OUR GIFT, OUR ‘PRESENT’: OUR ENVIRONMENT

Birds and the bees, the flowers and the trees

The air that is all around us,
The land we live on, the water that we drink
All the lovely creatures that surround us.
We call this world our Environment
It is something we should nourish and nurture,
Our environment is our gift, our ‘present’
And on it depends our own future.

Definition:
We have all heard, read and used the word environment a number of times. But what
exactly is environment. In simplest terms Environment comprises all of the
external factors affecting an organism. These factors may be other living
organisms such as animals and plants or nonliving variables such as water, soil,
climate, light, and oxygen. For instance in our case all organisms as well as
the physical surroundings with whom we interact form our environment.
Principles of Environment:
To fully understand environment and its management we need to comprehend what I
would like to call the three principles of environment:
1. All the constituents of the environment are interconnected and dependent on
each other.
2. Nothing comes free – there is always a price tag.
3. The world’s resources are in finite supply.

First Principle:
The first principle states that all the constituents of the environment are
interconnected and dependent on each other.
Environmentalists have discovered that all species in an ecosystem interact with
one another, either directly or indirectly.
Case Study:
American environmentalist Robert Paine, working in the rocky region of the
Pacific coast, found stable invertebrate communities dominated by 15 species of
animals. These included starfish, mussels, limpets, barnacles, and chitons. When
Paine removed all the starfish from the area, the community collapsed, and
eventually only 8 invertebrate species were left. The starfish were preying
heavily on one of the mussel species and keeping its numbers down. With the
starfish removed, the population of this mussel increased, and the mussel was able
to out-compete many other species of invertebrates. Thus, the loss of one species,
the starfish, indirectly led to the loss of an additional six species and a
transformation of the community.
Another example concerns goats which were left on oceanic islands by sailors on
their voyages. The goats were free to roam these islands and were meant to serve
as a source of meat when the sailors later came ashore. Free from all natural
predators, the goats thrived and, in the process, overgrazed many of the islands.
With a change in plant composition, many of the native animal species were driven
to extinction. A simple action, the introduction of goats to an island, yielded
many changes in the island’s natural environment. This clearly demonstrates that
all members of a community are closely interconnected.
Water, land and air - those are the systems which basically comprise our
environment. How do they work – by maintaining a delicate balance.
Look into a pond. A fish feeds there on tiny plants and animals called plankton.
In time, the fish dies. Micro-organisms in the water break the creature down into
basic chemicals, consuming oxygen from the water in the process. Plant plankton,
nourished by those chemicals, produce oxygen to replace it. Animal plankton feed
on the plants, fish eat the tiny animals, and the cycle begins anew.
On land, too, nature moves full circle. Living things are nourished there, grow
old and die, then decompose to enrich the land again.
A thin envelope of air surrounds the planet. We use its oxygen, exhaling carbon
dioxide, which plants absorb. Plants use the carbon for growth by the marvelous
process called photosynthesis, and return oxygen to the atmosphere. Thus nature's
delicate balance is maintained.

The Second Principle :

The second principle states that nothing comes free – there is always a price tag.
In 1874 a German chemist named Othmar Zeidler created a new compound. Its name was
a real tongue twister - dichloro-diphenyltrichloroethane. We know it as DDT.
Dr. Zeidler was unaware that he had found a potential insecticide. Sixty-five
years passed before the insecticidal properties were recognized—just before World
War II. DDT was used extensively during the war, against mosquitoes and body
lice, with great success. And thousands upon thousands of tons have been used
since then, on forests, on farms, and to control household pests. Many an area has
been freed at last from malaria.
But one of the compound's most attractive features—the fact that it remains active
long after application—has had unpleasant results, too. In the past decade it has
become increasingly evident that creatures in water, in air, and on land—including
man himself—have built up concentrations within their bodies. Sharp reduction in a
number of species of birds is attributed to DDT. The pesticide has traveled
through the ocean chain. Even penguins in the Antarctic, where DDT has never been
used, have accumulated traces of the compound.
Experts believe that DDT and its derivates aren't selective. This means that
they aren’t harmful only to a select group of creatures. They are toxic to many
forms of animal and marine life. Thus a product which helps us get rid of
mosquitoes and was hailed as a wonder drug has been discovered to have properties
which are extremely harmful.
It is quite clear that any technological innovation or any step which impacts on
the environment has its costs. Nothing comes free. Environmentalists have a
word for bargains like those. These are called trade-offs. Often the bargains
are bad ones.
For instance a small town lures a new industry. The obvious advantages are
employment, growth, prosperity. In the process the industry more often than not
pollutes the air, contaminates the local river and messes up the land.
Case Study:
The Aswan High Dam on the Nile was put there to expand irrigation, to generate
electricity, and to control the annual flooding of the Nile Valley. Actually,
those floods had helped keep the farms productive by fertilizing the land with
silt. The dam has virtually ruined a sizable sardine fishery along the Nile Delta,
because the nutrient supply has been choked off. The catch has fallen from 18,000
tons a year to less than 500 tons. And there's another problem, too: Snails are
spreading through the irrigation ditches, carrying the harmful disease
schistosomiasis.
There seems to be a law of nature that every benefit that is introduced to
improve our happiness, our welfare, or our security has a cost factor someplace.
Sometimes it's a money factor. Sometimes it's an environmental factor. And that's
the real job for human ingenuity today—to develop concepts that will let us
measure the benefits against the risks.

The Third Principle :

The third principle is based on the Law of Minimum according to which the world’s
resources are in finite supply.
It has been said that there is enough in the world for man’s need but not for his
greed. Man has been plundering natures for centuries with the mistaken belief that
the supplies are endless.
As Gordon Young, a noted environmentalist writes, “We are astronauts—all of us.
We ride a spaceship called Earth on its endless journey around the sun. This ship
of ours is blessed with life-support systems so ingenious that they are self-
renewing, so massive that they can supply the needs of billions. But for centuries
we have taken them for granted, considering their capacity limitless. At last we
have begun to monitor the systems, and the findings are deeply disturbing.”
Scientists and government officials now realise that we are in trouble. Unless we
stop abusing our vital life-support systems, they will fail. We must maintain
them, or pay the penalty. The penalty is death.
We have ignored the law of minimum feeling that the water, air and land are in
infinite supply and whatever we do they are going to remain pure and prisitne as
ever. But sadly we have been proved wrong – terribly wrong.
Let us take water first. Why have so many of India's rivers become casualties as
the country grew? Shortsightedness? Not at first. When only a few settlements
dotted a river's banks, the sewage that poured in caused little harm. The organic
wastes were recycled into nutrients that nourished the tiny forms of life that fed
the fish. The river purified itself before it reached the next settlement. This
was a very convenient disposal system which few could resist.
Then villages grew into towns. The river stank a bit on hot summer days, but
towns-people knew that the tainted water soon would be disappearing into the
"limitless" sea. They were sure that these huge water bodies had infinite capacity
to absorb all the filth that was being generated. Apparently they had not heard
of the Law of Minimum. But now we realize that our oceans—those "limitless" seas
that cover nearly three-quarters of the planet—are in trouble, too.
Statistics reveal that man puts at least three million tons of oil a year into the
oceans. Unfortunately, most of the spillage happens in just the wrong places.
Spills occur in the coastal waters, where marine productivity is concentrated.
More than two million tons of oil a year, come from tankers that flush out their
tanks at sea and from vessels that pump out oily bilge water. All too often, their
wastes drift ashore to foul beaches.
Let us now move on to Air. Today much of the world suffers from the eye-smarting,
lung-scarring curse we call smog. Usually found in urban areas, it is formed
when nitrogen oxides react with hydrocarbons in the air to produce aldehydes and
ketones . In New Delhi, Los Angeles, London and other great cities it comes in
large part from automobile engines. In Tokyo things have come to such a stage that
traffic policemen pause regularly to breathe oxygen.
We can clean up land before we use it, and purify water before we drink it, but—
except in air-conditioned rooms—we must breathe air as it comes to us.
Automobiles, factories, heating furnaces, power plants, each adds to the problem,
so control is difficult.
And finally let us discuss the effect of our activities on Land. On an average
Americans throw away 50 billion empty cans, 30 billion glass containers, 4 million
tons of plastics, and more than a million television sets. Where does it all go?
Into the ground, mostly, in open dumps or into "sanitary landfill." Incineration
poses problems: Much of the refuse is unburnable. Also, some burning plastics
produce toxic smoke, plus fumes that damage an incinerator's pollution-trapping
devices.
Landfill poses problems, too. Leaching chemicals sometimes pollute ground water.
Rotting garbage can generate methane gas. Dumping sites for a city's trash are
getting more and more difficult to find. If these things are happening in America
today they are going to happen in the rest of the world tomorrow.

Alarming Situation:
The lack of understanding and in some cases the violation of the three principles
of environment has created a situation that is to say the least alarming.
According to a report published in National Geographic, "Human beings and the
natural world are on a collision course, which may so alter the living world that
it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know."
The issues on the environment front are vast and diverse. Global warming, the
depletion of the ozone layer, Acid rain, ground water depletion, habitat
destruction and species extinction are just some of the problems that will reach
critical proportions in the coming decades. Let us understand what these terms
mean and what is their impact:

Green house effect:

A green house is a glass building in which plants are kept to protect them from
cold weather. Like the glass panes in a greenhouse, certain gases in the earth's
atmosphere permit the sun's radiation to heat the earth but do not allow the
infrared energy radiated by the earth to escape. This process is referred to as
the greenhouse effect. These gases, primarily carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous
oxide, and water vapour, insulate the earth's surface, helping to maintain warm
temperatures. Without these gases, the earth would be a frozen planet with an
average temperature of about -18° C instead of a comfortable 15° C. If the
concentration of these gases were higher, more heat would be trapped within the
atmosphere, and world wide temperatures would rise.
Within the last century, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has
increased dramatically, largely because of the practice of burning fossil fuels-
coal and petroleum and its derivatives. Global temperature has also increased 1° C
within the past century. Atmospheric scientists have now concluded that at least
half of that increase can be attributed to human activity.
The consequences of even such a modest increase in temperature, termed Global
Warming, may well be devastating. Sea levels will rise, completely inundating a
number of low-lying island nations and flooding many coastal cities. Many plant
and animal species will probably be driven into extinction, agricultural regions
will be disrupted, and the frequency of severe hurricanes and droughts is likely
to increase.

Depletion of the Ozone Layer:

The ozone layer, a thin band in the upper atmosphere, serves to shield the earth
from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. In the 1970s, scientists discovered that
the layer was being attacked by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), chemicals used in
refrigeration, air-conditioning systems, cleaning solvents, and aerosol sprays.
The consequences of the depletion of the ozone layer are dramatic. Increased
ultraviolet radiation will lead to a growing number of skin cancers and cataracts
and also reduce the ability of people's immune systems to respond to infection.
Additionally, the growth rates of the world's oceanic plankton, the base of most
marine food chains, will be negatively affected, perhaps leading to increased
atmospheric carbon dioxide and thus to global warming.

Acid Rain:
A significant portion of industry and transportation is based on the burning of
fossil fuels. As these fuels are burned, chemicals and particulate matter are
released into the atmosphere. Although a vast number of substances contribute to
air pollution, the most common contain carbon, sulphur, and nitrogen. These
chemicals interact with one another and with ultraviolet radiation in sunlight in
various dangerous ways. sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide are transformed into
sulphuric acid and nitric acid in the atmosphere. When these gases come back to
earth in precipitation, they form acid rain. Acid rain is a serious global problem
because few species are capable of surviving in the face of such acidic
conditions. Acid rain has made numerous lakes so acidic that they no longer
support fish populations. It is also thought to be responsible for the decline of
many forest ecosystems world-wide. Germany's Black Forest has suffered dramatic
losses, and recent surveys suggest that similar declines are occurring throughout
the eastern United States.
Ground Water Depletion:
Water that seeps through porous rocks and is stored beneath the ground is called
groundwater. World-wide, groundwater is 40 times more abundant than fresh water in
streams and lakes. However, even though groundwater is a renewable resource,
reserves are replenished relatively slowly. In many countries such as the United
States, approximately half the drinking water comes from groundwater.
When groundwater is depleted in coastal regions, oceanic salt water commonly
intrudes into freshwater supplies. It is estimated that, on average, globally,
25 percent of usable groundwater is contaminated, although in some areas as much
as 75 percent is contaminated. Contamination arises from leaking underground
storage tanks, poorly designed industrial waste ponds, and seepage from the deep-
well injection of hazardous wastes into underground geologic formations. Because
groundwater is recharged and flows so slowly, once polluted it will remain
contaminated for extended periods.

Habitat Destruction and Species Extinction:

It is believed that species are dying out at an unprecedented rate; minimum
estimates are at least 4000 species per year. The leading cause of extinction is
habitat destruction, particularly of the world's richest ecosystems-tropical rain
forests and coral reefs. At the current rate at which the world's rain forests are
being cut down, they may completely disappear by the year 2030. If growing
population size puts even more pressure on these habitats, they might well be
destroyed sooner.
There are many reasons why this loss is crucial. The economic value of species
lost and of natural products and drugs that never will be discovered or produced
is incalculable. As habitats are destroyed and species lost, the world is
increasingly losing its richness and diversity.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE:

Environmental legislation:
Practical, enforceable pollution laws have to passed. These laws should take care
not only of the immediate future but also have a long term perspective.

Case Study :
Twenty years ago London could have claimed the title "Smog City, Europe." Three-
fourths of its smoke is gone now—a remarkable change triggered by a series of
killer fogs in the late 1940's and early 1950's. The worst of these settled over
London in December 05, 1952. For four consecutive days the city's normal daily
death rate more than tripled. In all, some 4,000 extra deaths that winter were
blamed on the incident. More such fogs came in the winters that followed. Each
took its toll.
In 1956 Parliament passed the Clean Air Act, ordering that factories and homes in
critical areas of the city must switch from soft high-sulphur coal to less smoky
fuels: hard coal, gas, electricity, or oil. Inevitably there were economic
repercussions, both to householders and to industries. But, with each passing
year, London's air grew clearer.…
If the other cities of the world want a pollution free ambience than they should
follow the London example.
Population Control:
Human population growth may be seen to be at the root of virtually all of the
world's environmental problems. Increasingly large numbers of people are being
added to the world every year. As the number of people increases, more pollution
is generated, more habitats are destroyed, and more natural resources are used up.
Even if new technological advances were able to cut in half the environmental
impact that each person had, as soon as the world's population size doubled, the
earth would be no better off than before.
The most effective way of controlling population is through dissemination of
information. People are to be made aware of the advantages of a small family.
They should be explained the problems a large family can create for the
individual, the society and the nation at large. Family planning issues should be
discussed and advise given. While this is primarily the responsibility of the
government and the doctors, every one should chip in. Even students can help out
by going to slums, counselling the inhabitants, performing street plays and think
up other innovative means of getting the message across.
It is widely believed that because of their huge populations the developing
nations are far more responsible for the ecological problems. This is a fallacy.
It is true that population increases faster in the developing world than the
developed world. However, the impact on the environment is still the same. This is
because, since larger amounts of resources per person are used in the developed
nations, their citizens have a greater environmental impact.
This means that while the developing nations have to concentrate on population
control the developed world has to teach its citizens the dangers of reckless
consumption.
Education:
Education is one of the most powerful tools to spread awareness about environment
and its management.
Case study II :
Fed up with its failure to bring down pollution and protect its environment the
government of Sweden implemented a carefully drawn out strategy. The key element
of the strategy was education. A Swedish student starts learning ecology in
primary grades, and he continues all through high school. Adult courses have also
been set up all over Sweden and have received an overwhelming response.
According to a spokesman of the Swedish Government, “Our primary targets were the
people at local government levels. Before a community agrees to let a new factory
come to town, we want its people to consider more than just the short-range
economic gains. Will the new factory create environmental hazards? In our public-
education courses, we teach adults to ask just such unpleasant question."
Sweden’s strategy has made its people environment friendly and the country a
leader in Environment Management.

Prioritising:
Environmentalists feel that prioritising is one of the keys to the effective
management of the environment. Each nation and each community has to prioritise.
For instance in India population control, cleaning up of rivers, and checking the
unplanned growth of cities can be the chief priorities.

Being realistic :
Every time a new project is launched – such as the construction of a dam – the
politicians, social activists, the bureaucrats and the government are all at
logger heads. As a result the project runs into heavy weather. What is required is
for the parties concerned to get together and come to a decision. The decision
should be such that it balances the risk and return and aims to achieve the
greatest good of the greatest number.

Being Pragmatic :
Before using new technology or a new chemical, both the long term as well as the
short term side effects have to explored. And when a new product is developed,
plans should be made for its ultimate disposal. Or else this could create an
environmental hazard in future.

Conservation :
Conservation is the sustainable use of natural resources – both renewable as
well as non-renewable.
Recycling or reuse is one of the most effective ways of conservation.
In many cases it is possible to reuse or recycle resources to reduce waste and
conserve the energy needed to produce consumer products. For example, paper,
glass, aluminum, metal scrap, and motor oil can all be recycled. A preventative
measure called precycling, a general term for designing more durable, recyclable
products, encourages reuse. Many countries have established mandatory recycling
laws in an attempt to reduce waste and consumption.
By achieving synergy between two industrial units too one can achieve the goal of
conservation. For instance one factory's industrial waste can be another plant's
raw material.
A key experiment, inexpensive and of almost immediate utility, is the generation
of bio-gas from city and town sewage as well as water hyacinth which for years
been blocking waterways and clogging fields. The extra amount of power required is
small, but it increases the output of power by seventy per cent. Its financial
returns are encouraging, apart from its great advantage of preventing air
pollution and clogging.
There is a global need to increase energy conservation and the use of renewable
energy resources. Renewable alternatives such as waterpower

(using the energy of moving water, such as rivers), solar energy (using the energy
from the sun), wind energy (using the energy of the wind or air currents), and
geothermal energy (using energy contained in hot-water deposits within the Earth’s
crust) are efficient and practical ways of energy conservation.
THE GOOD NEWS:
So much is being said, discussed, and written about man ravaging the environment
that we start feeling panicky. Though the situation does warrant concern the news
is not all bad. There is plenty to cheer about on the environment front.
Let’s start with the atmosphere and climate. The ozone layer is on the point of
recovering. This success story dates back to 1987, when scientists began to voice
their concerns. The world’s governments moved in just nine months to conclude a
treaty to eliminate chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-destroying
chemicals. Today almost two decades later the result is encouraging.
The world over scientists, engineers, technologists are working to tackle the
menace of global warming, acid rain, urban smog etc. They have realised that the
best way of doing it is by reducing the consumption of fossil fuels, viz. coal,
oil, and natural gas. To achieve this they need to build more efficient cars,
insulate buildings better, and use advanced light bulbs.
Case Study:
An excellent example has been set by Amory Lovins, a Colorado scientist. He , is
well on the way to inventing a streamlined and hybrid-power car that will drive
from New York to Los Angeles on a single tankful of gasoline. He and his wife
Hunter live at 7,100 feet in the Rocky Mountains where the winter temperature
often plunges below freezing every night for weeks if not months on end. Their
house with its exceptional energy-efficiency installations leaves them with an
annual heating bill of less than Rs. 2,500, which by American standards is
extremely low. Nor did the house need way-out and costly technology. All items had
long been available at the local store, and the Lovins’s energy savings paid off
their capital investment within two years.
Innovative house lighting can save on electricity and hence on fossil fuels. In
Japan, more than 80 percent of homes are lit with low-power and long-lasting bulbs
that give light as good as conventional bulbs. In Norway, one home in every 25
(50,000 in total) are powered by photovoltaics. In Kenya, 20,000 homes are
electrified with solar cells. If price trends of the 1990s continue, solar
technologies will provide power at rates which would make them broadly
competitive with electricity derived from fossil fuels.
Much the same applies to wind power. During just the past few years, generating
capacity has risen rapidly until wind power is now the fastest-growing energy
source. India possesses the second fastest growing wind-power industry with 500
MW installed.
In many parts of the world, the cost of wind-generated electricity has fallen by
two-thirds since 1990, and in many regions it has become competitive with new
coal-fired power plants. As wind turbines enter mass production, costs should soon
fall significantly making wind one of the least expensive electricity sources.
Examples of environmentally friendly practices making good business sense are
increasing. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, makers of scotch tape and many
other office supplies, has saved more than 500 crore rupees since 1975 through
its recycling and waste management practices.
Innovative efforts to recycle and reuse waste are also yielding encouraging
results.
Case Study:
Indian born Australian scientist Professor Veena Sahajwala has won a
prestigious Australian science award for developing a technique to use waste
plastic in steel making. Under this process waste plastics are fed into electric
steel making furnaces as an alternative source of carbon. Many waste plastics from
shopping bags to cold drink bottles contain high levels of carbon which is useful
in steel making. This innovative technique has two vital benefits. It puts an
environmental hazard like plastic to economical use and conserves a valuable
resource like carbon.
All these innovations and proactive approaches augur well for us and our
environment.

WHAT YOU CAN DO?

As children, the future leaders of tomorrow, what is your responsibility? After
all you are going to inherit the earth from the present generation and pass it on
to the next generation.
Each one teach one:
Some time back the Indian Government had launched a literacy programme called
‘Each One Teach One’. Even then I had liked the idea immensely, though it had
failed to take off. I think this campaign should be re-launched - not by any
Government but by us, you and me. In whichever part of the world we may be, if we
consider ourselves the concerned and committed citizens of the world we should
chip in. We should identify the illiterate in our vicinity and teach them the
basics of not only the three Rs but also about hygiene and health. And by we I
mean both adults as well as children. Father and daughter, mother and son can
teach together and also be taught together.
This might sound simplistic to many of you. But please keep in mind that all great
revolutions have begun with a simple step and eventually led to terrific results.
Mahatma Gandhi, an old and frail man picked up a handful of salt, on a beach in
1931, and rang the death knell of the biggest empire in the history of human
civilisation.
We too can make a small beginning. Each of us can pick up a single soul shrouded
in ignorance and lead him (or her) on the well-lit path of knowledge. All it needs
is a little bit of effort, a little bit of commitment and a tiny voice in our
minds and hearts that will urge us on to make the lives of those around us a
little better.
Each one plant one:
Plant a sapling and care for it. Watch it grow, nourish and nurture it. Encourage
your friends, family members, neighbours and anyone else you can to follow your
example.
Each one an environment vigilante:
Whenever you see food or water being wasted prevent it. Begin in your own house
and school. Close taps which are open, report leaking taps or pipes.
Report cutting of trees and plants.
Do not tolerate cruelty to birds and animals.
Switch off fans, lights, air conditioners and geysers when not in use.
Make sure that your house and the area around it is clean. If the garbage
cleaning system is not effective bring it to the notice of the authorities.
Form eco-clubs in your school and neighbourhood. Let each member become an
environment vigilante.
Interact continuously with people from all strata, across generations on
environment issues. Here is a simple example. Our cities and towns are growing.
To provide bricks for houses and offices, brick kilns are cropping up everywhere,
using fertile soils from the top layers. Do the people who use these bricks or the
brick layers know – that it takes nature over a century to make one centimetre of
top soil? If owner of houses realize this, it would soon become possible to
prevent haphazard digging up of soil for bricks. You should take up the
responsibility of informing, of counselling people so they know the results of
their seemingly harmless actions.
The last word:
Smt. Indira Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India was a great environmentalist
and nature lover. Her words should serve as a guiding force for all of us as we
try to make our world a safer, cleaner, saner and more humane place:
“Modern man must re-establish an unbroken link with nature and with life. He must
again learn to invoke the energy of growing things and to recognise, as did the
ancients in India centuries ago, that one can take from the earth and the
atmosphere only so much as one puts back into them. In their hymn to Earth, the
sages of the Atharva Veda chanted:
What of you I dig out, let that quickly grow over,
Let me not hit your vitals, or your heart.
So can man himself be vital and of good heart and conscious of his
responsibility.”
No. of words : 4,986

List of References

1. Gandhi, Indira. Safeguarding Environment, Wiley Eastern Limited, New Delhi.

2. Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin.
3. Earthworks Group and John Javna. Fifty Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the
Earth. Andrews McMeel.
4.Warner, Cecil F., and others. Air Pollution: Its Origin and Control. 3rd ed.
Addison-Wesley.
5.Chandler, Gary, and Kevin Graham. Protecting Our Air, Land, and Water. Twenty-
First Century.
6.Brown, Lester R., and Ed Ayres, eds. The World Watch Reader on Global
Environmental Issues. Norton.
7.Young, Gordon, Pollution, Threat to Man's Only Home, National Geographic.
8.Myers, Norman. Environment: The Good News, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia.