MISCONCEPTIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTFacts and figures about the truth

By:- Shubham Sonawane

Rishabh Sharma

Rohan Upadhya……

PROJECT OUTLINE• Why is it important to solve Misconceptions?

• Misconception :The only greenhouse gas emitted by human activities is carbon dioxide

• Misconception: Humans adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere is increasing the total amount of carbon in the environment causing acid rain

• Misconception :location of ozone holes

• Misconception : waste management & segregation is done legally

• Misconception: Existing laws and regulations alwaysprovide sufficient protection from hazardous materials and chemicals

• Misconception: Recycling solves all our waste problems

• Misconception : E -waste is a problem that cannot be easily resolved as the tons of E waste that are generated have gone beyond control

• Misconception: pollution increases the risk of cancer

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO SOLVE MISCONCEPTIONS?

The fact that students at various educational levels

have Misconceptions regarding various natural

phenomena has also been highlighted in the

National Science Education Standards (National

Research Council, 1996. Despite the severe potential

consequences of acid rain, greenhouse effect, and

ozone depletion on life on Earth. The majority of the

research studies on Misconceptions about these three

areas have been done.

MISCONCEPTION :THE ONLY GREENHOUSE GAS EMITTED BY HUMAN ACTIVITIES IS CARBON

DIOXIDE

Several types of human activities lead to significant

emissions of greenhouse gases. Burning fossil fuels is

one of these. Burning wood for cooking and heating

also releases CO2. When cement is made from

ground up limestone, the hardening process releases

CO2.

Agriculture, including growing

rice and raising livestock, leads

to the release of increased

amounts of methane, another

greenhouse gas. HFCs are a

group of chemicals synthesized

by humans which also act as

greenhouse gases.

MISCONCEPTION: HUMANS ADDING CARBON DIOXIDE TO THE ATMOSPHERE IS INCREASING THE

TOTAL AMOUNT OF CARBON IN THE ENVIRONMENT

CAUSING ACID RAIN

In contrast to common Misconception, acid rain is not

directly harmful to human beings. It feels and tastes

just like normal rain and taking a walk out in acid rain

won't have any direct implications on human health.

However, the gases, sulfur dioxide and oxides of

nitrogen when inhaled cause heart and lung problems

like bronchitis and asthma.

Carbon follows the law of conservation

of matter. Human activities have the

effect of transferring carbon stored in

plants and fossil fuels to the atmosphere. The amount of carbon in

the atmosphere (and also in the

oceans) is increasing, but the total

amount of carbon on earth is staying

the same.

Other than these major effects,

acid rain also causes damage to

buildings and structures like statues

and bridges. The acid present in

these rains corrodes the material

that these structures are made of.

Although natural elements like wind,

water and ice also cause erosion of

these structures, acid rain hastens

this process.

MISCONCEPTION :LOCATION OF OZONE HOLES

Some people thought that the ozone hole should be above

the sources of CFCs. However, CFCs are well mixed globally

in the troposphere and stratosphere. The reason for

occurrence of the ozone hole above Antarctica is not

because there are more CFCs concentrated but because

the low temperatures help form polar stratospheric

clouds.[106] In fact, there are findings of significant and

localized "ozone holes" above other parts of the earth.

There is a common Misconception that the "ozone hole" is

really a hole in the ozone layer. When the "ozone hole"

occurs, the ozone in the lower stratosphere is destroyed. The

upper stratosphere is less affected, so that the amount of

ozone over the continent decreases by 50 percent or even

more. The ozone does not disappear through the layer, nor is

there a uniform 'thinning' of the ozone layer. The "hole" is a

depression, not in the sense of "a hole in the windshield”.

MISCONCEPTION : WASTE MANAGEMENT & SEGREGATION IS DONE LEGALLY

A huge amount of Municipality budget

is set aside for cleanliness in our

country but it‘s not properly used by

our system. India generates a surprising

16 CR kg of garbage everyday and

one truck that carried 5-6 tons of waste

makes around three to four thousands

per truck.

An activist Rishi Agarwal, highlighted that it has become

a huge scam and from corporate to mafia everyone has

got into the business of Solid waste management. He

also brought forth an important point which said that no

Municipal corporation has taken any step to inform

people that biodegradable waste and plastic waste

should be segregated.

MISCONCEPTION: EXISTING LAWS AND REGULATIONS ALWAYS

PROVIDE SUFFICIENT PROTECTION FROM HAZARDOUS MATERIALS AND CHEMICALS

Truth: Toxic chemicals are often released into the environment through hazardous waste management problems, exclusions to regulations, non-point sources, and permitted discharges.

So Landfills solve all our waste problems ?

Unfortunately, landfills ignore the cost of waste and

missed opportunities to conserve resources. Reliance

on landfills isn’t an ideal solution because hazardous

materials and substances find their way in, and

because disposal of useful materials means our

economy relies heavily – and often unnecessarily – on

dwindling natural resources.

MISCONCEPTION: RECYCLING SOLVES ALL OUR WASTEPROBLEMS

Truth: Recycling is a valuable and promising process,

but the current system is far from perfect. There are

several long-range problems that need solutions

, including the fact that most products are not

actually designed for recycling. This means that it can

be costly to recover and reprocess materials.

MISCONCEPTION : E -WASTE IS A PROBLEM THAT CANNOT BE EASILY RESOLVED AS THE TONS OF E WASTE THAT ARE GENERATED HAVE GONE BEYOND CONTROL

Remarkable measures have

been undertaken to ensure

that E waste is properly

disposed, and the

steady rise of refurbishing

companies over the years

have only proved that the

demand for refurbished

products are higher than ever.

MISCONCEPTION: POLLUTION INCREASES THE RISK OF CANCER

Neither the study of patterns of disease in humans

(epidemiology) nor experimental studies on laboratory

animals (toxicology) support this idea Although some

epidemiologic studies find an association between

cancer and low levels of industrial pollutants, the

associations are usually weak, the results are usually

conflicting and the studies do not correct for potentially

large confounding factors like diet.

Moreover, exposures to synthetic

pollutants are tiny and rarely seem

toxicologically plausible as a

causal factor, particularly when

compared to the background of

natural chemicals that are rodent

carcinogens.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTI would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher (Mrs. DambaleMaaam) as well as our principal (Mrs.Patwardhan Maaam)who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic (Misconceptions of the environment), which also helped me in doing a lot of Research and i came to know about so many new things I am really thankful to them.Secondly i would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME