2. ENVIRONMENTAL ChEMISTRy & TEChNOLOGy 2.1. Lectures

Chem. Listy, 102, s265–s1311 (2008) Environmental Chemistry & Technology
The report states that the life expectancy will rapidly
decline around the year 2030. Level of education and world
economy will irrefutably collapse.
Unrenewable resources are being fatigued and wasted,
species of fauna and flora perish, water and air are being
polluted, and number of natural as well as human-caused
disasters is growing. Environment knows no frontiers. In the
past years at international conferences attention was paid to
greenhouse gases emissions, yet no success was reached. For
example – the USA produce 2.5 multiple of carbonic oxide
emissions per person than Europe. In the USA the emissions
production growth is eighteen per cent; the world average is
nine per cent.
A hectare of tropical forests disappears every two
seconds. The species disappear from hundred to thousand
times faster then they would when living in a harmonic
environment.
Water problems are increasingly urgent. What may happen
is that this century will even become a century of a war
over water, food and raw materials. Water means life. Lack
of water is more and more apparent. Rivers, streams, swamps
and moor land dry up.
Unrenewable resources are being fatigued, wasted,
species of fauna and flora perish, water and air are being
polluted, and number of natural as well as human-caused
disasters is growing. Environment knows no frontiers. In the
past years attention was paid to greenhouse gases emissions
at international conferences, yet no success was reached. For
example – the USA produce 2.5 multiple of carbonic oxide
emissions per person than Europe. Water problems are increasingly
urgent. Maybe this century will even become a war
over water, food and raw materials.
F a c t o r 4 – G l o b a l i z a t i o n
Consequently to almost complex globalization the world
is really or relatively diminishing, with no regard to continents,
countries, districts. Mutual dependency of population
is growing incredibly; consequences of individual’s mistakes
significantly affect others.
Here an essential question is to be asked: What is the connection
between often absurdly defended freedom of individuals
and at the same time the growing mutual dependence of
people? Apart from freedom there is also justice and stability,
balance and equality. So far we have been witnessing more of
globalization of power, profit and exploitation. It is necessary
to globalize responsibility for nature and people in it.
Great attention is being paid to globalization in various
discussions. It has its positive features as well as big negatives.
We must find a way to tame it to avoid a great disaster.
If we manage to run the globalization processes there is
a chance for a positive development. It is good that Movements
against wild globalization start to appear.
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F a c t o r 5 – I n t e g r a t i o n a n d
D i s i n t e g r a t i o n
Various groups come into being and on the contrary,
states decay, therefore the there is bigger and undesirable
atomization. People, regions and countries have their own
interests, often of vital importance, which can be and are in
contradiction with interests and aims of other countries. It
is difficult do make compromise solutions. Politics and economics
deal more often with the consequences than causes.
Almost 20 new countries have arisen within the past 10 years,
which have different political systems and aims, which are,
apart from other, based on nationalistic principles.
The role of international organisations changes – Un,
EU, International monetary fond, World Bank, WTO, nATO
and others. We can not say that the changes are always positive,
transformation is essential.
F a c t o r 6 – n C B W e a p o n s
There are a growing number of countries which have or
will have nuclear weapons. That increases the world insecurity
as well as opportunities to destroy. Here is important to
note the proliferation of military equipment and technologies
of ambiguous use, like nBC weapons. Gun trade volume is
not low. For example, in the last three years, American companies
sold weapons for nearly 19 milliard dollars; French
companies for 4 milliards dollars, and German ones for 1
milliard dollars.
Besides official, by governments approved gun trades
there is a trade that is being tolerated and concluded by
governments. There is also illegal gun trade.
A big threat of today is a black market dealing with
nuclear material and nuclear equipment. Gaining theoretical
knowledge in the way of overpaying the specialists or
documents is a current problem, too. non-proliferation of all
kinds of weapons, especially nBC weapons has another side,
too. It is that they are kept by countries that have already
had them. The logic is simple – why do some countries have
them, and why the others do not? Why can you have them
but we cannot? Once these weapons exist, it is a question of
time and money for the others to get them. The “others” can
potentially mean terrorists. Why have these weapons actually
been developed and why do they exist? If the development
does not change, the world will take a risk of self-destruction.
The danger can be bigger than it was during the cold war
time. During the cold war time, these weapons “helped” keep
peace, though the peace was unstable and faulted.
There is a growing number of countries which have
or will have nuclear weapons. That increases the world
insecurity as well as a chance to destroy. Here is important
to note the spread of military equipment and technologies of
ambiguous use, like nBC weapons.
F a c t o r 7 – V i o l e n c e G r o w t h
It is easily provable that there is a quantitative as well
as qualitative growth of violence. Here it is appropriate to
remember Erich Fromm who defines violence as an urgent