Our Environment: Air, Land and Water
Introduction: Over the last 10-15 years
the environment has become a 
topic.
Most of us know that driving a car and producing a lot of waste is
bad for the environment, but we may not know why. More importantly,
knowing a lot about the environment is useless unless we put that knowledge
to work. The environment needs our protection from further damage.
Read on and you will develop your awareness of the environment and gain a basic understanding of natural systems. You will learn about air, land, water, current events like El Nino, and ideas on what you can do to help.
Air Pollution:
Every major city around the world, whether it's in the developed or developing world, suffers from air pollution. These urban centers are congested with higher concentrations of cars, factories and fast flying jets. Simply stated, air pollution is the popular term for dirty, unhealthy air quality.
The substances which cause this unhealthy air are called pollutants. The pollutants range from small amounts of colourless poison gas to clouds of thick black smoke. These usually enter the air by the burning of fossil fuels (e.g. oil, gas), which is called combustion. Cars, trucks, factories, and electrical power plants, all depend on the burning of fossil fuel as their primary energy source. Since big cities have so many cars and industries, they have higher rates of pollution.
Pollutants travel through the air and effect us and the earth in many ways. For example, people living in highly polluted cities often complain of burning eyes. Irritation of the lungs is also a common condition.
Plants are also effected.
Decreased rates of development and growth have been observed by scientists.
Most of us don't see the relationship humans have with the plant world.
Humans (and animals) take in Oxygen (O2) and release Carbon Dioxide
(CO2) every time we breathe. Plants do the reverse. They
take in CO2 and release O2. The oxygen in the
air we breathe is provided by plants. When the health of plants is
in danger, so is ours!
Changes in the quality of air also effect the climate and global weather patterns. For instance, when the earth's surface and atmosphere get too hot, the excess heat received from the sun is released back into space. Certain air pollutants "trap" the heat within the earth's atmosphere. This is commonly called the "greenhouse effect". This process is thought to contribute to global warming trends.
Land Pollution:
We depend on our land in many ways. Most obviously, we build our houses, schools, and roads on it. We plant and get our food from the land. The problem is not that we are using the land, but rather how we use it and how we take care of it.
We live in the times of mass consumption. What does that mean? Well, manufacturers and stores depend on us continually buying new products. From food to batteries, toys to clothes, it isn't surprising to see why stores are so busy on Saturday afternoons. When we are "finished" using these products we throw them out, then go out and buy something new. What happens with all the stuff after garbage day? It goes to a landfill site and piles up. Many household products are made of materials which do not breakdown easily. This means that once they are at the landfills, they accumulate.
Now lets think about packaging. Most items are wrapped in materials containing paper. Breakfast cereals are packaged in a waxed bag and cardboard box. So are juice boxes, pudding cups, granola bars and thousands of other snack products. Eating these snacks takes about five minutes. We hardly think twice before throwing out the wrappers. These also go from our garbage cans to landfill sites. That means a significant amount of our trees are cut down only to end up in the garbage!
At the garbage sites, a process called landfill seepage occurs. Chemicals from batteries, printer ink cartridges, laser toners and other chemical based products leak out of the dump and into the ground. Here, in North America landfill sites are lined as an attempt to prevent leakage. Unfortunately, some chemicals are strong enough to go through the lining and pollute the ground.
Click here for more information on land pollution.
Water - The Problem:
People have always dumped wastes into lakes, rivers, and oceans. Why? It is easier than dumping wastes on land. The large volumes of water dilute dangerous substances. In rivers, currents carry away garbage, chemicals, and sewage-everything just washes downstream.
History:
In 1975, Canada joined more than 50 other countries and joined the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping Wastes and Other Matter. This convention, also known as the London Convention, is a powerful weapon in the battle to protect our water systems from dangerous forms of pollution. In 1988 the Ocean Dumping Control Act was incorporated into the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA).
Get linked to more info about water pollution.
The Water Cycle: How Rain Is Made
Trees and other natural living creatures need many important environmental elements to survive and grow. If these elements were used only once and were not returned to the environment, then nature's resources would soon be used up and life on earth would end. Cycles in nature ensure that environmental elements, like water and minerals, are used over and over again, ensuring that living creatures survive.
In the environment, water is
continuously evaporating and condensing, and being absorbed and released
in the water cycle. When the sun heats the land and sea, water evaporates
and forms water vapour which rises into the air. Here it forms clouds
much like the steam rising from a boiling kettle or a pot on the stove.
The wind blows these clouds from one place to another. Clouds are forced to rise by hot air from below pushing them higher, or because they encounter an obstacle, like a mountain. When clouds rise, the water vapour in them cools and condenses. Condensation means that the gaseous water vapour forms into tiny droplets of water. These droplets fall back to the ground as rain, hail or snow.
On land, this water enters the soil where it is absorbed by the roots of trees and plants, or it collects in dams and rivers.
Cycles in nature ensure that resources, like water, are used over and over again, so that life can continue. Nature does not waste its resources, but people are often very wasteful. Humans often use things only once, which is very expensive and damages the environment because it means that natural resources are depleted. Conservation means: not wasting natural resources, finding ways of protecting limited resources and making sure that natural cycles are not disturbed.
Facts About Water
We have the same
amount of water today as we did when the Earth was formed.
Only 1% of the Earth's
water is available for drinking water.
The 5 Great Lakes
bordering the United States and Canada contain about 20% of the
world's available fresh water.
You can fill a 355ml
(12oz.) glass of water approximately 9,700 times for the same cost as
a six-pack of pop.
Water is the main
ingredient in other beverages and it takes water to process them. For
example, it takes 1,500 gallons
of water to make 1 barrel of beer.
What you throw
in the trash, pour down the drain, and put on the ground can pollute
the water. One gallon
of gasoline can contaminate approximately 750,000 gallons of water.
Find out how water is filtered for drinking and conduct an experiment with the water cycle!
What Can I Do?
Buy organic foods.
Organic farmers do not use any unnatural methods of fertilizing or
spraying their crops.
Everything on the farm is natural and bio-degradable.
Buy Pre-owned
stuff. Buying second hand clothes, books, games, bicycles, sports
equipment
and anything else you might think of is an excellent way to save on waste,
packaging
and, of course, money.
Buy biodegradable
products. Buy only cleaning products and soaps that are
biodegradable.
Conserve energy! Turn
off lights and electrical appliances when you're not using
them. Fix leaky faucets or toilets,
take showers instead of baths, don't leave taps running
when you're washing dishes or brushing your teeth.
Current Events:
El
Nino
El Nino is a change in the ocean-atmosphere system in the eastern Pacific which is causing major weather changes around the world. Among these changes are increased rainfall across the southern region of the United States and in Peru and drought (no rain) in the West Pacific. El Nino basically changes the position of warm jet stream winds resulting in unusual weather patterns around the world.
GET El Nino UPDATES IN THE NEWS HERE!
Click here for info on El Nino!
More cool stuff for kids!
Environmental
crosswords, connect-the-dots, decode, and colouring pages
Experiment:
Find out how dirty the air is in your neighbourhood
Treasure
Hunt! Learn about pollution
Link up with Environment Canada
for facts about water
This web site has been brought to you by: Eva and Zahida (1998).
