Do you think that because essentially all pesticides eventually fail, their use should be phased out or sharply reduced and that farmers should be given economic incentives for switching to integrated pest management? Explain.
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are chemicals that persist in the environment accumulate in high concentrations in fatty tissues and are bio-magnified through the food-chain. Hence they constitute a serious environmental hazard that comes to expression as important long-term risks to individual species, to ecosystems and to human health. POPs chemicals may cause cancer and disorders in the reproductive and immune systems as well as in the developmental process. They constitute a particular risk to infants and children who may be exposed to high levels through breast-milk and food.
During the last two decades much attention has been given to this group of substances at the international level after it became apparent that they are transported through the environment across borders. Individual countries alone are unable to control the environmental pollution from such border-crossing substances and critical concentrations have been reached in some regions, even in places where they have never been produced or used. Negotiations on a global, legally binding instrument to reduce and/or eliminate releases of POPs started in Montreal, Canada in 1998 under the auspices of UNEP. In May 2001 126 countries and the EU agreed and adopted the text of this global treaty, referred to as the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
How can you prevent water pollution? How could you influence the next generation (your children) on how to prevent water pollution?
If you want to help keep our waters clean, there are many things you can do to help. You can prevent water pollution of nearby rivers and lakes as well as groundwater and drinking water by following some simple guidelines in your everyday life.
- Conserve water by turning off the tap when running water is not necessary. This helps prevent water shortages and reduces the amount of contaminated water that needs treatment.
- Be careful about what you throw down your sink or toilet. Don’t throw paints, oils or other forms of litter down the drain.
- Use environmentally household products, such as washing powder, household cleaning agents and toiletries.
- Take great care not to overuse pesticides and fertilizers. This will prevent runoffs of the material into nearby water sources.
- By having more plants in your garden you are preventing fertilizers, pesticides and contaminated water from running off into nearby water sources.
- Don’t throw litter into rivers, lakes or oceans. Help clean up any litter you see on beaches or in rivers and lakes, make sure it is safe to collect the litter and put it in a nearby dustbin.
What is ‘environmental sustainability”? Based on what you have learned in this course, what recommendations can be made to increase environmental sustainability?
Environmental sustainability is development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. our societies urgently require new kinds of education that can help prevent further degradation of our planet, and that foster caring and responsible citizens genuinely concerned with and capable of contributing to a just and peaceful world.
Second, these new kinds of education must be available to all – not only a handful of people – and take place in various settings, including families and communities. Third, they must begin in early childhood, as the values, attitudes, behaviors and skills acquired in this period may have a long-lasting impact later life. Thus, early childhood education clearly has an important place in the efforts to bring about Sustainable development.