Environmental crisis: ways to exit from ecological crisis

The environmental crisis is the current state of the relationship between human society and the natural environment in which a person lives, in which the contradictions between the economic interests of society in the consumption and use of the natural environment and the environmental requirements for the preservation and quality of this environment are exacerbated. of society.

In the structure of the ecological crisis, there are two sides - natural and social. The natural side of the ecological crisis combines the signs of degradation and destruction of the natural environment:–Global climate warming, greenhouse effect;–General attenuation of the ozone layer of the Earth; the appearance of ozone holes;–Contamination of the atmosphere, the formation of acid rain, photochemical reactions with the formation of ozone, peroxide compounds from CnHm;- pollution of the oceans, burial of highly toxic and radioactive wastes (dumping) in it, pollution by oil, oil products, pesticides, surfactants, heavy metals, thermal pollution;- pollution and depletion of surface water, imbalance between surface and groundwater;- contamination of the surface of the earth with the whole complex of pollutants: solid waste, heavy and radioactive elements, changes in the geochemistry of the earth and groundwater;- reduction of forest areas (deforestation) as a result of fires, industrial logging, losses of already harvested wood, acid rain, illegal logging, harmful insects and diseases, damage from industrial emissions (including nuclear accidents);- soil degradation, desertification as a result of deforestation, irrational land use, drought, overgrazing, irrational irrigation (waterlogging, salinization);- the release of existing and the emergence of new ecological niches, filling them with undesirable living organisms;- disruption of the ecological balance on a global and regional scale, general overpopulation of the planet and high population density in various regions, deterioration of the quality of living environment in cities.

What are the consequences of such uncontrolled population growth? Quantitative expansion. A person in food chains acts as a consumer, the number of which is 10,000 times greater than the natural biological number, which can not but affect the biotic balance and competitive relationships in nature. Competition for food - humanity eats up most of the food resources allocated by nature for the final consumer. The lion's share is negligible. The physical mass of humans is 1/20 of the mass of land animals and about 1/2 of all mammals. Consequently, modern populations of people cannot enter into the natural biocenoses. The qualitative aspect of the expansion of humankind into nature concerns both nature and man himself. Xenobiotics - the predominant mass of substances and materials, which is involved in production and consumption by society, and then enters the environment, is not utilized in the natural biotic circulation, turning out to be ballast or pollutant.

The quality of people with a rapid increase in the number drops significantly. Disabling most of the mechanisms of natural selection, advances in hygiene and medicine, saving most patients and transferring acute diseases to chronic forms, changing the body’s defenses with drugs and procedures, preserving the lives of people with aggravated heredity, environmental pollution, stress, smoking, alcohol, drugs - not contribute to the preservation of a healthy species gene pool. Giftedness - with an increase in the number of people, the factor of natural selection for the mind, which operated in the early stages of anthropogenesis, ceased to function (a significant part of the genus was the direct descendants of the leader - distinguished by a sum of qualities in which intelligence was an important component). Congenital human intellectual potential (average IQ) remained at the level of the prehistoric Cro-Magnon.

Social qualities, upbringing - above all, act as manifestations of the law “there will not be enough for everyone” and are closely linked with the economy. The degree of inequality (economic, social) life chances of people is such that it never happens in nature within one stable animal species. Population growth due to underdeveloped countries only reinforces this social inequality. The social side of the ecological crisis is manifested in the following social phenomena: In the inefficiency of the work of special bodies for the protection of the environment, protection and use of forests, fish resources, wildlife and subsoil. In the confrontation of representative and executive authorities, local self-government, which exacerbates the inefficiency of the work. The inability of law enforcement agencies to monitor and supervise the implementation of environmental laws. In mass environmental and legal nihilism, disrespect for environmental and legal requirements, violation and failure to comply with them. Ways out of the environmental crisis, in essence, are reduced to the need for:

• 1.    To contain population growth.

• 2.    To reduce the nature of the economy.

Models and programs, including international ones, are being formed around these problems in order to get out of the ecological crisis and further develop humanity. International cooperation to overcome the environmental crisis. The ripening of the conflict between nature and man was predicted from time immemorial, the inscription in hieroglyphs on the pyramid of Cheops says: "People will die from the inability to use the forces of nature and from ignorance of the true world." Similar prophecies are found in the religions of the ancient Persians, Hindus, and the Bible. Foundations for such judgments were also found by scientists (J.-B. Lamarck and others.)1968 - the creation of the "Rome Club" on the initiative of one of the economic directors of the company "Fiat". The goal of the Club of Rome is to build forecasts for the near future and present to the world community the arguments about the need for measures to prevent the global ecological and economic crisis.1972 - the first report of the "Rome Club" - "The Limits to Growth", a year earlier - J. Forrester's book "World Dynamics". The first forecasts, models of environmental development were imperfect, because did not take into account many factors, based only on the economy and human security. But the main result of the initiatives of the "Rome Club" is the answer to the strategic question: "The threat of a global environmental crisis is real and great; significant losses for humanity cannot be avoided unless growth is sustained and then the global environmental economy is not reduced. "Environmental Protection Programs (IEE) is a natural reaction of industrialized countries to the threat of an environmental crisis, because it is still believed that it is technogenic pollution of the environment that underlies this threat or is its main component. This view is connected with an attempt to positively answer the question of whether it is possible to preserve the nature-intensiveness of the economy without affecting its foundation, but only by reducing environmental pollution.

“General cleaning and universal cleaning” while maintaining economic growth rates and minimal impact on the basic parameters of the economy is in principle impossible if the gross waste of material balance and production does not change. 1972 - The First World Conference on the Environment in

Stockholm (113 states participated). Conference Secretary-General Maurice Strong first formulated the concept of eco-development - environmentally-oriented socio-economic development, in which the growth of human well-being is not accompanied by deterioration of the habitat and degradation of natural systems.

The Stockholm Conference gently set the task of developing practical principles of eco-development, for which research was conducted in four areas:

• 1.    Trends, world dynamics of the development of the ecological-economic situation under various scenarios of economic growth and specialization.

• 2.    Natural science forecasting of the state of natural complexes and climate.

• 3.    Exploring the possibilities of environmental regulation of the use of natural resources and quality greening of production.

• 4.    Organization of international cooperation and coordination of efforts in solving regional and national tasks of eco-development and environmental management.