Having reviewed chemistry and having examined the chemical characteristics of the major segments of our environment ?lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere and biosphere, it is crucial to learn the chemical interactions among those segments or cycles. About 400 years ago, a Chinese philosopher named Zhu-Tze noted: "Yin and Yang and the five major cycles are rotating correctly at first, later collision or friction of these cycles caused severe problems in nature." This is still true for our ecosystem today. Environmental deterioration and degradation are due to the incompatible and improper interaction of the major cycles. Between and among major cycles, there are many interactions: hydrosphere-lithosphere, atmosphere?hydrosphere, biosphere–lithosphere, biosphere–atmosphere, biosphere–hydrosphere, lithosphere –pedosphere, lithosphere-hydrosphere–biosphere, etc. that end up with the interaction among all five cycles.
A human being is chemical mote swimming in a chemical soup, which falls into the biosphere just as other living creatures. All the change within him and exposures outside him are chemical. The xenobiotics can be transported to him by the major cycles, and the major cycles can determine the effects of contact which result to a mechanism with consequence of fate. In general, the interactions of the five major cycles can cause environmental degradations as well as environmental health risks.
A few examples are illustrated here for the interactions of those cycles. In lithosphere-hydrosphere, for example, the immense water in the oceans may be a result of the squeezing of the material of the planet (lithosphere). Estimation has been made that during Earth’s geological history, hot springs on continents and the ocean floor release 6.6´ 1016 g of water per year which will be 2´ 1026 of water. Another estimate revealed that the total gravity of water in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and buried in ancient sedimentary to be 1.7´ 1024, which only accounts for 0.8% of the total discharge from the lithosphere. If only a fraction of the total was derived from magmatic source, hot springs can account for the total mass of world oceans.
A case of lithosphere-hydrosphere-biosphere interaction can be exemplified by the metals industry. Primary metals industry utilizes nearly 1 trillion gal. of process water per year; of this, iron and steelmaking require 80%, whereas the copper and aluminum industries consume the remainder. Hence, water pollution in an integrated steel mill represents a serious problem. For example, different types of wastewater are produced by individual stages, i.e., coke production, blast furnace, open hearth, hot mills, rolling mills, finishing mills, sanitary, boiler, and other uses.
Mankind’s aspect of the biosphere still remains a central target for various pollutants to attack, whether they are transported through atmosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere, lithosphere, or a combination of major spheres. For the coming millenium, as population increases with limited space, similar to xenobiotics, different pathogens, virus and even prions (special proteins) will become fatal to humans. Especially, the occurrence of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which consumes massive amounts of antibioticas and is persistent in the patient’s body, is bad. In addition to the AIDS virus, the human immunodeficient virus (HIV), the hepatitis C virus (HCV), the herpes simplex virus (HSV), the adult T-cell leukemia virus (ATLV), the influenza virus type A-Hong Kong, etc. constitute serious hazards. Recent Hong Kong avian flu of H5N1 type has affect human and 1.4 m. of chicken have been slaughtered. (The letters stand for hemagglutinin, e.g., H1, H2, etc. and neuraminidase, e.g., N1, N2, etc. Both elicit an immune response.) Also, more than one million cows were destroyed due to the mad cow disease in England. Both the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in which people lose coordination and the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) from mad cows are transmissible spongiform eucephalopathies (TSEs) which cause fatalities. The prion protein cellular (PrPc) usually transmit the disease.
For the final few words after you finish with the book is that perhaps you will attain some chemical reasoning on many environmental problems as follows: