What resources on earth have been destroyed?

Petrochemical energy has been excessively exploited, forests have been excessively cut down, wetlands have been greatly destroyed, rivers have been polluted on a large scale, and the air has been seriously polluted. The diversity of species is disappearing rapidly, and in general all resources have been damaged to a certain extent.

Environmental pollution has various classifications:

According to environmental factors: air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution.

Based on human activities: industrial environmental pollution, urban environmental pollution, and agricultural environmental pollution.

According to the nature and source of environmental pollution: chemical pollution, biological pollution, physical pollution (noise pollution, radioactivity, electromagnetic waves), solid waste pollution, and energy pollution.

Due to human activities, the health of the earth is facing increasingly severe tests, and there are many problems "from head to toe". Scientists have discovered that the size and depth of the ozone layer hole over Antarctica this year hit a record, and it will take 60 years to completely repair it. There are also 200 "dead zones" in the ocean due to pollution.

The ozone hole is larger than North America

According to the British "Guardian" report on October 20, according to the latest observation results released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on the 19th, this year's Antarctic Ozone depletion is serious. From September 21 to September 30, the average area of ??the Antarctic ozone hole was 10.6 million square miles (approximately 27.45 million square kilometers), which is larger than the area of ??North America.

It is reported that the ozone observer on NASA's "Ola" satellite can measure the total amount of ozone in the entire Antarctic continent from the surface to the upper atmosphere. The monitoring equipment detected an extremely low ozone value over the East Antarctic Ice Sheet on October 8, only 85 Dobson units (one Dobson unit is the thickness of the ozone layer one thousandth of a centimeter under standard conditions). In addition, scientists from the Earth System Research Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also used equipment carried on balloons to directly measure the amount of ozone in Antarctica. The data shows that as of October 9, the total amount of ozone in Antarctica has increased from about 300 in July. Dobsonian units plummeted to 93 Dobsonian units.

What surprises scientists even more is that the ozone in the ozone layer within the range of 12.9 kilometers to 21.9 kilometers from the surface has been basically depleted. In July and August, the average amount of ozone in this range was 125 Dobson units, which has now dropped sharply. The lowest measured ozone amount was only 1.2 Dobson units, which is almost completely exhausted.

The ozone layer refers to the stratosphere of the atmosphere where ozone molecules are relatively concentrated 25 to 30 kilometers away from the earth. It can absorb more than 99% of the sun's ultraviolet rays that are harmful to humans and protect life on earth from the harm of short-wave ultraviolet rays. A hole is considered to exist when the thickness of the ozone layer falls below 220 Dobson units. In 1974, Rowland and Molette of the University of California, USA, discovered that the atmospheric ozone layer had been severely damaged, and holes had appeared in the "umbrella" above human heads, causing the earth's greenhouse effect to intensify. This is mainly caused by the depletion of ozone after chemical substances such as chlorofluorocarbons produced by human activities enter the ozone layer.

The measurement of the microwave bifurcated sounder of the "Ola" satellite shows that in mid-to-late September this year, chlorine-containing compounds in the lower Antarctic stratosphere have been at extremely high levels. In addition, stratospheric temperature is also a major factor affecting the ozone hole. When the temperature is low, the cavity area becomes larger and the depth increases. When the temperature is high, the cavity area shrinks. From October to November, the ozone hole will continue to worsen, and ultraviolet radiation is expected to be abnormally enhanced. Since the release of ozone-depleting substances has been restricted by international treaties and continues to decrease, scientists estimate that the Antarctic ozone hole can be completely repaired by 2065.

The number of "dead zones" continues to increase

On October 19, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) released the "2006 Global Environment Outlook Yearbook" at the conference held in Beijing. According to the report, the number of "dead zones" in the ocean has reached 200, an increase of 34% in the past two years.

Due to the discharge of chemical fertilizers, feces, sewage, etc. into the sea, sufficient nutrients are provided for some algae, stimulating the crazy growth of these seaweeds. Coupled with air pollution, some "low oxygen zones" and "low oxygen zones" are formed in the sea. In the "hypoxic zone", not only fish, shrimp, and shellfish cannot survive in low oxygen or anoxic conditions, but also seagrass cannot survive. Therefore, the "hypoxic zone" and "hypoxic zone" are also called "death zones" .

The report pointed out that since the 1970s, the number and area of ??"dead zones" have been expanding. In 1994, it was estimated that there were 149 "dead zones" in the world's oceans, but in 2006 there may have been as many as 200 "dead zones". The earliest "dead zones" discovered and recorded were on the Atlantic coast of the northeastern United States, the Baltic Sea, Katigat Bay, the Black Sea, and the northeastern Adriatic Sea. The most famous "dead zone" is in the Gulf of Mexico, caused by nutrients drained by the Mississippi River. Some of the latest dead zones have appeared off the coasts of regions and countries such as South America, China, Japan, southeastern Australia and New Zealand. Ocean "dead zones" pose a great threat to fisheries, but if winds can wash away nutrient-rich water, the "dead zones" may be revived. The United Nations Environment Program calls on coastal countries to take measures to control land-based pollution and curb the continued increase in "dead zones".

Human beings are destroying the earth at an unprecedented rate [Read: 1487]

Human beings are destroying the earth at an unprecedented and alarming rate. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Agency believes that this will make nature more likely Mutations occur, causing diseases to spread, forests to be destroyed, and "dead zones" to appear in oceans.

A survey conducted by 1,360 experts in 95 countries by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment) concluded that in the past 50 years, population growth has caused one-third of human life to depend on Two ecosystems, including air and water sources, are polluted and overexploited.

A report issued by the agency’s 45-member board of directors stated: “Human activities have put great pressure on the natural laws of the earth, and the earth’s ecosystem may not be able to sustain the future. population. ”

The report states that 10% to 30% of mammals, birds and amphibians are on the verge of extinction.

This largest-ever study of Earth’s ecosystems found: “In the past 50 years, humans have destroyed ecosystems faster than ever before in order to obtain food, clean water, wood, fiber and fuel. Each era comes faster, and the scope of damage is wider than any other era. This has caused irreversible losses to biological diversity."

The report added that from 1945 to the present, human cultivation has The area of ??cultivated land is more than the land cultivated in the 18th and 19th centuries combined. The report said: "In the next 50 years, surface denudation will bring increasingly serious consequences."

Experts who compiled the report explained that future changes in the ecosystem may cause disease outbreaks, and the African Great Lakes region may Climate change will become a breeding ground for the spread of cholera. Nitrogen from fertilizers accumulates in farmland and then washes into the sea, causing algae to grow, causing fish to die due to lack of oxygen and creating "dead zones" without oxygen in coastal areas.