Development of Humanity - Essay Example

Environmental geography and Influence of the Development of Humanity Development of humanity and people`s impact on nature The essence of any process is the development of dialectical systems that form this process. The process of human development is primarily the development of dialectical system “society – nature”, the development of which is reflected in the progress of scientific and technical equipment of human society. Hunting and gathering If we talk about what our ancestors` day-to-day occupations, we can identify two main activities: hunting and gathering. It is impossible to say with certainty which of them was the basis of their lives. Taking into account the different in geographical location of people - they were spread almost all over the world - the choice of occupation was affected with it. Scientists agree that hunting played a more significant role in the formation and life of the ancient people, and thereby determined its development. Speaking of hunting, hunting methods used by ancient people should be noted. Hunting for large animals is difficult to imagine without the use of specific method. However, those hunting tools used by Neanderthals were too fragile and not allowed to deal with such animals. Hunting process more than anything else has stimulated the development of collectivism: hunting on large animals was always performed with all the forces of the primitive community. It is the labor process which from the beginning to the end helped to unite members of society. Humans`s progress: cultivation, keeping, metal working Finally, thousand-year experience and knowledge about the world gave the way from the difficult situation. Primitive man began not only to take from nature, but to restore its wealth. People have long noticed that the corns of plants that fall into good ground subsequently germinated. They also realized that the small little animals, found during hunting, should not be killed. People began to sow grain deliberately and domesticate and breed animals. In the Mesolithic dog was domesticated. Gradually in the Neolithic period primitive people moved from hunting and gathering to agriculture and animal husbandry, by appropriating management practices to reproduction. This transition has been called the Neolithic revolution. Agriculture was spread on the land with the most favorable conditions: the warm climate, fertile soil, wild grasses. The invention of agriculture and animal husbandry, according to scientists, determined the future of mankind. From now, there were unprecedented prospects for increasing the necessary of food for human life. Agriculture provided a person with a constant number of necessary products, the production of which it could control. Cattle breeding was not only a source of meat, skin and fat, but later, people learned how to get milk and dairy cattle. Metal working was a new step in the progress. It led to the expansion of trade, which in turn led to more severe changes associated with the rapid development of a new political, economic and social phenomenon - the medieval city. Expanding the network of metallurgical enterprises, the emergence of new technologies for processing metal and therefore new instruments, the invention of the round rod, caused a general rise in the cultural and artistic life in many European countries. Modern industrial and urban civilization Intensive industrialization is the process of development of modern forms of industry - factories, machines, large-scale industrial processes, which are playing a leading role in the socio-economic system, replacing other forms of economic activities (hunting, fishing, and agriculture). As a result fundamental changes in employment peoples are appearing in the processes of industrialization and urbanization. Let`s pay attention to intense urbanization - the growth of political and socio-economic role of cities and the increasing migration from rural to urban environments. The researchers describe it in terms of role conflict, the uncertain situation, status inconsistency or discrepancy, cultural fragmentation, polarization and exclusion. The geological human impact on nature is reflected in the shrinkage of the soil, removal of minerals, agricultural activity and so on. (Goudie 159). Such impacts are represented with the deliberate actions of humans in order to move or re-use soil and minerals (Price et. all web). Anthropogenic processes include mining, construction for industry and settlement, processing of metal ore and construction of infrastructure. Especially we can point the technology raise of the 20th century, which brought global changes for the humanity. Now the humanity is threatening the world`s ecosystem, continuing the development of technology, biological experiments and so on. Air and water pollution are causing soil erosion, damage to fauna and flora in the development of a number of areas, not enough economical use of land, oil, gas and coal, metal ores and other mineral is disturbing the humans. With the expansion of needs of the growing industry, the demand for various types of raw materials is raising too. Many natural resources are great, but not unlimited. Natural resource management and environmental protection largely depends on the state of health, working conditions and living standards. Summing up, we can say that humanity, having made a technological leap, paradoxically became weaker, being more accustomed to the fact that it is surrounded by technology, while 200 years ago people still remembered what it was need to do to survive in a sudden crisis. Causes of human-produced salinization The salinization process is divided into primary and secondary ones. The first is produced by natural processes, such as wind and rain, which are depositing salt during thousands of years. Secondary (anthropogenic) salinization is manifested as a result of human-induced changes in natural conditions of the soil. Development of secondary salinity may be due to the rise of groundwater in irrigated and flooded lands, salt mobilization of reserves underlying rocks, salt intake with the irrigation water, high salinity and other factors that lead to the accumulation of salts in the soil. Secondary one appears with widespread land clearing and. It can grow to a level of “dryland salinization” or “irrigation-induced salinization”. It can be also caused by the following human activities as deforestation, accumulation of air-borne, chemical contamination and overgrazing. In fact Goudie divides mechanisms of secondary salinization into five classes: “irrigation salinity, dryland salinity, urban salinity, salinity brought about by interbasin water transfers, coastal zone salinity” (95). Irrigation salinization occurs when upper layers of soil accumulate enough water. During the evaporation of it, the salts remain in the soil. This type is shared in common in areas where irrigation is made with low quality water and the territory is with poor soil drainage. In violation of the rules of operation of irrigation systems and their creation on imperfect projects, side effects occur: salinization, alkalinization, coalescence, and others. The main causes of degradation of irrigated soils are tubeless irrigation, large losses of water through seepage, construction of irrigation canals without sealing and excessive irrigation norms, uncontrolled water supply, and irrigation with saline water. In the irrigation systems of the world more than half of water is consumed for other purposes. Salinization is primarily exposed on those soils, where irrigation systems do not have drainage devices. Irrigation water during filtering causes an increase in the level of ground waters. Their uplifting and evaporation is accompanied by accumulation of salts in the soil. In addition to the vertical, the horizontal movement of salts should be taken into account due to the difference in relief provisions of sections or the complexity of the soil cover. People and nature are blame for the victims of their actions, but not equally. The same activity of humans is much stronger and it is permanent. Growing urbanization leads people to deforestation in order to get more life place. Deforestation in its turn leads to the raise of surface temperature and to seldom rainfalls, causing erosion. Accumulation of air or water borne can result as the accumulation of salt in upper layer of soil. Chemicals are used intensively in a variety of agricultural systems. Overgrazing is used usually in arid and semiarid regions, where natural vegetation is reduced and there is desertification of the land. Cities, factories and farms produce waste, pollution and chemical waste waters that can cause damage to reefs, sea plants, birds and fish. Internal dams reduce natural water flow rich for nutrients, are an insurmountable obstacle on the way of fish migration, restrict the movement of fresh water, increase the salinity of coastal waters. Deforestation far from the shores creates soil erosion, contributing to the emergence of mud in shallow water, which blocks sunlight so necessary for the prosperity of coral reefs. Effects of the erosion Table 4.9 from Goudie`s The Human Impact on the Natural Environment, represents the comparative rates of erosion, showing statistics for rainfall, slope too. (113). It should be said there are three main types of land the erosion can appear on: crops, trees and barren soil. The process of soil erosion passes faster when ground is without any protection. At the same time, runoffs are increased. The erosion can be caused by forest removal or become a “more spectacular form of mass movement, such as mud-flows, landslides, and debris avalanches” (113). Soil erosion during rainfall is strongly affected by runoff and slope steepness. The soil is usually absorbing a raindrop, until it becomes full, leaving the water on the surface. The heavier the rainfall the more soil particles are carried away with the streams of water. However, rainfall is not necessary for erosion to appear, especially at the desert territories of Australia and Africa. If we talk about the slope, the steeper it is the more force the runoff will be and the more plants and ground it would take with. Slope erosion may be caused by four things: the rate of rainfall, the amount and nature of plant cover, the gradient of the slope, and the type of soil. The soil productivity can be changed for long-term effects of soil erosion in the three properties: rooting depth, topsoil thickness and depth of the soil with maximum amount of clay in it. Soil erosion causes the loss of land fertility and can make it barren. Nowadays more than 25 million hectares of territory of the Earth are barren. Desertification is also a result of soil erosion and this process leads to the increasing of desert areas as well as deforestation and agricultural practice. The damaging effects of erosion are well known in the countries of Africa and Asia. Soil erosion leads to the formation gullies and ravines on farmland, which not only make more difficult the tillage and the use of technology, but they also withdrawn large areas of arable land from agricultural use. The investigation of soil erosion is the siltation of rivers and reservoirs, the deterioration of wetlands. How salinization affects vegetation growth The decline in agriculture is the most trivial effect of the soil salinization. High concentrations of salt is associated with the following problems including decreasing of productivity, high damage to farm infrastructure and irrigation equipment, buildings, water supply systems, fences, decreasing of the amount of ground water. Aside being toxic for plants, inability of plant to accumulate useful substance such as calcium and reduction of water available to them, salinization causes a lot of other problems including wind and water erosion and loss of diversity of biological species biodiversity as a result of degradation of environment. Salinization reduces its contribution to the maintenance of the biological cycle of substances. Many species of plants disappear, new plants halophytes appear on their place. Gene pool of terrestrial populations is reduced due to the deteriorating of living conditions, enhancing the migration processes. The main causes of anthropogenic soil salinizatiom are uncontrolled irrigation and water supply. As a result, the groundwater level rises and when then it reaches a critical depth, a vigorous salt accumulation begins due to the evaporation of water, which contained salt, which is in turn rising to the surface of the soil. This is contributed also with the irrigation with high mineral content. The roots of the plants get water from the soil primarily due to the osmotic pressure that exists due to the fact that the plant cells contain a higher concentration of soluble salts than the soil has. This difference in the salt concentration makes it possible to move water from low salt concentration (soil) to the higher (plant), and this process is called osmosis. When water is used for irrigation with high salt concentration, increasing their level occurs in soil, thereby reducing the osmotic pressure across the membrane of the root, reducing water absorption to plant roots. Direct salinization causes the decrease of water uptake and Ion-specific toxicity. Indirectly salinization influences on the interference of uptake of essential nutrients and the amount of sodium in the soil structure. The most serious impact of it influences on plant growth, according to Goudie, especially its effects on the soil structure, direct toxicity and osmotic pressures (101). It is shown in the following sheme: “When a water solution containing large quantities of dissolved salts comes into contact with a plant cell it causes shrinkage of the protoplasmic lining” (101). It causes the collapse of the cell and the fall of crop yields. The effect of toxicity depends on the plant type and difference of salts. Goudie claims that “sodium carbonate, by creating highly alkaline soil conditions, may damage plants by a direct caustic effect, whereas high nitrate may promote consequences of salinity” (101). The salinisation truly effects on the environment, creating serious problems in economic and social areas. It may be a great to the health of local ecosystem. Shelterbelts are reliable source of protection from hot winds fields and dust storms. They do not let the wind to disperse, protecting plants in the fields. The more powerful they will be, and especially their root system, the more they will be reliable as a protection method. Soil organisms, from the dropped leaves, play a huge role in humus formation. Humus is holding primary sand, silt, clay from the soil together. All this helps to create aid, and continue the soil development and formation. Soil texture strongly influences the rate of infiltration, but with soil texture cannot be changed the help of management. A large number of macropores through the surface (large pores) and in soils with a rough texture (sandy loam etc.) increase the rate of infiltration of moisture. Soils with fine structure (silt loam and heavy clay loam) generally has fewer amount of macropores (small pores), and therefore the rate of infiltration of the soil is less than soils that have a rough structure. The macropore approach is describing three parameters: depth, capacity and reduction of the macropore capacity per meter of the soil depth. It gives a chance to calculate a maximum macropore for the each layer of soil. The result of infiltration depends on water amount in the soil layers. Water cannot get to the macropores, if it exceeds the free capacity. Environmental Impact of Desertification in the Aral Sea Area It is not surprising that with the technique development people`s desire to get control on nature only increased. Nowadays the technique, called cloud seeding, which is used to increase a rain or a snowfall, is not from the science fiction novels. Microscopic particles of silver iodide are sprayed into the clouds. It makes the ice to crystal around them and falls as rain or snow. However, to my mind, the climate depends much on urbanization. If you not let the water runoff would be enough to change climate. For example land of Sahel has been overgrazed, and the disaster has touched all creatures, living there, but it was not only tragedy which happened. I look at the great disaster - the death of the Aral Sea - as a prime example of ecological trouble with serious social and economic consequences, directly or indirectly affecting all the countries of Central Asia. Critical situation, which was the result of the Aral Sea drainage, arose from the fact that the economy of those years focused on the development of irrigated agriculture and growth of irrevocable water consumption for irrigation. For many centuries the Aral Sea has made intra-continental climate more moderate due to the evaporation of water, which gave life to the deserts of Central Asia. The Aral Sea was also a home for more than a hundred species of fish that maintain a productive fishing industry (“Modifying the weather” web). About fifty years ago, the Aral Sea was surrounded by prosperous fishing town, but now only canning factories still operate, when the town is some kilometers long from the sea. Natural beauty of region could make possible the creation of magnificent resorts. At the initial stage of the project of Soviet Union, which seemed a great idea at first, irrigation areas contributed to the growth of the economy in Central Asia and created millions of job positions. However, the success and joy from the results of this project were short and the price for the wrong organization of environmental protection was much higher. The sea level dropped by 40 feet. The Aral lose 2/3 of its water volume. We all understand that this process of murdering of the nature affected not only people, living in close proximity to the sea (they lost their jobs and were forced to start living in a new place), but also had an impact on the whole environment. From the chapter above I can sum that the loss of water has led to an increase in overall salinity of the sea. Winds flushed for miles, salting the earth, and it caused the death of crops. It resulted into dust storm and even the climate is not so mild nowadays. I do not believe that even hundreds of years may be enough to restore the region. The dimensions of this disaster are comparable to the scale of the disaster in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To my mind it is bright examples of boundless greed and bad-planned economic measures which ignored the whole ecosystem and are still generating awful consequences and somehow is very sorry for those ships that will never come out in the sea. Craftiness of the underground water The subsidence, lowering the earths surface was obstacle to the use of underground fresh water. Such countries as the United States (especially California), Japan, Italy faced with this unexpected problem. A lot of kinds of geological conditions can cause land subsidence. Goudie is telling about thick seams, shallow depth, and high solubility. It can be influenced be direct solution of susceptible rocks as well as mining (168). The reason for land lowering was the formation of voids, the looseness of the soil. It captures significant area and the depth can vary from a few centimeters to several meters per year. As a result of the lowering of the soil buildings are crumbling, roads and canals are deteriorating, ducts are tearing. This is due to a number of complex effects as anthropogenic factors, such as the pumping of oil, gas and groundwater, pumping fresh water in areas of sea water intrusion and influence of modern neotectonic. Land subsidence will occur only under certain geological conditions, where the deposits involved are mostly composed of soil (sediments) of high initial porosity. In Mexico City, the subsidence of the earths surface exceeded 10 m over the last century. As a result, buildings, bridges, water and sewage networks were damaged. Official data on the number of people staying in the territory of the city are different with the actual number in millions of people.  After all, Mexico is growing every day and people have long settled not only in the valley, but also on the surrounding hills. The shrinkage of the soil is marked since the end of XIX century in this so densely populated place. At first, nobody was paying any attention, but when it reached the critical level, people began to think seriously on the problem. A long time ago there was a huge lake Texcoco, which was drained by the conquistadors in the XVI century, on the place of modern city. After that this area has undergone with active development, houses were rebuild on soft crumbling clay that began to sink when the time passed. Over time the growing population needed more water; people began to build wells and pump out water from the ground. As a result, a huge number of voids were formed under Mexico, which began to grow, forming a huge crack on the surface. In general, since the end of the XIX century Mexico sank on 15 meters in average. Heavy rains and floods become more dangerous for residents of the capital, and the consequences of the earthquakes can be more deplorable than before. Today a variety of options was considered for strengthening the soil under Mexico, including the ability to push rainwater to the depleted layers. The similar situation is with the San Joaquin Valley. The geologists and hydrologists composed maps, which showed that in California there are huge underground reservoirs. Some of them are filled only with rain water, so they would not be full soon. Water withdrawals cause pressure decline in the aquifer. Intensive pumping of groundwater causes significant changes in the strain of the rocks, which often leads to subsidence of the earths surface. Especially quickly this process develops in areas composed of highly permeable sandy rocks with clay layers. When groundwater is pumping, the pressure is reduced, and it increases the effective pressure on the skeleton of the soil, resulting in the entire sealing of compacted rocks. Valley of San Joaquin is a classic example of it, there has been registered a record decline of groundwater level. Works Cited “Modifying the weather: Man-Made desert”. (April 01, 2010) http://digital.films.com/play/KXCSE8. Web. Goudie Andrew (2006) The Human Impact on the Natural Environment, Blackwell Publishing. Print. Simon J. Price, Jonathan R. Ford, Anthony H. Cooper, Catherine Neal (2011) Humans as major geological and geomorphological agents in the Anthropocene: the significance of artificial ground in Great Britain, rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org. Web. Read More