"You reap what you have sown with your deeds"

In the Name of Allah, Most Compassionate and Merciful

"Whatever good befalls you, man, is from Allah, and whatever ill is from yourself.  We have sent you forth as an apostle to mankind, as the ultimate witness of Allah. He who obeys the Messenger obeys Allah Himself. As for those who pay no heed to you, know then that We have not sent you to be their keeper" (surat "An-nisaa" ["Women"], verses 79-80.)

"Allah does not withhold His favours from men until they change what is in their hearts. Allah hears and knows all" (surat Al Anfal" ["The Spoils"], verse 53.)

Allah the Mighty and the Generous showers people with His favours whose beneficience is altered or decreases only due to the effects of people's deeds, those deeds whereby they break Allah's Law and disobey the divine commandments.

We shall see when and how the divine laws warn man not to spoil the environment around him because of his levity and wastefulness in his relationship with nature.

THE PRESENT CRISIS IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND

ITS CULTURAL ROOTS

Dr. Ahmad EL-Kadmiri
 Professor at the Agronomical Institute, Rabat.

1. Definitions and General Points

What is meant by "environment" is the milieu, the background, the surroundings. Nowadays, every time one discusses the environment, one automatically thinks of the natural habitat, or of the science of the environment : “Ecology”. In its scientific sense, the term "ecology" became fashionable in the Western world in 1873 thanks to the German thinker Haeckel.  Initially, it referred to the study of the habitat where all non-human living organisms dwell and reproduce, and to the apprehension of the relationships between them and their natural habitat.  However, thanks to scientific progress, such a narrow view had to expand and to involve man and his environment as its subject matter; the science of the environment then started to deal with all biological systems. At this point, we should ask the question, 'Why a science of the environment?  Why ecology?'

The foundations of Western thought and culture from which this science sprang forth can be summed up in the following points:

A) Hellenic (Greek) Cultural Heritage

It amounts to an antagonistic view of man's relationships with nature, to a permanent struggle between man and nature.  In accord-ance with this principle, western thought has preoccupied itself with the domination and the taming of nature for the sole purpose of taking advantage of its ressources without any concern for all the negative consequences which such an attitude could have.

B) The World Population Boom

At the end of the eighteenth century, the protestant priest Malthus expressed his deep concern for this issue when, in 1798, he expounded his theory according to which human population increases according to the "geometric progression" principle (multiplication by 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc.)  In other words, the population increases every twenty-five years, with the result that natural resources (especially the flora) are altered and decrease all the more as they develop, says Malthus, according to an arithmetic type of progression.

C) The Total or Partial Deterioration of Production Capital  

Such deterioration can be accounted for by the excessive exploitation of natural ressources which has inevitably aggravated terrible phenomena such as soil drain, the decrease of woodlands, the exhaustion of the sea resources (fishes, seaweeds,) etc.

It turns out to be difficult, in some cases, to assess with precision the damages caused during distressing catastrophes like, for example, those of the Tennessee Valley and the Middle West in the USA, that of the hardening of the laterite stratum in the soils of Madagascar, the soil drain in the Rif mountain in Morocco, etc.  Also, excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers has caused an "insane" deterioration of natural resources, particularly that of cultivable lands.

D) The Rapid Technological and Industrial Development

It is the main source of all the toxic waste that is harmful for human life. This problem has turned out to be the plague of this century, at the level of the atmosphere, and is essentially manifested through all kinds of pollution.

E) Urbanization

The history of urban civilisation clearly shows the human tendency to concentrate in urban areas. This is bound to cause many problems: economic, social, psychological, environmental, etc.  This phenomenon has undeniably worsened in the poor countries where the urban areas are not equipped enough to meet all human needs and to make decent living possible.

F) The Gradual Emergence of New Philosophical Attitudes

This emergence is based on the fact that man was chosen as viceroy on earth to exploit its natural resources, and that he is accountable for it to mankind.

This new conception, or this change in the Western mental attitudes, has been a springboard for the economic development that took place between 1960 and 1970, and for the development of the science of the environment that has become a favourite topic for all serious newspapers and political media. Nowadays, the word "environment" evokes several problems, such as:

- atmospheric degradation

- acid rain

- carbon dioxide and the greenhouse effect

- the hole in the ozone layer

- water and soil pollution

- the threats to ecological balance

- the threats to biological diversity

- … etc.

2. The Present Crisis in the Environment

We cannot discuss the issue of the present crisis in the environment without going back to western mentality that has created and promoted this plague as a result of the cultural heritage previously mentioned.  We have also to talk about the economic liberal thinking that opens up the demand and supply system to competition whose main purpose is to serve the interests of the producer and the consumer.  Yet, there is a third party which these economic principles have overlooked, either deliberately or out of negligence: it is man who may be now a producer, now a consumer, but who has, in a final analysis, to suffer the disastrous consequences of the environmental crisis.

Against this narrow vision, some social movements developed in Europe with the aim of awakening social awareness, of putting an end to negligence, and of protecting the urban environment.  This movement went through two major stages:

The first stage: it corresponds to the first and the second decades of the nineteenth century, when the use of machinery started to spread out and to replace manpower.

The second stage: it began in the second half of the nineteenth century which witnessed the extended use of machinery.  At first limited, the use of machines became popular and spread out all over the European countries.

The expansion of machine use caused opposition workers' movements to emerge round a new thinking based on the idea that the problem did not lie so much in the technology itself as it did in the labour-management relations that remained to be defined (Marxist thought.) Whatever role this new thinking may have played in the changes which the Western world has undergone, it is nonetheless true that it did not bring any solution to the problem of the environment since Western Civilization based the development of its technology on the exploitation of natural resources without any regard for the environment. In other words, the Western way of life was incompatible with the principle of the protection of life on earth. And there are nowadays, Westerners from all walks, from the man in the street to political institutions and decision-making bodies, faced with the problem of the environment at all levels.

The present crisis in the environment can be felt mainly in the following fields:

2.1. Environmental pollution: to pollute is to make something turn unclear, or dirty

It includes: air pollution, water and land pollution due to the rapid growth of the industries and to men's daily exposure to those chemical sources. As a result, chemical waste has frighteningly increased and accumulated in the atmosphere in the shapes of big mushrooms filled with toxic substances such as DDT, lead, mercury, etc. Space is soaked in carbon dioxide, sulfer dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and other toxic substances that threaten human life.  The heavy concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) has caused the first signs of the greenhouse effect to appear: the greenhouse effect is the cause of global warming and increased occurrence of floods due to snow melts.  Therefore, one can distinguish two kinds of pollution:

a) chemical pollution: it affects the following areas of the environment

- the atmosphere and the earth crust: this kind of pollution attacks various structures of the earth environment which directly suffer from the harmful effects of the waste to be found in the atmosphere as well as in the earth crust. Such waste can take the form of gases or of solids of different sizes and weights.

As for the most spread out toxic gases, they are carbon dioxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and the components of the smokes rising from the industrial factories or the homes. The amount of sulfur dioxide that spreads out in the atmosphere every year is estimated at about 120 million tons. This gas causes many diseases that attack plants and animals as well as human beings (asthma, heart and skin diseases.)

In a similar way, the natural nitrogen found in the atmosphere is converted into nitrogen dioxide which absorbs the ultraviolet rays, thus beginning the process of photochemical reactions which cause what is known as "oxidizing smogs."  Because they are made of many harmful substances, these smogs represent the greatest danger for the ozone layer which they penetrate.  In addition to this, there is another gas, peroxyacetylic nitrate ("PAN") which comes from gasoline combustion by car engines. The "PAN" and the ozone are toxic substances dangerous for the flora and for humans (eye inflammation.)  Thus, it is estimated that, for every 1000 litres of gasoline, the exhaust fumes emitted by car engines carry with them:   

* 290 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO)

* 33 kilograms of non-burnt gasoline

* 11 kilograms of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂)

* 1 kilogram of sulfur dioxide (SO₂)

That was for the pollution of the atmosphere.  

As for the earth crust, its pollution results from the mixture of the waste which it contains with particles of solid metals such as lead, copper, zinc, cadmium, etc. The destruction of plants and insects and the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers remain the main causes of the earth crust pollution. One should not forget either that natural phosphate contains radioactive metals such as uranium.

- Water pollution: most of these polluting substances (gaseous or solid) spread into the ground water, the seas and the rivers, either because of natural hazards, or because of the industries, or the hospitals, directly tipping their waste there, or because of the oil spills caused by oil tankers and other ships. Those contaminated waters contain nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K).

Pollution alters the water quality; it significantly reduces its biological richness and it makes the noxious bacteria that proliferate in the atmosphere (anaerobe) multiply. 

Fuel oils remain the number one polluting substance in the world: the amount of fuel oils that spread into the waters every year is estimated at 3x10 to the power of 6 tons. Add to this the spills caused by oil tankers accidents, among which one could mention the Torrey Canyon one which has destroyed 100 000 tons of seaweeds and 350 000 tons of animals, the total value of which is estimated at one million American dollars.

b) Physical pollution: it includes

- noise pollution: it is caused by the industries, by civil and military planes, by deafening music, etc, and it causes several psychological diseases (psychological distress, aggressiveness, deafness, etc.)

- heat-giving pollution: it is caused by the cooling machines used in factories, whether the latter are operated by combustion power or by nuclear power. These cooling machines raise the temperature in the near surroundings of the factories and especially that of the river waters which undergo some important ecological alterations manifest in the significant decrease of the biological resources such as fishes and seaweeds.

- pollution caused by the solid waste resulting from the mining industries and household refuse.

- that caused by toxic and radioactive waste.

- radioactivity: it represents the greatest danger looming in front of mankind. This danger is due to the fact that radioactive substances spread into all the elements of the environment, namely water, air, and land. These substances, the emitting sources of which are plentiful, are very dangerous for the human and the animal species when they penetrate the body.

One considers that radioactive pollution has reached the strata of the atmosphere that surround the earth when the radioactive substances --be they in the form of gases or of dust-- penetrate the higher layer of the atmosphere. That is, when they reach 200-3000 meters above the earth crust.  The movements of these substances in the atmosphere depend on numerous factors, the most important of which is the temperature which varies in the atmosphere. Rain is among the most efficient cleaning means that clear away those substances from the air.

As for the water radioactive pollution, it is caused by the spilling of radioactive substances in the seas, the rivers, the lakes, as well as in stagnant waters. The movements of the radioactive substances in water depend on several factors, among which are: the quality and the movements of the water, the nature of the mixtures spilled, the chemical properties of the radioactive substances, and the physical properties of the water.

Regarding the radioactive pollution that affects the soils, it is due to the polluted stagnant waters, as well as to the fact that various crops absorb radioactive substances, as these latter fall on the plants' leaves. The effects of radioactive substances on the soils vary depending on several factors the most important of which are: the nature of the soils, their temperature, and their dampness.

In this respect, one has to remember the greatest catastrophe in the history of mankind, namely the dropping of two atomic bombs by the United States of America, one of which exploded in Hiroshima, and the other in Nagasaki in Japan, and also the explosion that occurred in the Tchernobyl nuclear power plant in the former Soviet Union (specifically, Ukraine).

2.2. The vegetal and animal species extinction, and the natural resources depletion:

It is very difficult to put forward exact figures when it comes to assessing the number of species that have become either extinct or endangered in the ecosystems of the areas concerned.  The reason is that missions aimed at monitoring the species and collecting essential data are hardly ever carried out.  Because of that, some species will become extinct before they are even discovered and listed.  Others will be discovered many years after they have become extinct, all because of the lack of means of observation.

This state of things has led some of the most eminent experts to draw the conclusion that a quarter of the earth biodiversity will be endangered in the next 20 to 30 years if one does not manage to limit and define the conditions for exploiting natural resources. One could say that between 1996 and 2020, the species living in the equatorial forests, representing between 6 and 15% of all the species in the world, will have become extinct. That amounts to saying that between 15,000 and 50,000 species may become extinct every year or, in other words, between 40 and 140 may become extinct every day. The mission control center for the environment has listed about 220,000 vegetal and animal species that are seriously endangered.

The causes that endanger these species are to be found in the alterations which their natural habitats undergo. As for the major factors behind the alterations of the natural habitats and the deterioration of the environment, they boil down to human activities and their consequences, namely the increase of intensive farming, of soil drain, of urban expansion, the constant alterations in the composition of the soils and the water streams, the building of roads, of irrigation canals, of natural gas pipelines, of dams, the digging of mines, the construction of airports and industrial installations.

The current trend is to use cultivable lands for agricultural purposes, and not to turn them anymore into areas for human settlements, or for the construction of roads and industrial or touristic installations. The excessive use of chemical fertilizers and the extinction of some insects and plants have led to soil pollution. Yet, soil drain, which results from excessive grazing and deforestation, remains the main plague that deprives the lands of their floral protection, which in turn causes the soils to degenerate since the rain waters can flow freely and inevitably carry with them the sediments which they deposit in the riverbeds and in the bottom of the dams whose waters then overflow and flood the surrounding lands. Soil drain is alarmingly manifest in the natural habitat through the increased scarcity of plants and water, and through the alterations in the chemical and the physical configurations of the earth to be seen, for example, in global warming.