VII Международный конкурс научно-исследовательских и творческих работ учащихся
Старт в науке
Влияние мусора на экологическую ситуацию в мире. Раздельный сбор мусора.
Автор работы награжден дипломом победителя II степени
Полная версия работы доступна во вкладке "Файлы работы" в формате PDF
Introduction
Choice of topic and its relevance.
To begin with, it is common knowledge,environment is something we are familiar with, and it is everything that affects our abilities to live: the air we breathe, plants and animals around us. Scientists claim that about 200 years ago people lived with harmony with nature. Unfortunately, with the development of civilization human’s influence in nature began to increase. Thus, nowadays there is lots of rubbish around us. We don’t attach much importance to this; however it gets bigger and bigger every day. Not to mention the fact that it is a real threat to us, our health and even our lives. If we don’t start to deal with all these garbage, it can play a bad joke with us in nearest future. Consequently, there are serious grounds to believe that this problem is urgent and quite topical in modern world. And I need to say that one of its effective solutions is the organization of selective waste collection with their further recycling. So, the theme of my research work is «The influence of garbage on the ecological situation in the world. Garbage separation».
Project goals:
Prove the necessity for protect our planet and environment;
Prove the necessity for separate waste collection;
Involving children and adults in the process of separate garbage collection;
Determination of subject and object of study. State of our environment doesn’t leave me indifferent and in this way I decided to study and analyze the level of garbage pollution in my region. So, the object of my work is ecological situation in Krasnogorsk.
Research methods. As for me, during working on my project, I used the following research methods:
Searching information of the problem of rubbish influence in the Internet;
Observation the environmental change throughout the year;
Interviewing people of different ages.
Main part
2.1. What is the state of the environment in the world?
Without any doubt I can say that Earth is our home, which feeds us, waters and gives coziness and comfort. However, using all these benefits, a human not only doesn’t take care of his main treasure but, moreover, mercilessly destroy it. Every year the ecological situation on our planet is deteriorating. According to the analysts, humanity is on the verge of ecological disaster. Presently, there are a big amount of different kinds of pollutions, which are caused by various reasons. Among them are air, water, land and noise pollution. In addition, Global warming, holes in ozone layer and atmospheric fallouts have a great impact on our nature. And there is no denying the fact that the main reason of all these problems is garbage. People throw it away anywhere without hesitation about consequences for a second. Just imagine how many people and animals suffer from it. The data demonstrate that about 25% of all human diseases are caused by terrible ecological situation on our planet for instance all kinds of cancer and so on. Apart from this, plastic bottles may be traps for small animals and birds. And it’s not secret for anyone; there are lots of landfills throughout the world, which pose a threat to society. Chemical substances entering the soil accumulate and can lead to a gradual change in its chemical and physical properties, decrease the number of living beings and deterioration of soil fertility. On top of that, rotting household waste is a favorable environment for the development of many pathogens. Moreover, during this time is released the most poisonous gas – metan. This can lead even to methane explosions to the atmosphere.
I need to say that most countries still put earnings from industry much higher than ecology and this directly affects their population. As we can see from these diagrams, which are based on the latest researches, the most environmentally friendly countries nowadays are Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Costa Rica and Colombia. So, in my opinion, they are more concerning about ecological situation and for these states nature conservation is not empty words. Undoubtedly, governments of these countries spend unthinkable number of money in these purposes.
It’s obviously, that the number of polluted countries far exceeds the number of clean states. The greatest concern is the environmental situation in China and India, because 1/3 of the world's population lives in these countries. Besides,as the British newspaper «The Guardian» writes: “The incidence of lung cancer in Chinese cities is 2–3 times higher than in the countryside, despite the fact that people smoke there and there the same way.” Scientists assume that by 2050, polluted air will kill 3.6 million people annually. And most of these deaths will fall on India and China. I suppose, this is very sad data that should make us think about a lot.
2.2. Role of the conservation organizations.
Aswas previously stated, nature gives us everything we need for happy and carefree life on our planet. Unfortunately, nowadays human has become selfish and he doesn’t appreciate all these things and wealth. In this way some years ago scientists understood that it’s not real to solve ecological disaster at the level of one country. In this way there are a big amount of various international organizations all over the world nowadays.
Greenpeace is by far the most popular conservation company on the Earth. Despite the fact that it was created to protest against nuclear testing, its activities are not limited on this. Members of this organization hold protests around the world calling to protect the nature of our planet from suicidal and human activity.
Equally important to mention such an organization as WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature). It conducts its activities in more than 40 countries around the world. By the number of supporters, it overtakes even Greenpeace. Millions of people support their ideas by fighting for the preservation of all forms on the Earth. Its aims are threefold—to protect natural ecosystems and wild populations, to minimize pollution, and to promote efficient, sustainable use of natural resources.
Also I need to say about Nature Conservancy. In turn it aims to help stabilize the global climate, protect the world's supplies of fresh water, and ensure overall human well-being in ecologically threatened areas. To my mind this organization should take first place among all others.
2.3. Ecological disaster in our country.
S o, I have every confidence that Russia plays a special role in the conversation of nature because our country occupies 1/6 part of surface of our planet. Unfortunately, according to the analysts economically developed foreign countries invested in the future of the planet in 2 times more. In the Netherlands, for example, the share of expenditures on environmental protection is 2.5%, in Austria - 1.9%, Germany, Poland, Slovakia - about 1.7%, while in our country it consists only 0.7%. So, these numbers indicate the level of ecological culture of the country and in this way it’s really sad that people and our government are so careless about our planet and future.
A ccording to the latest data, 90 billion tons of waste has been accumulated in Russia. And mainly waste is burned and as a result all harmful emissions are released into the atmosphere. Thus, if we want to avoid bad consequences firstly government should do utmost and work hard in this direction. The main one is as fast as possible built as more as possible waste recycling plants. Nevertheless we always hear that there is no money in the budget. It’s madly sad! Whether important is to live on lean planet and breath clean air or build useless skyscrapers.
What about our region?
If you look at this map, there are only 9 recycling plants in such a vast area. If we consider how many people live here and how much waste every day, they are not enough.
I
t would seem that Krasnogorsk has always been considered one of the most environmentally friendly cities in Moscow region. Everybody knows most of our city is covered by forests, besides; there are not so many factories and it is located near the Moscow River. Nevertheless, nowadays scientists have serious grounds to believe that ecology in Krasnogorsk is getting worse and worse. From my point of view, this is due to the following reasons:
It is located near Moscow, the ecological condition of which is terrifying;
The population is growing, and consequently, the amount of waste is growing;
The number of cars increases every day;
People have become more selfish towards themselves and to everything around them.
Thus, in view of these facts, maybe we should not wait for a disaster? Maybe it’s better to begin to change our habits and act wisely right now? After all, each of us with our behavior, our habits and active actions affects the future and creates it. We ourselves make a choice - toaggravate the problem or make an effort to solve it. In my opinion, presently, the solution to this «garbage" problem is to establish a separate garbage collection and recycling of waste.
2.4. Garbage separation is an integral part in modern world.
First of all I would like to mention famous phrase, which was spoken by a Greenpeace representative, “Speaking about the separate garbage collection, we mean the solution of a specific problem that concerns each of us, our houses, yards, and cities. After all, a separate garbage collection is primarily the health of our children, who do not have to breathe the air poisoned by incinerators. This is our clean courtyard; these are the parks that will surround our city”. Personally, I wholeheartedly agree with these words and I’m a passionate believe that separate garbage collection is the optimal solution to the problem of accumulating a huge amount of waste. Firstly, it’s a caring for the environment. Secondly the more production will use recycled materials, the more natural resources we will save. Apart from this separate garbage collection will reduce costs in the budget. And it’s necessary to take into account the fact that the experience of the most developed countries shows that the participation of each citizen makes a significant contribution to the development of a culture of competent waste management and helps make the process of disposal of garbage safe and effective. And during my research, relying on various sources I collected incredible interesting i nformation about garbage separation in different foreign countries:
Presumably, In Japan, the problem of waste is particularly relevant because the islands don’t have much space to store it. Thus, largely because of this the Japanese have developed a system for sorting and recycling garbage. Rubbish is divided into 4 categories and if the waste is sorted incorrectly, then it simply will not be taken away. The “owner” of such garbage will become an enemy for all neighbors.
Also Finnish residents very carefully and responsibly sort materials in their country.In gratitude for this, they have privileges on the payment for housing and utilities.
Nowadays there is almost no rubbish left in Sweden. The fact is that the Swedes recycle household waste into electricity and energy for heating. Furthermore garbage sorting is so developed that only 4-7% of all waste is sent to landfill in this country. For wrong sorting people also receive fines.
Fortunately, step by step government of our city also realized the seriousness of the waste problem and the necessity of it solution and as a result from the New Year made a decision and issued a decree of separate collection of garbage. Thereby, in all courtyards should be installed two types of garbage containers for dry and wet rubbish. Supposedly wet trash principally should include all food waste and dry garbage - paper, plastic, metal and glass. For my part, I strongly support this program and with all my heart believe that it will be widely distributed in our country in nearest future. And I imperatively urge everyone not to be indifferent to our planet and as fast as possible get involved in this work.
However, there arises a crucial question. Are the residents of our country and city ready for separate garbage collection and ergo for such a change in their lives?
Practice part
In order to give the answer to this question I decided to interview the people of different age in my region. Three questions were asked to them, that is:
Do you keep clean on the street, in parks, in the forest?
To tell you the truth, the result surprised me. Most people keep clean in public places. It’s nice that they understand importance of environmental safety. Nevertheless for 15% of people need to make it a habit.
How do you feel about separate garbage collection?
Eventually, only30% of people have a positive attitude to this idea, 43% of survey participants are neutral to separate garbage collection and, unfortunately, 27% don’t consider it necessary. This suggests that people don’t fully understand the meaning of this program or they’re not convinced enough in it.
Is it possible to implement this program in the city?
According to survey results 61% of people believe that it is real to realize such a project in Krasnogorsk and they are ready to take part in it. However, 39% do not believe in the success of this work, what shows the unavailability of some residents to such changes.
Indeed I was greatly impressed by the answers. Thereby, if be perfectly frank, presently participation in separate garbage collection of the entire population is simply impossible. And naturally, government should pay more attention on this question and do utmost in order to fully implement conceived idea and this project will bring its benefit as fast as possible. As an option it’s possible to teach residents to understand the separation of garbage with the help of special booklets that will be sent by mail and laid out in supermarkets. Besides, at schools it is necessary to conduct interesting classes.
Conclusion
Finally, I’d like to point out that in my research I was convinced even more that ecological problem still actually in modern world. Thus the main task of our times is not to aggravate this awful situation and try to improve it. It’s common knowledge we create the world in which we live and if that world becomes unfit for human life, it’s because we tire of our responsibilities. All depends on us and our desires. Separate garbage collection program is the key to success and clean future. And I have every justification for this opinion.
In addition, there is a good English saying: “Nature encourages no looseness, pardons no errors”. From my point of view everyone since childhood should know these words by heart!
Bibliography
https://www.greenpeace.org/international/
https://mosreg.ru/sobytiya/infografika/razdelnyy-sbor-musora-v-moskovskoy-oblasti
http://ecoportal.su/
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Робин Мюррей. Цель — Zero Waste. М., 2004. https://www.greenpeace.org/russia/Global/russia/report/2004/6/zero-waste.pdf
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