INDEX

TOPIC PAGE NO.INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL

SCIENCE1

HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI 4THE ATTACK 7

ANALYSIS 9SOLUTION AND VIEWS 11

SNAPSHOTS 12REFERENCES 14

INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

Environmentalscienceis the interdisciplinaryacademic fieldwhich systematically studieshuman interactionwith theenvironmentin the interests of solving complex problems. It is a broad field of study that includes also the natural environment,builtenvironment, andthesets of relationships between them. The field encompasses study in basic principles of ecology and environmental science, as well as associated subjects such asethics,policy,politics,law,economics,philosophy,environmental sociologyandenvironmentaljustice,planning,pollution controland natural resource management.

Whystudy environmental science?

You live here. There's only one planet so far that can support human life.

You need to know how to protect your environment. You need to know what has already been done to harm the

environment so that you can work to repair the damage.

We humans are currently undergoing a population explosion, numbering over 6.5 billion people and growing. Most scientists are convinced that this is an unsustainable population size and that we must reduce our growth rate. While many developed

countries have reduced their population growth rates, most developing countries have high birth rates.

The prodigious increase in the human population has had and is still having devastating effects on the environment. This is especially true of non-renewable resources, such as fossil fuels, and the output of excessive carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as a consequence.

The study of Environmental Science promotes the development of problem-solving skills. Working in the field of environmental science provides a wide variety of subjects and problems to challenge and expand your skills, as well as the satisfaction of knowing you are helping to improve the quality of our lives and that of the planet.

Why Is Environmental Education Important?

Our nation’s future relies on a well-educated public to be wise stewards of the very environment that sustains us, our families and communities, and future generations. It is environmental education which can best help us as individuals make the complex, conceptual connections between economic prosperity, benefits to society, environmental health, and our own well being. Ultimately, the collective wisdom of our citizens, gained through education, will be the most compelling and most successful strategy for environmental management.

Yet studies consistently reveal that the public suffers from a tremendous environmental literacy gap that appears to be increasing rather than decreasing. For example, two-thirds

of the public fail even a basic environmental quiz and a whopping 88 percent of the public fail a basic energy quiz. These same studies found that many people think the ocean is a source of fresh water and some believe that hydropower is world's top energy source.Environmental education also increases student engagement in science.

ABOUT HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI

Hiroshima

At the time of its bombing, Hiroshima was a city of both industrial and military significance. A number of military camps were located nearby, including the headquarters which commanded the defence of all southern Japan. In total, over 40,000 military personnel were stationed in the city.

Hiroshima was a minor supply and logistics base for the Japanese military but it also had large depots of military supplies and was a key center for shipping.The city was a communications center, a storage point, and an assembly area for troops. It was one of several Japanese cities left deliberately untouched by American bombing, allowing a pristine environment to measure the damage caused by the atomic bomb.

The center of the city contained several reinforced concrete buildings and lighter structures. Outside the center, the area was congested by a dense collection of small wooden workshops set among Japanese houses. A few larger industrial plants lay near the outskirts of the city. The houses were constructed of wood with tile roofs, and many of the industrial buildings were also built around wood frames. The city as a whole was highly susceptible to fire damage.

The population of Hiroshima had reached a peak of over 381,000 earlier in the war, but prior to the atomic bombing the

population had steadily decreased because of a systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack, the population was approximately 340,000–350,000.Residents wondered why Hiroshima had been spared destruction by firebombing.Some speculated that the city was to be saved for US occupation headquarters, others thought perhaps their relatives in Hawaii and California had petitioned the US government to avoid bombing Hiroshima.More realistic city officials had ordered buildings torn down to create long, straight firebreaks, beginning in 1944. Firebreaks continued to be expanded and extended, right up to the morning of 6 August 1945.

Nagasaki

The city of Nagasaki had been one of the largest sea ports in southern Japan and was of great wartime importance because of its wide-ranging industrial activity, including the production of ordnance, ships, military equipment, and other war materials. The four largest companies in the city were Mitsubishi Shipyards, Electrical Shipyards, Arms Plant, and Steel and Arms Works, which employed about 90% of the city's labour force, and accounted for 90% of the city's industry.

Nagasaki was not the target of large-scale bombing prior to 9 August 1945. However, the city had been previously bombed on a small scale five times. Of these raids, on 1 August, a number of conventional high-explosive bombs were dropped on the city.

In contrast to many modern aspects of Hiroshima, almost all of the buildings were of old-fashioned Japanese construction, consisting of wood or wood-frame buildings with wood walls (with or without plaster) and tile roofs. Many of the smaller industries and business establishments were also situated in buildings of wood or other materials not designed to withstand explosions. Nagasaki had been permitted to grow for many years without conforming to any definite city zoning plan; residences were erected adjacent to factory buildings and to each other almost as closely as possible throughout the entire industrial valley. On the day of the bombing, an estimated 263,000 were in Nagasaki.

THE ATTACK

The atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were conducted by the United States during the final stages of World War II in 1945. The two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in a war to date.Following a firebombing campaign that destroyed many Japanese cities, the Allies prepared for a costly invasion of Japan. The war in Europe ended when Nazi Germany signed its instrument of surrender on 8 May, but the Pacific War continued. Together with the United Kingdom and the Republic of China, the United States called for a surrender of Japan in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945, threatening Japan with "prompt and utter destruction". The Japanese government ignored this ultimatum. American airmen dropped Little Boy on the city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, followed by Fat Man over Nagasaki on 9 August.

Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki with roughly half of the deaths in each city occurring on the first day. The Hiroshima prefecture health department estimated that, of the people who died on the day of the explosion, 60% died from flash or flame burns, 30% from falling debris and 10% from other causes.

During the following months, large numbers died from the effect of burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries, compounded by illness. In a US estimate of the total immediate and short term cause of death, 15–20% died from

radiation sickness, 20–30% from burns, and 50–60% from other injuries, compounded by illness. In both cities, most of the dead were civilians, although Hiroshima had a sizeable garrison.

On 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan announced its surrender to the Allies, signing the Instrument of Surrender on 2 September, officially ending World War II. The bombings led, in part, to post-war Japan's adopting Three Non-Nuclear Principles, forbidding the nation from nuclear armament. The bombings' role in Japan's surrender and their ethical justification are still debated.

ANALYSIS

Both the Hiroshima and the Nagasaki atomic bombs exhibitedsimilar effects.The damages to man-made structures and other inanimateobjects in both cities was the result of the followingeffects of the explosions:

Blast, or pressure wave, similar to that of normal explosions.

Primary fires, i.e., those fires started instantaneously by the heat radiated from the atomic explosion.

Secondary fires, i.e., those fires resulting from the collapseof buildings, damage to electrical systems, overturningof stoves, and other primary effects of the blast.

Spread of the primary and secondary fires to other structures.

The two bombs devastated residential buildings, and the debris fed the firestorm that followed. Many of those who were merely injured by the blast were trapped in the flames and died. Many survivors had been hit by wood and glass splinters from the pressure wave and most had burns, some from where the thermal pulse had set fire to their clothes. The fallout from the blast killed more residents with radiation sickness, about which little was known even among doctors. Long term illness such as cancers afflicted a large percentage of the bomb victims. 

The casualties sustained by the inhabitants of both citieswere due to:

“Flash” burns, caused directly by the almost instantaneousradiation of heat and light at the moment of the explosion.

Burns resulting from the fires caused by the explosion. Mechanical injuries caused by collapse of buildings,

flyingdebrisand forcible hurlingabout of persons struckby the blast pressure waves.

Radiation injuries caused by the instantaneous penetratingradiation (in many respects similar to excessive X-rayexposure) from the nuclear explosion; all of these effectiveradiations occurred during the first minute after initiationof the explosion, and nearly all occurred during the firstsecond of the explosion.

SOLUTION AND VIEWSNuclear disarmament refers to both the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-weapon-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated.

Nuclear disarmament groups include the Greenpeace, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Mayors for Peace, Global Zero, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. There have been many large anti-nuclear demonstrations and protests.

Proponents of nuclear disarmament say that it would lessen the probability of nuclear war occurring, especially accidentally. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the end of World War II quickly followed the Trinity test, and the Little Boy device was detonated over the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Peace movements emerged in Japan and in 1954 they converged to form a unified ‘Japanese Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs’. Japanese opposition to the Pacific nuclear weapons tests was widespread and an estimated 35 million signatures were collected on petitions calling for bans on nuclear weapons.

SNAPSHOTS

REFERENCES

www.google.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki

http://US%20Pwn3s%20Japan%20%20ActioNews%20Online.html

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_were_the_effects_of_the_bombing_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki