environmental awareness & global warming

8/4/2019 Environmental Awareness & Global Warming

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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

BCC 207

ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

(Connection and Relationship)


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Environment

in general, environment refers to thesurroundings of an object


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Scope of Environment

Natural environment, all living and non-living thingsthat occur naturally on Earth

Built environment, constructed surroundings thatprovide the setting for human activity, ranging from

the large-scale civic surroundings to the personalplaces

Environment (biophysical), the physical and biologicalfactors along with their chemical interactions thataffect an organism

Environment (systems), the surroundings of a physicalsystem that may interact with the system byexchanging mass, energy, or other properties

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment


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ENVIRONMENT is the physical and biotic

habitat which surround us; that which we can

see, hear, touch, smell and taste.

SYSTEMa set or arrangement of things so

related or connected as to form a unit or

organic whole; as a solar system, irrigation

system, supply system, the world or universe.


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Connections between

Environments

Built environment responds to the local

natural environment

Thus, different types of buildings are found in

different parts of the world climate is amajor factor


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Connections between

Environments


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Natural vs Built Environment:

Interactions and Issue

Consumption of non-replenishable resources

like fossil fuel

Consumption of resources without

replacement, such as hardwood forests

Harmful changes to local habitat, such as

deforestation

Harmful changes to global habitat, such as

climate change


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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

An interdisciplinary study of how the earth

works, how human activities affect the earthand ways to resolve the environmental

problems

Environmental science provides an integrated,quantitative, and interdisciplinary approach to

the study of environmental systems


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ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY

aim : satisfies basic needs of people food clean

air, clean water and shelter into indefinite future

not depleting or degrading earths natural

resources


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HOW TO ACHIEVE?

By knowing :

ECOLOGY

ECOSYSYEMS

SUSTAINABILITY


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An ecosystem contains all the interactions among living (plants, animals, soil

organisms) and nonliving (nutrients, minerals, moisture, disturbances)

components. Examples of interactions include nutrient, mineral, and water

cycles, and natural disturbances like fire.

Native plant

communities

provide habitat

for plants andanimals.


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ECOLOGY

The scientific study of the interactionbetween organisms and their environment

Involves the understanding ofbiotic and

abiotic factors influencing the distributionand abundance of living things (Krebs, 1994)

Greek wordoikos house/place to live

- ology - the study of- ecology the study of living

things in their environment


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SYSTEM

A grouping of parts that operates together for acommon purpose. Each part has a specific functionthat allows the group to work as a greater whole,sort of like an assembly line

ECO and SYSTEM interaction between living andnon-living things within a given area

The characteristics that make up an eco-system will

vary from region to region, area to area and problemto problem

No two eco-systems are alike


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Major Components of Ecosystems

Ecosystems are composed of a variety of abiotic and biotic components that function in an

interrelated fashion. Some of the more important components are: soil, atmosphere, radiationfrom the Sun, water, and living organisms.

Relationships within an ecosystem


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Inputs and outputs of energy and matter in a typical ecosystem.


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SUSTAINABILITY

The word sustainability is derived from the Latin sustinere (tenere,to hold; sus, up)

Since the 1980s sustainabilityhas been used more in the sense ofhuman sustainability on planet Earth.

This has resulted in the most widely quoted definition ofsustainability and sustainable development,

[ Brundtland Commission of the United Nations on March 20, 1987] sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of future generations to meettheir own needs


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A representation of sustainability showing how botheconomy and society are constrained by

environmental limits

Scheme of sustainable development: at the confluence of three constituent parts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nested_sustainability-v2.gif


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- Richard Register (Founder ofThe global EcoCity movement


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Products extracted from ecosystem

Food

Fiber

Timber /building materials Minerals (for manufacturing)

Medicines

Water


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Services provided by ecosystem

Water and Air cleansing

Detoxification of harmful chemical compound

Erosion control Flood attenuation

Habitats animal, plants and micro-organisms

Nutrients


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Consequences of Human Activities

Intended results

Improved

Quality of LifeFood productionShelter

Water supplyMaintenance ofCultureJobs EnjoymentKnowledgeWealthEsteemSpirituality

Human

ActivitiesLand clearingAgricultureForestry

GrazingWater Diversionand DetentionIrrigationMineral/EnergyExtraction

Road BuildingRecreationVegetationManipulationPreservation

Unintended Results:

Environmental CostsRiparian DestructionHabitat alterationErosion

SedimentationSoil degradationLoss of productivityAltered biodiversitySpecies extinctionDesertification

DeforestrationPollutionClimate changeEconomic declineSocial decline


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ENVIRONMENTAL DISTURBANCES

Major Improvements to human standard of living such as:-The production of more and better quality food

-Creation of housing as protection from extremes of climate and as living space

-Building of fast and reliable means of transportation

-Invention of various system of communication

-Invention of machines to replace human or animal power

-The supply of safe water and the good system of waste disposal-The elimination of many infectious diseases

-The elimination of most waterborne diseases in the developed world through improved

water technology

-The availability of leisure time through greater productivity, providing the opportunity

for cultural and recreational activities

-The protection from the worst effects of natural disasters such as floods, droughts,Earthquakes and volcanic eruption


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Video presentation


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Lecture 2


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Greenhouse Effect

The "greenhouse effect" is the warming that

happens when certain gases in Earth's

atmosphere trap heat.

These gases let in light but keep heat from

escaping, like the glass walls of a greenhouse


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First, sunlight shines onto the Earth's surface,

where it is absorbed and then radiates back

into the atmosphere as heat.

In the atmosphere, greenhouse gases trap

some of this heat, and the rest escapes into

space. The more greenhouse gases are in the

atmosphere, the more heat gets trapped


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History: study of greenhouse effect

Scientists have known about the greenhouseeffect since 1824, when Joseph Fouriercalculated that the Earth would be much

colder if it had no atmosphere. This greenhouse effect is what keeps the

Earth's climate livable.

Without it, the Earth's surface would be anaverage of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit cooler[15.5oC].


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In 1895, the Swedish chemist Svante

Arrhenius discovered that humans could

enhance the greenhouse effect by making

carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

He kicked off 100 years of climate research

that has given us a sophisticated

understanding of global warming.


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Aren't temperature changes natural?

The average global temperature and concentrations of

carbon dioxide (one of the major greenhouse gases)have fluctuated on a cycle of hundreds of thousands ofyears as the Earth's position relative to the sun hasvaried.

As a result, ice ages have come and gone.

Now, humans have increased the amount of carbondioxide in the atmosphere by more than a third sincethe industrial revolution.

Changes this large have historically taken thousands ofyears, but are now happening over the course ofdecades.


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Why is this a concern?

The rapid rise in greenhouse gases is a

problem because it is changing the climate

faster than some living things may be able to

adapt.

Also, a new and more unpredictable climate

poses challenges to all life.


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What is Global Warming?

Simply put global warming is the warming of the Earth'stemperature.

This applies both to the Earth's surface temperature and tothe Earth's air temperature.

The Earth's atmosphere contains many different kinds ofgases, some of these Scientists have termed greenhousegases (these are mostly water vapour and carbon dioxide).

The purpose of greenhouse gases is to help the earthmaintain a constant temperature.

Without greenhouse gases then the earth would lose a lotof heat from itself

This would mean the earth would be a lot cooler then it isnow, an extreme example would be Pluto.


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Excess greenhouse gases means that the Earthcannot release excess heat generated both fromitself and again from solar radiation.

This causes a slow gradual temperature increase

in the lower atmosphere which causes the Earthto be warmer then it should.

While greenhouse gases are needed to create asolar balance, emitting excess greenhouse gases

in the form of carbon dioxide and methane onlycause the Earth to retain heat rather then havingsolar balance.


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The atmosphere is essentially transparent to incoming solarradiation.

After striking the Earth's surface, the wavelength of this

radiation increases as it loses energy. The gases that are involved are opaque to this lower energy

radiation, and thus trap it as heat, thereby increasing theatmospheric temperature.

As these gases increase, due to natural causes and humanactivity, they enhance the Greenhouse Effect, and may raisetemperatures even more.

If the climate warms, the vegetation belts will tend to movenorthward, changing global ecological and biome patterns.

Other effects may be discerned in precipitation patterns, sealevel changes, and more.


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Global Warming: Causes

The only way to explain the pattern of Global Warmingis to include the effect of greenhouse gases (GHGs)emitted by humans.

To bring all this information together, the United

Nations formed a group of scientists called theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, [IPCC].

The IPCC meets every few years to review the latestscientific findings and write a report summarizing all

that is known about global warming. Each report represents a consensus, or agreement,

among hundreds of leading scientists.
http://www.ipcc.ch/http://www.ipcc.ch/


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One of the first things scientists learned is that there areseveral greenhouse gases responsible for warming, andhumans emit them in a variety of ways.

Most come from the combustion of fossil fuels in cars,factories and electricity production.

The gas responsible for the most warming is carbondioxide, also called CO2.

Other contributors include : methane released from landfills and agriculture (especially from

the digestive systems of grazing animals) nitrous oxide from fertilizers

gases used for refrigeration and industrial processes

loss of forests that would otherwise store CO2.


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Different greenhouse gases have very different heat-trapping abilities.

Some of them can even trap more heat than CO2.

A molecule of methane produces more than 20 timesthe warming of a molecule of CO2.

Nitrous oxide is 300 times more powerful than CO2.

Other gases, such as chlorofluorocarbons (which have

been banned in much of the world because they alsodegrade the ozone layer), have heat-trapping potentialthousands of times greater than CO2.


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But because their concentrations are much lowerthan CO2, none of these gases adds as muchwarmth to the atmosphere as CO2 does.

In order to understand the effects of all the gases

together, scientists tend to talk about allgreenhouse gases in terms of the equivalentamount of CO2.

Since 1990, yearly emissions have gone up by

about 6 billion metric tons of "carbon dioxideequivalent" worldwide, more than a 20 percentincrease


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Source:http://www.globalwarming.org.in/images/Greenhouse_Gas_by_Sector.gif


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Source: http://www.news.wisc.edu/news/images/map_CO2_emissions_Patz05.gif


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GLOBAL WARMING EFFECT


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Global Warming: Effects

The effects of risingtemperatures arehappening right now.

Signs are appearing allover, and some of themare surprising.

The heat is not onlymelting glaciers and seaice, its also shifting

precipitation patterns andsetting animals on themove.

H A i l Fi h Gl b l W i ?


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How Animals Fight Global Warming?

Struggling to adapt to global warming, wild

animals are changing what they eat and howthey live

Desperate change in diet

Changes habitat Affects reproduction of some species

Some species signal genetic revolution [changes in

chromosomes] not all species can adapt..CAN WE?


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Eff t f Gl b l W i bi


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Effects of Global Warming: a bigger

perspective

Rising Sea Levels Climate Change Refugees

Mass Extinctions and Migrations

Loss of Coral Reefs

Stronger Hurricanes

Economic Consequences ??


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Climate Change refugees..

People affected by rising sea levels will move

inland in large numbers.

Mass migrations never come easy, especially

when they involve some of the worlds

poorest, with Vietnam, Bangladesh, China,

India, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Nigeria

and Egypt expected to be hit especially hardby rising waters.


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It is estimated that around 200 million people

could be affected by sea level rise by the year

2050.

As climate change refugees migrate inincreasingly high numbers, political systems

will be tested.

In all likelihood, some wont pass


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Mass Extinction & Migration The polar bear being a species that has

become the poster child for the effects ofglobal warming.

Polar bears have started drowning as theyhave had to swim longer distancesbetween ice flows, and the U.S. GeologicalSurvey has predicted that if the Arctic ice

cape continues melting at its current rate,two-thirds of the world's polar bear sub-populations will be extinct by mid-century.

Of course, it is not just the polar bear thatis affectedone study predicts that aquarter of land animals and plants could

become extinct because of globalwarming over the next 45 years.


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Animals are migrating northwards or to higheraltitudes, with a recent study of nearly 2,000species of plants and animals showingmovement towards the poles at an average rate

of 3.8 miles per decade. Such migrations can disrupt delicate ecosystems

that have taken millennia to develop.

Changing temperature and daylight cues can also

alter animal behavior. For example, processes like egg-laying and

flowering could shift with the weather.


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Loss of Coral Reef

Corals get their food from analgae called zooxanthellae,which lives in the coral.

This algae is extremelysensitive to temperaturechanges, and an increase ofjust 1.8 degrees Fahrenheitcan cause corals to expel theiralgae, or bleach.

Over a prolonged period oftime, bleaching leads to death.


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A second contributing factor to the current sea-widedecline in coral reefs is that, as atmospheric concentrationsof carbon dioxide (CO2) increase, oceans are becomingmore acidic.

This reduces the availability of free carbonate ions in the

water, making it more difficult for the polyps that buildcoral reefs to extract the calcium carbonate they need tosurvive.

For more extensive discussion of the loss of coral and ocean

acidification you can read the following:- Coral Bleaching- Ocean Acidification.


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Stronger Hurricanes

There is little evidence linking global warming to anincrease in the number of hurricanes, but there is evidencelinking global warming with more powerful hurricanes.

The oceans warm water vapor fuels hurricanes, and as thatwater gets warmer the amount of evaporation increases,

thus fueling more powerful storms. In the 1970s, the number of tropical storms worldwide

reaching categories 4 and 5 was 11 per year.

Since 1990, the world has had about 18 category 4 or 5storms per year.


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Economic Consequences

If after reading about a drastic decline in biodiversity,climate change refugees, and stronger hurricanes doesntconvince you of the seriousness of global warming,

Maybe this will: coral reefs provide about $375 billioneach year in food and tourism income.

Source:http://www.fightglobalwarming.com/page.cfm?tagID=258

Yes, global warming is an economic matter as well.

As of now, no one can perfectly predict what the economic

or other consequences of global warming will look like, butthose not ignoring the facts will have a clearer picture and ahead start.

environmental awareness & global warming

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