Environment and Human Interaction

1. MP 153
Applied Chemistry
Dr. Misbah Sultan

2. Contents

3. Class topic
Control of atm. pollution 1 Env & human
Control of water pollution 2 …..
Control of soil pollution 3 Sources of air poll
Env. Legislation national 4 Plan of class
Env. Legislation
international
5 Sources of water poll
Case studies 6 Sources of soil poll
Case studies 7 Health and safety
Discussion 8 Hazards at work

4. Class topic
Mining 1 Paper
Fuel extraction and refining 2 Dairy
Food processing units 3 Cement
Pharmaceutical units 4 Glass
Polymer processing units 5 Leather
Pharma industry 6 Textile
Chemical industry 7 Sugar
Hazardous waste 8

5. The Environment and Human Interaction

6. “Human Environmental Interactions can be defined as interactions between the
human social system and (the “rest” of) the ecosystem”
 Human social systems and ecosystems are complex adaptive systems
(Marten, 2001).
 Complex because ecosystems and human social systems have many parts and
many connections between these parts.
 Adaptive because they have feedback structures that promote survival in a
constantly changing environment.
The Environment and Human Interaction

7. Coevolution and Coadaptation
 The terms coevolution and coadaptation describe the never-ending process of mutual
adjustment and change between human social systems and the environment.
 Peoples actions have consequences on the environment. But also the environment influences
human activities.
 Human social systems have to adapt to their specific environment. Natural phenomena like
storms, earthquakes force people to react. These natural phenomena can either be directly or not
primarily caused by human actions and again influence human behaviour as people have to
respond to a new situation.

8. The Environment and Human
Interaction
 The way people depend on the environment for food, water, timber, natural
gas etc.
 The way people adpat the environment to fulfill their own needs e.g.
deforestation for housing etc.
 The way people modify the environment positively or negatively like drilling
holes, building dams, preserving endanger species etc.

9. 1. The use of natural resources
People use different kinds of natural reserves for a continued existence
 air
 timber,
 metals,
 oil
 food
 clothes
 water
 energy etc.

10. 2. Deforestation
 Too much misuse of natural resources ……
It happens when forests get cut down and the trees are not replaced or permitted to
grow back. It has many adverse effect such as
 decreases biodiversity which is essential for human beings since they use other
living organisms in providing a number of requirements such as:
 Food: plants such as wheat, rice and maize and animals such as fish, chicken and cows are used as
sources of food.
 Medication: A lot of customary medicines are extracted from plants and animals, brand new ones
are developed from them.
 Ecological processes: Organisms such as micro-organisms have a crucial role of maintaining the
ecosystem by decomposing wastes

11. 3. Energy resources
 Using of renewable or non-renewable sources
demonstrate human environmental interaction as the energy is used to power transport and
communication systems, electrical equipment, and our homes as well as offices.
 Non-Renewable: use of fossil fuels is the major reason for the climate modification.
 Renewable: solar power

12. 4. Oil and gas
 Oil & gas drilling and Oil spills have huge impact on environment
 drilling generates waste substances (specially Offshore) that when they get into the water, end up
poisoning aquatic animals. The possibility of getting injured and succumbing to death is always there
while drilling for oil. Countless people have ended up dying from storms and drilling accidents.
 Accidental Spills interrupt transportation and injure inhabitants, when birds get oiled they lose their
potential of hunting for food enabling their survival.
 Spills also expose individuals to seafood that is not safe for consumption.

13. 5. Water resources
 The use of water resources highly signifies human environmental interaction. Water has a lot of uses,
from domestic to agricultural and in industrial processes. The rising demand in water is leading to
unsustainable use of water sources.
 Recycling of water means it gets replenished, but taking extreme quantities of water from water bodies
for use whether domestically, agricultural or industrial reduces the percentage of water accessible for
present and upcoming generations. Universally, withdrawals of water have tripled over the decades
because of the growing population and also the rise in usage per individual.

14. 8. Littering
 Litter has a lot of negative effects;
 it can cause the interference of water paths.
Dumping of plastics improperly causes them to flow towards water paths following heavy rainfall and
gradually end up in drainage pipes and sewer ways. After some time, the litter ends up clogging up the
filters placed in the pipes, consequently, the pipes end up bursting.
 Another effect is that it gives disease vectors grounds for hiding, breeding and multiplying. Eventually,
the vectors increases in numbers, spreading diseases to animals and humans.

15. How we can protect and restore our environment???
A POSITIVE MESSAGE
 Humans not only affect the environment negatively – we can also contribute positively to
sustaining it e.g.
 install wastewater treatment plants,
 protect endangered species and
 replant forests.