The scientific expert community of the Russian Hundred Committee has the honor to present to your attention the concept of overcoming the global ecological crisis, which currently threatens to destroy the entire human civilization. The danger is associated not only with climate disturbance, but, first of all, with a change in the chemical parameters of the environment. Thus, an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere entails not only global warming, but also a deterioration in the quality of the air that all inhabitants of the planet breathe.
So, D. S. Robertson in the article «Health effects of increase in concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere», published in 2006 (two thousand and sixth year) in the journal CURRENT SCIENCE, showed the dependence of an increase in the acidity of human blood depending on the concentration of carbon dioxide in the inhaled air. (Figure 1)
It is known from physiology that with a decrease in the pH of the blood below 7,3 a person develops a state of acidosis (acidification of the blood with carbonic acid H2CO3, formed when dissolved CO2 is combined with H2O molecules), which is characterized by inhibition of the functions of the central nervous system up to before the development of a coma. When the acidity of the blood reaches pH = 7, death occurs.
According to Robertson’s data, pH = 7,3 corresponds to a concentration of carbon dioxide in the air equal to 426 ppm (0,0426% by volume). If we look at the long-term dynamics of changes in the content of carbon dioxide, presented according to the observatory data in Mauna Loa (Hawaii), we see that the life-threatening concentration will be reached by about 2050 (two thousand and fiftieth year). (Figure 2)
Thus, there are only a few decades left until the moment when a massive illness of all mankind begins, caused by the consequences of acidosis. This will not only be general drowsiness and lethargy, but also multiple organ lesions caused by deposits of pathological biominerals — calcifications throughout the body — in the brain, heart, blood vessels, lungs, liver, kidneys due to the body’s compensation for the excess of incoming carbon dioxide.
But the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, though important, is far from the only environmental problem. The scale and depth of numerous environmental problems give grounds to speak of loss of stability and loss of the regulatory functions of the planet’s global ecosystem — the biosphere. The essence of the global crisis is revealed in the works of Russian scientists — followers of Academician Vernadsky, the creator of the study of the Earth’s biosphere. It has been established that the cause of the destabilization of the biosphere is a violation of its metabolism — a kind of «metabolism», that is, the evolution of the material and energy balance that has developed over billions of years.
This balance was disturbed in the middle of the twentieth century by the technosphere, which has enormously expanded on the surface of the planet and has multiplied its power — an artificial human habitat created by him to satisfy his needs. As the doctor of biology A.S. Kerzhentsev: «Man was the only species in the biosphere that dared to violate the laws of ecology, limiting the growth of populations. At first, back in the Neolithic era, he took away part of the resources intended for other species, by right of the mighty. Then he found and mastered the resources, inaccessible to other species, by right of the clever, which allowed him to increase the population size with its needs to the limit of the biosphere’s capabilities. This turned the biosphere into an anthroposphere and caused a global ecological crisis that disrupted homeostasis — the harmony of self-regulation of the biosphere, the coordinated interaction of biological species in it. Now it is impossible to restore the previous level of self-regulation, since the main violator continues to violate it with increasing force. To restore the initial level of homeostasis, a person will have to be removed from the arena of life».
The modern technosphere is built on the principle of a linear flow of matter, that is, it withdraws resources from the environment and returns waste. Therefore, the violation of the homeostasis of natural processes by the technosphere is expressed in the fact that now there is a low level of the total biomass (resources) due to a decrease in its main share — the mass of green plants and an increased level of necromass (waste) — a dead, unnecessary and even harmful substance to living organisms. created by the production activities of mankind. The lack of biomass on the planet is already leading to the mass extinction of biological species in its biosphere. The extinction of humanity is not far off.
Overcoming the global crisis is possible through the greening of the technosphere — its transformation based on nature. Kerzhentsev wrote «To preserve the entire world society with its size and needs, a person will have to create a new, higher level of sustainable material and energy balance (homeostasis), through additional production of primary photosynthetic biomass of green plants and man-made recycling of technogenic waste, as well as continuously maintain this level with the help of powerful and safe technologies».
The technosphere of the future should become an eco-technosphere built on the principle of an artificial ecosystem, that is, with an internal cyclic resource cycle of matter. The figure 3 shows a diagram of a new habitat in which a person is the final link in all biochemical processes. Production of food and waste disposal, followed by their involvement in the endless internal stream of resource reproduction. In this way, all the basic needs of the inhabitants of the eco-technosphere will be met without a significant negative impact on the biosphere. Thus, it will be possible to provide a high standard of living for the entire population of the planet without taking resources away from its other inhabitants.
Of course, greening the technosphere is not an easy and large-scale task. But it must be solved so that humanity can survive and develop in the future. Therefore, all the forces and material resources of intelligent mankind should be directed to the greening of the technosphere, that is, to the adaptation of the human environment to the natural principles of environmental formation. This requires the efforts of every inhabitant of the Earth, primarily in ecological self-education, which is necessary to understand the meaning of the processes occurring in the environment and to see ways to overcome modern negative phenomena.
Thank you for attention!
Tkachenko Yu.L., Ph.D, Moscow.
Appell in russischer Sprache:
https://k100.space/dorogie-sosedi-po-planete-zemlya/
