MISCONCEPTIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENT Facts and figures about the truth By:- Shubham Sonawane Rishabh Sharma Rohan Upadhya……
Jul 08, 2015
MISCONCEPTIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTFacts and figures about the truth
By:- Shubham Sonawane
Rishabh Sharma
Rohan Upadhya……
PROJECT OUTLINE• Why is it important to solve Misconceptions?
• Misconception :The only greenhouse gas emitted by human activities is carbon dioxide
• Misconception: Humans adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere is increasing the total amount of carbon in the environment causing acid rain
• Misconception :location of ozone holes
• Misconception : waste management & segregation is done legally
• Misconception: Existing laws and regulations alwaysprovide sufficient protection from hazardous materials and chemicals
• Misconception: Recycling solves all our waste problems
• Misconception : E -waste is a problem that cannot be easily resolved as the tons of E waste that are generated have gone beyond control
• Misconception: pollution increases the risk of cancer
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO SOLVE MISCONCEPTIONS?
The fact that students at various educational levels
have Misconceptions regarding various natural
phenomena has also been highlighted in the
National Science Education Standards (National
Research Council, 1996. Despite the severe potential
consequences of acid rain, greenhouse effect, and
ozone depletion on life on Earth. The majority of the
research studies on Misconceptions about these three
areas have been done.
MISCONCEPTION :THE ONLY GREENHOUSE GAS EMITTED BY HUMAN ACTIVITIES IS CARBON
DIOXIDE
Several types of human activities lead to significant
emissions of greenhouse gases. Burning fossil fuels is
one of these. Burning wood for cooking and heating
also releases CO2. When cement is made from
ground up limestone, the hardening process releases
CO2.
Agriculture, including growing
rice and raising livestock, leads
to the release of increased
amounts of methane, another
greenhouse gas. HFCs are a
group of chemicals synthesized
by humans which also act as
greenhouse gases.
MISCONCEPTION: HUMANS ADDING CARBON DIOXIDE TO THE ATMOSPHERE IS INCREASING THE
TOTAL AMOUNT OF CARBON IN THE ENVIRONMENT
CAUSING ACID RAIN
In contrast to common Misconception, acid rain is not
directly harmful to human beings. It feels and tastes
just like normal rain and taking a walk out in acid rain
won't have any direct implications on human health.
However, the gases, sulfur dioxide and oxides of
nitrogen when inhaled cause heart and lung problems
like bronchitis and asthma.
Carbon follows the law of conservation
of matter. Human activities have the
effect of transferring carbon stored in
plants and fossil fuels to the atmosphere. The amount of carbon in
the atmosphere (and also in the
oceans) is increasing, but the total
amount of carbon on earth is staying
the same.
Other than these major effects,
acid rain also causes damage to
buildings and structures like statues
and bridges. The acid present in
these rains corrodes the material
that these structures are made of.
Although natural elements like wind,
water and ice also cause erosion of
these structures, acid rain hastens
this process.
MISCONCEPTION :LOCATION OF OZONE HOLES
Some people thought that the ozone hole should be above
the sources of CFCs. However, CFCs are well mixed globally
in the troposphere and stratosphere. The reason for
occurrence of the ozone hole above Antarctica is not
because there are more CFCs concentrated but because
the low temperatures help form polar stratospheric
clouds.[106] In fact, there are findings of significant and
localized "ozone holes" above other parts of the earth.
There is a common Misconception that the "ozone hole" is
really a hole in the ozone layer. When the "ozone hole"
occurs, the ozone in the lower stratosphere is destroyed. The
upper stratosphere is less affected, so that the amount of
ozone over the continent decreases by 50 percent or even
more. The ozone does not disappear through the layer, nor is
there a uniform 'thinning' of the ozone layer. The "hole" is a
depression, not in the sense of "a hole in the windshield”.
MISCONCEPTION : WASTE MANAGEMENT & SEGREGATION IS DONE LEGALLY
A huge amount of Municipality budget
is set aside for cleanliness in our
country but it‘s not properly used by
our system. India generates a surprising
16 CR kg of garbage everyday and
one truck that carried 5-6 tons of waste
makes around three to four thousands
per truck.
An activist Rishi Agarwal, highlighted that it has become
a huge scam and from corporate to mafia everyone has
got into the business of Solid waste management. He
also brought forth an important point which said that no
Municipal corporation has taken any step to inform
people that biodegradable waste and plastic waste
should be segregated.
MISCONCEPTION: EXISTING LAWS AND REGULATIONS ALWAYS
PROVIDE SUFFICIENT PROTECTION FROM HAZARDOUS MATERIALS AND CHEMICALS
Truth: Toxic chemicals are often released into the environment through hazardous waste management problems, exclusions to regulations, non-point sources, and permitted discharges.
So Landfills solve all our waste problems ?
Unfortunately, landfills ignore the cost of waste and
missed opportunities to conserve resources. Reliance
on landfills isn’t an ideal solution because hazardous
materials and substances find their way in, and
because disposal of useful materials means our
economy relies heavily – and often unnecessarily – on
dwindling natural resources.
MISCONCEPTION: RECYCLING SOLVES ALL OUR WASTEPROBLEMS
Truth: Recycling is a valuable and promising process,
but the current system is far from perfect. There are
several long-range problems that need solutions
, including the fact that most products are not
actually designed for recycling. This means that it can
be costly to recover and reprocess materials.
MISCONCEPTION : E -WASTE IS A PROBLEM THAT CANNOT BE EASILY RESOLVED AS THE TONS OF E WASTE THAT ARE GENERATED HAVE GONE BEYOND CONTROL
Remarkable measures have
been undertaken to ensure
that E waste is properly
disposed, and the
steady rise of refurbishing
companies over the years
have only proved that the
demand for refurbished
products are higher than ever.
MISCONCEPTION: POLLUTION INCREASES THE RISK OF CANCER
Neither the study of patterns of disease in humans
(epidemiology) nor experimental studies on laboratory
animals (toxicology) support this idea Although some
epidemiologic studies find an association between
cancer and low levels of industrial pollutants, the
associations are usually weak, the results are usually
conflicting and the studies do not correct for potentially
large confounding factors like diet.
Moreover, exposures to synthetic
pollutants are tiny and rarely seem
toxicologically plausible as a
causal factor, particularly when
compared to the background of
natural chemicals that are rodent
carcinogens.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTI would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher (Mrs. DambaleMaaam) as well as our principal (Mrs.Patwardhan Maaam)who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic (Misconceptions of the environment), which also helped me in doing a lot of Research and i came to know about so many new things I am really thankful to them.Secondly i would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME