Almost everyone carries a cell phone now and while this has caused some big changes to our society the boom in these sorts of mobile electronic devices has also had a big impact on our environment. With new models of cell phones and tablets seeming to hit the market every month the industry has created an apparently insatiable demand for the latest devices while the redundancy of our old devices has contributed some new challenges to the environment.

As a general rule of thumb cell phones are made up of 40% metals, 40% plastic with the remaining 20% made up of ceramics and other trace materials. Of the metals that go into the manufacture of cell phones many like lead, beryllium, tantalum and coltan are classed as persistent toxins because they have an enduring negative impact when they are introduced to the environment. The plastics that go into cell phones are derived from fossil fuels like oil and natural gas and are usually non-recyclable compounds that takes thousands of years to degrade.

The need for cell phones to have rechargeable batteries means that they are usually made with toxic metals like cadmium, lead or lithium which are hazardous substances that are also difficult to remove from ecosystems once they have made their way into them. The LCD displays on many cell phones also contain mercury, another toxic metal that is difficult to dispose of or to clean up. As dangerous as these substances are, fewer than 20% of cell phone batteries that are disposed of in California are being recycled and a staggering 34 thousand tons of rechargeable batteries went into landfills.

With an estimated 5 billion cell phones on the planet right now this problem is one that faces the whole world but the solution begins at a local level. Correctly disposing of your cell phones and their batteries ensures that the pollutants that they contain never make their way into the ecosystem and the materials that they are made from are recycled into new products. The rapid development of cell phone technology and the desire that many people have to acquire the latest phones means that there are many people with a collection of old phones. These can be given to charities like Cell Phones for Soldiers who recycle old cell phones and use the proceeds to supply free telephone services to soldiers. This not only disposes of a potential toxic hazard in your household but also helps the environment and supports those men and women that are serving the nation.

Next time you buy the latest model cell phone stop and take a moment to consider what you can do with the phone that you are replacing. Even giving it to a friend who needs one can be a great way to recycle an old phone but if you are just going to put it into a drawer and forget about it then maybe consider donating it to a charity. At the very least find your local recycler and make sure that it doesn’t end up adding to the toxic waste in our environment.

An Adventure of Making a Toaster… From Scratch! 

Sources:

http://www.epa.gov/osw/education/pdfs/life-cell.pdf

http://1800recycling.com/2010/09/facts-cell-phone-battery-recycling/

http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/

Author:

Shane Cheek

EnduroBox.com

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Climate change is one of the most divisive issues of our times and with so much environmental information bombarding us via the mass media every day it has become one of the most confusing subjects as well. Prophesies made in past decades of dire consequences for the earth that will result from our industrial abuses have largely failed to materialize while scientists argue over the meaning of changes in the size and shape of the polar ice caps and which of the many possible factors is the driving force in raising global temperatures. 

In the past few years even those pillars of the green philosophy, atmospheric carbon and global warming have both had their validity challenged. While almost everyone is agreed that the earth is becoming warmer, many are now questioning what that really means and at the same time there has been widespread doubt over the real motives of the climate change alarmists.

The global warming issue acquired ‘extreme’ status in the late 1990s with studies at that time indicating that there had been a steep and unnatural increase in the planet’s temperature in the past five centuries. By 2005 the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was the focus of a lot of controversy over the validity of the methods used to measure global warming and most especially the way that that information was made public. Even though the evidence that we are responsible for the changing climate was meeting with serious and studious challenges because the media has become so invested in global warming it is claimed that these sorts of alternative studies are being avoided by the press.

The credibility of unnatural climate change has suffered from some bad publicity in recent times with false claims of a collusion among climate scientists to only present data that supported climate change. Even though these claims were ultimately shown to be false they still tarnished the image of climate change, most especially among those people that are already inclined to question it. At the other end of the scale the climate change extremists seem unwilling to accept any alternative even though the IPCC is now radically revising their estimates for how quickly the world is warming and how warm it will get.

Another angle that is emerging is that global warming may actually be beneficial to us and to the earth. Studies have indicated that the increases in CO2 in the atmosphere may be linked to increases in crop production. We are even beginning to question the impact that CO2 is having on rising temperatures and many climatologists are now looking more closely at the amount of water vapor that exists, a factor that we can never have any control over. This had led many to conclude that the global warming that we are experiencing is a part of the Earth’s own natural rhythms of which we are only just becoming aware.

No one is arguing that we don’t need to clean up the mess that we have made and we all want clean air to breathe and water to drink. The polarity of the climate change argument is making it clear that neither extreme is going to find all of the answers but that isn’t a reason to give up on trying to reduce the waste that is produced by our consumerist society. It seems that while the alarmists and the deniers are busy arguing over who is right that it will be up to the rest of us to actually clean up our mother Earth.

 Talks on Climate Change by Scientist James Hansen

Sources:

1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323981504578179291222227104.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Shane Cheek

EnduroBox.com

The post Are We Too Alarmed by Climate Change? appeared first on Endurobox - Rented Moving Boxes.

Air pollution is an environmental hazard that has an effect on all of us to some degree. Our urban lifestyle means that we aren’t all lucky enough to be able to live in the clean air that comes with a rural lifestyle but living in a city doesn’t mean that you have to spend your life choking on the smog. Continual strengthening of the Clean Air Act and improvements to many of the major contributors to air pollution like industrial processes and fuel emissions have seen dramatic improvements to the quality of the air in many of our major cities.

The State of the Air 2012 report released by the American Lung Association shows that while population, demand for resources and energy consumption have all increased since 1990, in the same period there has been a 59% reduction in aggregate emissions. The report divides air pollution into three categories; ozone, year round particle pollution and short term particle pollution and the figures released in the report show that there have been significant reductions in all three categories in the past decade.

After comparing major American cities in all three categories it was found that Santa Fe New Mexico was the city that had the cleanest air in all three categories but that close behind it were Bismarck, Duluth and Honolulu which had the lowest ozone as well as year round particle pollution levels. Brownsville Texas, Champaign and Decatur in Illinois have low short term particle pollution as well as low ozone levels while Albuquerque New Mexico, Bangor Maine and Burlington Vermont all had the lowest levels of particle pollution in the country. Even if you aren’t lucky enough to live in one of these cities with pristine air the news isn’t all bad with many of the country’s largest cities reporting their lowest number of pollution affected days in many years.

As encouraging as these figures are there is still a long way to go before we are all breathing clean air. According to the report around 40% of the population are living with unacceptable levels of air pollution with 38% of those living with high levels of ozone, a gas that is connected to many cardiovascular and lung diseases. There are currently almost 1 million American children with asthma that live in areas with high levels of short term particle pollution which aggravates their condition. Statistics also indicate that the disadvantaged and poor in society are more likely to live in areas of extremely poor air quality, most notably with greater exposure to ozone, putting them at greater risk of air pollution related illnesses.

While the report highlights that we are moving in the right direction and are making significant improvements to our air quality it also shows that there is still a long way to go. We need to concentrate on cleaning up our dirtiest power generators, use our cars less, improve our industrial processes to eliminate harmful ozone producing practices and we have to continue to support and strengthen the Clean Air Act to ensure that the air that our kids breathe is clean.

This talk is not solely about our air, but more generally about global change.

Source:

The State of the Air 2012, American Lung Association

Shane Cheek

EnduroBox.com

The post America’s Clean Air Act – 59% Emission Reduction appeared first on Endurobox - Rented Moving Boxes.

One of the most widely publicized environmental issues of our times has been the hole in the Earth’s ozone layer. While we have been aware of the problem for a few decades now it is still unclear to most people what this hole in our atmosphere is all about and what sort of influence it has on our day to day lives.

Ozone, or O3 is a naturally occurring part of our atmosphere that helps to filter out the most harmful of the Sun’s ultraviolet light from reaching the surface. Ozone has a sharp smell that is familiar to most people as the odor that often accompanies electrical discharges or lightning. Although it is a harmful substance, because it is unstable it breaks down in the lower atmosphere into breathable O2. It has many industrial applications due to it being a powerful oxidant which also makes it a hazardous pollutant which can be harmful to lung tissue. Even so, Ozone is a vital part of the Earth’s atmosphere and its depletion in our upper atmosphere has had wide ranging effects on our environment and our lifestyle.

The Ozone Layer is a concentration of O3 in the stratosphere which, contrary to popular ideas about it is not very different from the atmosphere at the surface. The concentration of ozone in this layer is only around 10 parts per million which even though it is almost twenty times higher than ozone levels at the surface still makes up a tiny part of the gases in our air. As insignificant as this tiny portion may seem it is responsible for filtering out as much as 99% of the ultraviolet light that hits the Earth and so it is a large factor in the stability of our environment.

The Ozone Layer was discovered in 1913 and we began monitoring it in 1928 but it was only after we could use satellites to monitor it from space that we began to understand the damage that many of our industrial processes were having on this small but essential part of our air. The discovery that releasing organohalogen compounds like CFCs into the atmosphere was rapidly depleting the Ozone Layer and threatening to upset the balance of our environment globally led to an international treaty in 1978 that banned the use of chloroflourocarbons in products like aerosol sprays and prohibited the production of CFCs after 1995. Although these measures are effective for the long term the damage had already largely been done and for two decades we have watched the growing hole in the Earth’s Ozone Layer and learned to live with our changing environment.

The hole in the Ozone Layer is due to a natural seasonal depletion of ozone over the Earth’s polar regions. Each spring the Ozone Layer over Antarctica especially has become thinner until reductions in ozone of as much as 70% that were observed in 1985 started to cause major concerns. The sudden appearance of the hole in the ozone over Antarctica in the 1980 also led many to fear that a similar hole would appear above the Arctic but to date the depletion there is much less. While the long term impact on our environment is still a matter of speculation the immediate effects of the depletion of ozone in the atmosphere touches us all.

The most highly publicized influence of the increased ultraviolet light that is due to the thinning ozone is that there is an increased risk of contracting skin cancers. In some countries in the Southern Hemisphere like Australia and New Zealand which are often exposed by the hole on the ozone the ultraviolet light can be so strong that it has become dangerous to go out into the sun without skin protection. There are similar concerns for wildlife in these regions and there are also potentially negative impacts on some of our largest crops like rice which rely on a delicate symbiotic relationship with cyanobacteria that are sensitive to UV radiation.

Unlike many areas of environmental concern there does seem to be good news about the hole in the Ozone Layer. Recent studies have shown that the measures to control CFCs has had a positive impact and that the hole in the ozone over Antarctica is the smallest that it has been in two decades. That said, the hole in the Ozone Layer is still three times the size of the continent of Australia so we will all still need to use suncreen and wear a hat when we go out in the sun for a while yet.

An Interesting Discussion About Restoring The Ozone

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_depletion

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/10/25/3618542.htm

Shane Cheek

EnduroBox.com

The post Mending the Hole in the Ozone appeared first on Endurobox - Rented Moving Boxes.

A great deal of the damage that has been done to our environment is the result of obvious abuses of the natural world like dumping waste into rivers and lakes or the effects of vehicle emissions. Often these effects on our world are very apparent as is the case with the consumer garbage that we use in landfill but some of the effects that we have on our environment are less visible and may have a greater impact than the smog over our cities. Perhaps the greatest threat facing our environment today is the impact that invasive species has on the natural world that we live in.

Invasive species are often hard to see or people are ignorant of the exotic origins of the plants and animals that are living around them. In some cases these feral species have made their own way into new territories where they can have a devastating effect on the habitat that supports the species native to the area. More commonly it is we who are responsible for the introduction of these feral plants and animals into our local ecosystems either by inadvertently transporting them along with the goods that we transport across the globe every day or because we have consciously introduced them to our local ecosystem in a vain effort to control pests that attack our crops or simply for their ornamental value.

Because introduced exotic species behave in unexpected ways when they are introduced to new regions they often have a devastating effect on the biodiversity of an ecosystem. Many of the hallmarks of invasive species are that they adapt readily to their new environment and with a lack of natural controls they can very quickly become the dominant factor in their new ecosystem. By displacing or aggressively hunting native species these exotic influences have a wide ranging effect on the entire natural balance of our environment. The lack of natural checks on their spread means that invasive species often spread very quickly from one region to another and their abundant new environment often encourages accelerated reproduction which only further exacerbates the problem.

Invasive species not only damage the environment but also cause billions of dollars in damage to our natural resources. The introduction of species like Zebra mussels to the Great Lakes have even changed the water in the lakes from murky to clear which has had a wide negative impact on the balance in their ecosystem with sunlight now able to penetrate to depths where it displaces organisms that require the darkness to survive. Similarly, Asian Carp that were introduced to the US in the 1970s as a natural way to keep ponds free of algae have escaped into the wild where they can reach 100 lbs and will eat almost anything, enabling them to out compete and displace the native species.

The impact of invasive species on the world economy is incalculable and in many countries the problem goes unchecked and so it continues to get worse. The cost of these invasive species to our economy is calculated to run into the billions in the United States alone. In some cases, such as the introduction of the Indian Mongoose to Hawaii as a measure to control pests in the cane fields has not only failed as an agricultural control but has also damaged other forms of agriculture costing millions in lost production. 

There are initiatives in many places around the world that are aimed at restoring native habitats but while there is no question of the value of this research the problem is huge and requires a coordinated effort and much more funding than it currently receives. While we are no longer indulging in follies like the importation of Starlings in the 1800s in an effort to introduce the birds of Shakespeare to America we are still faced with repairing the damage that these indulgences have caused. Only now that we are seeing it disappear are we beginning to understand the value and importance that our native ecosystems with their rich biodiversity have not only for the environment but also for our economy.

Shane Cheek

EnduroBox.com

The post The Cost of Silent Invaders – Biodiversity appeared first on Endurobox - Rented Moving Boxes.

Carbon taxes have begun to appear in many places in the world as governments try and reduce the amount of carbon that we release into the atmosphere. Several countries, among them some of the largest economies in the world have implemented taxes on carbon emissions or their sources and in the coming year large countries like China have plans to put carbon taxes into action as more nations fall into line with the Kyoto Protocol. As of the beginning of 2013 California has joined these countries in their efforts to put a price on carbon in what has been dubbed as an ‘ambitious experiment in fighting climate change’.

California is the largest state in the Union and the ninth largest economy in the world which makes this experiment the most significant attempt to reduce and put a price on carbon emissions anywhere in the world. The plan has met with some opposition due in part to the fact that Congress has already considered the taxation model that will be used in California and failed to pass it into legislation. Other states have expressed concerns that the new Californian tax will impose new costs which make the tax a national concern while there have also been claims that the tax will make Californian businesses more exclusionist. There are also doubts about whether the plan can succeed with large companies who are likely to move their cleaner activities to California and their dirtier processes to tax free states.

California has adopted a cap and trade approach to taxing carbon emissions, which sets an upper limit on allowable levels of carbon and permits the purchase of carbon credits to offset emissions. The model chosen is very similar to carbon taxes that have been implemented in Australia and New Zealand as well as voluntary schemes that have been launched by the European Union. In their official statement concerning the cap and trade scheme for carbon reduction the California EPA sets their target as an 80% reduction in 1990 carbon emission levels by 2050. The plan is designed to minimize the cost to the economy by setting a statewide limit on carbon emissions at a low tax rate with costs above that becoming more severe. The hope is that business will see that it is cheaper to reduce emissions rather than to pay for offsets elsewhere.

The choice of cap and trade schemes with their option of buying trade off carbon credits has come under criticism here and around the world. Recently James Hansen, a senior NASA climate scientist criticized the trade off of carbon as being half assed because it allows the worst offenders to buy credits somewhere that is unconnected to them and they avoid having to clean up their own mess. In his talk to the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco he said

“That’s been tried in Europe and it didn’t do much. What you want is a system which is very simple.” It remains to be seen whether the scheme is effective or not but with California’s poor record of air quality it could almost be said that any action is better than none.

 

A link ideas of energy production and storage in the future.

These are all brilliant people!

 http://www.ted.com/playlists/58/the_end_of_oil.html

A talk on the future possibilities of energy and emissions.

Sources:

1. http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/capandtrade/capandtrade.htm

2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/05/james-hansen_n_2247479.html

3. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/californias-climate-change-experiment/2012/12/30/942d4c40-4fb5-11e2-839d-d54cc6e49b63_story.html

Shane Cheek

EnduroBox.com

The post California and the Carbon Tax Experiment – Kyoto Protocol appeared first on Endurobox - Rented Moving Boxes.

Most people who live in cities would be familiar with industrial emissions and car exhaust fumes as major contributors to air pollution but determining the quality of the air that we breathe everyday is much more complex than looking at how thick the smog is on any given day. Air pollution tops the list of environmental hazards and has arguably the widest impact on our health and our lifestyles. Increased urbanization in the past century has seen the air quality in most populated centers in decline so that in some of the world’s largest cities it is commonplace for people to wear face masks to protect themselves from pollutants.

The State of the Air 2012 report from the American Lung Association indicates that while there have been significant improvements to our air quality in recent years that 41% of the population is still being exposed to levels of pollutants that make their air dangerous to breathe. While aggregate emissions are significantly down in the past decade the increases in energy consumption and transport emissions is still a major contributor to the pollution of our air. The report attributes most of the improvements to the Clean Air Act which has been moving us towards cleaner air since it was enacted in 1970.

What’s in the Air that We Breathe?

While some air pollutants can be immediately obvious such as smoke or volatile chemicals many of the most harmful ingredients in modern air pollution are invisible and odorless and most of us aren’t even aware that we are breathing them in. Toxic chemicals such as sulfur oxides and invisible gasses like carbon monoxide or nitrogen dioxide are the major contributors to the decline in air quality while even some of the most harmful metals such as lead and cadmium have been introduced into the atmosphere via the fuels that we use and the industrial processes that we employ to drive our consumptive lifestyles.

While the air outside of our homes can be a source of concern, studies have shown that indoor air quality can often be worse. Emissions from the fuels that we use in our households, fumes from chemicals for cleaning and even the gases that are given off from some furnishings all can contribute to the degradation of the quality of the air that we breathe in our homes. Things like mould and moisture and smoke can be asthma triggers and it can often be the case that the air outside could be cleaner than the air inside a home.

Towards a Solution
There are three major sources of air pollution; transport, residential and industrial emissions and while there have been many major initiatives to reduce industrial pollution generally it is individuals and the choices that they make that can have the biggest impact on our overall air quality.  The impact that air pollution has on our health is staggering with connections to a variety of chronic lung and cardiovascular diseases and even to diabetes. A recent tightening of the EPA’s air quality standards for particulate pollution like soot which will cost an estimated $350 million to implement could return as much as $4 billion in savings on our national health bill every year.

Contributing to the solution can be as simple as walking instead of taking the car, choosing solvent free cleaning products and choosing green energy suppliers to heat and light our homes. Our energy hungry lifestyle comes at a price and the greatest cost is to our health which makes the need to clean up the air that we breathe one of the most important environmental issues of our times.

 

Here is a TED Talk about using natural indoor air filtration!

References:

1. http://www.stateoftheair.org/2012/assets/state-of-the-air2012.pdf

2. http://www.epa.gov/air/caa/index.html

3. http://www.epa.gov/iaq/ia-intro.html#Causes

4. http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/12/17/epa-tightens-soot-pollution-standard/?graph=full&id=1

Shane Cheek

EnduroBox.com

The post Improve Your Air Quality and Breathe Easy appeared first on Endurobox - Rented Moving Boxes.

America’s Great Lakes contain 20% of the world’s fresh water and are a national resource that contributes tens of billions of dollars to the economy each year. As important as these iconic bodies of water are to America they continue to suffer environmental degradation at an alarming rate. A new study has mapped the stressors that are impacting on the ecosystem of the Great Lakes and this has highlighted the most significant areas of degradation and the failings of the many attempts that are being made to clean up the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes Environmental Assessment and Mapping Project measured over three dozen stressors, defined as any substance, condition, flux or organisms that have an impact on the ecosystem of the Great Lakes. Their study targeted seven categories of influences that were contributing to the degradation of the Great Lakes environmental health. Data from areas as diverse as alterations to the aquatic environment due to soil erosion and shoreline hardening, coastal development such as new residential or commercial infrastructure to the influence of toxic chemicals, invasive species and fisheries management techniques has been used to create a map that indicates the greatest areas of stress on the Great Lakes ecosystems.

The mapping project is headed by David Allan, professor of aquatic sciences at the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment who said of the report;
“Despite clear societal dependence on the Great Lakes, their condition continues to be degraded by numerous environmental stressors”. He went on to point out that in spite of many efforts to clean up the lakes that their condition continues to decline. The report highlights the failure of the piecemeal approach to finding sustainable approach to rehabilitating the environment of this great national resource. It has also pointed out the greatest threats to the future health of the Great Lakes ecosystem.

Even a casual glance at the map reveals that the areas where there are the greatest concentration of human habitation in the Great Lakes region there is also a higher incidence of environmental degradation. Especially in Lake Michigan Lake Erie and Lake Ontario which bear the heaviest industrial burden of all of the lakes the stress on the environment is extreme while areas that are more remote such as the northern shores of Lake Superior appear to be relatively healthy. One of the greatest stressors on all of the lakes has been the introduction of exotic species which have made the Great Lakes the most invaded freshwater ecosystem on the planet.

Although the use of the Great Lakes for transport is in decline it is still used to ship over 160 million tons of cargo every year. They also supply drinking water to tens of millions of people in both the US and Canada and have become a multibillion dollar tourist resource for the region. All of these things are under threat by our abuse of the Great Lakes ecosystem and initiative like this mapping project are a vital first step in the restoration of these magnificent lakes to their original condition.

References:

1. http://www.greatlakesmapping.org/great_lake_stressors/5/changing-water-levels

2. http://www.greatlakesmapping.org/

3. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121217152540.htm

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes

The post Twenty Percent Of The Worlds Fresh Water Supply At Lowest Level In History – Great Lakes appeared first on Endurobox - Rented Moving Boxes.

When we think of pollution it generally conjures up images of smog clouds or oil slicks washing up onto beaches but there is another kind of pollution that affects us all just about every day. Noise pollution is far more subtle than these other influences on our environment but it can have a big impact on the quality of our lives and even effects many of the creatures that we share the planet with.

According to the World Health Organization noise pollution ranks second behind air pollution as an environmental hazard. According to WHO studies, Europeans lose 1.6 million years of healthy living annually due to the effects of noise pollution. It seems that our busy urban lifestyle may be killing us as the major sources of noise pollution in our lives is from construction and transport such as road works and traffic noise. Depending on what sort of urban planning you live with things like rail transport systems and even aircraft can add to the noise pollution levels in your personal environment 

To some degree we all learn to live with a certain level of ambient noise, especially if we live in cities with higher population density but apparently it is not really good for our health. Noise pollution has been linked to high blood pressure, stress, cardiovascular disease and hypertension as well as obvious things like tinnitus and sleep deprivation. Exposure to noise pollution has also been linked to learning difficulties in children. In recent years there has been an increase in litigation by people that are willing to sue to protect their peace and quiet.

An aspect of noise pollution that is often overlooked is its impact on wildlife. The noise of our activities can reduce the useable habitat for many species and also interferes in animals that use sound to communicate or to navigate. Whales have been known to beach themselves in response to powerful Navy sonar while many bird species like Zebra Finches have altered their mating habits in areas of high traffic noise which effects the process of natural selection in unknown ways. Noise pollution is thought to be a significant contributing factor on the path to extinction for many different kinds of animals.

There are things being done to reduce the noise pollution in our environment. Advances in town planning codes have seen new roads being constructed with sound barriers to reduce the noise in neighboring suburban streets. Houses are being built to be more acoustically friendly now with sound control materials built into walls and double glazed windows. Good town planning now separates residential areas from the noisiest urban precincts like shopping malls and industrial complexes.

Even so there is still a lot that we can all do to reduce the amount of noise pollution that we generate. While we will probably never escape the sounds of suburban life like the thumping music of a local party we can all make practical lifestyle choices that will contribute. Choosing to drive quieter vehicles can significantly reduce the daily rush hour engine rumble while insulating our homes against noise pollution could be a simple way to improve the quality of life for ourselves and our neighbors.

References:

1. http://www.fastcoexist.com/1677868/noise-pollution-is-secretly-killing-you-says-a-new-study

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_pollution

Shane Cheek

EnduroBox.com

The post Noise Pollution appeared first on Endurobox - Rented Moving Boxes.

Everyone is aware that we are facing many environmental challenges but the sheer number of reported problems makes the issue very confusing for many people. Often the media focuses on the environmental issues of the moment and it is easy to forget the most fundamental problems that we need to learn to deal with if we are going to repair the damage that has been done. So what are the big issues that are facing mother Earth right now?

5. Our Changing Climate

Regardless of the reasons it is still certain that our climate is going through some very dramatic changes. From the hole in the ozone layer to our melting ice caps the issue of climate change has come to impact on everything that we do. We are learning to live with more extreme and unpredictable weather patterns that have threatened not only our cities but also our agricultural production and governments around the world are beginning to implement environmental taxes and tighten their environmental policies in an effort to reduce global warming by cutting back on carbon emissions. Changing our lifestyle, especially in the West, to be more environmentally mindful is one of the great challenges of our times.

4. Unsustainable Agricultural Practices

The shift that agriculture has made in the past century to industrial farms that employ highly mechanized monocropping methods to fill the shelves at our supermarkets has come at a price. Over use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has degraded the soils and polluted the groundwater, causes algal blooms in lakes and rivers and discourages the development of healthy biodiversity which in turn increases the need to use more chemicals to produce the same crops. Another growing problem is that often improper use of soils has resulted in raising salinity further compounding the difficulty of repairing the damage.

3. Declining Air and Water Quality

One of the most obvious outcomes of the industrial age has been the degradation of the air and water quality. Most cities suffer with smog problems that are generated by the fossil fuels that we use to power our lives. At the same time our waterways have long been a dump for our industrial residues and even the runoff water from our city streets has become toxic to much of the aquatic life that rivers and lakes rely on to maintain their healthy balance. Of course all of this has an effect on our individual lives and increases in asthma and the declining reserves of clean drinking water are just the beginning of the problem.

2. The Decline in Biodiversity

Everything that we do has some impact on the environment and very often the first thing to happen is that the indigenous habitat becomes degraded and the variety of species goes into sharp decline. The causes of habitat degradation range from the introduction of exotic flora and feral fauna to the wholesale clearing of sensitive environments to use the land for huge corporate farms. The imbalance that the loss of biodiversity causes further compounds the degradation problems, increasing the effort that is required to restore the environment to its original state.

1. Overpopulation

The basis for all of these problems stems from the overpopulation problems that are becoming insurmountable in some regions of the world. Because many of the most populated areas of the world are also the poorest the environment in these areas also suffers the greatest abuse. The incentive to cut down rainforests in order to create grazing land for cattle or to use chemical fertilizers to boost crops is more pressing in the Third World where having enough to eat has priority over sustainable practices.

In order to solve these problems and shift our focus to finding ways to live with the Earth not off of it we have to also overcome what may be the greatest threat to the environment of all- apathy. Some governments are beginning to take steps towards implementing environmental policies and corporations are beginning to clean up their act but we can only succeed if all of us take up the challenge of cleaning up our mess.

Shane Cheek

EnduroBox.com

Infographic located at http://www.habitables.co.uk/media/clean-energy-infographic

The post The Top 5 Environmental Issues of Our Time appeared first on Endurobox - Rented Moving Boxes.