The phosphate and nitrogen compounds found in the waste material that are released into the environment go through some biological processes and are transformed into nourishing salts for the phytoplankton. When there is an increase in temperature, these salts may cause some of the phytoplankton to grow and reproduce excessively. The toxic materials released by some, and the use of excessive oxygen, are harmful to other organisms.

Another example of pollution is related with algae. When the number of microbial plants called algae reaches one million per cubic decimeter (1 million/dm3) of water, the consumption of oxygen required in order to mineralize, and break-down the organic materials found in the water increases, and therefore a compound of toxins which pollute the water, such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S), are released. This pollution can cause the death of fish and other organisms which live in the water. As a result of the reduction in water quality, an increase in the type of algae called cyanobacteria occurs and the biotoxins that they produce threatens human health.

More than forty types of algae produce various toxins. Some of these toxins damage the human liver, some attack the nervous system (particularly the brain), some can cause allergic skin reactions, and some can even induce cancer. The release of domestic, industrial, and agricultural waste and the high percentage of nutrients (such as nitrogen and phosphor compounds) into the aquatic ecosystem can cause an excessive increase of algae in the waters. This algal bloom in fresh water is referred to as eutrophication. In oceans, it is referred to as red tide because the water appears to be a reddish color. Both present a significant environmental problem.

In low doses humans are exposed to these toxins by the consumption of drinking water. In Brazil in 1988, almost 2000 people developed gastroenteritis over a forty day period due to the consumption of drinking water contaminated by these toxins, and eighty-eight of them died. In South Australia, as early as 1878, many sheep, horses, dogs and other animals died as a result of drinking water from Lake Alexandrina, which was covered by scum caused by an aglal bloom called Nodularia spumigena.

Mussels, a delicacy eaten and enjoyed by many, accumulate large amounts of toxins because they feed on phytoplankton. One study found that in fresh water mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) that fed on cyanobacteria, almost 10.7 g toxins per gram of bodyweight was accumulated. This is also the case in marine mussels. It has been determined that these toxins in gradually increased concentrations are passed onto organisms higher on the food chain by consumption. Accordingly, we should always consider the potential risk factors before consuming shellfish.

Biotoxins are released into the water after being broken down by algae. Thus, when an algal bloom reaches high levels, there is an increase in the density of toxins in the water. As these toxins dissolve in the water, purifying the contaminated water requires not only expensive, but also advanced technology methods. Unfortunately, it is impossible to remove this waste in many of the existing refining plants. The toxin concentration in drinking and utility water should be reduced in regions where drinking water is obtained from lakes by mixing it with uncontaminated water, particularly during the spring when the algal bloom occurs. Thus, reducing the amount of biotoxins in the water to a level that will cause minimal harm to aquatic organisms should help to reduce the risks to humans.

Many types of waste released into the environment cause damage, which adversely affect humans. Polluting the environment may be easy, but purifying the environment of this pollution is a very difficult task. Indeed, humans were not created to act irresponsibly and destroy the universe in which they are mere guests. On the contrary, the human is a delicate guest with sublime duties. Protecting the natural resources provided for our needs and utilizing these resources in the most productive manner, without disturbing the balance of nature, is a duty of every human on earth.

References

• Pouria S. de Andrade A. 1988. “Fatal microcystin intoxication in haemodialysis unit in Caruaru, Brazil.” Lancet 352:21-26.
• Carmichael W.W., Azevedo S.M.F.O. 2001. “Human fatalities from cyanobacteria: Chemical and biological evidence for cyanotoxins.” Environ. Health Perspect 109: 663-668.
• Codd G.A., Bell S.G., Kaya K., Ward C.J., Beattie K.A., Metcalf J.S. 1999. “Cyanobacterial toxins, exposure routes and human health.” Eur. J. Phycol. 34:405-415.

Photosynthesis

To fully gain an insight into these interactions’ complexity, we must conduct an in-depth study and observation of the processes taking place. Initially, the sun’s released energy must be made useful to our body’s cells, for direct sunlight on its own is not useful. Energy from the sun, along with water from the soil and carbon dioxide released from all living organisms, synthesizes oxygen and sugars (including glucose) within the leaves of green plants. This seemingly simple but very complex process is called photosynthesis. Without the oxygen and glucose required to generate usable energy (in the form of ATP* molecules), no human or plant cells could survive, although some exceptions are known.(2) Hence, all photosynthetic organisms on Earth an indispensable sources of oxygen for all life-forms.

The two main sources of oxygen are rain forests and oceans, where green algae and photosynthetic bacteria live.(3) In fact, algae lying 120 meters beneath the Antarctic ice is fully equipped to serve life. These algae have been found in sponges with a system of fiber optics that allows them to gather the minute amount of light reaches the Antarctic Ocean’s murky depths and direct it to photosynthetic algae.(4) Given this, we must say that photosynthetic life-forms are in complete submission to and serve other life-forms, among them humanity.

Plant and tree leaves are optimally designed, both physically and biochemically, to generate vital oxygen and sugars. A leaf’s large surface area is required for the optimal interception of solar energy, while the thin cross-section is essential for the fast transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide in and out of the leaf.

Specific photosynthetic cells are arranged in between the leaf’s two protective epidermal layers. Carbon dioxide and oxygen molecules, under specific guidance, leave the leaf through specific pores flanked by cellular gates or guard cells situated underneath each leaf, as the leaf’s upper layer is covered with a protective waxy layer. This waxy layer is essential, for without it the leaf would dry up. For example, on hot days 100 gallons of water are lost from cottonwood trees.(5)

All evaporated water is collected as clouds (water vapor near the condensation point), from which pure, condensed water falls as rain. Likewise, all animals’ breath contains water vapor (released during the breakdown of glucose for energy release), which is also created as clouds and recruited as a moving source of potential water for all needy plants and living organisms.

Water’s continual recycling between the land and oceans to the clouds prevents wastage and provides a continually renewed source of fresh water to synthesize oxygen during photosynthesis. It also serves as a medium in which all biochemical reactions must take place in living cells.

Moreover, a leaf has no knowledge or power to generate oxygen and sugars, which are vital for all living cells, for it has never seen or experienced any direct contact. For carbon synthesis to occur, oxygen atoms must be torn from water and carbon dioxide molecules. This requires knowledge and power, since neither solar energy nor a leaf possess these. Also sugars, an indispensable food source for all life-forms, cannot be synthesized by coincidence in a weak and powerless leaf.

This complementary relationship indicates that all these simultaneous interconnections could only take place according to a program dictated through an all-pervading knowledge, willpower, and mercy. Likewise, only One with such attributes could subject, direct, and allowing these processes to continue.

Breathing

Moving at extremely high speeds (around 346m per second),(6) oxygen molecules released from such photosynthetic life-forms as plant and tree leaves, and bacteria and algae in the oceans, must reach the lungs of all living organisms. They also must be dissolved in water so that fish and other marine organisms can breathe. In fact, all of these processes must take place continuously so that each organism can live until its appointed time. This means that the oxygen molecules must be guided through the atmosphere and into each living organism so that each molecule’s optimal and perfect function may be carried out. Thus, although moving at extremely high speeds, each molecule’s function remains in the best and optimal manner.

Each lung is a highly delicate organ composed of millions of microscopic tunnels ending in tiny sacs (alveoli) encapsulated with a dense capillary (thin artery) network.(7) Oxygen molecules in the atmosphere are inhaled and brought to the sacs, which send oxygen (from within the sac) into the bloodstream, and carbon dioxide is diffused from the bloodstream into the sacs. Although the air we breathe contains a large proportion of nitrogen, it is mainly oxygen that is pulled through the sac’s wall, across the thin arterioles’ microscopic walls, and into the bloodstream’s red blood cells. Each oxygen molecule is then complexed and surrounded by a huge molecule of hemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells). Although these processes take place very quickly, every step occurs with exceptional precision and accuracy.

To reach the trillions of functionally different cells, the red blood cells must be pumped there with a great force. Therefore, all oxygenated red blood cells coming from the lungs are directed immediately to the heart. This masterpiece works continuously from birth until death, pumping fresh blood from the lungs to the tissues, and simultaneously pumps oxygen-deprived blood from the tissues to the lungs.(8)

Red blood cells flow through the arteries with great force. When they reach the thinnest arteries (capillaries) at tissues that are only one-cell thick, they almost align in a single queue within the capillaries and move carefully until the oxygen they carry is diffused to the surrounding needy tissue cells. At the same time, the waste gas of carbon dioxide is diffused quickly from the tissue cells into the blood plasma. The red blood cells then are directed into the veins, loaded with waste gas, and sent back to the heart (this requires great energy, as the blood returns to the heart at a very low pressure). From here, the oxygen-deprived red blood cells are pumped back to the lungs to be oxygenated. In the lungs, carbon dioxide is directed out to the sacs and exhaled into the atmosphere.

As creation contains no waste and every existence is useful, this waste gas is recaptured during photosynthesis to create vital oxygen, thereby displaying an unprecedented example of complementarity. Thus solar energy is harnessed to generate oxygen and provides a means of generating energy beneficial to cells (chemical energy). The oxygen created in this process is taken through multiple steps and stages until it is made available to the cells.

Conclusion

Here, we see a clear manifestation of perfect bounty and grace, for the cells needs are brought to them from afar and with extreme care after going through multiple ordered steps that easily could be disturbed. One insight we acquire is that each step takes place rapidly yet accurately, and so must require an infinite power and knowledge to occur.

We, Earth’s most intelligent creatures must admit our relative inability and impotence to understand fully or even to control any of these perfect processes. Rather than behave according to our vested interests and suppose Earth to be under our control, we should seek to understand our responsibility to know that all of these processes are somehow connected with us and subjected for our benefit in so many ways that conscious gratitude and faithfulness are required.

Footnotes

1. http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/sol.html.
2. Richard Monastersky, Deep Dwellers: Microbes Thrive far below Ground, Science News 151 (29 Mar. 1997):192-93.
3. http://gened.emc.maricopa.edu/bio/bio181/BIOBK/.
4. http://www.sciam.com/0297issuehttp://0297scicit3.html.
5. http://gened.emc.maricopa.edu/bio/bio181/BIOBK/.
6. http://fermi.bgsu.edu/~stoner/p201/idealg/tsld009.html.
7. http://biology/01.ux.com/MiraCosta/HumanResp.html.
8. http://www.atlcard.com/pump.html.