ADVERSE EFFECTS OF PEOPLE ON ENVIRONMENT

ADVERSE EFFECTS OF PEOPLE ON ENVIRONMENT

NURTURE OUR NATURE.

AIM:

The main aim of our group’s project is one of the most debated topics of the 20^th and 21^st century-the adverse effects of human development on the environment. The aftershocks of our booming industrial development are clearly visible, but not visible enough to inoculate the habit in people of preventing the  ‘murder’ of our mother earth. Our team has set out to show the world, no matter how many trees are there in IIT campuses all over India, It won’t save us. It will also put in the spotlight how once ‘environment friendly’ or forest covered IIT-M, now becoming a mini city itself is now stripped clean almost of a major part of its wildlife and greenery.

HYPOTHESIS:

The adverse effects of development, in other words known as global warming , is the most threatening problem, faced by each and every person in the world. From the poorest of farmers to the richest of business men, are affected and this is one problem no one can ignore or run away from.

Chennai is one of the major metropolises of India, but also tops another list that a city never wants to be a part of, one of the most affected cities by development. The adverse effect of development can easily be classified into 4 sections; air, water, land and nature .Chennai’s average temperature has already increased by 2 degrees in the last decade and it’s green covers no longer provide any protection against mother nature’s powerful fury. One of Chennai’s well known green covers is the infamous Indian Institute of Technology Madras and that is exactly the heart of this project

Cool morning air, greenery everywhere, animals roaming freely, a temperature lower than that of the remaining city , breathing in the fresh air of our IIT-M; it used to wonderful. But that was once upon a time. Now it is not as vivid.

It is a well known fact that the environment around our school is changing, trees are dying, temperatures are rising and animals are vanishing. So to prove our point that IIT-M is also becoming like the city, development taking its toll on nature, we set out as 4 groups, to do our research. The only way to prove the point, is through  physical evidence and that’s exactly what we’re planning on doing.

As the infamous rule says, basics always first;

ANIMAL REPORT OF IIT-M:

WORK PLAN: Our main idea is to provide physical proof to you so that there is no theory that can defy us.

Our work plan consists of research, experiment and prove. On the basis of those 3 words, we created a plan. Mainly;

·     Divide the work: between the whole team as 5 sections, 2 students in each.

·     Visualize: layout the method of execution of this plan and make it the best.

·     Plan: nothing works without a good plan and that is exactly what we’re doing now.

·     Survey: know the facts before you judge; “don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”

·     Create statistics: find out the differences between your present and someone Else's past work.

·     Experiment: test your surrounding to create hard evidence.

·     Prove: prove your statement as always with the help of your research

METHODLOGY:

 Divide and conquer!

Following that rule, we conquered our aim. There are 5 main aspects that we covered. They are

·     Air

·     Water

·     Land

·     Animals

·     plants

We also have photos , surveys and interviews to add the personal views of people.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION:

LAND POLLUTION:

Land pollution is the destruction of the earth’s

surface, often directly or indirectly as a result of human activities and by misuse of land resources.

It occurs when waste is not disposed properly or can occur when humans throw chemicals into the soil in the form of pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers in farming. Exploitation of minerals and metals (mining activities) also contributes to the destruction of the earth’s surface.

This exploitation has also caused many large areas of land to lose or reduce their capacity to support life forms and eco systems. This is known as land degradation.

EXPERIMENT -1

AIM: To find out which place is highly polluted in IIT campus.

METHOD: Visit places all around IIT and observe the dump yards.

OBSERVATION: The canteen side were highly polluted by paper plates.

 CONCLUSION: Pollution is caused by canteen is due to paper plates and this can be reduced by using re-usable metal plates or banana leaves.

ACTIVITY:

AIM: INTERVIEW THE IIT-M CLEANING STAFF AND NOTE THE RISE IN INCREASE OF PLASTIC DUMPED IN FOREST:

OBSERVATION:

During the interview the cleaning staff who worked there for over 13 years, concluded that there was a vast reduction in the wastes thrown into the FOREST.

But it still has not stopped. They compare the earlier years and tell that the major pollutants now are only plastic transportable material; like bottle and packets.

They even confine in us that the major pollution towards land are during the Saarang/Shastra festival polluting up to 3.5 tonnes of waste in 4 days.

ACTIVITY 3

AIM: FIND THE AMOUNT OF WASTE PRODUCED BY EACH HOUSEHOLD IN IIT-M( INTERVIEW WITH CLEANING STAFF)

OBSERVATION

It was found that the waste produced by each household has doubled over in the past 7 years,

The iit staff has been separating plastic and paper from waste for recycling for a long time. On interviewing, we could find out that the majority of waste was plastic and people never bothered to separate them in different covers.

According to them the major recycling money was made my reselling plastic.

SOURCES OF LAND POLLUTION:

AGRICULTURAL SOURCES: These include pesticides and chemicals used for agriculture which in turn changes the nature of the soil and its biodiversity.

MINING SOURCES: This includes piles of coal refuse and heaps of coal slag .

INDUSTRIAL SOURCES: These include paints, chemicals, toxic byproducts etc ; land is heavily polluted by the production of such goods.

SEWAGE TREATMENT: Wastes that are left over after sewage has been treated, biomass sludge and stilled solids.

WASTE DISPOSAL: These include households or municipal waste of non-biodegradable substances.

CONSTRUCTION SOURCES: These include wastes like wood, metals and plastics that are produced by construction activities.

ACTIVITY:

EFFECTS OF LAND POLLUTION:

On Solid Wastes:  Areas with lots of industrial activity have larger waste sizes, with more metal, chemical and hazardous discharge where as, areas with low economic activity have more organic waste deposits.

Deforestation: Deforestations destroys habits and ecosystems. It also drives animals further away and even exposes them to predators and harmful conditions.

Pesticides and Fertilizers: Many farming activities engage in the application of harmful substances. Insects and small animals are killed and bigger animals that eat tiny animals are also thus harmed.

Chemicals: Fertilizers and insecticides also produce lot of harmful wastes. In many cases they are stored in an environmentally safe way, but there are some that find their way into landfills and other less safe storage facilities.

·     Deforestation: Cutting down trees lead to soil erosion which results in the loss of large volumes of fertile soil .

Pump sites and landfills also come with serious problems like;

1. ·     VERY BAD SMELL AND ODOR IN THE TOWN
2. ·     LANDFILLS BREED RODENTS WHICH IN-TURN TRANSMITS DISEASES.
3. ·     LANDFILLS IN TOWNS DO NOT ATTRACT TOURISTS TO THE TOWN. THE TOWN WILL LOSE REVENUE.
4. ·     MANY LANDFILLS ARE ALWAYS BURNING AND THEY CAUSE FURTHER AIR POLLUTION.

In IIT there are more water staple ponds, in which mosquitoes can breed in. To avoid that breeding of fish can be done.

ACTIVITY

SEARCH THE INTERNET OR LIBRARY TO FIND OUT WHAT HAZARDOUS MATERIALS HAVE TO BE DEALT WITH WHILE DISPOSING OFF ELECTRONIC ITEMS. HOW WOULD THESE MATERIALS AFFECT THE ENVIRONMENTS?

Disposed electronic items may contain cadmium, lead, silicon, plastics etc. These items cause land pollution which can affect our health and also other organisms.

FIND OUT HOW PLASTICS ARE RECYCLED? DOES THE RECYCLING PROCESS HAVE ANY IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT?

Plastics can be melted and recycled makings plastic bags, mugs, buckets etc. Molten plastic waste mixed with asphalt can be used for making road.

During recycling fumes of plastic and other chemical causes air pollution which may cause breathing trouble like asthma.

CAUSES

SEWAGE TREATMENT:

Large amount of solid waste is leftover once the sewage has been treated. The leftover material is sent to landfill site which end up in polluting environment.

CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES:

Due to urbanization large amount of construction activities are taking place which has resulted in large waste articles (wood, metal, bricks, plastics) that can be seen by naked eyes outside any building or office that is under construction.

OVERCROWDED LANDFILLS:

Each house produces tons of garbage every year. Garbage like aluminum, plastics, paper, cloth and wood is collected and sent to local recycling unit. Items that cannot be recycled become a part of the landfills that hampers the beauty of the city and cause land pollution.

INDUSTRIALIZATION

Due to increase in demand of food, shelter and house, more goods are produced. This resulted in creation of more waste that needs to be disposed of.

ACTIVITY

Find out how the sewage in IIT is treated? Are there

mechanisms in place to ensure that local water bodies are not polluted by untreated sewage?

Sewage should be drained and sent to sewage treatment plant where it is filtered and treated with microbes And chemicals to get rid  of waste materials.  There should be sewage treatment plants which treat water before it is released into the river. But in IIT they sent it direct to Koovum river in Adyar.

SOLUTIONS:

The following methods should be implemented

1. ·     Waste water can be kept in suspension tanks to remove suspended impurities.
2. ·     Then treated with different chemicals to remove waste and harmful chemicals.
3. ·     This treated water is kept in tanks to allow anaerobic bacteria to degrade organic wastes.
4. ·     After this process waste is treated with disinfectants like chlorine before flowing it to the river.
5. ·     To reduce air pollution, particulate pollutants are removed by mechanical process to settle down particulates by gravitational force, use of filters and electrostatic precipitators to remove dust, fumes, etc.
6. ·     Biodegradable waste is sent for preparation of compost, biogas and manure and non-biodegradable to landfill to regulate overflowing of water.
7. ·     Pollution of land result in degradation of environment due to rapid industrialization.

PREVENTION

Public Education: Communities must invest in ___ and engaging environmental education, where the harmful effects of land pollution.

Policy and Strategy: Governments and local councils have a role to play too. The industries and mining must be given the right training and capacity to dispose hazardous waste.

Families and Households: Households must be empowered and encouraged  to cut down the amount of waste produced. For examples; incentives can be given to houses that create less wastes and fees for houses that create more.

Recycling: People should learn to separate the households and office waste for recycling purposes. Recycling is the key in keeping the junk away from landfills and also reducing our reliance on new raw materials. Separate biodegradable and non-biodegradable at home itself.

ACTIVITY (in IIT)

Calculate how much waste is generated at home in a day----- 2-3 Kg.

How much of this waste is biodegradable?

Most of the waste generated at home is biodegradable like vegetables, fruit peels, leftover food, tea leaves, waste papers, leaves etc.-----1-2Kg/day.

Calculate how much waste is generated in the classroom per day.

The class waste includes mostly papers, leftover food items, wrappers, dust etc. This amounts to ½ -3/4 kg per day.

How much of this is biodegradable?

Most of the classroom waste is biodegradable which is less than ½ kg.

Suggest ways of dealing with its waste.

Biodegradable wastes like papers, leftover food items, fallen leaves should be dumped into compost pits made in safe corners of the school, to prepare compost that can be used in the school garden as manure.

SOLUTION

REDUCE:

·     Reduce the consumption of electricity by switching off unnecessary lights and fans.

·     We save water by replacing leaking taps.

REUSE:

Empty plastic or glass bottles can be reused for keeping /storing things in kitchen.

RECYCLE:

By recycling we can obtain fresh plastic or paper for waste plastic or from waste paper.

DO NOT ASK FOR PLASTIC BAGS AND WRAPPERS WHEN SHOPPING  AS THEY WILL LEAD TO GARBAGE AND END UP IN LANDFILL SITE.

Ensure that we do not litter on the ground and do proper disposal of garbage.

Try to have a kitchen garden at home using the organic waste as manure and thus taste some organic food.

ACTIVITY

1. ·     Collect waste materials from your home.
2. ·     Bury this in a pit or cover it in a bucket or flowerpot with 15 cm of soil.
3. ·     Keep it moist for 15 days and then observe materials that are not degraded which include plastic bags and wrappers.
4. ·     Materials like vegetable peels and left over food will turn to compost.

WATER:

WORK DONE ON:-

On 11-11-15 we went to stadium followed by Lake, OAT, swimming pool, hostel sides and temple.

OBSERVATION:

We noticed that in some place the water was deposited and it was contaminated.

 Not only that, the ponds and lakes in IIT was also in the same condition.

They were mostly filled with plastic materials. It indicates the poor maintenance of these ponds and lakes.

Algae levels in IIT water bodies have risen more than 10% in the last 10 years indicating that  the amount of C02 in the air inside iitm has risen .

The drainage from construction areas were diposed off into the road canals, the normal areas where wildlife drink water.

The ground water level has also dipped in several parts of iitm.

The animals which consume these water and plastics materials see their death soon.

The tank which conserves water is contaminated by leaves and waste materials.

ADVANTAGE:-

In lake view road we saw a water reservoir which is generated from the center of lake and is converted into pure drinking water. And then it’s supplied.          

CONCLUSION:-

If people stop contaminating and take steps to clear all, these ponds and lake can be restored it once again becomes beautiful.

 

PLANTS AND WILDLIFE:

1. The major impact of the urbanization in Chennai is on the wildlife and the forestcover of IIT-M.
2. IIT Madras is located in a 625 acre campus that was carved out of the Guindy Forests.
3. • Between 2001 and 2013, IIT0M increased the built up area on campus by 52 acres, eating into nearly 8 percent of its forest cover.
4. • Between 2001 and 2013, around 8100 trees were cut to make way for new buildings and open grounds for black bucks.
5. • The IIT-M campus is subject to intense shock loads, such as when 50,000 people and more than 13,000 vehicles arrive to be part of the Saarang cultural festival.
6. • Student population resident in IIT-M is set to increase from 5500 to 8000, taking overall population to 14,400.
7.  • In 2012, about 50 wildlife deaths were recorded, including of black bucks, an endangered animal that is accorded the status as the tiger under Indian law.
8. • In 2006, IIT-M Director M.S. Ananth had stated that a satellite campus will be found to accommodate IIT's growth plans.
9. • That plan seems to have been abandoned. At least 58 acres (9 percent) more will be cleared within the existing campus to make way for amenities to accommodate the increased student/staff population.
10. • The expansion plan will claim 10,000 more trees.

ACTIVITY:

AIM: TO FIND OUT THE TREES AND PLANT WHICH WERE COMMONLY FOUND IN 2006 BUT RARE NOW.

METHOD: taking 5 trees and plants, we started from the iitm main gate to inquire about their numbers.

The trees taken were known to be commonly found as told in the 2006 iitm plant life book

The trees taken were:

1.  dwarf date palm

2.  Fiji fan palm

3.  flame camp

4.  tamarind

5.  periwinkle

6.  pink cassia

7.  horsetail tree

8.  coral creeper and

9.  randia

We walked about 6-8 kilometers taking into count of such trees.

OBSERVATION

NAME OF PLANT:	NO. SEEN AND DISTANCE BETWEEN EACH PLANT	COMMON OR NOT COMMON:
1.  DWARF DATE	15 NOS, 50 MTS	COMMON
2.  FIJI FAN PALM	7 NOS, 200 MTS	COMMON
3.  FLAME CAMP	NONE	NOT COMMON
4.  TAMARIND	6 NOS, 400MTS- 1 KM	COMMON
5.  PERIWINKLE	1 NO	NOT COMMON
6.  PINK CASSIA	14 NOS,300MTS-1 KM	NOT COMMON
7.  HORSE TAIL TREE	1 NO, 3 KM	RARE
8.  CORAL CREEPER	7 NOS, 100- 400 MTS	COMMON
9.  RANDIA	6 NOS, 100 MTS- 1KM	NOT COMMON

CONCLUSION:

This activity hence proves that the trees which were known to be common in IIT campus earlier are now becoming rare obviously due to changes in the environment.

Activity 2

AIM: ANIMAL COUNT MONITORING

METHOD;

1. ·     This easy activity is done by comparing the count if animals in given time to enquire the loss of habitat.
2. ·     The animals we took were black buck, deer and monkeys as they comprise the major part of the wildlife population.
3. ·     The animals were counted in a given stretch and compared to the animals seen in the given stretch earlier.
4. ·     IIT staff were interviewed about the dwindling population of wildlife.

OBSERVATION:

It was found that the population of animals was indeed dwindling. In the 2 hour stretch, we saw 29 deers , 15 monkeys and 2 black bucks. But on comparing these ratios to the earlier times on the interview with iit cleaning staff, they were able to tell that it was much more than those numbers given above.

AIR:

According to the Air quality index, days when the AQI value is between 401 and 500 are ‘severe’ and “may cause respiratory impact even on healthy people, and serious health impacts on people with lung/heart disease. The health impacts may be experienced even during light physical activity.” Among all 26 monitoring stations for which data is available, the IIT Chennai monitoring station has by far the most ‘severe’ air quality days – over 47 per cent of all days in the last six months.

ACTIVITY:

AIM: TO COUNT THE NUMBER OF POLLUTING AND NON-POLLUTING VEHICLES PASSING THROUGH IIT IN ONE HOUR

METHOD:Choose any two polluting and non-polluting vehicles.

·     Count the number of above vehicles passing through IIT at different times.

·     Interpret the data.

·  

OBSERVATION:

It can be found that the number of polluting and non-polluting vehicles are different at different times. At 5-6 pm the majority were polluting vehicles mainly two and four wheelers and minority non-polluting such as cycles and tricycles.

Between 8-9 am the majority were non-polluting vehicles such as cycles as compared to the minority of polluting vehicles.

But on comparison with the amount of polluting vehicles used with earlier years the ratio has doubled.

VEHICLE	TIME: 8-9 am	TIME: 5-6 pm
Cycle	76 cycles	24 cycles
Tricycle	12	7
Two-wheeler	54	58
Car	26	31

CONCLUSION:

This clearly shows that despite a large number of non-polluting vehicles the number of polluting vehicles increase year by year.

The temperature of IIT as compared to earlier years has risen by 0.5 degrees to 1.5 degrees. Earlier years IIT used to have up to 5 degrees lesser than that of the city’s temperature. But in the past few years it is almost the same as the remaining part.

1.  RESULT:

1. ·     massive construction would encroach into open spaces critical for the movement and lifestyle of the native population of blackbuck. Further, in the absence of facilities (cooking, sanitation) for construction workers, the very activity of construction could ravage the local environment. A 2006 report has documented open defecation near the lake, and chital that are “drawn to feeding on human faeces in this habitat.”2
2. ·     2001 and 2013, 37 buildings have either been constructed or are in an advanced state of completion within the IIT campus. The combined building footprint area for this expansion project is in excess of 200,000 square metres
3. ·     Since it was established more than 50 years ago, the student population resident in the campus has increased from 1500 to 5500. The updated “Master plan” for the campus envisages a further increase of student population to 8000.9 A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that total campus population including students, staff, faculty and workers could exceed 15000 post-expansion.
4. ·     In addition to this base population, the campus environment is also subject to severe shock loads. Every January, during IIT's cultural festival Saarang, more than 50,000 people and at least 14,000 vehicles visit IIT in five days. During such times, blackbuck habitats – open spaces – are converted to parking lots.
5. ·     A garbage audit of the Rs. 50 lakh Saarang 2005 revealed that the festival generated 3.5 tonnes of non-biodegradable trash over four days.10 This was temporarily stored in an area frequented by Chital (spotted deer) and Bonnet Macaques. Over the years, the size and impact of Saarang too has increased.
6. ·     According to Prakriti, IIT's nature club, more than 50 wild animal deaths had been recorded in IIT in 2012. This number includes deer, monkeys and black bucks -- an endangered species accorded the same level of protection as the tiger.
7. ·     49 percent of the 625 acre IIT campus was covered with forests; 24 percent was built-up; open spaces covered 19 percent; roads 5 percent, and water bodies spread over 3 percent. For the purposes of calculating tree density, built-up areas, open spaces, roads and water bodies are excluded as they are devoid of trees.
8. ·     death of deers occur  from road accidents, gangs of street dogs as well as possible poaching. "They usually feed on food waste dumped in garbage bins. Some of them eat the plastic with which the food is wrapped. The plastic eventually kills the deer," said additional principal chief conservator of forest and Arignar Anna Zoological Park director K S S V P Reddy. "We have found balls of plastic in their intestines during autopsy." 
9. ·     In IIT Madras campus too, black buck numbers have declined from hundreds in the eighties to less than 20 in 2003. In January 2009, the number has gone up to 21 with many efforts like removal of fences in the academic zone, periodic removal of stary dogs from their habitat area, closing of open wells and pits etc 

2.  CONCLUSION:

Hence that the human development in IIT M is indeed affecting the environment.

3.  PROBLEM FACED: rain.

4.  REMARKABLE EVENTS: flood!

5.  ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

6.  PHOTO PROOFS