ICEH
Papers
HUMAN
SURVIVAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Chakkaravarthy,
Q. Ashoka “Human Survival And Environmental Pollution”
in Martin J. Bunch, V. Madha Suresh and T. Vasantha Kumaran, eds.,
Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Environment
and Health, Chennai, India, 15-17 December, 2003. Chennai: Department
of Geography, University of Madras and Faculty of Environmental
Studies, York University. Pages 66 – 74.
Abstract:
Environmental health
is that aspect of public health that is concerned with those forms
of life substances, forces and conditions in the surroundings
of man that may exert an influence on man’s health and well-being.
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being
as well as the absence of disease or infirmity. Man’s concern
for his environment as it relates to his health, maintenance,
efficiency, comfort and the enjoyments of life were much prevalent
in the middle-ages. However, there began a change in social organization
that initiated the rise of many cities, and subsequently increased
the number of diseases that were more easily communicable from
one person to another. Such diseases came to be associated with
pollution.
The term malaria was
the name applied to a disease thought to be associated with bad
air. Eventually, that the female anopheles mosquito attacks man
and transmits the causative organism and that the status of man’s
health represents the result of complex interactions between his
internal biological system and the external environmental system,
were scientifically proclaimed.
Man is subjected to
a variety of environmental hazards. Sometimes, man-made hazards
are direct in their impact and the following factors can be used
in categorizing environmental hazards: 1) biological, 2) chemical,
3) physical, 4) psychological, and 5) sociological.
Besides the above,
diseases are also transmitted from person to person or from animals,
for example, rabies, rat bite fever, parrot fever or psittacosis,
malaria, yellow fever, murine typhus fever and bubonic plague.
The mosquito is involved in the transmission of malaria, dengue,
and filariasis. High concentrations of nitrates result in methemoglobinemia
“blue babies syndrome” and thyroid (mottled tooth
enamel).
There are other biological
hazards in the environment besides communicable diseases. Some
gases are irritating at low concentrations but at higher concentrations,
gases like hydrogen sulfide may be fatal.
Physical hazards in
the environment may cause death, disease or disability. Reduced
metabolic rate, oxygen consumption, respiration, heartbeat, and
blood pressure are affected by temperature, which keeps oscillating
because of excessive environmental pollution. The quality of life
is directly related to the quality of the environment. The Concepts
of pure water, pure food, clean air and clean neighbourhoods,
reflect the newer concepts of health as meaning more than just
the absence of disease. Bare survival includes control from major
epidemics or disease; control of disease, injury and accidental
injury; maintenance of environment for efficient use of manpower,
comfortable, stimulating environment, and the likes have to be
given a fresh thought.
The very basis of human
survival hinges on the sustainable inter-linkages with the environment.
The present day scenario however, tells a different story. The
ever-increasing problems due to pollution are leading to various
environmental hazards that are detrimental to our survival. In
this context, this paper aims to address the various problems
vis-à-vis human survival and the steps to be taken up in
a concerted fashion towards sustainable development. In future
years the population increase will require that the environment
of the world be reviewed as a closed system. Consequently, it
is necessary to take an ecological approach to environmental quality
and consider the totality of the environment with man as part
of an ecosystem.
View
Full Format (pdf)
Back
to Papers
