Sakshi Education
Renewable and non-renewable resources:
We use a variety of Earth's resources, but not all of them will be around forever. This lesson explains the difference between resources that can be regenerated for our use and those that are gone after they are used once.
We All Need Resources:
You can renew your lease when it runs out at the end of the year. You can renew your driver's license and license plate on your birthday. You can also renew a library book when your allotted time with it has expired. All sorts of things get renewed in our everyday lives when they 'run out' or expire. These are easy to renew because you don't have to create a new one, you just renew the ability to use whatever it is you are using.
Renewable Resources:
Renewable resources are resources that are replenished by the environment over relatively short periods. This type of resource is much more desirable to use because often a resource renews so fast that it will have regenerated by the time you've used it up.
Solar energy:
It is one such resource because the sun shines all the time. Imagine trying to harness all of the sun's energy before it ran out! Wind energy is another renewable resource. You can't stop the wind from blowing any more than you can stop the sun from shining, which makes it easy to 'renew.'
Any plants that are grown for use in food and manufactured products are also renewable resources. Trees used for timber, cotton used for clothes, and food crops, such as corn and wheat, can all be replanted and regrown after the harvest is collected.
Animals are also considered a renewable resource because, like plants, you can breed them to make more. Livestock, like cows, pigs and chickens, all fall into this category. Fish are also considered renewable, but this one is a bit trickier because even though some fish are actually farmed for production, much of what we eat comes from wild stocks in lakes and oceans. These wild populations are in a delicate balance, and if that balance is upset by overfishing, that population may die out.
Non-renewable resources:
Are resources that are not easily replenished by the environment? Let's think about this in terms of that ice cube maker again. Imagine that this time you don't have an automatic ice maker at home, you have to wait for someone to bring it to you, and they only do this once a month.
If you used up all your ice quickly, it wouldn't regenerate in your refrigerator and you would be out of ice until the next delivery comes. The same thing happens with non-renewable resources on Earth, except the wait time is much longer than a month - usually more like thousands or millions of years!
Natural resources and associated problems:
Human population is growing day-by-day. Continuous increase in population caused an increasing demand for natural resources. Due to urban expansion, electricity need and industrialization, man started utilizing natural resources at a much larger scale. Non-renewable resources are limited.
They cannot be replaced easily. After some time, these resources may come to an end. It is a matter of much concern and ensures a balance between population growth and utilization of resources. There are many problems associated with natural resources:
Forest resources and associated problems:
Water resources and associated problems:
Mineral resource and associated problems:
Food resources and associated problems:
Energy resources and associated problems:
Forest resources:
In India, forests form 23 percent of the total land area. The word ‘forest’ is derived from the Latin word ‘for is’ means ‘outside’ (may be the reference was to a village boundary or fence separating the village and the forest land).
A forest is a natural, self-sustaining community characterized by vertical struc¬ture created by presence of trees. Trees are large, generally single-stemmed, woody plants. Forest can exist in many different regions under a wide range of conditions, but all true forests share these physical characteristics.
Use and Over Exploitation:
A forest is a biotic community predominantly of trees, shrubs and other woody vegetation, usually with a closed canopy. This invaluable renewable natural resource is beneficial to man in many ways.
The direct benefits from forests are:
(a) Fuel Wood: Wood is used as a source of energy for cooking purpose and for keeping warm.
(b) Timber: Wood is used for making furniture, tool-handles, railway sleep¬ers, matches, ploughs, bridges, boats etc.
(c) Bamboos: These are used for matting, flooring, baskets, ropes, rafts, cots etc.
(d) Food: Fruits, leaves, roots and tubers of plants and meat of forest animals form the food of forest tribes.
(e) Shelter: Mosses, ferns, insects, birds, reptiles, mammals and micro-organ¬isms are provided shelter by forests.
(f) Paper: Wood and Bamboo pulp are used for manufacturing paper (News¬print, stationery, packing paper, sanitary paper)
(g) Rayon: Bamboo and wood are used in the manufacture of rayon (yarns, artificial silk-fibers)
(h) Forest Products: Tannins, gums, drugs, spices, insecticides, waxes, honey, horns, musk, ivory, hides etc. are all provided by the flora and fauna of for¬ests.
The indirect benefits from forests are:
(a) Conservation of Soil:
Forests prevent soil erosion by binding the soil with the network of roots of the different plants and reduce the velocity of wind and rain — which are the chief agents causing erosion.
(b) Soil-improvement:
The fertility of the soil increases due to the humus which is formed by the decay of forest litter.
Timber extraction:
Forests are valuable resources. They provide raw materials for industries, timber for buildings, furniture's and many other uses. The forest ecosystem is dominated by various species of trees.
The chief product that forests supply is wood like timbers. Major forest products consist of timber small wood and fuel wood. Indian forests produce about 5,000 species of wood, of which about 450 are commercially valuable. Hard woods include important species such as teak, ironwood, mahogany etc.
Timber extraction is a significant cause of deforestation in Central Africa and Southeastern Asia. The biggest problem of the Indian forests is the inadequate forest cover. Forests cover only 23.13 per cent of the area against the required coverage of 33 per cent.
How hard are the puzzles involved in mining? Well, that depends on how much effort is being put into mining across the network. The difficulty of the mining can be adjusted, and is adjusted by the protocol every 2016 blocks, or roughly every 2 weeks. The difficulty adjusts itself with the aim of keeping the rate of block discovery constant. Thus if more computational power is employed in mining, then the difficulty will adjust
Dams and other effects on forest and tribal people:
Timber extraction, mining and dams are invariably parts of the needs of a developing country. If timber is overharvested, the ecological functions of the forests are lost. Unfortunately forests are located in areas where there are rich mineral resources. Forests also cover the steep embankments of river valleys, which are ideally suited to develop hydel and irrigation projects
Water resources:
Use and over utilization of surface and ground water:
Agriculture Needs of Water for the Crops:
As our country is essentially an agricultural based country, the crops are to be developed for the production of different types of food grains. The requirement of water varies from crop to crop.
Different research stations are busy in identifying the water needs of all the crops. Most of these crops are shallow rooted, thus water being extracted from top layers of the soil. Soil moisture available in the top layers is essential for such crops.
Hence, it is advocated to keep the topsoil always moist so that crops do not wilt under no water condition. Several scientific methods of ploughing are developed to maintain the moisture in the topsoil for longer periods.
Groundwater and Aquifers:
Water that is available in the deeper layers of the earth is known as Groundwater. This water has been trapped inside the earth’s crust for several centuries. The water that is lying under the ground has the capacity to move in general direction of its slope with a very small velocity. The bodies that contain such water are known as Aquifers.
Groundwater and Wells:
Wells are used to bring groundwater to the land surface by means of pumps. Wells can be deep wells and shallow wells depending upon the depth at which ground water is available. Sometimes open dug wells are used where the water table is high. In the case of deeper and hard rock aquifers, Tube wells are constructed. In such cases deep well pumps such as turbine pumps or jet pumps are used to lift water to the surface of the ground.
water losses considerably. Use of ground water for nearby areas also does not pose the problems of environmental degradation.
Floods and Droughts Floods:
The flood hazard itself cannot be prevented, but thorough understanding of the land conditions which are prone to a given hazard and the processes which could culminate in the damage to life and property it is possible to minimize the damage through preparedness for a particular eventuality. Flooding takes place when the river channels are unable to contain the discharge.
In the tropical countries, floods are caused by various factors:
(i) Climatologically (rain),
(ii) Part climatologically (coastal storm surges, estuarine interactions between stream flow and tidal conditions) and
(iii) Others (failure of dams and other control works, excessive release from dams). Floods could get intensified because of basin characteristics, network characteristics, and channel characteristics, each of which has both stable (unvarying) and variable components (Table 2.1) unvarying and variable characteristics.
The improper land-use practices accentuated the flood devastation. There are hardly any forests left in the catchment area of the rivers. It is well known that the forest areas are characterized by high infiltration capacity and transmissibility. The infiltration capacity of the forest areas is 2-3 times greater than in the open fields. The surface runoff in the forested areas may be as little as one-tenth of that of the open fields.
Floods, drought, conflicts over water, dams:
Floods: Basic Safety Tips
Steps to Take
Drought:
Conflicts over water, dams:
With this in mind, we can describe a drought scenario to be ‘A relatively long time where there is not enough water than there usually is, as a result of dry weather, to support human, animal and plant life.
Droughts may not be an issue just because there is less or no precipitation. However, it becomes an issue when it begins to affect water supply for irrigation, municipal, industrial, energy, and ecosystem function. People often do not see droughts as natural disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes or floods, because they do not have usual immediate destructive ability, but they can be very catastrophic in the long run. Server droughts can have very serious consequences. Conflict can be defined as disagreement over the appropriate
Sources of Conflict:
Conflict can result from many factors. The sources of conflicts must be understood in order to manage water resources effectively. Three basic sources of conflict are conflicting goals, factual disagreements, and ineffective relationships (distrust and power struggles).
Conflicting Goals:
Water planning and management activities are undertaken for the purpose of solving problems such as inadequate water supplies or poor water quality. For water planning efforts to be undertaken, the problem to be solved must be clearly identified and understood. Once a problem is identified, possible courses of action to address the problem can be enumerated and then the best course of action can be chosen and implemented.
Case studies:
Changes caused by Overgrazing: The carrying capacity of land for cattle depends on the fertility of the soil and the rainfall. When the carrying capacity is exceeded, the land is overgrazed.
The changes that result from overgrazing include:
(a) Reduction in the growth of vegetation.
(b) Reduction in the diversity of plant species.
(c) Increased soil erosion as the plant cover is reduced.
(d) Damage from the cattle trampling on the land, like paths made by cattle develop into gullies, which erode rapidly in the rain.
(e) Dominance of plant species those are relatively undesirable to the cattle.
Agriculture:
Agriculture is an art, science and industry of managing the growth of plants and animals for human use. Agriculture includes preparation of soil for cultivation of crops, harvesting crops, breeding and raising livestock, dairying and forestry.
The two major types of agriculture are:
Modern Agriculture:
Modern agriculture makes use of hybrid seeds of single crop variety, technologically advanced equipment, fertilizers, pesticides and water to produce large amounts of single crop.
Problems using fertilizers:
Micronutrient imbalance: Chemical fertilizers used in modern agriculture contain Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (N,P,K) which are macronutrients. Excess use of fertilizers in fields causes micronutrient imbalance. Ex: Excessive use of fertilizers in Punjab and Haryana caused deficiency of micronutrient Zinc thereby affecting productivity of soil.
Water Logging:
If water stands on land for most of the year, it is called water logging. In water logged conditions, pore-voids in the soil get filled with water and soil-air gets depleted. In such a condition the roots of plants do not get enough air for respiration. Water logging also leads to low mechanical strength of soil and low crop yield.
Salinity:
Water not absorbed by soil, is evaporated leaving behind a thin layer of dissolved salts in the top soil. This is called salinity of the soil. Saline soils are characterized by accumulation of soluble salts like sodium chloride, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, sodium sulphate, sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonates. Saline conditions are exhibited when pH is greater than 8.0
Case Studies
Canal irrigation in Haryana resulted in rising water table followed by water logging and salinity causing low crop productivity thereby huge economic losses. Similarly the "Indira Gandhi Canal Project" in Rajasthan converted a big area into a "water soaked waste land". In Delhi, accumulation of pesticides and DDT in the body of mothers caused premature deliveries or low birth weight infants.
Food centre at Center for Science and Environment (CSE) India reported Pepsi and Coca-Cola companies sold soft drinks with pesticide content 30-40 times higher than EU guidelines permit. At the reported concentrations the pesticides damage the nervous system.
Energy is the capacity to do work and is required for life processes. An energy resource is something that can produce heat, power life, move objects, or produce electricity. Matter that stores energy is called a fuel. Human energy consumption has grown steadily .throughout human history. Early humans had modest energy requirements, mostly food and fuel for fires to cook and keep warm. In today's society, humans consume as much as 110 times as much energy per person as early humans.
Most of the energy we use today come from fossil fuels (stored solar energy). But fossils fuels have a disadvantage in that they are non-renewable on a human time scale, and cause other potentially harmful effects on the environment. In any event, the exploitation of all energy sources (with the possible exception of direct solar energy used for heating), ultimately rely on materials on planet Earth.
Some of the questions we want to answer in this discussion are:
Energy Sources: There are 5 fundamental sources of energy:
Solar Energy:
Solar Energy arrives from the Sun by electromagnetic radiation. It can be used directly for heat and converted to electricity for other uses. It is a nearly unlimited source, it is renewable, and largely, non-polluting.
Gravity Generated by the Earth & Moon:
Gravitational pull of the Moon on the Earth causes tides. Tidal flow can be harnessed to drive turbines. This is also a nearly unlimited source of energy and is largely non-polluting.
Combining both solar energy and gravity provides other useful sources of energy. Solar radiation heats air and evaporates water.
Gravity causes cooler air to sink and condense water vapor. Gravity then pulls condensed water back to Earth, where it flows downhill. The circulation of the atmosphere by the process is what we call the wind.
Energy can be extracted from the wind using windmills. Water flowing downhill has a result of gravity can also be harnessed for energy to drive turbines and generate electricity. This is called hydroelectric energy. These sources of energy are mostly renewable, but only locally, and are generally non-polluting.
Nuclear Fission Reactions:
Radioactive Uranium is concentrated and made into fuel rods that generate large amounts of heat as a result of radioactive decay. This heat is used to turn water into steam. Expansion of the steam can then be used to drive a turbine and generate electricity. Once proposed as a cheap, clean, and safe way to generate energy, Nuclear power has come under some disfavor. Costs of making sure nuclear power plants are clean and safe and the problem of disposing of radioactive wastes, which are unsafe, as well as questions about the safety of the plants under human care, has contributed to this disfavor.
Energy in the Interior of the Earth:
Decay of radioactive elements has produced heat throughout Earth history. It is this heat that causes the temperature to increase with depth in the Earth and is responsible for melting of mantle rocks to form magmas. Magmas can carry the heat upward into the crust. Groundwater circulating in the vicinity of igneous intrusions carries the heat back toward the surface. If this hot water can be tapped, it can be used directly to heat homes, or if trapped at great depth under pressure it can be turned into steam which will expand and drive a turbine to generate electricity.
Energy Stored in Chemical Bonds:
Energy stored in chemical bonds drives chemical reactions. When the reactions take place this energy is either released or absorbed. If it is absorbed, it is stored in the chemical bond for later use. If it is released, it can produce useful heat energy. Electricity and light.
Hydrogen Fuel Cells are one example: A chemical reaction occurs wherein Hydrogen reacts with Oxygen in an electrolyte bath to produce H2O, and releases electricity and heat. The reaction is non-polluting, but currently has problems, such as safely storing and distributing compressed hydrogen gas, and producing hydrogen efficiently.
Biomass Energy is another example. It involves burning (a chemical reaction) of wood, or other organic byproducts. Such organic material is produced by photosynthesis, a chemical process which derives energy from the Sun and stores that energy until the material is burned.
Fossil Fuels - Biomass energy that is buried within the Earth where it is stored until humans extracts and burns it to release the energy. Among these sources are petroleum (Oil & natural gas), oil shale, tar sands, and coal. All of which will be one of the primary topics of our discussion here.
Land resources:
They occupy nearly 20 percent of the earth surface. It covers around 13000 million hectares of the area. The houses, roads and factories occupy nearly one third of the land. The forests occupy another one third of the land. The rest of land is used for ploughing and for meadows and pastures. The soil forms the surface layer of land which covers more than the 80 percent of land. The soil is defined as a natural body which keeps on changing and allows the plants to grow. It is made up of organic and inorganic materials. This definition is given by the Buckman and Brady.
We use a variety of Earth's resources, but not all of them will be around forever. This lesson explains the difference between resources that can be regenerated for our use and those that are gone after they are used once.
We All Need Resources:
You can renew your lease when it runs out at the end of the year. You can renew your driver's license and license plate on your birthday. You can also renew a library book when your allotted time with it has expired. All sorts of things get renewed in our everyday lives when they 'run out' or expire. These are easy to renew because you don't have to create a new one, you just renew the ability to use whatever it is you are using.
Renewable Resources:
Renewable resources are resources that are replenished by the environment over relatively short periods. This type of resource is much more desirable to use because often a resource renews so fast that it will have regenerated by the time you've used it up.
Solar energy:
It is one such resource because the sun shines all the time. Imagine trying to harness all of the sun's energy before it ran out! Wind energy is another renewable resource. You can't stop the wind from blowing any more than you can stop the sun from shining, which makes it easy to 'renew.'
Any plants that are grown for use in food and manufactured products are also renewable resources. Trees used for timber, cotton used for clothes, and food crops, such as corn and wheat, can all be replanted and regrown after the harvest is collected.
Animals are also considered a renewable resource because, like plants, you can breed them to make more. Livestock, like cows, pigs and chickens, all fall into this category. Fish are also considered renewable, but this one is a bit trickier because even though some fish are actually farmed for production, much of what we eat comes from wild stocks in lakes and oceans. These wild populations are in a delicate balance, and if that balance is upset by overfishing, that population may die out.
Non-renewable resources:
Are resources that are not easily replenished by the environment? Let's think about this in terms of that ice cube maker again. Imagine that this time you don't have an automatic ice maker at home, you have to wait for someone to bring it to you, and they only do this once a month.
If you used up all your ice quickly, it wouldn't regenerate in your refrigerator and you would be out of ice until the next delivery comes. The same thing happens with non-renewable resources on Earth, except the wait time is much longer than a month - usually more like thousands or millions of years!
Natural resources and associated problems:
Human population is growing day-by-day. Continuous increase in population caused an increasing demand for natural resources. Due to urban expansion, electricity need and industrialization, man started utilizing natural resources at a much larger scale. Non-renewable resources are limited.
They cannot be replaced easily. After some time, these resources may come to an end. It is a matter of much concern and ensures a balance between population growth and utilization of resources. There are many problems associated with natural resources:
Forest resources and associated problems:
- Use and over-exploitation.
- Deforestation.
- Timber extraction.
- Mining and its effects on forest.
- Dams and their effects on forests and tribal people.
Water resources and associated problems:
- Use and overutilization of water.
- Floods, droughts etc.
- Conflicts over water.
- Dams and problems.
Mineral resource and associated problems:
- Use and exploitation.
- Environmental effects of extracting and using minerals.
Food resources and associated problems:
- World food problems.
- Changes caused by agriculture and over grazing.
- Effects of modern agriculture.
- Fertilizer-pesticide problems.
- Water logging and salinity.
Energy resources and associated problems:
- Growing energy needs.
- Land resources and associated problems
- Land degradation.
- Man-induced landslides.
- Soil erosion and desertification.
Forest resources:
In India, forests form 23 percent of the total land area. The word ‘forest’ is derived from the Latin word ‘for is’ means ‘outside’ (may be the reference was to a village boundary or fence separating the village and the forest land).
A forest is a natural, self-sustaining community characterized by vertical struc¬ture created by presence of trees. Trees are large, generally single-stemmed, woody plants. Forest can exist in many different regions under a wide range of conditions, but all true forests share these physical characteristics.
Use and Over Exploitation:
A forest is a biotic community predominantly of trees, shrubs and other woody vegetation, usually with a closed canopy. This invaluable renewable natural resource is beneficial to man in many ways.
The direct benefits from forests are:
(a) Fuel Wood: Wood is used as a source of energy for cooking purpose and for keeping warm.
(b) Timber: Wood is used for making furniture, tool-handles, railway sleep¬ers, matches, ploughs, bridges, boats etc.
(c) Bamboos: These are used for matting, flooring, baskets, ropes, rafts, cots etc.
(d) Food: Fruits, leaves, roots and tubers of plants and meat of forest animals form the food of forest tribes.
(e) Shelter: Mosses, ferns, insects, birds, reptiles, mammals and micro-organ¬isms are provided shelter by forests.
(f) Paper: Wood and Bamboo pulp are used for manufacturing paper (News¬print, stationery, packing paper, sanitary paper)
(g) Rayon: Bamboo and wood are used in the manufacture of rayon (yarns, artificial silk-fibers)
(h) Forest Products: Tannins, gums, drugs, spices, insecticides, waxes, honey, horns, musk, ivory, hides etc. are all provided by the flora and fauna of for¬ests.
The indirect benefits from forests are:
(a) Conservation of Soil:
Forests prevent soil erosion by binding the soil with the network of roots of the different plants and reduce the velocity of wind and rain — which are the chief agents causing erosion.
(b) Soil-improvement:
The fertility of the soil increases due to the humus which is formed by the decay of forest litter.
Timber extraction:
Forests are valuable resources. They provide raw materials for industries, timber for buildings, furniture's and many other uses. The forest ecosystem is dominated by various species of trees.
The chief product that forests supply is wood like timbers. Major forest products consist of timber small wood and fuel wood. Indian forests produce about 5,000 species of wood, of which about 450 are commercially valuable. Hard woods include important species such as teak, ironwood, mahogany etc.
Timber extraction is a significant cause of deforestation in Central Africa and Southeastern Asia. The biggest problem of the Indian forests is the inadequate forest cover. Forests cover only 23.13 per cent of the area against the required coverage of 33 per cent.
How hard are the puzzles involved in mining? Well, that depends on how much effort is being put into mining across the network. The difficulty of the mining can be adjusted, and is adjusted by the protocol every 2016 blocks, or roughly every 2 weeks. The difficulty adjusts itself with the aim of keeping the rate of block discovery constant. Thus if more computational power is employed in mining, then the difficulty will adjust
Dams and other effects on forest and tribal people:
Timber extraction, mining and dams are invariably parts of the needs of a developing country. If timber is overharvested, the ecological functions of the forests are lost. Unfortunately forests are located in areas where there are rich mineral resources. Forests also cover the steep embankments of river valleys, which are ideally suited to develop hydel and irrigation projects
Water resources:
- It is important because it is needed for life to exist.
- Many uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities.
- Virtually all of these human uses require fresh water.
- Only 2.5% of water on the Earth is fresh water, and over two thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps.
Use and over utilization of surface and ground water:
Agriculture Needs of Water for the Crops:
As our country is essentially an agricultural based country, the crops are to be developed for the production of different types of food grains. The requirement of water varies from crop to crop.
Different research stations are busy in identifying the water needs of all the crops. Most of these crops are shallow rooted, thus water being extracted from top layers of the soil. Soil moisture available in the top layers is essential for such crops.
Hence, it is advocated to keep the topsoil always moist so that crops do not wilt under no water condition. Several scientific methods of ploughing are developed to maintain the moisture in the topsoil for longer periods.
Groundwater and Aquifers:
Water that is available in the deeper layers of the earth is known as Groundwater. This water has been trapped inside the earth’s crust for several centuries. The water that is lying under the ground has the capacity to move in general direction of its slope with a very small velocity. The bodies that contain such water are known as Aquifers.
Groundwater and Wells:
Wells are used to bring groundwater to the land surface by means of pumps. Wells can be deep wells and shallow wells depending upon the depth at which ground water is available. Sometimes open dug wells are used where the water table is high. In the case of deeper and hard rock aquifers, Tube wells are constructed. In such cases deep well pumps such as turbine pumps or jet pumps are used to lift water to the surface of the ground.
water losses considerably. Use of ground water for nearby areas also does not pose the problems of environmental degradation.
Floods and Droughts Floods:
The flood hazard itself cannot be prevented, but thorough understanding of the land conditions which are prone to a given hazard and the processes which could culminate in the damage to life and property it is possible to minimize the damage through preparedness for a particular eventuality. Flooding takes place when the river channels are unable to contain the discharge.
In the tropical countries, floods are caused by various factors:
(i) Climatologically (rain),
(ii) Part climatologically (coastal storm surges, estuarine interactions between stream flow and tidal conditions) and
(iii) Others (failure of dams and other control works, excessive release from dams). Floods could get intensified because of basin characteristics, network characteristics, and channel characteristics, each of which has both stable (unvarying) and variable components (Table 2.1) unvarying and variable characteristics.
The improper land-use practices accentuated the flood devastation. There are hardly any forests left in the catchment area of the rivers. It is well known that the forest areas are characterized by high infiltration capacity and transmissibility. The infiltration capacity of the forest areas is 2-3 times greater than in the open fields. The surface runoff in the forested areas may be as little as one-tenth of that of the open fields.
Floods, drought, conflicts over water, dams:
Floods: Basic Safety Tips
- Turn Around, Don’t Drown
- Avoid walking or driving through floodwaters.
- Just 6 inches of moving water can knock you down, and 2 feet of water can sweep your vehicle away.
- If there is a chance of flash flooding, move immediately to higher ground. Flash floods are the cause of weather-related deaths in the US.
- If floodwaters rise around your car but the water is not moving, abandon the car and move to higher ground. Do not leave the car and enter moving water.
- Avoid camping or parking along streams, rivers, and creeks during heavy rainfall. These areas can flood quickly and with little warning.
- Flood watch
Flood Watch = “Be Aware.” Conditions are right for flooding to occur in your area.
Steps to Take
- Turn on your TV/ radio. You will receive the latest weather updates and emergency instructions.
- Know where to go. You may need to reach higher ground quickly and on foot.
- Build or restock your emergency preparedness kit. Include a flashlight, batteries, cash, and first aid supplies.
- Prepare Your Home.
- Bring in outdoor furniture and move important indoor items to the highest possible floor. This will help protect them from flood damage.
- Disconnect electrical appliances and don not touch electrical equipment if you are wet or standing in water. You could be electrocuted.
- If instructed, turn off your gas and electricity at the main switch or valve. This helps prevent fires and explosions.
Drought:
- What is a drought: The word ‘Drought’ is always a difficult one to define, because it is often used in more than one context. In simple terms, it is the absence of water for a long period of time, at a place where it is considered ‘not normal’ compared to its usual conditions.
- The distribution of all the water on the earth’s surface is not even. Some places have lots of fresh water (rivers, lakes, lagoons, ponds etc.) and are continuously replenished by rainfall, runoffs and water from underground. Others places too are known to have very little water.
Conflicts over water, dams:
With this in mind, we can describe a drought scenario to be ‘A relatively long time where there is not enough water than there usually is, as a result of dry weather, to support human, animal and plant life.
Droughts may not be an issue just because there is less or no precipitation. However, it becomes an issue when it begins to affect water supply for irrigation, municipal, industrial, energy, and ecosystem function. People often do not see droughts as natural disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes or floods, because they do not have usual immediate destructive ability, but they can be very catastrophic in the long run. Server droughts can have very serious consequences. Conflict can be defined as disagreement over the appropriate
Sources of Conflict:
Conflict can result from many factors. The sources of conflicts must be understood in order to manage water resources effectively. Three basic sources of conflict are conflicting goals, factual disagreements, and ineffective relationships (distrust and power struggles).
Conflicting Goals:
Water planning and management activities are undertaken for the purpose of solving problems such as inadequate water supplies or poor water quality. For water planning efforts to be undertaken, the problem to be solved must be clearly identified and understood. Once a problem is identified, possible courses of action to address the problem can be enumerated and then the best course of action can be chosen and implemented.
Case studies:
- Food resources:
a. World food problems:
“The World Food Problem” is a phrase familiar from the 1970s, but one that has largely lain dormant for the last decade: throughout the 1980s, concern was less with world food supplies and prices than with the problem of hunger and with individual access to food. The International Conference on Nutrition in 1992 was a high-water mark for this perspective. Now, although hunger and malnutrition remain grave problems throughout the world, issues to do with world food supplies have re-emerged on the international agenda.
b. Statement by the Advisory Group on Nutrition on the World Food Problem, Hunger and Malnutrition:
In the two decades since the World Food Conference of 1974, the questions of how much food the world grows and how that food is distributed have rightly remained at the centre of international debate and concern. For most of that time, the main emphasis has been on access to food and on distribution, rather than on supply.
We believe that emphasis was correct. It directed discussion to questions of food entitlement, household and individual food security and matters related to the quality and safety of food for human consumption. These concerns have been prominent in international statements, most recently the International Conference on Nutrition in 1992. International policy commitments have in turn been associated with modest increases in resource flows to nutrition and related fields, not just to save lives in famines, but also to help achieve food and nutrition goals in the longer term.
- Agriculture Effects: The effects of agriculture on the environment can be broadly classified into three groups, viz. global, regional and local:
a. Global Effects: These include climate changes as well as potentially ex¬tensive changes in chemical cycles.
b. Regional Effects: These generally result from the combined effects of farming practices in the same large region. Regional effects include defor¬estation, desertification, large scale pollution, increase in sedimentation in major rivers and in the estuaries at the mouths of the rivers and changes in the chemical fertility of soils over large areas. In tropical waters, sediments entering the ocean can destroy coral reefs.
c. Local Effects: These occur at or near the site of farming. These changes / effects include soil erosion and increase in sedimentation downstream in local rivers. Fertilizers carried by sediments can also transport toxins and destroy local fisheries.
Changes caused by Overgrazing: The carrying capacity of land for cattle depends on the fertility of the soil and the rainfall. When the carrying capacity is exceeded, the land is overgrazed.
The changes that result from overgrazing include:
(a) Reduction in the growth of vegetation.
(b) Reduction in the diversity of plant species.
(c) Increased soil erosion as the plant cover is reduced.
(d) Damage from the cattle trampling on the land, like paths made by cattle develop into gullies, which erode rapidly in the rain.
(e) Dominance of plant species those are relatively undesirable to the cattle.
Agriculture:
Agriculture is an art, science and industry of managing the growth of plants and animals for human use. Agriculture includes preparation of soil for cultivation of crops, harvesting crops, breeding and raising livestock, dairying and forestry.
The two major types of agriculture are:
- Traditional agriculture and
- Modern or Industrialized agriculture
Modern Agriculture:
Modern agriculture makes use of hybrid seeds of single crop variety, technologically advanced equipment, fertilizers, pesticides and water to produce large amounts of single crop.
Problems using fertilizers:
Micronutrient imbalance: Chemical fertilizers used in modern agriculture contain Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (N,P,K) which are macronutrients. Excess use of fertilizers in fields causes micronutrient imbalance. Ex: Excessive use of fertilizers in Punjab and Haryana caused deficiency of micronutrient Zinc thereby affecting productivity of soil.
- Nitrate pollution: Excess Nitrogenous fertilizers applied in fields leach deep into the soil contaminating the groundwater. If the concentration of nitrate in drinking water exceeds 25 mg/L it leads to a fatal condition in new-born babies. This condition is termed "Blue Baby Syndrome"
- First generation pesticides that use Sculpture, Arsenic, Lead or Mercury to kill pests
- Second generation pesticides such as Dichloride Biphenyl Trichloroethane (DDT) used to kill pests. These pesticides are organic in nature. Although these pesticides protect our crops from severe losses due to pests, they have several side-effects as listed below:
- Death of non-target organisms: Several insecticides kill not only the target species but also several beneficial not target organisms.
- Pesticide resistance: Some pests that survive the pesticide generate highly resistant generations that are immune to all kinds of pesticides. These pests are called "super pests".
- Bio-magnification: Most pesticides are non-biodegradable and accomplish ate in the food chain. This is called bio-accumulation or bio-magnification. These pesticides in a bio-magnified form are harmful to human beings.
- Risk of cancer: Pesticide enhances the risk of cancer in two ways (i) It acts as a carcinogen and (ii) It indirectly suppresses the immune system.
Water Logging:
If water stands on land for most of the year, it is called water logging. In water logged conditions, pore-voids in the soil get filled with water and soil-air gets depleted. In such a condition the roots of plants do not get enough air for respiration. Water logging also leads to low mechanical strength of soil and low crop yield.
- Causes of water logging
- Excessive water supply to the croplands
- Heavy rain
- Poor drainage
- Measures to prevent water logging
- Avoid and prevent excessive irrigation
- Sub-surface drainage technology
- Bio-drainage by trees like Eucalyptus
Salinity:
Water not absorbed by soil, is evaporated leaving behind a thin layer of dissolved salts in the top soil. This is called salinity of the soil. Saline soils are characterized by accumulation of soluble salts like sodium chloride, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, sodium sulphate, sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonates. Saline conditions are exhibited when pH is greater than 8.0
- Problems in salinity
- Saline soils yield less crop
- Remedies for salinity
- Salt deposit is removed by flushing with good quality water
- By using a sub-surface drainage system, the salt water is flushed out slowly.
Case Studies
Canal irrigation in Haryana resulted in rising water table followed by water logging and salinity causing low crop productivity thereby huge economic losses. Similarly the "Indira Gandhi Canal Project" in Rajasthan converted a big area into a "water soaked waste land". In Delhi, accumulation of pesticides and DDT in the body of mothers caused premature deliveries or low birth weight infants.
Food centre at Center for Science and Environment (CSE) India reported Pepsi and Coca-Cola companies sold soft drinks with pesticide content 30-40 times higher than EU guidelines permit. At the reported concentrations the pesticides damage the nervous system.
Energy is the capacity to do work and is required for life processes. An energy resource is something that can produce heat, power life, move objects, or produce electricity. Matter that stores energy is called a fuel. Human energy consumption has grown steadily .throughout human history. Early humans had modest energy requirements, mostly food and fuel for fires to cook and keep warm. In today's society, humans consume as much as 110 times as much energy per person as early humans.
Most of the energy we use today come from fossil fuels (stored solar energy). But fossils fuels have a disadvantage in that they are non-renewable on a human time scale, and cause other potentially harmful effects on the environment. In any event, the exploitation of all energy sources (with the possible exception of direct solar energy used for heating), ultimately rely on materials on planet Earth.
Some of the questions we want to answer in this discussion are:
- What sources of Energy are available?
- How do the energy sources rely on resources available on Earth?
- Which energy sources are renewable on a human time scale?
- Since fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal) are our main source of energy, how are they formed, how do we find them and exploit them?
- What is the future for our energy needs?
Energy Sources: There are 5 fundamental sources of energy:
- Nuclear fusion in the Sun (solar energy)
- Gravity generated by the Earth & Moon.
- Nuclear fission reactions.
- Energy in the interior of the Earth.
- Energy stored in chemical bonds.
Solar Energy:
Solar Energy arrives from the Sun by electromagnetic radiation. It can be used directly for heat and converted to electricity for other uses. It is a nearly unlimited source, it is renewable, and largely, non-polluting.
Gravity Generated by the Earth & Moon:
Gravitational pull of the Moon on the Earth causes tides. Tidal flow can be harnessed to drive turbines. This is also a nearly unlimited source of energy and is largely non-polluting.
Combining both solar energy and gravity provides other useful sources of energy. Solar radiation heats air and evaporates water.
Gravity causes cooler air to sink and condense water vapor. Gravity then pulls condensed water back to Earth, where it flows downhill. The circulation of the atmosphere by the process is what we call the wind.
Energy can be extracted from the wind using windmills. Water flowing downhill has a result of gravity can also be harnessed for energy to drive turbines and generate electricity. This is called hydroelectric energy. These sources of energy are mostly renewable, but only locally, and are generally non-polluting.
Nuclear Fission Reactions:
Radioactive Uranium is concentrated and made into fuel rods that generate large amounts of heat as a result of radioactive decay. This heat is used to turn water into steam. Expansion of the steam can then be used to drive a turbine and generate electricity. Once proposed as a cheap, clean, and safe way to generate energy, Nuclear power has come under some disfavor. Costs of making sure nuclear power plants are clean and safe and the problem of disposing of radioactive wastes, which are unsafe, as well as questions about the safety of the plants under human care, has contributed to this disfavor.
Energy in the Interior of the Earth:
Decay of radioactive elements has produced heat throughout Earth history. It is this heat that causes the temperature to increase with depth in the Earth and is responsible for melting of mantle rocks to form magmas. Magmas can carry the heat upward into the crust. Groundwater circulating in the vicinity of igneous intrusions carries the heat back toward the surface. If this hot water can be tapped, it can be used directly to heat homes, or if trapped at great depth under pressure it can be turned into steam which will expand and drive a turbine to generate electricity.
Energy Stored in Chemical Bonds:
Energy stored in chemical bonds drives chemical reactions. When the reactions take place this energy is either released or absorbed. If it is absorbed, it is stored in the chemical bond for later use. If it is released, it can produce useful heat energy. Electricity and light.
Hydrogen Fuel Cells are one example: A chemical reaction occurs wherein Hydrogen reacts with Oxygen in an electrolyte bath to produce H2O, and releases electricity and heat. The reaction is non-polluting, but currently has problems, such as safely storing and distributing compressed hydrogen gas, and producing hydrogen efficiently.
Biomass Energy is another example. It involves burning (a chemical reaction) of wood, or other organic byproducts. Such organic material is produced by photosynthesis, a chemical process which derives energy from the Sun and stores that energy until the material is burned.
Fossil Fuels - Biomass energy that is buried within the Earth where it is stored until humans extracts and burns it to release the energy. Among these sources are petroleum (Oil & natural gas), oil shale, tar sands, and coal. All of which will be one of the primary topics of our discussion here.
Land resources:
They occupy nearly 20 percent of the earth surface. It covers around 13000 million hectares of the area. The houses, roads and factories occupy nearly one third of the land. The forests occupy another one third of the land. The rest of land is used for ploughing and for meadows and pastures. The soil forms the surface layer of land which covers more than the 80 percent of land. The soil is defined as a natural body which keeps on changing and allows the plants to grow. It is made up of organic and inorganic materials. This definition is given by the Buckman and Brady.
Published date : 13 Nov 2015 01:39PM
