Deforestation of tropical forests !

Cutting down tropical forests poses a great threat to Latin America, Asia and Africa. Since ancient times, high quality wood attracted industrialists western developed countries and the countries themselves are not able to use this potential due to lack of technology. The area of ​​the tropical forests of Equatorial Africa halved in the colonial period. Deforestation of tropical forests is 6 times faster than their regeneration and recovery. Year after year the situationworsens in the Philippines, as well as in other countries. If in the 70's forests occupy more than 60% in Thailand, then in the late 80s they have been preserved only in national parks. The main scourge of tropical forests has been that the most common and the primary fuel in mostcountries of the East is a tree. Every minute, the area of ​​tropical forests is reduced by an amount equal to two hundred football fields. And if the pace of deforestation does not change,the beginning of the next century, developing countries can and do lose their forests.

Aral Sea

Karakalpakstan, in the south. In translation the name sounds like "Sea of ​​Islands", as it more than 1,500 islands. Since the 1960s, the water level in the Aral Sea began to plummet, due to the fact that the bed of rivers flowing into the sea, were changed by the Soviet Union for irrigation. In 2004, the sea remains only a quarter of its original area, and is five times increased its salinity, which killed most of the characteristic of a species of flora and fauna.The Aral Sea is also polluted, largely due to weapons testing, industrial projects, and agricultural waste discharges. Not 
uncommon, and there are dust storms. Currently, Kazakhstan has a lot of work to restore the Aral Sea. The main environmental problem is that changing the channel the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers for irrigation greatly reduced the area of ​​the Aral Sea. The Aral Sea dried out for fifty years, calling for the sea and the region.many environmental and economic problems. In 1918, the Soviet government decided that the rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya, flowing into the Aral Sea will change the channel to irrigate the desert, which would be used for agriculture. Large scale construction of irrigation canals has taken in the 1940s. Most of the irrigation canals were terrible quality, they allow water to evaporate or seep. The greatest in the middle of the Karakum Canal Asia lost because of this more than 50% water. By the 60th year, approximately 40,000 cubic meters of water annually went into the ground instead of the sea. Due to the explosion of water, the Aral sea began to shrink rapidly. In the period from 1961 to 1970, the water level in the Aral Sea each year decreased by 20 cm, from 1971 to 1980 in the 60-70 cm per year, and the 80th year this figure had reached 90 cm per year. The area of ​​the sea has decreased by 60%, and its volume by 80%. In 1960, the Aral Sea was the fourth lake in the world's largest, and had an area of ​​about 68,000 km and a volume of 1100 square meters. miles. By 1998, the lake was reduced to 28,687 km, and has become the eighth largest. By this time, its salinity has increased from 10 gr. / Liter. to 45 gr. / liter. In 1987, due to the ongoing shoaling, the sea split into two parts, the North Aral and South Aral Sea. Artificial channel was dug to connect them, but the relationship ended in 1999, as both parts of the sea continued to decline. In 2003, the South Aral Sea is still divided on the eastern and western part. At present, the evaporation of the Northern Aral Sea decreased. We are working on its restoration. In October 2003, the Kazakh government announced the start of construction of the dam (Dam Kokaral) to separate the two parts of the Aral Sea. In August 2005 construction of the dam was completed, after which the water level in the Northern Aral Sea has risen and its salinity has decreased. In 2006 there were a significant rise in sea level, even more than expected. In January 1994, the countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan signed an agreement, under which 1% of their national budgets allocated to address the problems of the sea.

Global warming and its consequences.

Scientists and politicians have continued to vigorously discuss the first part of the report on global climate change of the Earth, which is a special Council of the United Nations, presented in early February in Paris,and in the meantime has already been completed on the second part of the report. Its approval and presentation took place in Brussels on Good Friday, and a feeling that this sad day was chosen by chance - just a grim picture of the future of our planet have drawn experts from 124 countries of the world. If the first part of the report dealt with the general trends in changing Earth's climate and their causes, the second part examines the implications of these changes for the population of the planet and its entire ecosystem. Planned and the third part - it will be given specific advice to politicians and heads of states. If you try to briefly summarize the meaning of the second part of the report, it is that while gaining speed global warming one way or another affect all the countries and continents, there are four regions in which climate change will hit hardest. This is a densely populated coast of Asia in the mouths of large rivers, where the expected catastrophic floods, and this arid regions of Africa, where the heat and water shortages will make life almost impossible, it is the Arctic, and it's many small islands in the Pacific Ocean, which can simply disappear into the depths of the sea due to the increase global sea level. According to the forecasts of leading experts, after 70 years, more than 3 billion people on Earth will experience a shortage of drinking water, 600 million - an acute shortage of food. The global average temperature increase of only 2.5 degrees by the end of the century to supply to the brink of extinction a third of all existing species of animals and plants. To prevent climate change, humanity can not all that it can still take a try, first, to reduce its magnitude, and secondly, as much as possible to adapt to the inevitable.However, the chairman of the UN Climate Change - an Indian engineer and environmentalist Rajendra Pachauri (Rajendra Pachauri) - pointed to this aspect of the problem:The poorest of the poor of the world, including even the poor in rich countries - that is to whom the global climate change will hit hardest. This should not be forgotten, because poor people are most vulnerable, they virtually have no opportunity to adapt or prepare for the impending dramatic changes in the environment.But the industrialized countries of the West in general, will not pass this cup. For example, experts predict more hot and dry summer in the U.S. major metropolitan areas like Chicago, the shortage of fresh water on the west coast is much more frequent and more devastating than the notorious Katrina, hurricanes in the southeastern United States, forest fires in the U.S. and Mexico.Do not look so clear forecasts for Europe. North of the continent global warming may even give some advantages, bearing in mind the agriculture and forestry, and hydropower. But the central and especially southern Europe suffer from climate change. In the Mediterranean region - France, Italy, Spain, - aggravated already perceived shortage of fresh water to intensify droughts and forest fires.However, to speak about the consequences of climate change in the future tense is not true: they are, at least for now and not in such dramatic form, being felt today. In particular, the visual evidence of global warming from one year to watch - though perhaps not aware of this report - European mushroom pickers. They are increasingly faced with the fact that the usual, well familiar types of mushrooms they suddenly appear in the woods, seemingly quite an inopportune time. British ecologists have published recently in the journal «Science» article in which he summed up by these random observations of everyday sound scientific basis.However, this has laid the most invaluable database, which now took advantage of the scientists, too mushroom-lover, a mason by trade, Edward Genji (Edward Gange). Since 1950 a regular gathering mushrooms in the same woods near the town of Salisbury, he meticulously recorded on the cards when the first time what kind of mushroom this season appeared and how long it could still be found here. These recordings became the basis for the analysis performed by his son, Alan (Alan) Genji, an ecologist at the Royal College of Holloway University of London. Alan says:His father retired 12 years ago, bought a computer and transferred to it his entire roster. This data set was 52,000 cards. When he told me about it, I immediately realized what a fantastic, truly an invaluable source of information was at my disposal. After all, these data allow us to judge how global climate change affects the nature of the fall. So far, all observations and studies of this kind have focused on the spring, when birds start which build their nests, when some plants begin to bloom.Most of the life cycle of fungi is underground and hidden from human eyes. Mushrooms are there in the form of a wide network of long, thin branching filaments - the so-called hyphae - mycelium form - the so-called mycelium. Upon occurrence of warm and wet weather aerial mycelium forms a spore-bearing fruiting bodies, which are, in fact, accepted in common parlance called mushrooms. And the onset of cold weather ends the growing season. It is clear that climate change can not affect this cycle. Indeed, the data Alan Genji, based on the file cabinet, and his father on his own observations, suggest that more than 70 percent of the most common fungi in the UK behave today is not the case, as 10, 20, and those over 30 or 40 years ago :First of all, the duration of the mushroom season in 1950 more than doubled. In the 50's mushroom season lasted an average of 32 days. It began in early September and ended in early October. Today, the mushroom season starts much earlier and lasted an average of 75 days.In other words, many species of fungi, which are in the middle of last century, appeared in the woods until September, can now be found as early as August or even July. A species in the 50 years disappearing in October, today often hold out until Christmas - such as fly agaric.Genji Alan continues:The second phenomenon is more unusual: Many mushrooms are now fruit twice a year.Species that typically occur in October, we are now often found in April and May. Nothing like this had never been observed.This applies to edible mushrooms - such as chanterelles and mushrooms - and of inedible - so, for example, svinushka Valuoja or false. Today in the UK mushroom season has two break - summer and winter. In the summer is too dry, too cold in winter. But if in the process of global climate change, average temperatures in January and February will continue to rise, then the time will come when the mushrooms in the forests of Britain can be collected nearly year-round. This, in turn, will cause far-reaching consequences. Genji Alan says:If today fungi form fruiting bodies twice a year, it can not but affect the entire ecosystem of the forest. Mushrooms contain no chlorophyll, can not absorb carbon dioxide from the air and ready to eat from the organic matter contained in the soil or other substrate. That is, they either live on the decomposition of dead plant debris - leaves, pine needles, twigs, etc. - or enter into a symbiosis with trees and get the nutrients not only from the forest floor, but also from the roots of trees. Thus, if the mushrooms fruit twice a year now, they need to double the nutrients to form fruiting bodies. That is, in our days, two fungi decompose more biomass than even 50 years ago.While this factor for the forest ecosystem rather positive. Because fungi saprotroph provide some kind of recycling of waste wood, fungi, symbionts supply nutrients to the trees:This means that now the trees are getting more nutrients than before, and this contributes to their growth. However, after 50 or 100 years if warming continues to accelerate, and processes of vegetation, it can give in the end, the negative effect, since the whole ecosystem goes out of balance.Meanwhile, Alan Genji gives mushroom collectors - if not all, then at least the British, - practical advice:If you are going into the woods to pick mushrooms, go there in July, and not wait until September.Another consequence of global warming that is observed today, but has, in contrast to the acceleration of the mushroom developmental cycle is definitely negative - is widely distributed ticks, and hence they have borne infectious diseases - the so-called spring-summer meningoencephalitis and tick-borne borreliosis , also called Lyme disease. This issue was dedicated to the past, even recently in Jena, a special symposium. Presented at the symposium facts can not but cause concern. It seems that the spring-summer meningoencephalitis, as referred to the tick-borne form of inflammation of the brain and its membranes, is not fully compatible with this its name because it is now increasingly common long before the onset of spring calendar. Dr. Jochen Zyus (Jochen Süß), Fellow of the Federal Veterinary Research Institute in Jena, said:Czech colleagues documented in 2006, more than a thousand cases of tick-borne meningoencephalitis. What is surprising is that almost half of this amount came in the last third of the year. But these are the months when we would normally only a few isolated cases.At least it was until now.Now, apparently, the situation has changed - and how easy to guess, not for the better. This year, in the vicinity of Berlin, mites remained active even from October to January, although in these months, they certainly supposed to be in the winter torpor. The most common mite species in Germany - the dog tick (Ixodes ricinus) - comes out of hibernation, when the soil temperature reaches 7 degrees Celsius and the humidity exceeds 85 percent. After this he goes on the hunt - or rather, to find a suitable host. In recent decades, the tick habitat has steadily expanded to the north, covering new areas. Professor Friedrich Wilhelm Gerstengarbe (Friedrich Wilhelm Gerstengarbe), researcher at the Institute for the Study of the effects of climate change in Potsdam, explains:Active dissemination of ticks began about 30 years ago, and at the same time during the past 30 years, we have seen a significant increase in average temperatures. These processes are strictly synchronous, that is there to talk about a very high degree of correlation.At a symposium in Jena, climatologists, meteorologists, physicians, epidemiologists and Arachnology, that is, specialists who study arachnids, which include and ticks, and discussed opportunities for closer cooperation in order to find ways to reliably predicting the spread of tick-borne, and their diseases. Professor Gerstengarbe explains:So if, say, in Brandenburg this summer would have occurred very dry weather, then the probability of a tick bite would be very small. But it would have been much higher in the spring, when there is a lot of precipitation falls. In the south-west Germany for the past 50 years, annual precipitation has increased by 300-400 millimeters. Naturally, this affects the behavior of the mites. There's humidity is consistently over 85 percent, so that the temperature begins to rise almost immediately and sharply increases the incidence of spring-summer meningoencephalitis. And now I have described this situation is typical of the south-western regions of the country, begins under the influence of global climate change, shifting to the north. And we are faced with the question: how will the mites? Increase the number of its population, or not? There will be a tick to migrate north, or will not, and if so, how fast?In Germany, the relevant statistics are not maintained. But the sad experience of other countries does not give reason to doubt: the tick migrates. In Sweden, he had already penetrated to the southern coast of the central regions of the country, in Norway, he recently did not exist, but today it is already there, and the Finnish researchers have even discovered the first instance, only 200 kilometers from the Arctic Circle. It is unlikely that the tick will behave differently in Germany. Therefore, doctors are sounding the alarm today: the very populations from south-western parts of the country, which, according to forecasts of climatologists, can capture almost the entire territory of Germany, is a carrier of both diseases. However, not every tick bite mean automatically infected. According to epidemiologists - the truth is quite rough - a carrier of the virus of spring-summer meningoencephalitis are the only one to five percent of the ticks. Percentage of ticks infected with spirochetes that cause Lyme disease in humans is much higher: it varies from 5 to 50 percent, but between the tick bite and penetration of bacteria into the blood is not less than 12 hours, which makes it possible to take the necessary measures. Yet borreliosis in Germany suffer from about 50 thousand people, and the incidence of spring-summer meningoencephalitis in the last two years has doubled to over 500 cases a year. Dr. Zyus explains:When we know which regions are most at risk, then, observing the weather in the winter, you can advance to give a fairly accurate prediction and apply to the population of those areas where the expected invasion of mites, with an appeal to be vaccinated against the spring-summer meningoencephalitis. Something like this done today, vaccination against influenza.The same campaign, we should pursue with regard to diseases transmitted by ticks.However, vaccination is only against menigoentsefalita, but then a lot. And given the unprecedentedly mild weather last winter and has a hot spring called for vigilance against ticks would sound this year could not be more helpful.

Pollution of the Baltic Sea !

The main environmental problem in the Baltic Sea is its pollution. After the Second World War in the Baltic Sea were dropped about 3 million tons chemical weapons, which contained 14 highly toxic substances. At that time no one thought much about what consequences it may bring, and yet, even now, researchers have noted increased levels of these substances into the sea. And no one knows how many there will be ten - fifteen years ...The sea hides in its depths and radioactive substances. For a long time in the Baltic Sea through the Danish straits received radionuclides, which are dumped nuclear - processing plants in Western Europe. The accident at Chernobyl in 1986 greatly affected the radiation situation in the Baltic Sea. In the sea got a huge amount of radioactive substances (mainly cesium and strontium). Also in the depths of the Baltic Sea lies somewhat sunken nuclear submarines. All this has led to the fact that the fish caught in the Baltic Sea, the content of strontium and cesium to 5 times higher than normal.In the third part of the Baltic Sea at depths of 40-60 meters of oxygen in water is almost there, but almost everywhere there are toxic gases - hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen and phosphorus, in some places at the bottom of the Baltic Sea formed the so-called "death zone", the concentration of toxic substances in They are so great that there can not exist a single living organism.The situation is greatly exacerbated by the fact that the self-purification of water in the sea is very slow, as reported to the Baltic Sea to the North, just across the narrow Danish straits. For 70 years, the ecological situation on the sea very much worse, and while maintaining the same rate of contamination in 10 years, the water can not be used for food, and fauna of the risk of disappearing for ever .....

Environmental problems and catastrophes of the modern world!

Environmental problems of the modern world are many. Probably not many of us will rememberfor a long time now otshumevshuyu environmental catastrophe with an insecticide such as "Thiodan" occurred in 1969 on the Rhine River, when, because 50 kilogram lain in the river twoyears, there was a striking, multi-million dollar marine fish. Maybe our fathers remembered asa terrible environmental disaster in Seveso, when a cloud of dioxin emissions in the chemical factory town of about one and a half years he was an uninhabited area. We have evenwitnessed in 20 years as a planet's surface Aral Sea has disappeared ...

And accidents and disasters occur suddenly, and although as a rule, are local in nature, their environmental impact can be spread over long distances and capture large areas. At the same time have the greatest risk of radiation accident at the facilities (nuclear power plants, processing plants and nuclear fuel, etc.), chemical plants, oil and gas pipelines, maritime and railway transportation, dams, reservoirs, etc.
The largest in the XX century, man-caused disaster occurred in April 1986 the Chernobyl (Ukraine). The total number of victims exceeded 9 million people, 29 died from acute radiation sickness. The total area of ​​contamination along the isoline 0.2 mR / hr (more than 10 times the norm) was already in the early days of the accident about 0.2 million km2, it has covered many areas of Ukraine, Belarus, and several regions of Russia. The Chernobyl disaster, according to some experts, was one of the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The scale of disaster is so frightening to the ecosystem of the planet, that humanity has for centuries will pay for their mistakes, if not kill myself sooner, but to try to do it in 1979 in Yekaterinburg (formerly Sverdlovsk). Then the release of anthrax spores killed several hundred people in a radius of three kilometers from the source distribution - Institute of Virology.
We are killing ourselves, we exterminate the flora and fauna of the planet, polluting water, soil and air, which are necessary as a living wage for all living things inhabiting our planet, creating for themselves new and emerging environmental problems.
Nuclear attack on Hiroshima, which occurred in 1945 brought not only humanitarian but also an ecological disaster. According to analysts' estimates the number of deaths in 1980 exceeded 98,000 lives, and continues to this day to collect their terrible toll in the form of cancers and high levels of radiation, destroying the population. But this is hardly an example of a person carefully taught to deal with what may be the cause of his destruction. No, we do not stop there. In 1979 the U.S. on the reactor, "Three Mile Island" due to the failure of systems and negligent operators spewed radioactive gases into the atmosphere. This is a list of tens of different examples of ecological catastrophes in the world, alternately polluting the environment, and today seems to stop this vicious circle is not. The man destroying everything by itself will disappear like the dinosaurs, which existed at the top of the food chain of the Earth 160 million years old, disappeared from the surface of the planet about 65 million years ago.

After the appearance of the said international public environmental organization based in Vancouver, Canada September 15, 1971 David McTaggart called Greenpeace in the early look pathetic mockery of attempts to try to solve global environmental problems, trying to attract the attention of the public. However, to date, Greenpeace movement has about a dozen major projects, among which we should mention the Marine project, the oil, as well as a project to prevent catastrophic climate change. However, given the fact that the organization is funded entirely by private donations, for thirty years of existence of a handful of activists of the movement has become a powerful international organization, which exists in more than 40 countries.
Increasingly, the media showed footage of the activists as someone trying to enter the tanker carrying crude oil, beleaguer someone train with nuclear waste. There's even a big victory Greenpeace in the uphill struggle for the environment, for example, the abolition of flooding the oil platform Brent Spar called. Some members of the organization managed to get to this facility and chained themselves to it.
But it is unlikely a person understands the true danger of what is happening now on our planet.
We are hostages of the century car technology. After all, everyone knows that the development of electric vehicles that could replace the cars with internal combustion engines, has been blighted in the bud purchase of patents for the development of this oil company magnates. Why kill the oil business, bringing hundreds of billions of dollars annually, if you can take the "cream" is not investing in new assembly line for environmentally friendly cars.
Each of us knows that September 1 is the Day of Knowledge, but how many people know that this day is also the Day of Remembrance of the man killed. For every 60 minutes on the planet disappears in about three species of flora and fauna. It is easy to calculate that for the complete destruction of all life on earth, including plants, need only about sixteen and a half thousand years. Only by the mid-twentieth century, we destroyed 67 species of mammals and 142 species of birds.
In 2006 at the Sundance Film Festival and premiered sadly notorious film "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim. In November, box office receipts have exceeded $ 20 million, and the film is now at the box office fourth in the world during the existence of documentary films. In 2007, the band has received two Oscar nominations in the "documentary" and "Song for the film", and the American Film Institute named it one of the biggest events of the year. The film is based on the events, telling about global environmental problems on our planet.
Today the average temperature of the planet has risen by about 0,7 ° C since the beginning of the industrial revolution technology. But strangely large proportion of the specified temperature increased only in the last 50-60 years. And this wave is caused by human activity, namely the emission of gases into the atmosphere in today's society called the greenhouse effect. What is the risk due to climate warming on the earth? Increase in sea level? - Yes, the process is already running, and even in the case of stabilization of emissions of gases into the atmosphere changes will continue for several millennia. And this will inevitably lead to a redistribution of rainfall on the planet. As a result of the above occurrence of natural disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes and droughts.
Of course, we all understand that the welfare of civilization is unattainable without the use of natural resources. Today, their consumption has reached colossal proportions. But if anyone thought of us as far as this natural enough for even the well-being? How many other environmental ills can sustain our Mother Earth. All the same, sometime in the distant future, will have to convert factories to new types of fuel consumption as a result of depletion of natural, so why not do it now? Why not start saving now, not waiting until the bowels begin to sag developed on our planet and environmental problems do not destroy humanity?

But who said that our abode safely demolish all the troubles and sufferings, which we deliver it? Who said that the planet does not resist the violent way of life on it? Now among the flora, there are 450 species of predators. Living in areas with poor soil and lack of nutrients, they chose the right way to survive in its environment. They feed on these types of mostly small reptiles and insects, which have to catch careless in their green embrace.
Unfortunately, due to the change of generations of mankind, the terrible pages of history fairly quickly erased from the memory of our ancestors. A person does not have time to learn hard lessons terrible ecological disasters that claimed millions of lives units associated with careless negligence technicians, operators, drivers, electricians.
The planet still suffers, sometimes snapping, then she meekly blows deforestation, burning fields, depletion of mineral resources is not giving anything in return other than a terrible scar on her rich black earth body. It freezes when testing new weapons capable of cold neglect to make it uninhabitable desert, the same as dozens of stars in galaxies sisters, do not store any spark of life, committing a silent monotone way. But how well did I want to believe that people can understand the depth of the environmental precipice, from the edge of which it is located just one wrong step. Today it is too late. There is still a chance that we learn to live in symbiosis with our "green house". With the cradle, which is given when the world Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Blok. With that amazing beautiful globe that gave life to billions of living creatures subspecies alongside subspecies, referred to as a person. How in fact want that all our environmental problems, disasters and calamities in the past...