SOC 101: Society, Environment

and Engineering Ethics

Environment and
Development discourses
Environment:
 The surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal or plant
lives or operate.
 According to Environment Protection Act, 1986 Environment includes
water, and land and the interrelationship that exists among and
between water, air and land and human beings, other living
creatures, plants, micro orgasm and property.
 The environment is assumed to mean all of those non-human, natural
surroundings within which human beings exist - sometimes called the
'natural environment' -and in its widest sense this is simply planet
Earth as a whole.
 Two major and related causes of this latest change in meaning were
industrialization, which shifted people away from working the land in
agricultural settings, and urbanization, which led to larger human
settlements that generated new living environments largely divorced
from natural things. (Thomas 1984)
Development:
 Development is seen an economic phenomenon in which rapid gains
in overall growth would either trickle down to the masses in the forms
of jobs and other economic opportunities.
 Development also means less poverty, cleaner environment, more
equal opportunity, greater individual freedom and richer cultural life.
Economic growth:
 Economic growth is an increase in the capacity of an economy to
produce goods & services compared from one period to another.
 Economy growth is an important point to bring better living standards
and lower rates of poverty.
 The average income of people can said that increases and indirectly
people able to consume more and motivate the economic growth
increasing.
 Economic growth stimulates employment. The economic growth
produces more vacancies for job and bring better standard of living to
them. Economic growth can used to increasing the capital
investment.
 Effects of economic growth on environment natural resources are
essential input for production in many sectors, while production &
consumption also lead to pollution & other pressure on the
environment.
 Natural resources are limited. So adverse usage of natural resources
has negative effect on environment.More & more usage of resources
become a cause of environmental degradation.
Air Pollution:
 Air pollution, caused by toxic emissions into the atmosphere, is thought to
claim more than 2.7 million lives per year. Air Pollution refers to the release
of pollutants into the air that are detrimental to human health & the plants
as a whole. Causes – Greenhouse gas, Hazardous Air Pollutants, smog.
 ‘Outdoor pollution', produced mainly by industrial pollutants and automobile
emissions, and ‘Indoor pollution’, which is caused by burning fuels in the
home for heating and cooking. Traditionally, air pollution has been seen as a
problem that afflicts industrialized countries, with their greater numbers of
factories and motorized vehicles.
 In recent years, attention has been drawn to the dangers of 'indoor
pollution' in the developing world. It is suggested that more than 90 per
cent of deaths linked to air pollution occur in the developing world.
 Until the middle of the twentieth century, air pollution in many countries
was caused primarily by the widespread burning of coal- a fossil fuel- which
emits sulphur dioxide and thick black smoke into the atmosphere. Coal was
used extensively to heat homes and as power in factories.
 Since the 1960s the main source of air pollution has been the growth
in the use of motorized vehicles. Vehicle emissions are particularly
harmful because they enter the atmosphere at a much lower level
than emissions from chimneys.
 Air pollution has been linked to a number of health problems among
humans, including respiratory difficulties, cancers and lung disease.
Although outdoor pollution has long been associated with
industrialized countries, it is growing rapidly in the developing world.
 As countries undergo rapid processes of industrialization, factory
emissions increase and the number of vehicles on the roads also
grows. Air pollution does not only affect the health of human and
animal populations; it also has a damaging impact on other elements
of the ecosystem. Pollution also cause to acid rain.
Water pollution
 Throughout history, people have depended on water to fulfil a host of
important needs drinking, cooking, washing, irrigating crops, fishing
and many other pursuits.
 Water is one of the most valuable and essential natural resources, it
has also suffered enormous abuse at the hands of human beings.
 For many years, waste products - both human and manufactured -
were dumped directly into rivers and oceans with barely a second
thought.
 Only in the past half century or so have concerted efforts been made
in many countries to protect the quality of water, to preserve the fish
and wildlife that depend on it, and ensure access to clean water for
the human population. Regardless of these efforts, water pollution
remains a serious problem in many parts of the world.
 Water pollution can be understood broadly to refer to the contamination
of the water supply by elements such as toxic chemicals and minerals,
pesticides or untreated sewage. It poses the greatest threat to people in
the developing world.
 Currently, more than one billion people around the world lack access to
safe drinking water and more than two billion lack sanitation.
 Sanitation systems remain underdeveloped in many of the world’s
poorest countries and human waste products are often emptied directly
into streams, rivers and lakes.
 The high levels of bacteria that result from untreated sewage lead to a
variety of water-borne diseases, such as diarrhoea, dysentery and
hepatitis.
 In industrialized countries cases of water pollution are often caused by
the overuse of fertilizers in agricultural areas.
 Over a period of years, nitrates from chemical pesticides seep into the
groundwater supply; nearly 25 per cent of groundwater in Europe shows
levels of contamination higher than that deemed permissible by the
European Union.(UNDP 1998)
 Some of the most polluted water can be found near former industrial
areas, where traces of mercury, lead and other metals have lodged in
the sediments and continue slowly to emit pollutants into the water
supply over a period of year.
Solid Waste:
 One of the clearest indicators of increasing consumption is the growing
amount of domestic waste - what goes into our rubbish bins - being
produce worldwide. Where the developing countries generated 100- 330
kilograms of domestic solid waste per capita in the early 1990s, the
figure was 414 kilograms for the European Union and 720 for North
America (UNDP 1998).
 In most countries of the industrialized world, waste collection services
are almost universal, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to dispose
of the enormous amounts of refuse. Landfill sites are quickly filling up,
and many urban areas have run out of disposal room for domestic
waste.
 In the developing world, the greatest problem with domestic waste at
the present time is the lack of refuse collection services. It has been
estimated that 20- 50 per cent of domestic waste in the developing
world goes uncollected. Poorly managed waste systems mean that
refuse piles up in the streets contributing to the spread of disease.
Soil degradation and desertification
 According to the 1998 UN Human Development Report, a third of the
world’s population lives more or less directly from the land- on the food
they can grow or gather, and the game they can catch.
 Because they are largely dependent on the earth, they are particularly
vulnerable to changes affecting their ability to live off the land.
 In many areas of Asia and Africa that are experiencing rapid population
growth, the problem of soil degradation threatens to impoverish
millions of people.
 Soil degradation is the process by which the quality of the earth is
worsened and its valuable natural elements are stripped away through
over-use, drought or inadequate fertilization.
 The long-term effects of soil degradation are extremely severe and
difficult to reverse. In areas where the soil has been degraded,
agricultural productivity declines and there is less arable land available
per head.
 It becomes difficult or impossible to keep cattle or other livestock
because of a lack of fodder. In many instances, people are forced to
migrate in search of more fertile land.
 The gradual transformation of healthy fertile land into a desert.
Desertification is usually caused by climate change or by destructive
use of land. This phenomenon has already affected territory adding up
to the size of Russia and Indonesia combined, putting more than 110
countries at risk.
Deforestation
 Forests are an essential element of the ecosystem: they help 10 regulate
water supplies, release oxygen into the atmosphere and prevent soil
erosion. They also contribute to many people's livelihoods as sources of
fuel, food, wood, oils, dyes, herbs and medicines. Yet despite their crucial
importance, more than a third of the earth’s original forests have now
disappeared.
 Deforestation describes the destruction of forested land, usually through
commercial logging. Deforestation claimed 15 million hectares of land in
the 1980s, with the largest amounts occurring in Latin America and the
Caribbean (losing 7.4 million hectares) and sub-Saharan Africa (losing 4. 1
million hectares) .
 Although many types of forest are involved in the process of deforestation,
the fate of tropical rainforests has attracted the greatest attention. Tropical
rainforests, which cover some 7 per cent of the earth’s surface, are home to
a great number of plant and animal species that contribute to the earth's
biodiversity - the diversity of species of Iife forms.
 They are also home to many of the plants and oils from which
medicines are developed. Tropical rainforests are currently shrinking
at a rate of approximately 1 per cent a year, and may well disappear
altogether by the end of this century if current trends are not halted.
Global warming:
 Global warming is a gradual rise of the earth’s temperature. It is a
function of the greenhouse effect. There is a rise in global mean surface
temperature by 4 -6 degrees C.
 The process of global warming is closely related to the idea of the
greenhouse effect- the build-up of heat-trapping greenhouse gases
within the earth's atmosphere.
 The atmospheric carbon dioxide is the principal climate –altering gas.
 Energy from the sun passes through the atmosphere and heats the
earth's surface, Although most of the solar radiation is absorbed
directly by the Earth, some of it is reflected back.
 The greenhouse gases act as a barrier to this outgoing energy,
trapping heat within the Earth's atmosphere much like the glass
panels of a greenhouse.
 This natural greenhouse effect is what keeps the Earth at a
reasonably comfortable surface temperature - at about 15.5 degrees
Celsius. If it were not for the role of greenhouse gases in retaining
heat, the Earth would be a much colder place, with an average
temperature of - 17 degrees Celsius.
 When concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases rise, the
greenhouse effect is intensified and much warmer temperatures are
produced. Since the start of industrialization, the concentration of
greenhouse gases has risen significantly.
 Concentrations of carbon dioxide – the main greenhouse gas - have
increased by around 30 per cent since 1880, continuing to rise steeply
from the 1980s.
 Methane concentrations have also doubled, nitrous oxide concentrations
are up by about 15 per cent and other greenhouse gases that do not occur
naturally have been generated by industrial development.
 Most scientists now agree that the large increase in carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere can be attributed to the burning of fossil fuels and other
human activities, such as industrial production, largescale agriculture,
deforestation, mining, landfills and vehicle emissions.
The potential consequences of global warming:
 Frequent temperature extremes ( killer heat waves)
 Changing rainfall patterns.
 Rise in sea levels.
 Frequent storms and coastal flooding
 Drought
 Air pollution made worse by warming
 Asthma, bronchitis, emphysema complications
 Expansion of Deserts
 Unable to contain spread of infectious diseases
Consumerism and Environmental Damage:
 One important issue surrounding the environment and economic
development is that of consumption patterns. Consumption refers to the
goods, services, energy and resources that are used up by people,
institutions and societies.
 It is a phenomenon with both positive and negative dimensions. On the one
hand, rising levels of consumption around the world mean that people are
living under better conditions than in times past.
 Consumption is linked to economic development - as living standards rise,
people are able to afford more food, clothing, personal items, leisure time,
holidays, cars and so forth.
 On the other hand, consumption can have negative impacts as well
Consumption patterns can damage the environmental resource base and
exacerbate patterns of inequality.
 The trends in world consumption over the course of the twentieth
century are startling to observe. In 1900, world consumption levels were
just over 1.5 trillion dollars (UNDP 1998);
 By the end of the century, private and public consumption expenditures
amounted to around 24 trillion dollars - twice the level of 1975 and six
times that of 1950. Consumption rates have been growing extremely
rapidly over the past 30 years or so.
 In industrialized countries, consumption per head has been growing at a
rate of 2.3 percent annually; in East Asia growth has been even faster -
6.1 percent annually. By contrast, the average African household
consumes 20 per cent less today than it did 30 years ago. There is
widespread concern that the consumption explosion has passed by the
poorest fifth of the world's population.
 The inequalities in consumption between the world's rich and poor are
significant.
 North America and Western Europe contain only around 12 per cent of
the world's population, but their private consumption - the amount
spent on goods and services at the household level - is over 60 per cent
of the world's total.
 In contrast, the world's poorest region - sub-Saharan Africa, which
contains around 11 per cent of the total global population - has just a
1.2per cent share of the world's total private consumption.
 It has been argued that industrial capitalism sets societies on a
'treadmill of production' leading to environmental damage, using up
natural resources at a rapid rate and generating high levels of pollution
and waste. (Schnaiberg 1980).
Sources:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcBXmj1nMTQ&t=186s.
 https://www.thedailystar.net/environment/climate-change-disaster-ov
er-19m-bangladeshi-children-at-frontline-1817209
.
 https://www.thedailystar.net/country/climate-change-in-bangladesh-te
mperature-rise-affect-134m-people-world-bank-1638907
.
 https://www.thedailystar.net/country/impact-of-climate-change-across
-coastal-bangladesh-induced-salinity-affecting-soil-1688872
.
 https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/environment/climate-change/cli
mate-change-how-bangladesh-being-affected-global-warming
.