External causes of the ecological crisis. Ecological crisis: concept, causes, forms of manifestation and ways of overcoming. Control questions and tasks

As a result of mastering the content of module F3.2, the student must:

know

• o the concept of "environmental crisis";
• o the main manifestations and signs of the current environmental crisis;
• o facts characterizing the current environmental situation at the global and regional level (relevant at the time of writing the manual);

be able to

• o search and analyze information about the current environmental situation at the global and regional levels;
• o characterize the current environmental situation at the global and regional levels;

own

o ideas about the nature, causes and factors of the current environmental crisis, the possibilities and ways to overcome it.

The concept and causes of the ecological crisis

The concept of "environmental crisis" first appeared in 1972 on the pages of the first report of the Club of Rome - an authoritative international association for the study of global problems of our time.

In the report entitled "Limits to Growth", a group of authors led by the American cyberneticist D. Meadows built a predictive model of the world, using as variable factors population growth, natural resources, pollution of the biosphere. The conclusions of the report boiled down to the following: while maintaining the growth rate and the trend of economic development, humanity will come to a catastrophe and die in 2100. By this time most of population will die of starvation and exhaustion. Natural resources will not be enough to produce the necessary material goods; pollution will make the environment unsuitable for human habitation.

Indeed, in the last decades of the 20th and early XXI centuries the world economy, teetering on the brink of the deepest and most protracted recession in history, is going through difficult times. It is literally shaken by energy, raw material and food crises, grandiose social and political changes on a planetary scale. Under these conditions, the conservation of nature and rational use of natural resources have become one of the most important problems affecting the vital interests of all peoples. They are reflected in many aspects of modern international political and economic relations.

Nature in the broad sense of the word is a complex self-regulating system of earthly objects and phenomena. For man, nature is the environment of life and the only source of existence. As a biological species, it needs certain temperature, pressure, composition of atmospheric air, natural water mixed with salts, plants and animals.

Man has been using natural resources since his appearance. Since for long millennia this consumption was insignificant and the damage to nature was imperceptible, the idea of ​​​​the inexhaustibility of its wealth has taken root in society - after all, with its vital activity, a person affects the environment no more than other living organisms. However, their influence is incomparable with the enormous impact that his labor activity has, enabling him to satisfy his needs at a level much higher than other biological species.

In the XX century. humanity has achieved greater success in all fields of science and technology than in the entire history of its development. This created a real opportunity to involve in production with ever-decreasing costs a huge mass of natural resources. Naturally, in the conditions of population growth, the enormous volume of their use without a sufficiently wide reproduction leads to their depletion. It's about first of all, about the riches of the subsoil, which are extracted many times faster than their natural accumulation. Atmospheric air, surface air, soils turned out to be contaminated with industrial and household waste. Harmful substances accumulate in plants, animal organisms and, together with food, enter the human body, creating a danger to human health.

The immoderate, predatory withdrawal of resources turns into a catastrophic depletion of the mineral resources and the organic world, causes a violation of the structure of the soil cover, deterioration of the air and water. Now these phenomena have become typical for many countries, have acquired a global character. As a result, the illusory idea of ​​the infinity of natural resources is destroyed. It is replaced by the understanding that it is necessary to spend them more carefully, that nature needs protection.

Ecological crisis (according to I. I. Dedyu) - a situation that occurs in ecological systems (biogeocenoses) as a result of imbalance under the influence of natural disasters or as a result of anthropogenic factors (human pollution of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, destruction of natural ecosystems, natural complexes, forest fires , regulation of rivers, deforestation, etc.).

The ecological crisis of modernity is a tense state of relations between society and nature, characterized by a discrepancy between the development of productive forces and production relations in society and the resource-ecological possibilities of the biosphere. As a result, the biosphere begins to threaten life itself on Earth. The solution to the problem lies in restoring the balance, which is a complex, global task. And the sooner humanity realizes it, the more likely it will be its survival on Earth.

The question of preserving nature, imperceptibly for mankind, has grown into the problem of the survival of civilization. There is less and less wildlife left on the planet; territories not disturbed by economic activity. The area of ​​the ecumene (the part of the earth's surface inhabited and used by people) has been constantly expanding over the course of historical development. According to various estimates, at the end of the XX century. it occupies 50-75% of the land. Therefore, the terms "nature" and "environment" (meaning the totality of the natural conditions for the existence of human society, on which it directly or indirectly affects and with which it is connected in economic activity) are increasingly being replaced by the term " geographical environment", i.e. the natural environment used and modified by man.

General planetary problems include: environmental problems (atmospheric and hydrosphere pollution, greenhouse effect, ozone layer destruction, degradation of terrestrial ecosystems, etc.), rapid population growth, aggravation of the energy crisis, food shortages, poverty in underdeveloped countries, etc.

Environmental issues in modern world came out on top. Having received unlimited power over nature, people barbarously use it. The planet's resources are running out, air and water are being polluted catastrophically, fertile lands are turning into sands, forest areas are shrinking before our eyes. Mountains of waste literally fall out onto the planet, a person provokes natural disasters. Possible warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, accumulation of toxic and radioactive waste pose a threat to survival. There are countries for which these problems are not so acute, but in general, all of humanity is concerned about them, and therefore they are global.

Ecological crisis - this is a tense state of relations between humanity and nature, characterized by a discrepancy between the development of productive forces and production relations in human society and the resource and economic possibilities of the biosphere.

The ecological crisis can also be viewed as a conflict in the interaction of a biological species with nature; crisis nature reminds of the inviolability of its laws; Those who break these laws die. In a broader sense, the ecological crisis is understood as a phase in the development of the biosphere, in which a qualitative renewal of living matter takes place (the extinction of some species and the emergence of others).

Intervention in the natural cycle began by man at the moment when he first threw grain into the ground. Thus began the era of man's conquest of his planet. Primitive man was prompted to take up farming, and then cattle breeding, by the fact that at the dawn of their development, the inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere destroyed almost all ungulates, using them as food (one example is mammoths in Siberia). The lack of food resources led to the fact that most of the individuals of the then human population became extinct. It was one of the first natural crises that hit people. It should be emphasized that the extermination of certain large mammals could not be total. A sharp decrease in the number as a result of hunting leads to the division of the species range into separate islands. The fate of the small isolated populations deplorable: if a species is not able to quickly restore the integrity of its range, its inevitable extinction occurs due to epizootics or a shortage of individuals of one sex with an overabundance of the other.

The first crises (not only the lack of food) forced our ancestors to look for ways to preserve the size of their population. Gradually, man took the path of technological progress. The era of the great confrontation between man and nature began. Man more and more moved away from the natural cycle, which is based on the substitution of natural parts and the non-waste nature of natural processes. Over time, the confrontation turned out to be so serious that it became impossible for a person to return to the natural environment.

In the second half of the XX century. mankind is facing an ecological crisis, which is called "the crisis of decomposers”, i.e. its defining feature is the dangerous depletion and pollution of the biosphere as a result of human activity and the associated disturbance of the natural balance.

The ecological crisis is usually divided into two parts: natural and social. Natural part testifies

about the onset of degradation, destruction of the natural environment. Social side of the ecological crisis lies in the inability of state and public structures to stop the degradation of the environment and improve it. Both sides of the ecological crisis are closely interconnected. The onset of the ecological crisis can be stopped only with a rational state policy, the presence government programs and the state structures responsible for their implementation, a developed economy and the implementation of emergency measures for environmental protection.

The use of the term "environmental crisis" to refer to environmental problems takes into account the fact that a person is part of an ecosystem that changes as a result of his activity (primarily production). Natural and social phenomena are a single whole, and their interaction is expressed in the destruction of the ecosystem. It is now obvious to everyone that the ecological crisis is a global and universal concept that concerns each of the people living on Earth.

Signs of the modern ecological crisis are:

• ? global warming, greenhouse effect, shift of climatic zones;
• ? ozone holes, destruction of the ozone screen;
• ? reduction of biodiversity on the planet;
• ? global environmental pollution;
• ? non-utilizable radioactive waste;
• ? water and wind erosion and reduction of fertile soil areas;
• ? population explosion, urbanization;
• ? depletion of non-renewable mineral resources;
• ? energy crisis;
• ? a sharp increase in the number of previously unknown and often incurable diseases;
• ? lack of food, a permanent state of hunger for most of the world's population;
• ? depletion and pollution of the resources of the oceans. The overall economic burden on ecological systems depends on three factors: population size, average consumption levels, and widespread use of various technologies. The environmental damage caused by the consumer society can be reduced by changing agricultural patterns, transportation systems, urban planning methods, energy consumption intensity, rethinking industrial technologies, and so on. In addition, when technology changes, the level of material requests can be reduced. And this is gradually happening due to the rise in the cost of living, which is directly related to environmental problems.

The essence of the environmental threat lies in the fact that the ever-increasing pressure on the biosphere of anthropogenic factors can lead to a complete break in the natural cycles of reproduction. biological resources, self-purification of soil, water, atmosphere. This will cause a sharp and rapid deterioration of the ecological situation, which may lead to the death of the planet's population. Ecologists are already warning about the growing greenhouse effect, the spreading of ozone holes, more and more acid precipitation, and so on. These negative trends in the development of the biosphere are gradually becoming global in nature and pose a threat to the future of mankind.

test questions and tasks

• 1. What is an "environmental crisis"?
• 2. Name two sides of the ecological crisis.
• 3. Why is the current environmental crisis called the "crisis of decomposers"?
• 4. What are the signs of the current environmental crisis?
• 5. What factors determine the overall economic burden on ecological systems?

1.Introduction……………………………………………………………..page 3

2. What is an environmental crisis…………………………………………p.4

3. Threat of ecological crisis……………………………………….p.4-6

4. Causes of the ecological crisis………………..p.6-9

5. Atmospheric pollution……………………………………………..p.11-15

6. Water pollution……………………………………………………….p.15-17

7. Animal protection…………………………………………………….p.17-19

8. Vegetation protection………………………………………………p.19-20

9.Conclusion……………………………………………………………p.20-21.

Introduction.

Man is a part of nature, and as a biological species of his life, his activity has long influenced nature, but no more than many other organisms. The development of society takes place in the process of constant interaction with nature. The transforming influence of man on nature is inevitable. The changes in nature introduced by its economic and other activities intensify as the productive forces develop and the mass of substances involved in economic circulation increases. Particularly large changes have been made to nature by man under capitalism, with its high industrial technology and private ownership of the means of production. The development of industry required the involvement of new and diverse natural resources in the economic circulation. In addition to the expansion of the use of land, forests, and wildlife, intensive exploitation of mineral resources, water resources, etc. began. Increasing in pace and scale, the exploitation of nature led to its rapid depletion. In addition to the depletion of natural resources, the development of industry has created a new problem - the problem of environmental pollution. Atmospheric air, water bodies, and soil turned out to be heavily polluted mainly by industrial waste and exhaust gases of motor vehicles. These pollution not only had an extremely negative impact on soil fertility, vegetation and wildlife, but also began to pose a significant threat to human health. The impact of man on nature has reached its greatest strength in recent times, during a period of high growth rates of all types of material production and scientific and technological progress. For a long time man looked at nature as an inexhaustible source of material goods necessary for him. But, faced with the negative results of his impact on nature, he gradually came to the conviction of the need for a more reasonable use and protection of it.

In my essay, I will consecrate environmental problem in general and ways to solve it.

What is an ecological crisis.

Ecological crisis, violation of relationships within the ecosystem or irreversible phenomena in the biosphere caused by anthropogenic activities and threatening the existence of man as a species. According to the degree of threat to the natural life of a person and the development of society, an unfavorable ecological situation, an ecological disaster and an ecological catastrophe are distinguished. The influence of society on nature has reached a large scale by now. This influence affects not only individual natural resources, but also, as we have seen, the course of the most important, global processes of the biosphere, the violation of which can lead to consequences that are very dangerous for life on the planet. It is this provision that has caused the emergence and spread in recent years in developed countries of such a concept as "environmental crisis". The origins of the "environmental crisis" lie in the irrational use of natural resources. For example, in the USA, according to some estimates, from 1929 to 1963 from 47 to 56% of the gross national product was produced without taking into account the real needs of society. Consequently, about half of the natural resources developed by the United States during this period were spent without regard to real social needs. The development of natural resources in the interests of competing owners, an exorbitant increase in military spending, an orientation towards unlimited consumption inevitably lead to a chaotic expenditure of natural resources and, in the end, turn into severe hardships for society.

The threat of an ecological crisis.

The growth of the scale of human economic activity, the rapid development of the scientific and technological revolution have increased the negative impact of man on nature, led to a violation of the ecological balance on the planet. In the sphere of material production, the consumption of natural resources has increased. For 40 years after the Second World War, as many minerals were used as in the entire previous history of mankind. But the reserves of coal, oil, gas, copper, iron and other natural resources important for people are non-renewable and, as scientists have calculated, will be exhausted in a few decades.

Even forest resources, which seem to be constantly renewing, are in fact rapidly declining. Deforestation on a global scale is 18 times higher than its growth. More than 11 million hectares of forest are destroyed every year, and in three decades the area of ​​deforestation will be approximately the size of India. A significant part of the area, which was previously forested, is being converted into poor quality agricultural land that cannot feed the people living in this area. The main reason for the reduction in the area of ​​​​forests on our planet is direct deforestation for harvesting industrial wood and obtaining fuel, taking into account the steady growth of the population in developing countries, clearing land for farmland and pastures, environmental pollution with various toxicants, etc.

Moist tropical forests are cut down especially intensively, and the rate of their reduction is increasing every year. If in the mid-80s of the XX century 11.3 million hectares were destroyed annually, then in the 90s - already 16.8 million hectares. At present, the tropical rain forests of Latin America have been reduced to 37% of their original area, in Asia - by 42%, in Africa - by 52%. The largest areas of primary forests are preserved in Brazil, Zaire, Indonesia, Colombia, and boreal - in Russia and Canada. Least of all primary forests remained in China and Australia, and in Western Europe (with the exception of the Scandinavian countries) they are practically gone. Deforestation leads to negative environmental consequences: the albedo of the earth's surface changes, the balance of carbon and oxygen in the atmosphere is disturbed, soil erosion increases, the hydrological regime of rivers is disturbed, etc. No less dangerous is the pollution of the oceans. The world's oceans are constantly being polluted, mainly due to the expansion of oil production in offshore fields. Huge oil slicks are detrimental to ocean life. Millions of tons of phosphorus, lead, and radioactive waste are also dumped into the ocean. For each square kilometer ocean space now accounts for 17 tons of various harmful waste from land. And the dead ocean, scientists believe, is a dead planet. Fresh water has become the most vulnerable part of nature. Wastewater, pesticides, fertilizers, disinfectants, mercury, arsenic, lead, zinc in large quantities enter rivers and lakes. In the CIS republics, untreated wastewater containing millions of tons is annually discharged into rivers, lakes, reservoirs and seas. harmful substances. The situation is no better in other countries of the world. The Danube, the Volga, the Mississippi, and the Great American Lakes are heavily polluted. According to experts, in some areas of the Earth, 80% of all diseases are caused by poor-quality water, which people are forced to consume. It is known that a person can live five weeks without food, five days without water, and five minutes without air. Meanwhile, air pollution has long exceeded the permissible limits. Dust content and carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere of a number of large cities have increased tenfold compared to the beginning of the 20th century. 115 million cars in the United States absorb twice as much oxygen as it is created on the territory of this country by all natural sources. The total emission of harmful substances into the atmosphere (by industry, energy, transport, etc.) in the United States is about 150 million tons per year, in the CIS countries more than 100 million tons. In 102 cities of the CIS with a population of more than 50 thousand people, the concentration of substances harmful to health in the air exceeds medical standards by 10 times, and in some - even more. Acid rains containing sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide, which appear during the operation of power plants in Germany and the UK, fall in the Scandinavian countries and bring death to lakes and forests. The territory of the CIS receives 9 times more harmful substances with acid rain from the West than they are transported in the opposite direction. accident on Chernobyl nuclear power plant April 26, 1986 showed the environmental threat posed by accidents at nuclear power plants that exist in 26 countries around the world. Household garbage has become a serious problem: solid waste, plastic bags, synthetic detergents, etc. Clean air around cities, filled with the aroma of plants, disappears, rivers turn into sewers. Piles of cans, broken glass and other rubbish, landfills along the roads, littering the territory, crippled nature - this is the result of the long domination of the industrial world.

Causes of the ecological crisis.

At present, many contradictions, conflicts, problems outgrow the local framework and acquire a global global character.

The main causes of the crisis:

1. Earth's climate change as a result of natural geological processes enhanced by the greenhouse effect caused by changes in the optical properties of the atmosphere by emissions of mainly CO, CO2 and other gases into it.

2. Reducing the power of the stratospheric ozone screen with the formation of so-called "ozone holes", which reduce the protective capabilities of the atmosphere against the ingress of hard short-wave ultraviolet radiation dangerous for living organisms to the Earth's surface.

3. Chemical pollution of the atmosphere with substances that contribute to the formation of acid precipitation, photochemical smog and other compounds that are dangerous for biosphere objects, including humans.

4. Pollution of the ocean and changes in the properties of ocean waters due to oil products, their saturation with carbon dioxide of the atmosphere, which in turn is polluted by vehicles and thermal power plants, burial of highly toxic chemical and radioactive substances in ocean waters, pollution from river runoff, disturbance of the water balance of coastal areas due to with the regulation of rivers;

5. Depletion and pollution of land waters.

6. Radioactive contamination of the environment.

7. Soil pollution due to polluted precipitation, the use of pesticides and mineral fertilizers.

8. Changes in the geochemistry of landscapes due to the redistribution of elements between the bowels and the surface of the Earth.

9. Continued accumulation on the Earth's surface of all kinds of solid waste.

10. Violation of the global and regional ecological balance.

11. Increasing desertification of the planet.

12. Reducing the area of ​​tropical forests and northern taiga - the main sources of maintaining the oxygen balance of the planet.

13. Absolute overpopulation of the Earth and relative demographic overpopulation of certain regions, extreme differentiation of poverty and wealth.

14. Deterioration of the living environment in overpopulated cities.

15. Exhaustion of many mineral deposits.

16. Strengthening social instability as a result of the growing differentiation of the rich and poor part of the population of many countries, the increase in the level of armament of their population, criminalization.

17. Decline in the immune status and health status of the population in many countries of the world, repeated repetition of epidemics, which are becoming more massive and severe in their consequences. One of the main global problems is the preservation of the environment. Its beginning lies in the distant past. About 10,000 years ago, the agricultural culture of the Neolithic arose. The expansion of the area of ​​cultivated land, the cutting of trees for economic purposes, the spread of slash-and-burn agriculture - all this led to the replacement of the natural landscape with a cultural one, and increased human influence on the environment. A rapid population growth began - a population explosion - a sharp increase in population associated with an improvement in socio-economic or general historical living conditions. The population of the Earth is growing exponentially: if since 8000 BC. before the beginning of the new chronology, the population increased from 5 million to 130 million, that is, by 125 million people in 8 thousand years, then from 1930 to 1960, that is, in just 30 years, the population of the Earth increased by 1 billion people (from 2 billion to 3 billion people). Currently, it is more than 6 billion people. From 1830 to 1930, the population of Europe and North America grew, and in recent years a population explosion has been observed in Asia and Latin America.

The Industrial Revolution began about 200 years ago and over the past 100-150 years the face of Europe and North America has completely changed. There was an inextricable connection between nature and society, which is mutual. On the one hand, the natural environment, geographical and climatic features have a significant impact on community development. These factors can accelerate or slow down the pace of development of countries and peoples, and influence the social development of labor. On the other hand, society affects the natural environment of man. The history of mankind testifies both to the beneficial effect of human activities on the natural habitat, and to its detrimental consequences. Man has carried out such chemical reactions that did not exist before on Earth. Iron, tin, lead, aluminum, nickel and many other chemical elements were isolated in pure form. The amount of metals mined and smelted by man reaches colossal proportions and increases every year. The extraction of combustible minerals is even more significant. During the combustion of coal and other fuels, oxides of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and other products are formed. The earth's surface turns into cities and cultivated land and dramatically changes its chemical properties.

Atmospheric air pollution has exceeded all permissible limits. The concentration of substances harmful to health in the air exceeds medical standards in many cities by dozens of times. Acid rain containing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which is a consequence of the functioning of thermal power plants, transport and factories, is the death of lakes and forests. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant showed the environmental threat posed by accidents at nuclear power plants, which are operated in 26 countries around the world.

The principles of the natural structure, which are violated by man and lead to an ecological crisis:

1. The use by man in his economic activity of energy sources internal to the biosphere (organic fuel). This leads to an increase in the entropy of the biosphere, disruption of the ecological cycles of carbon dioxide, sulfur and nitrogen oxides, and thermal pollution.

2. The openness of business cycles leads to a large number of waste polluting the environment. The use of many artificially synthesized substances along with natural ones causes a violation of the ecological balance, leads to an increase in environmental toxicity.

3. With the direct participation of man, the destruction of the structural diversity of the biosphere and the death of many species occur. There is an excessive increase in pressure on the human biosphere, which leads to serious violations of environmental stability and a decrease in the stability of the biosphere.

Air pollution.

There are two main sources of air pollution: natural and anthropogenic.

The natural source is volcanoes, dust storms, weathering, forest fires, the processes of decomposition of plants and animals.

Anthropogenic, mainly divided into three main sources of air pollution: industry, household boilers, transport. The share of each of these sources in total air pollution varies greatly from place to place.

It is now generally accepted that industrial production pollutes the air the most. Sources of pollution are thermal power plants, which, together with smoke, emit sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide into the air; metallurgical enterprises, especially non-ferrous metallurgy, which emit nitrogen oxides, hydrogen sulfide, chlorine, fluorine, ammonia, phosphorus compounds, particles and compounds of mercury and arsenic into the air; chemical and cement plants. Harmful gases enter the air as a result of fuel combustion for industrial needs, home heating, transport, combustion and processing of household and industrial waste.

According to scientists (1990), every year in the world as a result of human activity, 25.5 billion tons of carbon oxides, 190 million tons of sulfur oxides, 65 million tons of nitrogen oxides, 1.4 million tons of chlorofluorocarbons (freons), organic lead compounds, hydrocarbons, including carcinogens (causing cancer).

The most common atmospheric pollutants enter it mainly in two forms: either in the form of suspended particles (aerosols) or in the form of gases. By mass, the lion's share - 80-90 percent - of all atmospheric emissions due to human activities are gaseous emissions. There are 3 main sources of gaseous pollution: combustion of combustible materials, industrial production processes and natural sources.

Consider the main harmful impurities of anthropogenic origin /

Carbon monoxide. It is obtained by incomplete combustion of carbonaceous substances. It enters the air as a result of burning solid waste, with exhaust gases and emissions from industrial enterprises. At least 1250 million tons of this gas enters the atmosphere every year. Carbon monoxide is a compound that actively reacts with the constituent parts of the atmosphere and contributes to an increase in the temperature on the planet and the creation of a greenhouse effect.

Sulfur dioxide. It is emitted during the combustion of sulfur-containing fuel or the processing of sulfurous ores (up to 170 million tons per year). Part of the sulfur compounds is released during the combustion of organic residues in mining dumps. In the United States alone, the total amount of sulfur dioxide emitted into the atmosphere amounted to 65% of the global emission.

Hydrogen sulfide and carbon disulfide. They enter the atmosphere separately or together with other sulfur compounds. The main sources of emissions are enterprises for the manufacture of artificial fiber, sugar, coke, oil refineries, and oil fields. In the atmosphere, when interacting with other pollutants, they undergo slow oxidation to sulfuric anhydride.

Nitrogen oxides. The main sources of emissions are enterprises producing nitrogen fertilizers, nitric acid and nitrates, aniline dyes, nitro compounds, viscose silk, and celluloid. The amount of nitrogen oxides entering the atmosphere is 20 million tons per year.

Fluorine compounds. Sources of pollution are enterprises producing aluminum, enamels, glass, ceramics, steel, and phosphate fertilizers. Fluorine-containing substances enter the atmosphere in the form of gaseous compounds - hydrogen fluoride or dust of sodium and calcium fluoride. The compounds are characterized by a toxic effect. Fluorine derivatives are strong insecticides.

Chlorine compounds. They enter the atmosphere from chemical enterprises producing hydrochloric acid, chlorine-containing pesticides, organic dyes, hydrolytic alcohol, bleach, soda. In the atmosphere, they are found as an admixture of chlorine molecules and hydrochloric acid vapors. The toxicity of chlorine is determined by the type of compounds and their concentration.

In addition to gaseous pollutants, a large amount of particulate matter enters the atmosphere. These are dust, soot and soot. Contamination of the natural environment with heavy metals poses a great danger. Lead, cadmium, mercury, copper, nickel, zinc, chromium, vanadium have become almost constant components of the air in industrial centers.

Permanent sources of aerosol pollution are industrial dumps - artificial mounds of redeposited material, mainly overburden, formed during mining or from waste from processing industries, thermal power plants.

The source of dust and poisonous gases is mass blasting. The production of cement and other building materials is also a source of air pollution with dust. The main technological processes of these industries - grinding and chemical processing of semi-finished products and products obtained in hot gas flows are always accompanied by emissions of dust and other harmful substances into the atmosphere.

The main air pollutants today are carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide.

Water pollution

It is clear to everyone how great is the role of water in the life of our planet and especially in the existence of the biosphere.

The biological need of man and animals for water per year is 10 times higher than their own weight. Even more impressive are the household, industrial and agricultural needs of man. So, “to produce a ton of soap, 2 tons of water are required, sugar - 9, cotton products - 200, steel 250, nitrogen fertilizers or synthetic fiber - 600, grain - about 1000, paper - 1000, synthetic rubber - 2500 tons of water" .

The water used by man is eventually returned to the natural environment. But, apart from evaporated water, it is no longer pure water, but domestic, industrial and agricultural wastewater, usually not treated or treated insufficiently. Thus, freshwater reservoirs are polluted - rivers, lakes, land and coastal areas of the seas.

Modern methods of water purification, mechanical and biological, are far from perfect. “Even after biological treatment, 10 percent of organic and 60–90 percent of inorganic substances remain in wastewater, including up to 60 percent of nitrogen, 70 percent of phosphorus, 80 percent of potassium, and almost 100 percent of toxic heavy metal salts.”

There are three types of water pollution - biological, chemical and physical.

Biological pollution is created by microorganisms, including pathogens, as well as organic matter capable of fermentation. The main sources of biological pollution of land and coastal waters of the seas are domestic effluents that contain feces, food waste, wastewater from food industry enterprises (slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, dairy and cheese factories, sugar factories, etc.), pulp and paper and chemical industry, and in rural areas - the effluents of large livestock complexes. Biological contamination can cause epidemics of cholera, typhoid, paratyphoid and other intestinal infections and various viral infections, such as hepatitis.

Chemical pollution is created by the entry of various toxic substances into the water. The main sources of chemical pollution are blast furnace and steel production, non-ferrous metallurgy, mining, chemical industry and, to a large extent, extensive agriculture. In addition to direct discharges of wastewater into water bodies and surface runoff, it is also necessary to take into account the ingress of pollutants onto the water surface directly from the air.

So, the most large-scale and significant is the chemical pollution of the environment with substances unusual for it. chemical nature. The accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is also progressing. Further development of this process will strengthen the undesirable trend towards an increase in the average annual temperature on the planet.

The ongoing pollution of the World Ocean with oil and oil products, which, according to environmentalists, has already reached 1/10 of its total surface, is also alarming. Oil pollution of this size can cause significant disruption of gas and water exchange between the hydrosphere and the atmosphere.

Formally, it is still impossible to say that we are experiencing a global ecological catastrophe, since there are still areas on Earth where there are no serious traces of anthropogenic pollution. But such areas are becoming less and less, and some types of pollution are noted even in the most remote places from their sources, for example, in Antarctica.

Recently, more and more often in the press, on radio, television, one of the main topics is environmental. The general public, aware of the critical state of the environment, must actively act. "Greenization" of the legislative and executive authorities is now especially important, since the primary task is to make environmentally friendly production profitable and, conversely, any disregard for environmental standards is economically unprofitable. Without this, appeals to ordinary citizens to protect nature will look demagogic and are unlikely to achieve their goal. At the same time, the broadest educational work among citizens of all ages is also necessary.

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Ecological bases of nature management

A course of lectures for students of SVE full-time and part-time forms of study

Lecture 4 . Signs of an ecological crisis

Ecological crisis - this is a tense state of relations between humanity and nature, characterized by a discrepancy between the development of productive forces and production relations in human society and the resource and economic possibilities of the biosphere.

The ecological crisis can also be viewed as a conflict in the interaction of a biological species or genus with nature. In a crisis, nature, as it were, reminds us of the inviolability of its laws, those who violate these laws perish. So there was a qualitative renewal of living beings on Earth. In a broader sense, the ecological crisis is understood as a phase in the development of the biosphere, in which a qualitative renewal of living matter takes place (the extinction of some species and the emergence of others).

The modern ecological crisis is called the “crisis of decomposers”, i.e. its defining feature is the dangerous pollution of the biosphere due to human activity and the associated violation of the natural balance.

The term “environmental crisis” first appeared in scientific literature in the mid 1970s.

The ecological crisis is usually divided into two parts: natural and social.Natural some indicate the onset of degradation, destruction of the natural environment. Social side of the ecological crisis lies in the inability of state and public structures to stop the degradation of the environment and improve it. Both sides of the ecological crisis are closely interconnected. The onset of the ecological crisis can be stopped only with a rational state policy, the existence of state programs and state structures responsible for their implementation, a developed economy and the implementation of emergency measures for environmental protection.

Signs of a Modern Ecological Crisis

dangerous pollution of the biosphere;

depletion of energy reserves;

reduction in species diversity.

Dangerous pollution of the biosphere associated with the development of industry, agriculture, development of transport, urbanization. A huge amount of toxic and harmful emissions from economic activity enters the biosphere. The peculiarity of these emissions is that thesecompounds are not included in natural metabolic processes and accumulate in the biosphere . For example, when burning wood fuel, carbon dioxide is released, which is absorbed by plants during photosynthesis, as a result of which oxygen is produced. When burning oil, sulfur dioxide is released, which is not included in the natural exchange processes, but accumulates in the lower layers of the atmosphere, interacts with water and falls to the ground in the form of acid doges.

In agriculture, a large number of pesticides and pesticides are used, which accumulate in the soil, plants, and animal tissues.

Dangerous pollution of the biosphere is expressed in the fact that the content of harmful and toxic substances in its individual components exceeds the maximum allowable standards. For example, in many regions of Russia, the content of a number of harmful substances in water, air, soil exceeds the maximum allowable standards by 5-20 times.

According to statistics, among all sources of pollution, vehicle exhaust gases are in first place (up to 70% of all diseases in cities are caused by them), emissions from thermal power plants are second, and the chemical industry is third. (According to the Russian Academy of Sciences, the nuclear industry is in 26th place.) Today, the hydrosphere (primarily poisonous effluents) and soils (acid rain and waste water, including radioactive ones) are no less polluted.

On the territory of Russia there are landfills for waste disposal, where waste is stored not only from Russian lands, but also from the territories of other former Soviet republics, as well as from the territories of those countries where nuclear power facilities have been built using Soviet technology.

Depletion of energy reserves. The level of energy-to-weight ratio of human labor is growing at an unprecedented pace, never seen in many millennia of human history. The accelerated development of the power industry is connected primarily with the growth of industrial production and its power supply.

The main sources of energy used by man include: thermal energy, hydropower, nuclear energy. Thermal energy is obtained by burning wood, peat, coal, oil and gas. Companies that generate electricity from chemical fuels are called thermal power plants.

Oil, coal and gas arenon-renewable natural resources, and their stocks are limited. world reservesoil in 1997 were estimated at 1016 billion barrels (162,753.04 million tons), i.e. before

By 2020, there will be no oil left on Earth.

strip there is much more on the planet than oil. World gas reserves are estimated at about 350 trillion m³ (including 136 trillion m³ of explored). With global consumption forecast for 2010 of 3.55 trillion m³ of gas per year, explored reserves will run out in 40 years, i.e. almost simultaneously with oil. Russia natural gas much richer than other countries: explored reserves of about 49 trillion m³. Over 70% of the gas produced in the country comes from the two richest deposits on the planet: Urengoyskoye and Yamburgskoye.

hard coal There is much more to Earth than oil and gas. According to experts, its reserves can last for hundreds of years. However, coal is an environmentally dirty fuel, it contains a lot of ash, sulfur, and harmful metals. Hard coal can be used to produce liquid fuel for transport (it was made in Germany during World War II), but it is very expensive ($450/ton) and is not produced now. In Russia, plants for the production of liquid fuel from coal in Angarsk, Salavat, Novocherkassk are closed due to unprofitability.

Currently, new approaches to solving the problem of the energy crisis are being successfully developed.

1 . Reorientation to other types of energy;

2 . Mining on the continental shelf.

Reducing species diversity. In total since 1600

226 species and subspecies of vertebrates have disappeared, and over the past 60 years - 76 species, and about 1000 species are endangered. If the current trend of extermination of wildlife continues, then in 20 years the planet will lose 1/5 of the described species of flora and fauna, which threatens the stability of the biosphere - an important condition for the life support of mankind.

Where conditions are unfavorable, biodiversity is low. Up to 1000 species of plants live in the tropical forest, 30-40 species in the deciduous forest of the temperate zone, and 20-30 species in the pasture. Species diversity is an important factor that ensures the stability of the ecosystem to adverse external influences. The reduction of species diversity can cause irreversible and unpredictable changes on a global scale, so this problem is being solved by the entire world community.

One way to solve this problem is to create reserves. In our country, for example, there are currently 95 reserves. Some experience of international cooperation in the conservation of natural wealth already exists: 149 countries have signed the Convention on the Conservation of Species Diversity; signed the Convention on the Protection of Wetlands (1971) and the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (1973); since 1982 there has been an international moratorium on commercial whaling.

Global environmental problems

The environmental crisis is characterized by the presence of a number of problems that threaten sustainable development. Let's consider only some of them.

Destruction of the ozone layer . The content of ozone in the atmosphere

insignificant and amounts to 0.004% by volume. Ozone is formed in the atmosphere under the action of electrical discharges, synthesized from oxygen under the action of cosmic UV radiation. Within the atmosphere, elevated concentrations of ozone form the ozone layer, which is essential for life on Earth. The ozone shield attenuates deadly UV radiation in the atmosphere between 40 and 15 km above the earth's surface by about 6,500 times. The destruction of the ozone shield by 50% increases UV radiation by 10 times, which affects the vision of animals and humans and can have other detrimental effects on living organisms. The disappearance of the ozonosphere would lead to unpredictable consequences - an outbreak of skin cancer, the destruction of plankton in the ocean, mutations of flora and fauna. The appearance of the so-called ozone hole over Antarctica was first recorded by ground-based and satellite measurements in the mid-199970s. The area of ​​this hole was 5 million m², and the ozone in the air column was 30-50% less than the norm.

Several suggestions have been made about the causes of the destruction of the ozone layer: the launch of spacecraft, supersonic aircraft, the significant production of freons. Subsequently, based on scientific research, it was concluded that freons, which are widely used in refrigeration and aerosol cans, are the main cause.

The international community has taken a number of measures aimed at preventing the destruction of the ozone layer. In 1977, the United Nations Environment Program adopted an action plan on the ozone layer, in 1985 a conference was held in Vienna that adopted the Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, a list of substances that adversely affect the ozone layer was established, and a decision was made on mutual information states on the production and use of these substances, on the measures taken.

Thus, the harmful effects of changes in the ozone layer on human health and the environment were officially declared, and that measures to protect the ozone layer required international cooperation. Decisive was the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987, according to which control over the production and use of freons is established. The protocol was signed by more than 70 countries, including Russia. In accordance with the requirements of these agreements, the production of freons harmful to the ozone layer must be stopped by 2010.

Greenhouse effect. The release of many gases into the atmosphere: carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrocarbons, i.e. methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), etc., which accumulate as a result of the combustion of fossil fuels and other production processes, leads to the greenhouse effect, although these substances are almost not dangerous as independent pollutants (except for high concentrations).

The mechanism of the greenhouse effect is quite simple. Ordinary solar radiation in cloudless weather and a clean atmosphere relatively easily reaches the Earth's surface, is absorbed by the soil surface, vegetation, etc. Heated surfaces give off thermal energy again to the atmosphere, but in the form of long-wave radiation, which is not scattered, but absorbed by the molecules of these gases (CO2 absorbs 18% of the heat given off), causing intense thermal movement of molecules and an increase in temperature.

Atmospheric gases (nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor) do not absorb heat radiation, but scatter it. The concentration of CO2 annually increases by 0.8-1.5 mg/kg. It is believed that with a doubling of the CO2 content in the air, the average annual temperature will rise by 3-5ºС, which will cause global climate warming, and in 125 years we can expect massive melting of the ice of Antarctica, a rise in the average level of the World Ocean, flooding of a significant part of the coastal territory and other negative consequences. . In addition to the greenhouse effect, the presence of these gases contributes to the formationsmog.

Smog comes in wet, dry, and icy forms.wet smog (London type) - a combination of gaseous pollutants, dust and fog droplets. Thus, in a 100-200-meter layer of air, a poisonous thick dirty yellow fog-moist smog arises. It is formed in countries with a maritime climate, where fogs are frequent and relative humidity is high.

dry smog (Los Angeles type) - secondary air pollution as a result of chemical reactions accompanied by the appearance of ozone. Dry smog does not form fog, but a bluish haze.

ice smog (Alaskan type). It occurs in the Arctic and Subarctic at low temperatures in the anticyclone. A dense fog is formed, consisting of the smallest crystals of ice and, for example, sulfuric acid.

Global warming - one of the most significant consequences of anthropogenic pollution of the biosphere. It manifests itself in climate and biota changes: the production process in ecosystems, shifting the boundaries of plant formations, and changing crop yields. Especially strong changes concern the high and middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The rise of the ocean level due to warming will be 0.1-0.2 m, which may lead to flooding of the mouths major rivers especially in Siberia. At the regular conference of the countries-participants of the Convention on Prevention of Climate Change, held in Rome in 1996, the need for coordinated international action to solve this problem was once again confirmed.

Tropical forest destruction. Over the past 50 years, with the participation of man, 2/3 of the forests covering the Earth have been destroyed. Over the past 100 years, 40% of the forests that existed on Earth have been irretrievably lost. The tropical rainforest is one of the most important suppliers of oxygen to the atmosphere and plays a huge role in maintaining the oxygen balance. Rainforests are called the "green lungs of the planet". The problem is that these forests have already been destroyed by 40%. Every year, 15-20 million hectares of tropical forest are lost in the world, which is equivalent to half the area of ​​Finland. The greatest losses were suffered by 10 countries of the world, including Brazil, Mexico, India, Thailand. If the destruction of tropical forests continues at the same pace, then in 30-40 years it will no longer remain on Earth.

Due to the deforestation of tropical forests, the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere decreases annually by 10-12 billion tons, and the content of carbon dioxide compared to the middle of the 20th century. increased by 10-12%. There is a risk of oxygen imbalance.

The main causes of deforestation are: the plowing of forest land for agricultural land; increasing demand for woodfuel; industrial deforestation; implementation of large-scale development projects.

According to the UN, approximately 90% of the rural and 30% of the urban population in Asia, Africa and Latin America use mainly woodfuel. Commercial logging operations are carried out without regard to environmental requirements and, as a rule, are not accompanied by planting trees in clearings.

After the UN conference in Rio de Janeiro (1992), developing countries confirmed their readiness to reach an international consensus on the problem of conservation of forest resources, intending to take measures on their part to ensure the sustainable development of forestry.

Water shortage. Many scientists attribute it to a continuous increase in air temperature over the past decade due to an increase in the content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It is not difficult to make a chain of problems that give rise to each other: a large energy release (solution of the energy problem) - the greenhouse effect - lack of water - lack of food (crop failures). Over the past 100 years, the temperature has increased by 0.6ºС. In 1995-1998 there was a particularly large increase. Carbon dioxide, methane and some other gases absorb thermal radiation and enhance the greenhouse effect.

Even more important factor- a sharp increase in water consumption for industrial and domestic purposes. The lack of water has sharply worsened the ecological situation in many regions and caused a food crisis.

Desertification. This is the name of the totality of natural and anthropogenic processes that lead to the destruction (violation) of the balance in ecosystems and to the degradation of all forms of organic life in a particular area. Desertification occurs in all natural areas of the world.

The main reason for the current increase in desertification in various countries of the world is the discrepancy between the existing structure of the economic use of natural resources and the potential natural possibilities of this landscape, population growth, an increase in anthropogenic pressures, and the imperfection of the socio-economic structure of a number of countries. According toUNEP *, now more than 9 million km² are occupied by deserts of anthropogenic origin, and up to 7 million hectares of land are annually eliminated from productive use.

Pollution of the oceans. The World Ocean, covering 2/3 of the earth's surface, is a huge reservoir, the mass of water in which is 1.4 10²¹ kg. Ocean water makes up 97% of all water on the planet. The oceans provide 1/6 of all animal proteins consumed by the world's population for food. The ocean, especially its coastal zone, plays a leading role in maintaining life on Earth, because about 70% of the oxygen entering the planet's atmosphere is produced in the process of plankton photosynthesis. Thus, the World Ocean plays a huge role in maintaining a stable balance of the biosphere, and its protection is one of the urgent international environmental tasks.

Of particular concern is the pollution of the oceansharmful and toxic substances , including oil and oil products, radioactive substances.

The most common ocean pollutants areoil and oil products. An average of 13-14 million tons of oil products enter the World Ocean annually. Oil pollution is dangerous for two reasons: firstly, a film forms on the surface of the water, which deprives marine life of oxygen; secondly, oil itself is a toxic compound that has a long half-life; when the oil content in water is 10-15 mg/kg, plankton and fish fry die. Major oil spills during the crash of supertankers can be called real environmental disasters.

Especially dangerous isNuclear pollution in the disposal of radioactive waste (RW). Initially, the main way to get rid of radioactive waste was the disposal of radioactive waste in the seas and oceans. This was usually low-level waste, which was packed in 200-liter metal drums, filled with concrete and dumped into the sea. The first such disposal of radioactive waste was carried out by the United States 80 km from the coast of California. Until 1983, 12 countries practiced RW discharge into the open sea. During the period from 1949 to 1970, 560,261 containers with radioactive waste were dumped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Recently, a number of international documents have been adopted,

whose main goal is to protect the oceans.

Lack of food. An important reason for the lack of food is the reduction since 1956 of arable land per capita due to soil erosion and the withdrawal of fertile land for other purposes. Thanks to the "Green Revolution" of the 1970s. managed to compensate for the decline in yield through the introduction of new varieties, irrigation, the use of fertilizers and herbicides. However, this was not achieved in Australia and Africa - there was not enough water for irrigation. Now it is clearly lacking in Asia and America.

Fish stocks have been drastically reduced. From 1950 to 1989, the world catch increased from 19 to 89 million tons, after which there was no increase. An increase in the fishing fleet does not lead to an increase in catch.

Population growth. The rapidly growing population is the most serious problem of the Earth.

Numerous attempts to reduce the birth rate have been unsuccessful. A population explosion is currently taking place in the countries of Africa, Asia and South America. In the Russian Federation, the situation unfavorable for population growth has developed due to a drop in the birth rate.

Questions for self-examination

What signs characterize the modern ecological crisis?

What are the main causes of pollution of the biosphere.

Give examples of depletion of energy resources.

What global changes are taking place in the atmosphere?

What are the causes and what are the consequences of ozone layer depletion?

What are the causes and what are the consequences of the greenhouse effect?

What global continental problems do you know?

What are the main causes of rainforest destruction?

What are the main sources of pollution in the oceans?

What are the consequences of population growth?

The ecological crisis that is aggravating today is not the first in the geological history of the Earth. Only in the memory of mankind is at least the third crisis in a row. However, the scale of the current crisis exceeds the scale of the previous ones. And in the geological history of our planet, this, according to biologists, is the second largest global environmental crisis. As noted above, the Earth's biosphere is about 4 billion years old. The first organisms on Earth were anaerobic (oxygen-free) organisms that died in the course of natural selection and the struggle for existence with secondary organisms that released oxygen in large quantities. Thus, for the primary organisms, the creation of an oxygen atmosphere was a catastrophe - a global ecological crisis, during which most of these organisms disappeared from the face of the Earth.

In the further history of the Earth's biosphere, more or less species have constantly died out. Thus, we can say that ecological crises in the history of the biosphere have occurred many times. One of the most famous crises was the extinction of the dinosaurs, which gave a chance for the development of mammals.

All of the above crises had natural causes. But with the advent of man, the main cause of crises was his impact on the environment, which increased dramatically in the 20th century. Since that moment, man has become the main factor in the global ecological crisis on Earth. If the first two crises were local in nature, then the current crisis has engulfed the entire planet, jeopardizing the existence of man himself as a species and even the entire biosphere as a whole.

A symptom of the modern ecological crisis is disruption of the biotic cycle substances - a person seeks to take as much as possible from nature, forgetting that nothing is given for free. After all, the global ecosystem is a single entity within which nothing can be gained or lost and which cannot be the object of universal improvement. Everything that has been extracted from it by man must sooner or later be replaced.

Without taking this axiom into account, man opened the biotic cycles that had existed for millions of years and caused anthropogenic fallout. chemical elements. So, in the prehistoric period, there were 2000 billion tons of carbon in the soils of the Earth, in the late 1970s. - 1477 billion tons, i.e. an average of 4.5 billion tons of carbon is lost per year. Moreover, these losses exist in the form of waste that nature cannot recycle. Human energy consumption is constantly growing. This-

day it reached 0.2% of all solar energy falling on Earth. This is comparable to the energy of all the earth's rivers and the annual energy of photosynthesis. The result is an increase in pollution and a violation of the thermodynamic equilibrium of the biosphere. It currently appears in global warming, which can lead to an increase in the level of the World Ocean, a violation of the transfer of moisture between the sea and land, a shift in climatic zones, i.e. to global climate change.

Another sign of the ecological crisis - depletion of resources of decomposers and producers. The biomass of microorganisms is reduced. As a result of this, and also as a result of the growth of human waste, there is not a sufficient level of self-purification of the living environment. Moreover, new forms of microorganisms that are negative for the biosphere and dangerous for humans are emerging, and some forms are created by humans themselves.

Already in the late 1980s. 10% of the total species composition of plants was under the threat of extinction. Plant biomass decreased by more than 7%, photosynthesis decreased by 20%. According to some scientists, during the existence of man, living matter as a whole has lost up to 90% of its genetic diversity.

This is what man brought to nature. But man still remains a part of nature, a part of the Earth's biosphere. Therefore, the negative consequences of the global environmental crisis are becoming more and more noticeable for him, nature responds to man.

First of all, the famous problem of Malthus, formulated by him at the end of the 18th century, rises to its full height - the problem of the discrepancy between the growing needs of an exponentially increasing humanity and decreasing reserves of resources depleting planet (their production is growing in arithmetic progression). If Malthus himself was concerned about the disparity between population growth and food production, now the situation has become much more complicated. We have already talked about the rapid depletion of carbon fuel reserves. The prospect of an inevitable depletion of coal, oil and gas reserves is looming before humanity like a terrible nightmare. The productivity of the biota of the World Ocean continues to decrease, soil fertility, a large amount of fertile land is being withdrawn from circulation by urban development and industrial construction, and landfills are growing. In some regions of the world, the degradation of the natural environment is clearly visible and takes on the character of a catastrophe. Waste of their own life suffocate humanity.

And all this is taking place against the backdrop of a population explosion that has taken on a threatening character. So, two thousand years ago, the number

The population of the Earth was about 250 million people. The doubling of the population occurred in the middle of the 17th century. In the middle of the XIX century. we became 1 billion. And by the end of the 20th century. The population of the Earth has already amounted to more than 6 billion people. According to demographers' forecasts, if population growth is 2%, then by 2020 there will be about 8 billion of us! Therefore, even today a significant part of the world's population - up to 600 million people - is starving or malnourished. But people need not only to be fed, they need to be provided with at least a minimum of what modern civilization can give in the field of health care, education, etc.

In addition to this very serious problem, humanity will soon face another threat to its existence. This is the growing intensity of mutagenesis and the growth of the genetic inferiority of mankind. These processes are increasing dangerously. A certain number of handicapped children are always present among newborns - this is the price of genetic diversity. In the old days, such children most often died, or, in any case, could not leave offspring. Thanks to the successes of modern medicine, these children today not only survive, but many of them give offspring, also defective. This leads to a continuous, not only absolute, but also a relative increase in the number of people with genetic abnormalities. Thus, selection cannot cope with the intense flow of "artificial" mutations arising under the influence of concentrated mutagenic waste - heavy chemical elements and compounds, as well as radiation.

But the most important thing that worsens the structure of the human gene pool and increases the frequency of birth of handicapped children is the pressure of social factors, primarily alcoholism and drug addiction. To this should be added an increase in the intensity of mutagenesis due to urbanization and overpopulation. The possible decline in the intellectual potential of mankind cannot but be disturbing - wars and all sorts of genocides strike first of all at the most talented and active part of mankind.

Each population has a certain threshold of acceptable erosion of the gene pool, that percentage of defective individuals beyond which no natural selection can restore its quality and prevent the degradation of the population. Man is no exception. One can argue about specific numerical estimates, but in a few generations, perhaps by the beginning of the 22nd century, humanity, if we extrapolate modern trends, will probably come to this dangerous frontier. And then there will be no reverse course to the evolutionary process. In other words, without cardi-

changes in human living conditions, the genetic degradation of the species Homo sapiens is inevitable.

If genetic pathology is a problem that our descendants will solve, then emergence of new viral diseases threatens humanity right now. Their appearance is associated with anthropogenic pollution of the environment. Among these “novelties” is the human immunodeficiency virus, which is not amenable to treatment yet. Scientists explain the emergence of new viruses by the fact that the destruction of some pathogens frees up ecological niches for new organisms. In addition, the high population size and density, intensive contacts make mass infections and epidemics extremely probable.

An increasingly serious problem is growth of neuropsychiatric diseases. The number of patients with neuroses has increased 24 times over the past forty years. The reason for this is in the person himself. Indeed, in cities we conduct very intensive labor activity, we experience numerous stresses, and the polluted environment provokes nervous breakdowns.

So, the current situation can be assessed as a global ecological crisis, which has two sides - the crisis of nature and the crisis of man, both of which are deepening and expanding. As a result, we are faced with a formidable problem that is not discussed even by experts - the problem of losing the possible stability (stability) of the biosphere as an integral system, of which humanity is a part. The result of the loss of stability of the current quasi-equilibrium state will be the transition of the biosphere, like any non-linear system, to a new state unknown to us, in which there may be no place for a person.

The biosphere as a self-regulating system for the time being could compensate for changing external loads. For millions of years, the parameters of the biosphere were kept in that narrow range of their values, in which only our biological species could arise. And this regulation was ensured despite the fact that during the existence of the planet, the Earth's biosphere was repeatedly subjected to additional external loads - fluctuations in solar activity, meteorite falls, intense volcanism, etc. But now man is becoming the main danger to the stability of the biosphere. And there is reason to believe that the compensatory possibilities of the biosphere are either already violated or are at the limit of their capabilities.

The biosphere has an enormous capacity for self-purification. Unfortunately, this ability of nature is not unlimited. Anthropogenic impact on nature has jeopardized the norms

the small implementation of its inherent biotic processes, violated the equilibrium state of the biosphere. Anthropogenic pressure on the environment has reached today such proportions that it has led to a global environmental crisis. Many scientists believe that we are on the verge of a real catastrophe, since the biosphere's stability threshold has already been exceeded by 5-7 times.

There are two models for assessing the limiting possibility of the Earth's biosphere: resource and biospheric.

resource model allows a maximum population on Earth of no more than 8 billion people. According to this model, with the efficient use of resources and the presence of two children in each family, the population during the 21st century would remain approximately the same and equal to 7.7 billion.

biospheric model estimates the threshold of biosphere stability at only 1-3 billion people. And we are already more than 6 billion! Thus, from the point of view of this model, the stability of the biosphere was already violated at the beginning of the 20th century.

Scientists have determined the anthropogenic load index, which makes it possible to assess the destructive impact of different countries on nature. This index shows that the most highly developed and densely populated countries of the world - Japan, Germany, Great Britain - contribute to the destruction of the biosphere. If the index of anthropogenic load of the whole world is estimated at one, then in these countries it is 10-15 times higher. Anthropogenic load index in Russia - 0.85.

What can threaten us with the loss of stability of the biosphere? The biosphere is a complex non-linear system. If such a system loses stability, then its irreversible transition to a certain quasi-stable state begins. And it is more than likely that in this new state the parameters of the biosphere will turn out to be unsuitable for human life, and perhaps life in general. In addition, such a transition, caused by the loss of equilibrium stability, occurs at an exponentially increasing rate. In other words, a catastrophe can break out completely unexpectedly and so rapidly that no actions we take can change anything. That's why the problem of studying the stability of the biosphere should become one of the main areas of fundamental research. But most importantly, a new strategy of civilization must appear, consistent with the strategy of nature, a strategy of survival. To do this, we have to learn how to study the biosphere as a single integral organism and measure our mode of action with the reaction of this planetary organism to it. Therefore, it is so important to create the concept of transition, and then the future of human

Czech culture and civilization. The doctrine of the noosphere by V. I. Vernadsky can provide considerable assistance in this.