According to me Human beings are the reasons for all natural disasters. There are many documentaries like 'HOME', 'An inconvenient truth " etc which address role of human beings in every environmental disasters. In my perception disasters are the burst-out reaction of Earth. Since the humans are abusing the Earth.

In India, environmental protection is the part of school curriculum. The children are forming environmental clubs, organising campaigns, celebrating environmental day, vegetable cultivation etc. I think children can change the attitude of adults easily.

I think the present generation is more conscious about protecting the nature. In my college, while we are conducting programs, we used to give saplings to the Resource person as the token of love. Every Wednesday, we have environmental management activities...which means the whole college including the teachers, students and non-teaching staff used to clean the surrounding of the college, will maintain the fruit garden, vegetable garden etc.

Dear Anita,

Thank for you participation.

The big différence existe between stress and crisis.

Good day,

MTT

Dear Marpha,

Like Anitha, I think that humans beings are the main responsible for the present state of affairs, namely for the pollution of water, air and land, which can lead to a dramatic disaster. Some years ago, Al Gore, in his book, An inconvenient truth, foresaw the prsent state of affairs as far as environmental problems are concerned. It is naturally that climate changes and the environmental crisis they are provoking lead us to live in stress in our daily lifes.

How can we avoid such an iminent environmental catastrophy? Tradidionally, most of us have heard of an ethic of justice, whose main injunction is that we should not treat others unfairly, and an ethic of care, whose main injunction is that we should not turn away from someone in need. These types of ethic have to do with one's moral obligation to other human beings. Due to enviromental problems there is now what may be callled an eco or ecological ethic, whose main injuntion is that we should protect nature, not only because of its uselfulness for us, anthropocentic ecological moral reasoning, but also because nature deserves to be respected in itself, biocentric ecological moral reasoning. Fortunately, there is now in many schools all over the world a mandatory module on ecological education. If our children were educated to not treat others unfairly, not to turn away from they when they are in need, and to respect nature, it is likely that they come to be concerned with the true, the good, and the beautiful and become citizens of the world. When this were the case, we will have a more just and peaceful world.

Best regards,

Orlando

Disaster is two type: Man made & natural.

We must keep an eye on our surroundings. Understand natural systems as well as sociocultural, economic and religious systems. In this way can find a way to keep our natural environment healthy by identifying measures acceptable to our society.

One of the most compelling reasons for studying environmental science and management is the fact that, in the view of many leading authorities, we are now experiencing an environmental crisis; indeed, many authors have claimed that the present environmental crisis is unprecedented in its magnitude, pace and severity (Park 2001). Awareness of this environmental crisis has grown since the 1970s, partly as a result of the prominence given to major so-called 'environmental' disasters such as the Sahelian droughts of the 1970s and 1980s and the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986. A major assessment of the global environment published in 1999, the UNEP Global Environment Outlook 2000 report (UNEP 1999), drew attention to two critical, recurring themes:

• the fact that the global human ecosystem is threatened by grave imbalances in productivity and in the distribution of goods and services - as evidenced by the fact that a large proportion of the human population lives in poverty, and that a widening gap exists between those who benefit from economic and technological development and those who do not
• the fact that accelerating changes are occurring at the global scale, with rates of economic and social development outstripping progress in achieving internationally co-ordinated environmental stewardship - with the result that improvements in environmental protection due to new technologies are being 'cancelled out' by the magnitude and pace of human population growth and economic development

Consequently, a wide range of environmental problems has emerged; those problems include anthropogenic climate change ('global warming'), the depletion of stratospheric ozone (the 'ozone hole'), the acidification of surface waters ('acid rain'), the destruction of tropical forests, the depletion and extinction of species, and the precipitous decline of biodiversity. Yet, while all of these problems have physical (environmental) manifestations, their causes - and their potential solutions - are invariably bound up with human attitudes, beliefs, values, needs, desires, expectations, and behaviours. Thus the symptoms of the environmental crisis cannot be regarded purely as physical problems requiring solutions by environmental 'specialists'; instead, they are intrinsically human problems and they are intimately related to the question of what it means to be human.

Main features of the environmental crisis

At this point, a very brief overview of the environmental crisis may be helpful. It is important to emphasise that a wide range of views about the nature and severity of the current environmental crisis exists, and some of the issues are highly controversial. Nevertheless, there is broad agreement that the environmental crisis encompasses the following main issues.

• Climate change: anthropogenic climate change due to pollution of the atmosphere by greenhouse gases (and other contaminants) is now regarded as one of the major global environmental issues. It occurs largely as a result of the combustion of fossil fuels, emissions from agriculture and pastoralism, and land-use changes that accompany the destruction, clearance and burning of forests. Climate change already has observable ecological and social effects, and its projected impacts could potentially result in profound changes in global mean surface temperature, sea level, ocean circulation, precipitation patterns, climatic zones, species distributions and ecosystem function.
• Stratospheric ozone depletion: the depletion of stratospheric ozone due to the pollution of the atmosphere by halocarbons (such as chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs) is another serious environmental issue. It is a significant concern because the lack of protective ozone at high altitudes results in increased levels of harmful solar ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation reaching the earth's surface, causing a range of health-related and ecological impacts.
• Degraded air quality: other forms of air pollution are also significant, particularly at regional and local scales, as they may seriously degrade air quality; worldwide, approximately one billion people inhabit areas - mainly industrial cities - where unhealthy levels of air pollution occur. Many air pollutants are responsible for the degradation of air quality, but some key pollutants include particulate matter (such as soot), tropospheric ozone, oxides of nitrogen, oxides of sulphur, lead and various aromatic compounds (such as benzene). Many air pollutants may cause or aggravate respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses; some are known carcinogens; and some can cause damage to vegetation and, in turn, produce a range of ecological effects.
• Degraded water quality: similarly, water quality can be seriously degraded by contamination with pollutants, giving rise to a range of health-related and ecological effects (such as the degradation of coral reefs). A major source of water pollution is the terrestrial run-off to inshore waters that occurs in many coastal locations; such run-off may contain significantly elevated levels of nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural land and from human settlements. Many other human activities lead to water pollution, including mining and industrial processes, which may create toxic effluent. Oil spills, accumulation of plastics and the bioaccumulation of persistent organic chemicals are some of the other causes of serious degradation of the marine environment.
• Scarcity of fresh water: besides the pollution of freshwater sources, there are a variety of other reasons for the scarcity of fresh water for drinking in many parts of the world - many of which are related to poor water resource management practices. For instance, the over-abstraction of water from rivers results in water shortages and problems of salinisation downstream. Irrigation practices may also be responsible for the depletion of local water sources and the salinisation of irrigated land. Vast differences in water security exist at the global scale, reflecting both demand for fresh water and the scale of public and private investment in water supplies, treatment and distribution.
• Land contamination: land contamination occurs as a result of chemical or radioactive pollution, especially by long-lived (persistent) chemical species that enter the soil. Land contamination may cause profound ecological effects and it presents severe constraints to development, since contaminated land must typically be rehabilitated before it is safe to use for agriculture, construction or recreation.
• Deforestation: it has been estimated that around half of the world's mature forests have been cleared by humans. Deforestation occurs for a variety of reasons, but the majority of deforestation now occurs when tropical forests are cleared for agriculture and pastoralism; other reasons include the destruction of trees for charcoal production and the selective logging of forests for timber. Whilst tropical forests cover only around 6% of the earth's surface, they are an essential part of the global ecosystem and of the biosphere: they help to regulate climate; they protect soils from erosion; and they provide habitats for a vast number of plant and animal species. One estimate suggests that around 90% of the world's species are found in tropical forests (Park 2001).
• Soil erosion and degradation: concerns about soil erosion, soil degradation and the problem of desertification have become acute. In part, these concerns are based on the historical experiences of dramatic soil erosion and transport in New World countries including the USA (during the 'Dust Bowl' of the 1930s) and Australia. Whilst analyses of the problems of soil erosion and degradation have become more sophisticated, recently, it is clear that these problems continue to have important consequences for agricultural and pastoral productivity as well as for the functioning of natural ecosystems.
• Land use change and habitat loss: these issues overlap with others, such as deforestation, but they are broader and include the clearance of forest for agriculture and pastoralism, the transformation of land during urban growth, the development of new infrastructure (such as roads), the drainage of wetlands, and the destruction and removal of coastal mangrove forests. The impact of land use change on forest and grassland environments is depicted in 1.4.1.
• Biodiversity loss: many plant and animal species are threatened with extinction, due to the spread of disease, the destruction and degradation of their habitats, and direct exploitation. In 1999, UNEP (1999) estimated that one-quarter of the world's mammal species and around one-tenth of the world's bird species faced a significant risk of total extinction. Threats to biodiversity are not confined to terrestrial ecosystems; serious concerns have been raised about the future of marine and coastal wildlife species as a result of the pollution, over-exploitation and acidification of ocean and seas.