hrvatski

Čovjek i okoliš

Balance, accord and harmony are terms or conditions we all strive for both as individuals and members of a specific community – family, nation and society in general. Balance at all levels of organization, starting from each individual cell, organism, population, community, ecosystem, means an integrated actiontowardsthe maintenance or establishment of order, that is making efforts to reduce entropy as a measure ofinstability of a system, disturbance of homeostatic mechanisms and disease outbreaks, distorted states and even disappearance of structural units of both the animate and the inanimate. As regards the relationship between man and his environment, it cannot be said that it has been well-balanced throughout the human civilisation. While in the past we had limited possibilities for the use of natural resources, today we are changing the world around us to such an extent that we put into question not only the survival of numerous other living creatures we share the world with but also the further progress of human civilisation. Human activities have already left indelible imprint on our planet – irreversible changes written in all its spheres. To point to these changes, at the beginning of the 21st century, Paul Crutzen and EugenStoermer introduced to the scientific public the term anthropocene as an indication of a time interval characterised by rapid, but far-reaching changes in Earth’s geology whose modulator is man. The term was readily accepted and used in the world literature, and in 2009 Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) was established, gathering more than thirty experts from all over the world, with a task to critically analyse the concept of anthropocene from a stratigraphic perspective. The above mentioned working group has identified numerous changes in the Earth’s system such as: marked acceleration of rates of erosion and sedimentation, large-scale chemical perturbations to biogeochemical cycles, that is in the cycling of elements such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and others, the inception of significantchanges in the global climate and the sea-level, and biotic alterations in marine and terrestrial ecosystems. A significant amount of geological evidence was found such as the emergence of plastics and other so called “technofossils”, artificial radionuclides associated with nuclear tests and carbonaceous particles originating from industry, which isa primary evidence indicating to the end of Holocene and the beginning of a new epoch – Anthropocene. The Anthropocene Working Group therefore suggested an official formalisation of this epoch whose starting point is considered to be the mid-20th century, or the year 1950, since when all above mentioned changes have been noticed on the entire planet. At a time when “the warning bells had been ringing” for a long time, the idea presented itself to write the work The Man and the Environment, a textbook primarily intended for students, and for a broader readership as well, which attempts to explain a comprehensive and above all complex nature of this indissoluble relationship in a simple and comprehensible manner. Considering the exceptional multidisciplinary character of the problems, we tried to apply an integral approach in our writing, encompassing relevant international literature, examples of good practice and our own thoughts, and to round upvery different contents into one whole which answers the questions whatis to be done next, how and why. In a comprehensive way, the textbook The Man and the Environment addresses environmental issues of the modern mankind and the possibilities of further progress of human society on the principles of sustainable development. It is primarily intended for students of undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate studies whose programs cover the issues of ecology, natural protection, environmental protection and sustainable development, but also for students of other studies who need general ecological knowledge and understanding of environmental issues. The book also aims at raising the level of knowledge and awareness of general public of the necessity of environmental protection and promotion of environmentally-conscious life style and way of thinking because the only way to make a step forward to a more prosperous future is to be united in our care for our own and common well-being. In terms of the contents, the book is arranged in a manner that in the first chapter the reader is familiarizedwith basic ecological terminology, laws and principles. The chapter consists of two subchapters – Environment, Science, and Public and The Principles of Ecological Stability – in which we tried to stress theinterdependence and interactions of the components of nature and the importance of all organisms in preservation of the fragile balance, and also to underline the importance of educational system, scientific and professional public in spreading the knowledge aboutthe repercussions of the so called “domino effect”, which is inevitable if the balance is disturbed. The next chapter is Millions of Planets – One Earth, which describes the creation of biotic and abiotic component of the Earth as a unique ecosystem – the ecosphere. By addressing the cause-and-effect impacts of man on his environment and environment on human health, we close the third chapter entitled The Man and Environmental Challenges. The said chapter deals with the causes and effects of the demographic growth of human population, the results of man’s (in)action, the causes and effects of pollution and contamination as well as with good examples and activities on the protection of all components of environment. The last chapter is Sustainable Development and it deals with further possibilities of the development of human society on the principles of sustainable development, instructing the readers how they can become actively involved in environmental protection in their everyday life. Finally, we wish to express our gratitude to all those who assisted in the writing and publishing of this textbook with their knowledge, useful advice or in other ways. First of all, we owe our gratitude to academician Ferdo Bašić and Fa. Božo Vuleta for eloquently written Foreword and Afterword respectively, and also to the distinguished reviewers Prof. Tomislav Bolanča, PhD, Prof. Damir Brđanović, PhD, Prof. Paula Durbešić, PhD, and Prof. Davor Lučić, PhD. We also thank the publishers – The University Sjever, The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Synopsis – which approved the publishing of this textbook, but also to Mr. Jurica Puhalović for graphic design, to the language editor Iva Klobučar Srbić for the linguistic design, as well as to the editor-in-chief Karmela Mabić for the expert and technical design of the textbook. We owe our gratitude to all those who helped us with collecting and preparing the material for the textbook and who also gave us their own photographs – to employees and associates of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy of the Republic of Croatia, Zdrinko Brekalo, PhD, Marinko Dalmatin, Miro Andrić, Drago Milićević, Dušan Kecman, Mato Božić, Nikola Zovko and Vanja Ćurin. In a special way we thank all our friends, and particularly our families who have invested their time, patience and understanding in this book and have been an immeasurable support at all stages of its making.

čovjek ; okoliš

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