. Use less chemicals, buy and use phosphorus-free and biodegradable washing products;
7. Try not to use private cars. In order to reduce air pollution and save energy, try to use public transport, bicycles or
Walking; Use unleaded gasoline and buy a car with a small displacement.