We urgently need environmental help. Need a short essay on the topic "Ecology - the science of the future." and got the best answer

Answer from Ekaterina Morozova[guru]
What about the future? In the present, they don’t seem to study it? ?
Ecology is a science aimed at the future. And it is based on the principle that the values ​​of the future are no less important than the values ​​of the present.
The term "ecology" arose within the framework of biology. Its author was Professor
University of Jena E. Haeckel (1866). Ecology was initially considered as a part of biology that studies the interaction of living organisms, depending on the state of the environment. Later, the concept of “ecosystem” appeared in the West, and in the USSR - “biocenosis” and “biogeocenosis” (introduced by academician V.N. Sukachev). These terms are almost identical.
All civilizations and all peoples have long had the idea of ​​the need to take care of Nature. Some to a greater extent, others to a lesser extent. But the fact that the land, rivers, forests and animals living in them is an enduring value, perhaps the main value that
Nature, man, understood long ago. For a long time, the main practical tasks of ecology boiled down to environmental protection. But in the 20th century, this traditional frugality, which also began to fade away under the pressure of developing industry, was no longer enough. Degradation
Nature began to turn into a threat to the very life of society. This led to the emergence of special environmental laws. The problem of its survival on Earth is rising before humanity. The future of our species is in question. Humanity may face the fate of dinosaurs. The only difference is that the disappearance of the former rulers of the Earth was caused by external reasons, and we can die from the inability to wisely use our power. It is this problem that is the central problem of modern science (although, perhaps, this is not yet realized by everyone).
Solving problems of this magnitude is only possible for humanity as a whole. And this will require a change in the entire organization of the planetary community, in other words, a new civilization, a restructuring of the most important thing - those value systems that have been established for centuries.
The current environmental crisis situation in the world has the following main features:
-accumulation of industrial, agricultural, and household waste in quantities that disrupt natural, including biological, processes;
- pollution of water systems by industrial and household waste;
-violation of the thermal regime of the natural environment;
- pollution of nature with fuel combustion products;
-use of materials and products containing harmful and toxic substances that negatively affect geochemical and biological living conditions;
- environmental pollution by various types of noise, vibration, radiation;
-development of mineral deposits without timely restoration and reclamation of land, leading to the destruction of soils, landscapes, and subsidence of the earth's surface;
- disturbance of forests with low rates of restoration;
-reduction of arable and other agricultural land, leading to the development of erosion processes;
-destruction of certain species of the animal world to meet the needs for raw materials, food, etc.

Human ecology is an interdisciplinary science about the interaction of humans with their environment, which originated in the 70s of the 20th century. Its subject is the study of adaptive changes occurring in the human body depending on natural and social conditions of life.

In other words, human ecology examines human adaptation to environmental changes through the lens of social conditions. This relatively new branch of knowledge includes a wide range of theoretical and practical issues affecting various spheres of human existence.

Firstly, this includes studying the nature of the interaction of the human body with its environment. General theoretical aspects of adaptation are considered. The patterns and mechanisms of human adaptation to changed environmental conditions, various levels of adaptation, the limit of the body's adaptive capabilities and the cost of adaptation, and adaptive forms of behavior are studied. Particular attention is paid to methods for increasing the effectiveness of adaptation and its assessment, and the environmental aspects of diseases.

Secondly, human adaptation to various natural factors (light radiation, magnetic fields, air environment, changes in temperature, barometric pressure and weather conditions) and climatic and geographical conditions is studied - in the Arctic and Antarctic zones, highlands, marine climate, etc. Focuses on attention to the environmental aspects of chronobiology - the restructuring of biorhythms under the influence of climate and seasonal fluctuations, when crossing time zones, shifted work and rest schedules.

Thirdly, human adaptation to extreme conditions is considered, in particular the physiological effects of altered gravity, vibrations, prolonged and intense sound loads, hypoxia and hyperoxia, high and low temperatures, electromagnetic fields and ionizing radiation, and disasters. The activities of people are studied under conditions of aviation and space flights, and underwater diving.

Fourthly, aspects of social adaptation are analyzed - to urban and rural conditions, to various types of labor and professional activities, and demographic processes are studied. The body's response to stress is considered. Recently, issues of adaptation to anthropogenic factors, including environmental pollution, have become particularly acute. From a practical point of view, it is of interest to develop methods for increasing mental and physical performance, professional selection, and the rational organization of the educational and labor process.

The age-related aspects of adaptation to various natural, climatic, and social conditions deserve special attention. Information about the influence of anthropogenic (noise, electromagnetic radiation, radiation, chemical pollution) factors on the child’s body is of great importance. Among the social factors that negatively affect children, it should be noted urbanization, stressful psycho-emotional stress, smoking, alcohol consumption, drug addiction and substance abuse, prolonged exposure to computers, television, etc. Issues of adaptation of children to mental, physical stress and to school in general are considered , as well as rational organization of the educational process, professional guidance.

Thus, the tasks of human ecology in theoretical terms are to understand the mechanisms of adaptation of the human body to a new environment for it, and in applied terms they are aimed at developing measures that facilitate its adaptation to environmental conditions.

Globalization of ecology and its significance for the future of humanity.

Currently, the term “human ecology” refers to a complex of issues that have not yet been fully delineated regarding the interaction of humans with the environment. The main feature of human ecology as an independent field of science is its interdisciplinary nature, since sociological, philosophical, geographical, natural science, and medical and biological problems converge in it. Human ecology studies the patterns of emergence, existence and development of anthropo-ecological systems, which represent a community of people who are in a dynamic relationship with the environment and thereby satisfy their needs.

The sizes of such systems vary depending on the size and nature of the organization of human populations. These can be isolates, demes, nations, supranational associations that differ in the method of production, way of life, and finally, humanity as a whole. Natural conditions are of great importance in determining the size of the anthropoecological system. The most numerous modern populations, comprising more than 80% of humanity, live on 44% of the land in tropical forests and savannas, as well as in the temperate zone with shrubby vegetation or mixed forests.

Drylands and deserts, which account for 18% of the land area, are home to 4% of the population.

The main distinguishing feature of anthropoecological systems in comparison with natural ecosystems is the presence in their composition human communities, which play a dominant role in the development of the entire system. Communities of people differ in the method of production of material assets and the structure of socio-economic relations, which determine the method of organizing labor, the volume and method of distribution of products among members of the community. The activity of human communities in the occupied territory determines the level of their impact on the environment. Developing communities (for example, during the period of industrialization) are characterized, along with population growth, by an increase in their needs for food, raw materials, water resources, and waste disposal. This increases the load on the natural environment and intensifies the use of biotic and abiotic factors.

During the existence of anthropoecological systems, the interaction between people and the natural environment occurs in two main directions. Firstly, there are changes in the biological and social indicators of individuals and the community as a whole, aimed at meeting the demands placed on a person by the environment. Secondly, the environment itself is being restructured to meet human requirements. Throughout human history, the ratio of these changes has shifted towards the predominant role of the second direction. The natural environment in which humanity arose, as a result of the transition to cultivated agriculture and cattle breeding, gave way to partially humanized environment rural residents. With the emergence of modern cities, there was a transition to the existence of communities of people in fully humanized environment, the boundaries of which are steadily expanding.

The general result of biological and social processes in anthropoecological systems is the individual and group adaptation of human communities to life in habitats that differ in natural conditions, forms of economic management and culture. The peculiarity of such adaptability, in contrast to adaptability to the environment of populations of any other living organisms, is that a person adapts to living conditions not only physiologically, but above all economically, technically, and emotionally. Various aspects and directions of individual and group human adaptation, the entire set of living conditions and ecological connections of people are the subject of the study of human ecology. This is what makes it an interdisciplinary science.

Especially for the Internet portal “Yakutia. Image of the future."
Candidate of Historical Sciences, co-chairman of the public movement "ILIN" Afanasy Nikolaev (Republic of Sakha, Yakutsk).
September 23, 2018

Break of the ALROSA dam on the river. In Irelyakh, due to unprecedented rains and further pollution of the Botuobia and Vilyui rivers by industrial waters of the diamond company, caused a great public outcry in the republic.
But, during a lively public discussion, they forgot about the main lesson of this incident, that the main cause of this environmental disaster is our lack of spirituality, our spiritual blindness and thirst for profit. After all, both the republic and 8 uluses are shareholders and co-owners of AK ALROSA.
Because of money, because of the fear of losing income, of ruining relations with the powerful “diamond generals”, the federal center, we all, both the leadership and the people, silently watched as diamond miners and other large federal industrial companies uncontrollably caused enormous harm our nature.
In the heat of controversy, many now blame only the ALROSA company for the pollution of Vilyuy and forget about the enormous damage the gold miners of Aldan and Oymyakon have caused and are causing to the ecosystem of the Aldan and Indigirka rivers, how the Surgutneftegaz and Transneft companies are destroying nature in Olekminskoye and Lenskoye areas, cut down millions of hectares of forests, allow oil spills, disrupt the overall ecological balance, and lead to swamping and flooding of settlement lands.
Even greater damage to our nature can be caused by the planned production of rare earth metals in the Olenyoksky district, which are tens of times more dangerous than uranium, the construction of an oil refinery in Zarechye using outdated, dangerous technologies, the development of uranium mines there in Zarechye, and the construction of nuclear power plants in the Arctic regions.
In fact, within the lifetime of our generation, with such uncontrolled and wild development of the natural resources of Yakutia, our land, our nature will be destroyed by industrial companies and we, all Yakutians, will remain in a lifeless desert.
For all peoples, including the Sakha, nature and the earth have long been deified and perceived as “Mother Earth.” Consumerism towards the land, the destructive development of industry, and the use of pesticides and genetically modified products in agriculture have already brought our planet Earth to the brink of an environmental disaster.
Violence against one’s own mother is considered a mortal sin among all nations, and we, Yakutians, all, in fact, allowing the uncontrolled development of industry in our republic, the destruction of nature, become accomplices of this mortal sin, violence against our Mother Nature.
We must now remember the history of lost civilizations and peoples who allowed their environment to perish. Nature mercilessly destroys those who do not respect it and seek to use their resources only for profit.
And the unprecedented natural disasters of recent decades, destructive hurricanes, tsunamis, typhoons, climate change, a sharp reduction in ecologically clean land make it clear to us, the inhabitants of the Earth, that a single, huge living organism, described by V.I. Vernadsky with the scientific term “biosphere”, is located on brink of death. The biosphere is rapidly collapsing and humanity may soon disappear from the face of the planet as a result of a global natural disaster.
If you look closely at the geographical map of planet Earth, then our Yakutia is located at the site of its “heart”. And this is not accidental, since data from various sciences indicate that Yakutia is the ancestral home of modern humanity and it was on the territory of modern Yakutia that during the last ice age 10-15 thousand years ago life was preserved and people from here developed other regions of the Earth after the onset of warming in Holocene era.
Also, our Yakutia represents the second “lungs” of planet Earth, since forests produce oxygen. This is due to the presence of huge forests in our country. The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) accounts for 11% of the forest resources of all of Russia.
Considering that a significant part of the Amazon forests, recognized by scientists as the first “lungs of the planet,” has already been destroyed, as well as the exponential increase in harmful emissions into the atmosphere, the importance of our forests for planet Earth increases even more.
The main cause of the modern environmental crisis is the crisis of Western, technocratic civilization, based on the values ​​of a consumer, mass society, based on the principle: “Nature is not a temple, but a workshop.”
A way out of this systemic crisis may be the implementation of the proposals of Russian President V. Putin to the world community on a fundamentally new response to challenges on a planetary scale regarding the critical disruption by human economic activity, the balance between the biosphere and the technosphere, voiced at meeting No. 70 of the UN General Assembly in September 2015.
V. Putin said: “We need qualitatively different approaches. We should talk about the introduction of fundamentally new nature-like technologies that do not cause damage to the surrounding world, but exist in harmony with it and will allow us to restore the balance between the biosphere and the technosphere, which has been disturbed by man. This is truly a challenge on a planetary scale.”
And in his programmatic Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on March 1, 2018 and in Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 204 of May 7, 2018 “On the national goals and strategic objectives of the development of the Russian Federation until 2024.” President V. Putin is developing his ideas about the need to transition to nature-like technologies into an entire program for the sustainable development of our country, based on self-realization and the disclosure of the talent of each person, with special attention to issues of demography, health and ecology.
V. Putin’s ideas about a new model of world development are based on the theory of the outstanding Russian scientist, Academician V.I. Vernadsky about the noosphere and the scientific works of his followers.
Nature, the biosphere, has existed for millions of years as a self-sufficient, self-regulating system with the circulation of energy and substances on Earth. In the evolution of the Earth's biosphere, V.I. Vernadsky identified two fundamentally different phases: the first - spontaneous development, which took place before the appearance of Homosapiens, and the second - after its appearance, i.e. development with the participation of humans as an organic element of the biosphere.
Human influence on the evolution of the biosphere, insignificant throughout most of history, has increased markedly with the emergence and development of industrial society and has acquired decisive significance in the last 50–100 years.
V.I. Vernadsky introduced the concept of the noosphere as a sphere where intelligent human activity becomes the determining factor of development. He pointed out that “the biosphere has moved, or rather, is moving into a new evolutionary state - the noosphere - and is being processed by the scientific thought of social man.”
Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences M.V. Kovalchuk in his book “The Convergence of Sciences and Technologies - a New Stage of Scientific and Technological Development” writes: “The paradigm of the development of our civilization from its inception to the present day was to take the maximum from nature “at any cost.” As a result, a resource-intensive and environmentally destructive technosphere has been formed, and the gap between the life of nature and human economic activity is increasingly widening. Humanity, in fact, created... a technosphere that exists within the biosphere, on its basis, resources... At the same time, with the help of the technosphere, man altered many natural processes and phenomena, disrupting their natural course. As a result, in the twentieth century. The development of the technosphere has led humanity to the depletion of resources (energy, drinking water, minerals, forests, cropland, etc.), the rapid deterioration of the environment, and brought to the point beyond which the influence of the technosphere on the world around us will become uncontrollable, the processes of impact on nature ( biosphere) irreversible, which poses a threat to the existence of all humanity... A fundamental, revolutionary restructuring of the entire technological basis is necessary in the inextricable connection of its scientific, industrial, socio-political and cultural components. The task of overcoming the systemic crisis of civilization, the survival of humanity, becomes the task of forming a noospheric model of human development, where the technosphere, through “nature-like” technologies, will become an organic component of the biosphere.”
As Russian scientists note, the idea of ​​noospheric development should ultimately be based on a system of new spiritual and professional attitudes of humanity.
This requires:
– deep awareness of the population on all aspects of noospheric development;
– reorientation of education and enlightenment;
– creation of mechanisms to ensure the noospheric path of development of society.
The condition for the survival of mankind is to maintain a balance between the possibilities of the biosphere and the need of the Earth's population to satisfy its vital benefits.
Maintaining a balance between opportunities and needs should become the main Law of civilization of the 21st century in relationships:
a) society and nature;
b) between states;
c) between people.
The global initiatives of Russian President V.V. Putin to transition the world to a new model of development can now be implemented through the convergence of sciences and technologies, design and create nature-like systems using “nature-like” technologies.
Convergent (converging) nano-, bio-, info-, cognitive and social-humanitarian sciences and technologies (NBICS technologies) open up the possibility of adequately reproducing systems and processes of living nature. This makes these technologies “nature-like” and allows them to become a practical tool for the formation of a qualitatively new technosphere, which will become an organic part of nature (biosphere).
The formed noospheric thinking will form the basis of such a systematic approach, which excludes the opposition of man to nature.
And against this background, the destructive, uncontrolled activities of large industrial companies in the territory of Yakutia, with the connivance of a number of high-ranking officials of the Russian Government, directly contradict the national interests of Russia and the guidelines of Russian President V. Putin for the transition to a new, noospheric model of development.
In this regard, the question arises: what should the Yakut people do now?
In our opinion, it is now necessary:
1. Rework the Development Strategy of the Republic of Sakha until 2030 based on the noospheric model with an emphasis on the development of an innovative economic model based on modern nano-bio-info-cognitive technologies.
2. When developing a national program for the development of the Russian Far East for the period until 2025 and with a view to 2035, strive to prioritize the noospheric approach when combining and integrating the activities of national projects and state programs, long-term industry plans of departments and infrastructure companies, and development strategies for all Far Eastern regions.
3. Organize a public discussion about the deep, spiritual causes of environmental problems in modern society.
4. Maintain sanity and sobriety of mind, do not politicize environmental issues, do not stoop to speculation on environmental issues.
5. Include in the program of the complex expedition of the Russian Academy of Sciences to study the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) until 2020 an additional item on conducting large-scale scientific research on the negative impact of industry on the territory of the Republic of Sakha.
6. Develop fair and scientifically based criteria for assessing environmental damage by industrial companies.
7. Create a republican public environmental fund on the terms of public-private partnership to accumulate funds from industrial companies and residents for restoration work.
8. To strive at the federal level to amend the federal law “On Subsoil” in terms of returning to the principle of “two keys”, so that already at the stage of drawing up licensing agreements, subsoil user companies are obliged, firstly, to transfer a certain share of income as rent payments to the republican public environmental fund; secondly, they used environmentally friendly technologies in the development of the republic’s natural resources.
9. To begin introducing in the republic the fundamentals of northern medicine, developed by the Yakut scientist, physiologist, candidate of medical sciences, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences D.S. Timofeev.

ECOLOGY OF LANGUAGE

food for thought

This material was prepared by Alexander Nikonov and Alexandra Bianchi for a round table at the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation (03/11/2011).

Nature does not have speech organs, but creates tongues and hearts through which she speaks and feels.

Johann Wolfgang GOETHE

Speech is an amazingly powerful tool, but it takes a lot of intelligence to use it.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich HEGEL

We can't predict
How our word will respond -

And we are given sympathy,
How grace is given to us.

F. Tyutchev

Introduction

Since the publication of Edward Sapir's seminal article “ Language and Environment”, published in 1912 , linguists as well as specialists in other sciencesMuch has been written about the relationship between language and environment. Relatively recently (late 80s of the twentieth century) there was a surge of academic interest in this problem, caused by the great concern of the world community about the fate of small peoples and the corresponding social and political manifestations of this concern.

Increased interest in society towards small peoples has led to increased research into their culture and languages. The study of the relationship between linguistic diversity, language extinction and biological diversity has become the topic of numerous studies at the turn of the 20th century. Icenturies. Major contributions to the study of interaction and interdependencelanguage and environmentcontributed by such famous linguists as Alvin Fill, David Harmon, Peter Mühlhäusler and Michael Halliday.

For modern Russia, issues related to the ecology of language are especially relevant. After all, the decomposition of language observed in our time, associated with socio-political upheavals XX century, as A.I. Solzhenitsyn noted, is the beginning of the decomposition of culture.

Trends in the development of human society, such as the emergence of global information systems, the acceleration of interpenetration of different cultures, the globalization of the economy, increase the relevance of studying the problems of interaction of different languages ​​with the environment, the influence of language on the human environment, i.e. problems related in one way or another to the ecology of language.

Greening linguistics

Term "ecology", introduced in 1869 by the German biologist E. Haeckel, has been interpreted in different ways: scientific natural history, the science of the distribution and abundance of organisms, sociology and economics of animals, etc. A very correct definition was given in his book “Evolutionary Ecology” by the famous American ecologist Eric Pianka: a science that studies the relationships between organisms and external factors (physical, chemical, biological, etc.), collectively affecting these organisms or being influenced by them . Ecology studies the relationships between organismal units and their environment. An organismal unit can be an individual, a family group, a population, a species, etc. The concept of environment includes a variety of factors: physical processes, chemical environment, immediate “place of residence,” plants and animals. Elements of the environment of an organism can be influenced by other organisms, which become part of the environment of the first. If there is even a weak connection or interaction between organismal units, then each of them is part of the environment of the other.

Environmental difficulties , which industrially developed countries faced, pushed scientific thought towards the need to apply an environmental approach in various fields of activity. Greening technologies, industrial and agricultural production– this is only one facet of the problem. The goal of greening is to increase “the efficiency of use of natural resources and conditions, along with improving or at least maintaining the quality of the natural environment (or the living environment in general) at the local, regional and global levels (from an individual enterprise to the technosphere)” . Being the most important requirement of our time, ecologization (of knowledge, science, technology, etc.), according to the outstanding ecologist N.F. Reimers, means “a versatile, more systematic approach to the objective world than before and a greater awareness of the role of nature in life person" , being, in fact, a new stage of culture. In terms of its significance in human society, ecology, in the figurative expression of N.F. Reimers, “grew from the short pants put on it by E. Haeckel. But world science, its formal institutions have not sewn a new suit for ecology, not only from high prestige, but even from recognition as an equal among equals.” In modern conditions, ecology can be defined something like this: “a set of branches of knowledge that study the interaction between biologically significant individuals and between them and their environment” 3 .

Nature management in our time has acquired an ecological character. The wealth created and created by humanity is not limited to purely material values, it includes an array of information organized in a certain way: these are images of cities, parks, works of art, libraries, museums, architecture and landscapes, and much more. For each people and social layer, the material cultural environment is specific. These material-cultural and ideological values ​​affecting humans have become the subject of cultural ecology. The term “ecology of culture”, accepted in our society and introduced by academician D.S. Likhachev, denotes a scientific discipline designed to study the cultural environment of man, its formation and impact on people.

Einar Haugen, whose name is associated with the revival ecolinguistics, defined its essence as "the study of the interaction of any given language with its environment" .

The basic idea is that language is formed through the interactions of people living in a particular environment. Over the course of hundreds of years, language comes into harmony with its environment, just as species of animals and plants achieve balance with their environment, occupying the appropriate ecological niche. Of course, language is not a living being in the literal sense of the word, like animals and plants. However, languages ​​carry with them some properties inherent in living beings, namely adaptability, variability and dynamism. This allows us to consider languages ​​as an ecological phenomenon and talk about an ecological approach in linguistics or the greening of linguistics.

“The ecology of language can be defined as the science of the relationship between language and its environment, where the environment of language is understood as a society that uses language as one of its codes. Language exists only in the minds of its speakers and functions only in relationships with other speakers and with their social and natural environment. The ecology of language is partly physiological (i.e., interaction with other languages ​​in the mind of the speaker), partly social (i.e., interaction with a society in which language is used as a means of communication). The ecology of a language depends on the people who learn it, use it and pass it on to other people” 5 .

It is interesting to note that, at its core, the ecolinguistic approach reflects the significant differences between local languages ​​and foreign languages ​​introduced through the process of geographical discovery, colonization and the globalization taking place before our eyes. Local languages ​​have developed over hundreds of years under the influence of local conditions, in close interaction with a specific environment, adapting to it. Their grammar and vocabulary are formed in the process of adaptation to the environment and carry the features of this adaptation. Local languages, from this point of view, are a “reading” of the environment, or a “misreading”, accompanied by corresponding consequences. The introduced languages, such as English, German, Japanese, Putonghua (standard Chinese), are alien to those areas where they have spread as a result of the above or other circumstances. Alien to local environmental conditions.

Alvin Fill gives such a telling example. A group of English doctors working in India tried to explain to Hindus living on the banks of the Ganges that their health problems were associated with bathing in the river and using water from the river, which was polluted (“ polluted ”) human waste. The local population did not understand the doctors: the river is sacred for them (“ holy ”, but how can anything sacred be dirty? And only when doctors began to say that people do not care about the Ganga and the river is suffering (“ The Ganges is neglected by the people and is suffering ”, it became possible to discuss the problem and propose ways to solve it. The description of the environmental problem within the framework of European cultural concepts and the corresponding linguistic features differs significantly from the Indian understanding of the situation. This is due to differences in culture. But language as a communication tool turns out to be flexible enough to overcome these obstacles and solve the problem of intercultural communication.

Ecolinguistics and traditional linguistics

When studying issues of linguistic diversity and the various connections and interactions between man and the ecological system of which man is a part, language can be considered as part of this ecosystem, because it includes a variety of interactions between human groups and individuals. Within the framework of such an ecosystem, certain language formations are formed and developed.

Unlike traditional historical linguistics, which studies the individual development of languages ​​and the influence of one language on another in the process of their development, ecolinguistics studies the processes of repression or survival between competing languages ​​in a certain area, be it the consciousness of an individual or a society. At the same time, ecolinguistics studies the functions of language, which are not limited to the simple exchange of “speech acts”, but consist in establishing connections between people and those that have greater meaning than a request, an explanation, a question. Ecolinguistics studies the role of language as a tool for maintaining community, the functioning of this tool in specific communication situations and a specific environment that influences the formation of language and is influenced by the latter.

Clear terminology for different areas of ecolinguistics was first proposed by Alvin Fill:

Perhaps this division is too arbitrary, and a number of researchers consider it sufficient to distinguish two directions in ecolinguistics:

- ecology of language (according to E. Haugen), which metaphorically transfers ecological concepts into language (the very concept of ecology, environment, ecosystem): works by V. Trumpe, A. Fill, I. Storck, P. Finke.

Linguistic ecology (according to M. Halliday), in which languages ​​and texts are considered from the point of view of their “ecological friendliness” and the role of language in describing the problems of the surrounding world is explored: the works of M. Döring, P. Mühlhäusler.

The connection between the human word, language and the life of the people was clear to ancient thinkers and writers. Poets and philosophers saw many phenomena long before scientists created corresponding theories, confirmed by a variety of practical material. Here are some very typical examples.

Pythagoras of Samos (2nd half. VI – beginning V centuries BC), who is known to everyone by the theorem named after him (although, in fairness, it should be noted that this theorem was known long before him in Babylonian mathematics), belongs to the following statement:

“To learn the customs of any people, try first of all to study their language.”

Gorgias (c. 483 - c. 375 BC), ancient Greek sophist, author of the treatise “On non-existent things, or On nature”:

“The Word is the greatest ruler: it looks small and imperceptible, but it does wonderful things - it can stop fear and turn away sadness, cause joy, and increase pity.”

The lines belonging to Aristophanes (c. 445 - c. 375 BC), an outstanding Greek poet, whose comedies raised the political, social, pedagogical and literary problems of his time, have survived to our times:

“From words the mind rushes to heights

And elevates a person."

Euripides (c. 480 - 406 BC), whose tragedies do not leave the theatrical stage, despite changes in the social structure, scientific and technological progress, nanotechnology, etc., spoke on this issue:

"From a small spark to a fire

Language brings people..."

« …For what

O mortals, we are to all other sciences

Trying to study so hard

And speech, the only queen of the world,

Are we forgetting? This is who to serve

We all must, for a dear price

Bringing together teachers so that the secret of the word

Having learned, convinced - win!

The greatest Roman poet-ethicist Virgil Publius Maro (70-19 BC) wrote the following lines:

“Rumor grows stronger as it moves and gains strength in movement.”

“Rumor is a disaster, faster than which there is nothing in the world.”

In the context of the topic of this information material, the statement of Kun Tzu (Confucius) (c. 551 - 479 BC), the most prominent ancient Chinese thinker, politician and teacher, is of interest:

“In a country where there is order, be bold in both actions and speeches. In a country where there is no order, be bold in your actions, but careful in your speech.”

Of course, the texts of the Old Testament are of extreme interest:

Ecclesiastes:

When you don’t know words, there’s no way to get to know people.

The word must be true, the action must be decisive.

The words of the wise are like needles and like driven nails.

Proverbs of Solomon:

A meek tongue is a tree of life, but an unbridled tongue is a brokenness of spirit.

The words of men's mouths are deep waters; the source of wisdom is a flowing stream.

Sirach:

He who bridles the tongue will live peacefully, and he who hates talkativeness will reduce evil.

A person who gets used to swear words will never learn to use them all his days.

Someone will sin in word, but not from the heart; and who has not sinned with his tongue?

If you blow on a spark, it will flare up, and if you spit on it, it will go out: both come from your mouth.

The state of the Russian language and ecolinguistics

In his “Word upon receiving the Great Lomonosov Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences” A.I. Solzhenitsyn said: “The process of evolution of any language flows constantly: something is gradually lost, something is gained. But a major social revolution also leads to an abnormal, painful shaking of the entire language, to dangerous limits. Likewise, the Russian language, from the upheavals of the twentieth century, became painfully warped, corroded, quickly became impoverished, narrowed by the loss of its unique colors and juices, its flexibility and depth. And the decay of culture begins with the decomposition of language and is accompanied by it.. This is both symbolic and spiritually dangerous damage.” .

According to Professor A.P. Skovorodnikova (Head of the Department of General Linguistics and Rhetoric of the Siberian Federal University) “the ecology of language (linguoecology, ecolinguistics) is a direction of linguistic theory and practice, which, on the one hand, is associated with the study of factors that negatively affect the development and use of language, and on the other hand on the other hand, with the search for ways and means of enriching the language and improving the practice of verbal communication" . The ecology of language should create the basis for the so-called “language policy of the state” 8, which is just beginning to take shape in modern Russia. This definition reflects to a greater extent the ideological aspects of the problem and the desire to confront the crisis phenomena that are observed in post-Soviet Russia, to stop the process of degradation and disintegration of spiritual and moral values ​​that have traditionally characterized Russian culture. But what kind of language policy can we seriously talk about in a state that for decades has not been able to overcome the total theft of officials and even organize snow removal on city streets?

The current state of the Russian language and, of course, most of all, its verbal use is of concern not only to linguists, but to everyone who loves and appreciates their native speech. One cannot help but share the concerns of the outstanding Russian linguist Professor L.I. Skvortsov, who believes that “the decline in the general culture of speech is noticeable to everyone and poses a real threat to the literary language.” “In the era of the latest achievements of civilization that we are experiencing, a truly deep knowledge of the native language and mastery of its literary norms remains a mandatory requirement for every educated person. This requirement is connected with a very important aspect – the ecology of language. Just as in nature there are maximum levels of air pollution, water pollution, and radiation accumulation, at which irreversible processes of destruction begin, so in language there are limits to its distortion, coarsening, and violation of semantic, stylistic and grammatical norms.” .

The observed trend of degradation of the Russian language can lead to the fact that the language will cease to be an instrument of thinking and a means of communication, and will lose its role as the first element of culture. “Therefore, it is necessary to cleanse the tongue, just as one cleanses the air from toxic substances dangerous to humans. The speech environment of existence must be suitable not only for the life of modern, but also for new generations. It, as an ecological system, must be self-regenerating, self-renewing. This is our common concern." 9

Foul language, a muddy wave of Anglicisms and obscene language contradicts the Orthodox spiritual tradition of our people, destroys the Russian language, and with it human souls. A word ecology, according to a number of Russian linguists (Milovatsky V.S., Lipatov A.T.), – this is, first of all, the ecology of the soul. The condition for the integrity of nature and the preservation of its ecological harmony is the integrity of the human spirit and the universal kinship of people. And a necessary condition for this is linguistic integrity, the full development of the native language.

The connection between the state of language, speech and the state of nature is only external at first glance. In fact, it has quite deep cause-and-effect relationships. A society that neglects linguistic culture degrades over time; therefore, it reacts to the environmental situation to a lesser extent (even at the level of understanding information about what is happening).

It must be emphasized that the principle of the relationship between words and nature, or, to put it in modern terms, language and environment, the principle that underlies the ecolinguistic approach, has deep roots in the Russian spiritual tradition. To illustrate this statement, here are just a few quotes.

Back in 1836, F.I. Tyutchev noted:

“Not what you think, nature:
Not a cast, not a soulless face -
She has a soul, she has freedom,
There is love in it, there is language in it...”

In a teaching against foul language attributed to John Chrysostom, it is said that a swear word insults, firstly, the Mother of God, secondly, the natural mother of a person and, finally, the “third mother” - Mother Earth.

Saint Theophan the Recluse in the second half XIX century described the power of words as follows: “The ways and means by which grace influences the human spirit are often mute: to all of them a trusting and perfect method must be added. This is the word, or the sermon. Faith comes from hearing." “Its stimulating power is all the more significant because it acts simultaneously on the whole person, on his entire composition.”

Time itself forces us to speak loudly and with alarm about the ecology of language. Today, the ecology of language is “the science of the integrity of language, its connection with the culture of its people, and at the same time its connection with the earth’s semiosphere. This is the science of the energy of the word, its creative power, its connection with the biosphere, with the language of living nature. This is, finally, the concept of the spiritual meaning of the word, of its deep connection with the individual, with the character and destiny of the people, with the higher spiritual spheres, with the Creator. From here it becomes increasingly clear that biological, earthly ecology cannot do without the ecology of word and spirit.”

Concern about the state of the Russian language, which is a consequence of the unfavorable socio-economic situation in post-Soviet Russia, the desire to put an end to the phenomenon that L. Skvortsov called"linguistic turmoil"sometimes gives rise to a one-sided interpretation of the subject of ecolinguistics. A similar situation is observed in the field of ecology: in the public consciousness, the term “ecology” has been transformed into the concept of a clean environment; the terms “ecology” and “environmental protection” are perceived by many as synonyms. Probably, a similar process is happening in the field of ecolinguistics: “ecology of language” and “preservation of language purity” are perceived equally by people without appropriate professional training. This gives rise to somewhat limited definitions of ecolinguistics, which, however, can be justified by sincere concern for the purity of the native language. An example is the definition given in the monograph by N. Sollogub “Ecology. Human. Word": "Ecolinguistics is a borderline discipline lying between linguistics, ecology, culture, sociology, religion, psychology, etc. The relevance of this science is determined by the negative processes occurring in the cultural and historical area of ​​the Russian Orthodox space.” However, it is difficult to disagree with the fact thatThe “ecological crisis” of the Russian language is, first of all, the result of a crisis of morality in our country.

In such a situation, the position of the state cannot but cause surprise. According to Professor V.V. Naumov (Head of the Department of Foreign Languages ​​at the St. Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions), one of the few effective government measures in solving language problems in recent years has been the introduction by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation of the direction “Linguistics and Intercultural Communication” into the classifier of university specialties. , having three specialties: “Translation and Translation Studies”, “Theory and Methods of Teaching a Foreign Language”, “Theory and Practice of Intercultural Communication”. The law on the Russian language adopted by the State Duma of the Russian Federation only declared its state status on the territory of Russia. This is essentially the end of the legal attitude towards language.

As a positive example of the state's concern for the language, the actions of the French government, which adopted a law on the preservation of the language, should be noted. The experience of a federal state like Germany in the field of language preservation is interesting: in Germany there are about 10 research institutes of the German language, federal and regional levels, studying its current state, its variants, problems of normalization of language systems, language contacts, writing and etc.

Within the system of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation there is the Institute of Linguistics in Moscow and its branch - the Institute of Linguistic Research in St. Petersburg. There are also departments of language and literature in two or three regional offices of the Russian Academy of Sciences. But the only academic structure directly involved in the study of the national language is the Russian Language Institute. V.V. Vinogradov in Moscow. But the language of the titular nation of Russia is represented by at least 160-180 million speakers, which is almost double that of Germany. Another problem is the actual extinction of the languages ​​of small peoples in Russia. Only in the Leningrad region there are two such languages: Vepsian and Izhorian.

The Russian language, as if in a mirror, reflects all the vicissitudes of our difficult times: in the language, as in life, a business of destruction, permissiveness and commercialization has formed. The general level of language proficiency has sharply decreased, and especially among young Russians. With the active influence of the media, the culture of the Russian word is steadily declining. Orwellian Newspeak, which is actively being introduced into our lives, destroys the originality and mental capacity of Russian speech.Another typical example of the decline of the culture of speech is the so-called “Albanian language” or “language of scum,” which is widespread not only on the Internet, but has also penetrated into the spoken language of people.

Meaning and prospects development of ecolinguistics

Violence, wealth and knowledge are the most significant attributes of power. In the book “Metamorphoses of Power”, the famous American sociologist and futurologist Alvin Toffler, analyzing the fundamental changes that took place in human society in the twentieth century, comes to the conclusion that knowledge overrides the significance of other power impulses and sources - it is knowledge that can serve to increase wealth and power. The use of violence as a means of power will not disappear soon; “the state will not give up guns” . The control of colossal wealth, whether in the hands of private individuals or officials, will continue to provide enormous power. However, in our time, the greatest changes in the system of power in its entire history are taking place: “knowledge, this source of the highest power, is becoming increasingly important with every passing nanosecond.” “Human communities are racing towards tomorrow, and hidden changes are taking place in the relationship between power, wealth and knowledge” 11.

Knowledge, transmission of knowledge, reception of knowledge - all this is connected with language. Language is a tool for transmitting knowledge. In this regard, the increasing importance of ecolinguistics seems objective and necessary.

No less significant is the exacerbation of environmental problems, which with a high probability can lead humanity to a global environmental catastrophe. The role of ecolinguistics in creating an atmosphere of mutual understanding between representatives of different cultures can be very significant.

For Russia, in addition to the above considerations, special mention should be made of the role of ecolinguistic research in preserving the purity of the Russian language.

It should be noted that ecolinguistics contributes to many scientific disciplines, such as sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, environmental studies, etc. According to John Wendel ( John N. Wendel ) it is advisable to include the ecolinguistic approach into the mainstream ( mainstream) linguistic research.

Conclusion

Ecolinguistics studies the interactions between language and the environment, and the distinction between indigenous and introduced languages ​​is the basis for understanding the ecolinguistic approach. Languages ​​are not independent, geographically bounded, static sets of rules, but are dynamic, interactive phenomena.

Language, while not being a living being in the literal sense of the word, has a number of properties inherent to living things, therefore language can be considered as an ecological phenomenon.Ecolinguistic thinking leads to questions about linguistic diversity and its relationship to local ecology (local environmental conditions). These questions are of little importance for traditional linguistics, but are now becoming very relevant. The reasons for this are related both to the disappearance of small peoples and to the aggravation of the general environmental situation.

For Russia, issues of language ecology are of great importance, especially in light of the latest planned reform on paid education and the exclusion of the Russian language from the list of compulsory subjects. “Words on loan” and transliteration are replacing native Russian words, “smiles” are having a destructive impact on the figurative system of the language. The mass media has become a model of communication at this stage of the development of society, while there is a loss of interest in language as a carrier of the spiritual values ​​of the Russian people. What future awaits Russian culture?

But two and a half thousand years ago, the ancient Chinese warned:

If you think a year ahead, sow the seeds,
If you think ten years ahead, plant trees
If you think a hundred years ahead, educate a person.

Without urgent actions aimed at protecting the language, irreversible changes in the nature of the Russian language may occur, adversely affecting the culture of the nation. An effective measure at the moment may be the adoption by the government of the Russian Federation of a full-fledged law on the preservation of the Russian language.

New York (Mouton de Gruyter) 2007.

Most of us live in cities. It is important, therefore, to understand not only the environmental features of cities, but also to see our opportunities in improving the urban environment around us.

The history of mankind over the past millennia is closely connected with the creation and consolidation of cities. They say that cities are the face of civilization. At first they arose in connection with the need to engage in trade and protect themselves from enemies. Therefore, for a long time, cities were military fortifications located for defensive purposes at strategic points, or for the convenience of trade and communications on the banks of rivers and lakes. The Industrial Revolution led to a sharp increase in the role of cities in the development of society. This process is called urbanization.

No one will argue that urbanization improves people's living conditions. However, a significant increase in the urban population, as is known, also has negative consequences for the quality of life and the state of the environment. Occupying about 1% of the inhabited landmass, cities concentrate almost 50% of the world's population! The accumulation of people and the concentration of industry within a limited space leads to a sharp increase in the impact on nature.

Moreover, there is no city that can exist only within its official city boundaries. Energy, water, air and other resources used for human life and industrial production come to populated areas from the outside, and household and industrial waste is transported outside the city limits. This causes such large-scale changes in the natural environment that we can talk about the emergence of a new type of ecosystem on the planet - one of anthropogenic origin. Scientists called them urban ecosystems.

Their appearance leads to the displacement of natural systems by artificial ones, increasing the chemical, physical and mental stress on living organisms. A large city changes almost all components of the natural environment - the atmosphere, vegetation, soil, surface and underground waters and even climate, as well as the electric, magnetic and other physical fields of the Earth. The area of ​​forests and arable land is decreasing.

At the same time, the rapid pace of urbanization is one of the characteristic features of the modern era. Scientists even talk about an urbanization explosion in the twentieth century.

Latin America

These satellite images show the surface of the South American region at 40-year intervals. What changes can you notice when looking at these photographs? How does urbanization affect Latin America?

Similar changes, unfortunately, are typical for other regions of the planet. Today, almost 3 billion people live in urban areas in the world, more than 2/3 of the population in Europe.

Scientists note that the trend of significant growth in urban population on the planet will continue (see graph). Video 45. As for Russia, at the beginning of the 20th century, 13% of the Russian population lived in cities, and currently the share of the urban population is about 74%.

Do you know how the number of residents in your city has changed over the past decades? What caused the changes?

According to the results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census, 1,108 settlements in Russia have city status. At the same time, there are 14 millionaire cities. The quality of the environment in the city is characterized by such factors as: the condition of the air and water basins, the use of urban land, the disposal of production and consumption waste, and the condition of green spaces.The nature of pollution and its consequences, which can be traced across various natural environments, can be seen on maps showing the level of pollution in Russian cities.We see that over large cities the atmosphere contains 10 times more aerosols and 25 times more polluting gases. 60-70% of gas pollution comes from road transport.

At the same time, a decrease in solar radiation and wind speed prevents the self-cleaning of the atmosphere. Changes in temperature, relative humidity, and solar radiation between the city and its surroundings are sometimes comparable to movement in natural conditions by 20 degrees in latitude, but a change in some natural conditions invariably causes a change in others.

Cities consume 10 times or more more water per person than rural areas, and pollution of water bodies can often be catastrophic. The volume of wastewater also increases significantly - it can reach 1 square meter. m per day per person. Almost all large cities experience water shortages and many of them receive water from distant sources.

The problem of water pollution in cities of developing countries is especially serious. The state of their infrastructure results in huge volumes of untreated sewage and waste being discharged into rivers, lakes and coastal areas, destroying natural ecosystems and threatening the productivity and safety of water bodies. For example, Indian cities recycle only a third of their sewage, discharging 26.5 billion liters of untreated sewage and large amounts of waste into rivers and coastal areas every day.

Ganges River, India, one of the dirtiest rivers on the planet

Along with the problems of water basins, the soil of urban areas is also undergoing a radical transformation. In large areas, under highways and neighborhoods, it is destroyed, and in recreational areas - parks, squares, boulevards, gardens, courtyards - it is greatly disturbed, polluted by household waste, heavy metals, and harmful substances from the atmosphere. Exposed soils contribute to water and wind erosion.

No one doubts the need for green spaces in cities. They are a very important component of the urban ecosystem. Their role is great in maintaining the composition of the air, cleaning it, humidifying it, and disinfecting it. Plants help improve the microclimate by lowering the ambient temperature in hot weather, providing protection from winds, and reducing urban noise levels. However, unfortunately, as a rule, perennial plants in cities are forced to develop under conditions of severe oppression.

Have you paid attention to the condition of green spaces in your area? Is their number increasing or decreasing?

As for animals, only a few usually live with people in cities: dogs, cats, goldfish, canaries, parrots - that’s almost all. However, their breeding, maintenance and maintenance in urban environments requires carefully developed sanitary, hygienic and veterinary control programs. This is especially true for unwanted human companions (rats, flies, cockroaches, lice and numerous pathogens).

One of the most difficult urban environmental problems is waste. In large cities, household waste alone accumulates about 1 cubic meter. meters per year per inhabitant. This problem is discussed in detail in topic 11. Look at the example of Naples to see how difficult and dangerous it can be for the city. Video 46

However, despite the significant complexity of urban environmental problems, many of them could be effectively resolved today.

An eco-friendly city or a sustainable city is a new type of city in which the natural environment is in a state of ecological balance with the urban environment. The creation of such cities on the basis of “sustainable” engineering and design solutions to all environmental problems is a relatively new direction that arose at the intersection of general ecology, urban ecology and engineering (industrial) ecology.

The United Arab Emirates is currently building Masdar City, the world's first city powered entirely by renewable solar and wind energy, without cars, and 100% recycling and using its own waste.

Masdar City will have zero carbon emissions at all. All energy will be provided by photovoltaic panels, concentrated solar energy, wind, other renewable energy sources, and energy from waste recycling.
It is assumed that the city itself will be completely free of transport that produces carbon dioxide emissions. Emissions from travel to and from the city limits will be reduced by encouraging public transport, car sharing, and the use of "green" car models. Shaded sidewalks and narrow streets will also be built, creating a favorable atmosphere for those who prefer to travel on foot. The city's carefully planned transport system ensures that no resident has to walk more than 200 meters to the nearest transport stop.

It is important that materials from recycled waste, certified wood, etc. will be used in construction. The stores will sell organic food products. Per capita water consumption will be 50% below the national average, and all wastewater will be reused.

It is clear that this will be a unique city. However, existing cities also have great potential to become more environmentally friendly. Many of them are actively striving for this. Stockholm is recognized as the greenest capital in Europe. Video 13. Maybe you have traveled. Have you ever met large cities with, in your opinion, good environmental conditions? Which? In what countries? And in our country?The cities we live in also have great opportunities to become greener. To a large extent it depends on us.

Let's draw conclusions.

About 50% of the world's population lives in cities and urban settlements, and the proportion of the urban population will constantly increase. Cities, in addition to certain social, everyday and other amenities, create both special environmental problems that lead to a decrease in the quality of life of people, and good opportunities for environmentally targeted actions. In order to make a city more stable and environmentally friendly, not only special urban planning, design and operation of buildings, the development of public transport, solving the problem of waste, etc. are required, but also a change in the lifestyle and consciousness of its residents, a high level of their environmental culture.