industrial development and ecological issues

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INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ECOLOGICAL ISSUES INTRODUCTION Nowadays a lot of attraction is paid to ecological situation in the world. And its reasons are well understood. The reasons to speak about it are not necessary to be named. Everybody knows them quite well. The human progress together with the development of technology is causing a great influence of the global ecosystem, changing it forever. As the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Project e- bulletin states in it’s beginning: “The global rate of resource consumption exceeds the level the planet can sustain by 20 per cent, according to an analysis published on the weekend by the US National Academy of Sciences.” (Second Edition April 2003) There are not that many virgin lands on the earth where people can definitely say how that areas had looked before, because the influence of human on world system of nature has changed many places to no possibility of being recognized: “These unprecedented rates of growth, which could have alarming effects on the environment and the life support system of the planet, have renewed the debate about the future prospects for human societies. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions starting in the United Kingdom , then subsequently spreading throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The onset of the Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human history; almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way. The commencement of the Industrial Revolution is closely linked to a small number of innovations, [37] made in the second half of the 18th century:

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Page 1: Industrial Development and Ecological Issues

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ECOLOGICAL ISSUES

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays a lot of attraction is paid to ecological situation in the world. And its reasons are well understood. The reasons to speak about it are not necessary to be named. Everybody knows them quite well. The human progress together with the development of technology is causing a great influence of the global ecosystem, changing it forever. As the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Project e-bulletin states in it’s beginning: “The global rate of resource consumption exceeds the level the planet can sustain by 20 per cent, according to an analysis published on the weekend by the US National Academy of Sciences.” (Second Edition April 2003) There are not that many virgin lands on the earth where people can definitely say how that areas had looked before, because the influence of human on world system of nature has changed many places to no possibility of being recognized: “These unprecedented rates of growth, which could have alarming effects on the environment and the life support system of the planet, have renewed the debate about the future prospects for human societies.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions starting in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spreading throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The onset of the Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human history; almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way.

The commencement of the Industrial Revolution is closely linked to a small number of innovations,[37] made in the second half of the 18th century:

Textiles – Cotton spinning using Richard Arkwright's water frame, James Hargreaves's Spinning Jenny, and Samuel Crompton's Spinning Mule (a combination of the Spinning Jenny and the Water Frame). This was patented in 1769 and so came out of patent in 1783. The end of the patent was rapidly followed by the erection of many cotton mills. Similar technology was subsequently applied to spinning worsted yarn for various textiles and flax for linen.

Steam power – The improved steam engine invented by James Watt and patented in 1775 was initially mainly used for pumping out mines, but from the 1780s was applied to power machines. This enabled rapid development of efficient semi-automated factories on a previously unimaginable scale in places where waterpower was not available.

Iron founding – In the Iron industry, coke was finally applied to all stages of iron smelting, replacing charcoal. This had been achieved much earlier for lead and copper as well as for producing pig iron in a blast furnace, but the second stage in the production of bar iron depended on the use of potting and stamping (for which a patent expired in 1786) or puddling (patented by Henry Cort in 1783 and 1784).

Page 2: Industrial Development and Ecological Issues

The application of steam power to the industrial processes of printing supported a massive expansion of newspaper and popular book publishing, which reinforced rising literacy and demands for mass political participation.

INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION

Industrial: About 57,000 polluting industries in India generate about 13,468 mld of wastewater out of which nearly 60% (generated from large & medium industries) is treated

Air Pollution

Industrialization and urbanization have resulted in a profound deterioration of India's air quality. Of the 3 million premature deaths in the world that occur each year due to outdoor and indoor air pollution, the highest number are assessed to occur in India. According to the World Health Organization, the capital city of New Delhi is one of the top ten most polluted cities in the world. Surveys indicate that in New Delhi the incidence of respiratory diseases due to air pollution is about 12 times the national average.

According to another study, while India's gross domestic product has increased 2.5 times over the past two decades, vehicular pollution has increased eight times, while pollution from industries has quadrupled. Sources of air pollution, India's most severe environmental problem, come in several forms, including vehicular emissions and untreated industrial smoke. Apart from rapid industrialization, urbanization has resulted in the emergence of industrial centers without a corresponding growth in civic amenities and pollution control mechanisms.

Waste and Water Pollution

Water pollution has many sources. The most polluting of them are the city sewage and industrial waste discharged into the rivers. The facilities to treat waste water are not adequate in any city in India. Presently, only about 10% of the waste water generated is treated; the rest is discharged as it is into our water bodies. Due to this, pollutants enter groundwater, rivers, and other water bodies. Such water, which ultimately ends up in our households, is often highly contaminated and carries disease-causing microbes. Agricultural run-off, or the water from the fields that drains into rivers, is another major water pollutant as it contains fertilizers and pesticides.

During the last fifty years, the number of industries in India has grown rapidly. But water pollution is concentrated within a few subsectors, mainly in the form of toxic wastes and organic pollutants. Out of this a large portion can be traced to the processing of industrial chemicals and to the food products industry. In fact, a number of large- and medium-sized industries in the region covered by the Ganga Action Plan do not have adequate effluent treatment facilities. Most of these defaulting industries are sugar mills, distilleries, leather processing industries, and thermal power stations. Most major industries have treatment facilities for industrial effluents. But this is not the case with small-scale industries, which cannot afford enormous investments in pollution control equipment as their profit margin is very slender.

Page 3: Industrial Development and Ecological Issues

Chemical Pollution

As rapidly developing countries such as India industrialise, the dangers to local communities from pollution are often overlooked until there is a major disaster such as occurred in Bhopal.

The effects of chamical pollution is being rapidly felt across India. It has found that the incidence of diseases related to nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive and endocrine systems was one to four times higher in heavily industrialised areas as compared to unindustrialised areas. Many cases of congenital deformity and chromosomal abnormalities were also reported, in addition to 11 cases of different kinds of cancer. Skin disorders are also rampant.

The wave of industrialisation that began in the late 1970s has changed the complexion of India's once placid landscape. Lakes, streams, as well as the groundwater are laced with toxic heavy metals and chemicals, as proved by several studies by government agencies and research institutions including the National Geophysical Research Laboratory.

SOIL POLLUTION

Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, i.e. elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure through the process of wet deposition. Acid rain is caused by emissions of compounds of ammonium, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids. Governments have made efforts since the 1970s to reduce the production of sulfuric oxides into the Earth's atmosphere with positive results. However, it can also be caused naturally by the splitting of nitrogen compounds by the energy produced by lightning strikes, or the release of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere by volcano eruptions.

Definition

"Acid rain" is a popular term referring to the deposition of wet (rain, snow, sleet, fog and cloudwater, dew) and dry (acidifying particles and gases) acidic components. A more accurate term is “acid deposition”. Distilled water, once carbon dioxide is removed, has a neutral pH of 7. Liquids with a pH less than 7 are acidic, and those with a pH greater than 7 are bases. “Clean” or unpolluted rain has a slightly acidic pH of about 5.2, because carbon dioxide and water in the air react together to form carbonic acid, a weak acid (pH 5.6 in distilled water), but unpolluted rain also contains other chemicals.[1]

H2O (l) + CO2 (g) → H2CO3 (aq)

Carbonic acid then can ionize in water forming low concentrations of hydronium and carbonate ions:

Page 4: Industrial Development and Ecological Issues

2 H2O (l) + H2CO3 (aq) CO32− (aq) + 2 H3O+ (aq)

Acid deposition as an environmental issue would include additional acids to H2CO3.

INDUSTRIAL WASTE

INDUSTRIAL WASTES

Toxic waste is waste material that can cause death or injury to living creatures. It can be spread quite easily and can contaminate lakes and rivers. The term is often used interchangeably with “hazardous waste”, or discarded material that can pose a long-term risk to health or environment.

As with most pollution problems, toxic waste began to be a significant issue during the industrial revolution. It usually is the product of industry or commerce, but comes also from residential use (e.g. cleaning products, cosmetics, lawn care products), agriculture (e.g. chemical fertilizers, pesticides), the military (nuclear weapons testing, chemical warfare), medical facilities (e.g. pharmaceuticals), radioactive sources, and light industry, such as dry cleaning establishments.[1][2]

Health effects

Toxic waste

Toxic wastes often contain carcinogens, and exposure to these by some route, such as leakage or evaporation from the storage, causes cancer to appear at increased frequency in exposed individuals. For example, a cluster of the rare blood cancer polycythemia vera was found around a toxic waste dump site in northeast Pennsylvania in 2008.[3]

MEASURES

Turn off Sound pollution

1. Keep the volume of your T.V., music system low. 2. Honk the car horn sparingly. 3. Discourage use of loudspeakers. 4. Avoid the use of band, crackers in wedding processions. 5. Get all to practise laws regarding Sound pollution.

Vaporise Air pollution

1. Keep smoke emission from homes, factories, vehicles to minimum. 2. Avoid use of firecrackers. 3. Dispose garbage in bins, do not bum it. 4. Use spittoons or flowing drains for spitting. 5. Get all to practise laws regarding Air pollution.

Page 5: Industrial Development and Ecological Issues

Purify Water pollution

1. Never dump garbage near communal taps, wells and other water bodies. 2. Do not tinker with public water pipes. 3. Immerse holy idols in authorised places. 4. Get all to practise laws regarding Water pollution.

Dispose off Chemical pollution

1. Prefer organic manure to chemical fertilizers, paper to polythene, cotton, jute to polyester.

2. Dispose polythene bags through proper channel. 3. Plant more trees and vegetation. 4. Get all to practise laws regarding Chemical pollution.

CONCLUSION

Eventhough the industrial development changes our life style and culture it is important to control pollution caused by the industries by whatever means and to save the environment from pollution