Now, protect and prevent

Air pollution (dangerous factor) - Causes - Effects

2021-07-31T21:40:00.005-07:00

Around the world, air pollution is becoming more and more serious and directly threatens human health.

1. So what is air pollution?

Air pollution means the presence of chemicals or compounds in the air which are usually not present and which lower the quality of the air or cause detrimental changes to the quality of life (such as the damaging of the ozone layer or causing global warming). Air pollutants are substances in the air that can have adverse effects on people and ecosystems. The substance can be a solid particle, a liquid droplet, or a gas. Pollutants can be of natural origin or man-made.

ü CO2: this is a greenhouse gas that causes the most serious air pollution.

ü Sox: Formed during volcanic eruptions and industrial production of gas such as petroleum, sulfur, etc.

ü Nox: The gas emitted during combustion has a reddish brown color, a characteristic odor and is very toxic.

ü CO: Produced during the combustion of fuels such as wood, coal, and vehicles.

ü Organic Compounds VOC

ü Fine particles

ü Toxic metals such as lead, mercury

ü CFCs are harmful to the ozone layer, industrial NH3 and other radioactive substances.

2. Causes of air pollution are classified as follows:

b. Natural causes

ü Dust from the natural environment

ü Methane is released from the digestion of food by animals.

ü Radon gas decays in the earth's crust.

ü Smoke and carbon monoxide from forest fires.

ü Volatile organic compounds released by humans and organisms.

ü Volcanic activity produces smoke, dust, chlorine and sulfur.

b. Human causes

ü Smoke and emissions from factories and factories.

ü Smoke burning fuels such as wood, coal, etc.

ü Emissions from vehicles.

ü Vapors from paints and other solvents.

ü Solid waste is deposited to form methane gas.

ü Military resources: nuclear weapons, chemical warfare, toxic gases, missiles.

ü Vehicles emit Co, Co2, SO2, Nox, Pb, CH4 and dust

ü Life activities

3. Consequences of air pollution

Air pollution leaves many serious consequences for people, organisms, ecosystems and the development of the economy and society.

a. Impact on animals and plants

ü Affects all living organisms.

ü Toxic gases cause direct harm when entering the organism, reducing resistance to dangerous diseases,

ü Plants are sensitive to high concentrations of HF causing leaf spotting and defoliation.

ü The greenhouse effect causes many changes in plants and animals.

ü Acid rain destroys flora, breaks food chains and causes diseases for organisms. Acid rain also changes the properties of water, causing serious damage to aquatic life.

b. Impact on the people

ü Dust: Causes mechanical irritation, fibrosis of the lungs leading to diseases of the respiratory tract, eyes, skin, blood sugar and other systems in the body. Even dust contains toxic substances that can cause cancer.

ü SO2: Causes an increase in respiratory mucosal secretions, affecting lung function, causing asthma and cardiovascular disease. SO2 also has the ability to cause toxicity through the skin, disrupting body metabolism.

ü NO2: Brown gas strongly affects the respiratory system of the elderly and young children.

ü CO: Causes the blood to reduce its ability to carry oxygen and circulate blood.

ü NH3: Strong toxic gas that irritates the respiratory system and is potentially life-threatening.

ü H2S: at low concentrations can cause eye and respiratory irritation, but high concentrations can cause acute poisoning or even death.

ü Volatile organic compounds VOCs cause acute toxicity when exposed to high doses.

ü Lead: Causes bone marrow disorders, nervous system toxicity, red blood cell breakdown, lead poisoning can be fatal.

ü Randon gas can enter the body through the respiratory tract, skin causing cancer.

c. Impact on the property vehicles

ü Make metal rust, corrode concrete

ü Discoloration, rapid deterioration of works

ü Reduces the plasticity and color of fabrics, paper, tanning

d. Impact on the whole world

ü Causing acid rain

ü Greenhouse effect

ü Depleting the ozone layer, changing temperature in a negative direction.

Thermal pollution - Causes- Effects (A dangerous threat)

2021-07-30T21:27:00.005-07:00

When someone thinks of pollution, the idea of thermal pollution often doesn’t come to mind. People will first think of things like carbon emissions, personal pollution and waste, and a variety of other changing factors.However, there is a type of pollution that is little known but has a tremendous impact on the ecological environment: thermal pollution.

What is thermal pollution?

Thermal pollution is an activity that changes the temperature of water and natural gas, thereby altering water composition such as oxygen concentration, organic matter structure, causing changes in ecosystems.

What is the cause of thermal pollution?

All the equipment and machinery, the process of concreting, deforestation ... will also be the cause of heat pollution. The phenomenon of heat pollution will be caused by the following causes:

Water as a Cooling Agent in Power, Manufacturing and Industrial Plants
Soil Erosion
Deforestation
Runoff From Paved Surfaces
Natural Causes
Retention Ponds
Domestic Sewage

How has huge consequences of Thermal pollution?

What is the phenomenon of thermal pollution that will bring extremely serious consequences, directly affecting human life and the natural environment as follows:

Decrease in DO (Dissolved Oxygen) Levels
Increase in Toxins
Loss of Biodiversity
Ecological Impact
Affects Reproductive Systems
Increases Metabolic Rate
Migration in living species

Noise pollution - Causes - Effescts

2021-07-30T04:26:00.002-07:00

Noise pollution is one of the extremely serious problems that greatly affect the health of the community in today's society. So what is noise pollution?

1. What is noise pollution?

Noise pollution or noise disturbance is noise in the environment that exceeds a certain threshold. This causes pain and discomfort for those in that environment.

2. Causes of noise pollution. We can divide this into two causes as follows:

a. Natural causes: This cause is understood:

The noise is generated from volcanic activity and earthquakes. However, this is only a secondary cause, only when there are volcanoes and earthquakes will there be noise pollution and only really affects households living near volcanic or earthquake areas.

b. Artificial cause: This is the main cause of environmental pollution today.

Due to moving vehicles such as cars, motorbikes, planes, trains, etc.

Due to production and business establishments

Due to construction activities

Due to daily life

Some other sources of noise pollution such as: Protests, public events, sporting events (shooting range, bicycle racing...). Sources from animals such as barking dogs, pigs, ducks from livestock households. Neighbor noises, such as loud music, screaming, breaker noises, random alarms, fireworks. Especially the sound of cell phones in public places, including classrooms and conferences, is also a source of noise pollution.

3. Effects of noise pollution

Noise pollution has extremely serious effects on human health today. Specifically like:

Hearing loss

Increased risk of cardiovascular diseases

Psychological disorder

Reduced quality of sleep

Impact on communication

Vision pollution

2021-07-29T02:58:00.002-07:00

Vision pollution (also known as visual pollution) is an aesthetic issue and refers to the effects of pollution that impair a person's ability to enjoy a view or vision. Visual pollution disturbs the human visual area by creating harmful changes in the natural environment. This condition can take many forms, but most are caused by human action. The causes of vision pollution are many, of course, the main cause is from humans. Humans have created factors that affect our vision. There are also natural causes.

The factors that cause pollution to our earth today are:

Pollution of visibility due to landfills
Pollution of vision due to dust Visibility pollution due to buildings
Pollution of vision due to power lines
Pollution of vision due to advertising
Pollution of vision due to excessive waste production
Visibility pollution is caused by other causes such as: tourism, volcanic eruptions, traffic signs, pollution from antennas, excessive consumption, light and plastic....

Vision pollution affects quality of life:

Psychological influence
Effects on human physical health.
Makes our eye fatigue.
Causing distraction.
This situation can lead to loss of concentration
Made an accident
Loss of character of an area

Over time due to the influence of human and natural factors. Visibility pollution can be a serious problem in many areas of the world.

Light Pollution: Things you need to know

2021-07-27T22:55:00.001-07:00

With a civilized lifestyle, modern industry, rapid urbanization….people have used improperly or excessively artificial light at night and as a result, we are suffering from heavy light pollution. masonry.

What is light pollution?

Light pollution, photopollution, is the improper or excessive use of artificial light (anthropogenic light) especially at night. Therefore, light pollution is often the result of a civilized lifestyle, modern industry, rapid urbanization, etc.

There are many types of light pollution such as:

(1) Glare, excessive brightness causing visual discomfort;

(2) skyglow bright area of the night sky over an inhabited area;

(3) Light trespas of light that penetrates unintentionally, unnecessarily; and

(4) Light clusters are groups of unhelpful light.

Harmful effects of light pollution

In light pollution, excess light will disrupt the ecosystem, disrupt the circadian rhythm of the day and night, and adversely affect the health of humans, animals and plants in the environment.

* Harm to animal and human health

Many medical studies show that light pollution has many harmful effects on human health including: headaches, fatigue, stress, sexual decline, anxiety, depression.

* Disrupt the ecosystem

Normal circadian rhythms are formed through coordination with the natural light-dark cycle, so disrupting this pattern affects ecological dynamics. Therefore, artificial light, used for night lighting, is also an important cause of ecosystem disturbance.

Scientists have shown that light pollution can be easily reversed and reversed with simple individual actions: Only use light in the necessary time and space; Do not use excessive lighting; Limit blue light (blue light); Protection, proper use of sunlight; Use curtains to prevent light from entering; Measure light pollution levels to standardize equipment, utensils, etc.

TYPES OF WATER POLLUTION FROM MINING

2021-07-26T21:24:00.002-07:00

There are four main types of mining impacts on water quality.

1. Acid Mine Drainage
Acid Rock Drainage (ARD) is a natural process whereby sulphuric acid is produced when sulphides in rocks are exposed to air and water. Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is essentially the same process, greatly magnified. When large quantities of rock containing sulphide minerals are excavated from an open pit or opened up in an underground mine, it reacts with water and oxygen to create sulphuric acid. When the water reaches a certain level of acidity, a naturally occurring type of bacteria called Thiobacillus ferroxidans may kick in, accelerating the oxidation and acidification processes, leaching even more trace metals from the wastes. The acid will leach from the rock as long as its source rock is exposed to air and water and until the sulphides are leached out – a process that can last hundreds, even thousands of years. Acid is carried off the minesite by rainwater or surface drainage and deposited into nearby streams, rivers, lakes and groundwater. AMD severely degrades water quality, and can kill aquatic life and make water virtually unusable.

2. Heavy Metal Contamination & Leaching.

Heavy metal pollution is caused when such metals as arsenic, cobalt, copper, cadmium, lead, silver and zinc contained in excavated rock or exposed in an underground mine come in contact with water. Metals are leached out and carried downstream as water washes over the rock surface. Although metals can become mobile in neutral pH conditions, leaching is particularly accelerated in the low pH conditions such as are created by Acid Mine Drainage.

3. Processing Chemicals PollutionThis kind of pollution occurs when chemical agents (such as cyanide or sulphuric acid used by mining companies to separate the target mineral from the ore) spill, leak, or leach from the mine site into nearby water bodies. These chemicals can be highly toxic to humans and wildlife.

4. Erosion and Sedimentation

Mineral development disturbs soil and rock in the course of constructing and maintaining roads, open pits, and waste impoundments. In the absence of adequate prevention and control strategies, erosion of the exposed earth may carry substantial amounts of sediment into streams, rivers and lakes. Excessive sediment can clog riverbeds and smother watershed vegetation, wildlife habitat and aquatic organisms.

Soil pollution

2021-07-25T20:15:00.003-07:00

Land pollution is a serious problem that impacts humans, animals, and the earth. Without taking measures now to reduce pollution levels, permanent changes to the land can occur. The adverse changes to the environment due to land pollution are subtle, but the problem is much bigger than it appears. Land Pollution The basic definition of land pollution is the destruction and contamination of the land through the direct and indirect actions of humans. The pollution results in changes to the land, such as soil erosion. Some of the changes are irreversible, while others are not. Causes of Land Pollution There are several known causes of land pollution. Of those, there are six factors that contribute more than others.

1. Deforestation and soil erosion: When forests are cleared for development and to meet the demand for wood supply, the soil is loosened in the process. Without the protection of the trees, the land becomes barren over time and starts to erode.

2. Agricultural chemicals: Part of the farming process often involves the use of harmful pesticides and insecticides to protect crops. However, the chemicals can cause the land to become barren. The once-fertile soil is then more susceptible to environmental elements, such as the wind.

3. Industrialization: The Industrial Revolution may have resulted in significant positive changes to the economy and society, but it also led to significant pollution of the land. Through unsafe disposal practices for chemicals used in manufacturing, poor regulation, and the overwhelming number of industries and factories that are polluting the land daily, industrialization has become one of the main contributors to the pollution problem. Due to an increase in demand for food, shelter, and house, more goods are produced. This resulted in creation of more waste that needs to be disposed of. To meet the demand of the growing population, more industries were developed which led to deforestation. Research and development paved the way for modern fertilizers and chemicals that were highly toxic and led to soil contamination.

4. Mining: The mining process can lead to the creation of large open spaces beneath the surface of the earth. This can result in the land caving in, which compromises the integrity of the land. Mining also results in harmful chemicals, such as uranium, being disturbed and released into the environment.

5. Landfills: The garbage found at landfills is filled with toxins that eventually seep into the earth. During rains, the toxins are washed into other areas and the pollution is spread. As the population grows, the amount of garbage filling landfills also grows.

6. Human sewage: Untreated human waste can produce toxic gases that can seep into the ground. As with air pollution, the soil quality is negatively impacted, and land nearby can be contaminated. In addition to this, the probability of human illnesses occurring increases. Kaberi Murmu

7. Construction activities: Due to urbanization, a large number of construction activities are taking place which has resulted in large waste articles like wood, metal, bricks, plastic that can be seen by naked eyes outside any building or office which is under construction.

8. Nuclear waste: Nuclear plants can produce a huge amount of energy through nuclear fission and fusion. The left over radioactive material contains harmful and toxic chemicals that can affect human health. They are dumped beneath the earth to avoid any casualty

Water Pollution

2021-07-25T04:10:00.003-07:00

Clean environment is the basic life supporting system and pure water plays a prominent role in balancing the ecosystem. The environment provides us with the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and a shelter to protect ourselves. Access to fresh and clean water is a basic necessity of any living being for existence. But now it is least available. The adage, “Water, water everywhere, not a drop to drink,” rightly fits the current scenario.

No human activity can be possible without pure water. We face an acute shortage of clean drinking water and millions of people have been suffering from the shortage of pure drinking water. Despite knowing all these facts, people continue to contaminate water bodies recklessly exploiting the natural source of drinking water and risking the lives of millions of aquatic species.

Water pollution poses a significant threat to the ecology and sustenance of life. The first and foremost cause of water pollution is the dumping of industrial wastes directly into the water bodies, and catchment areas without proper treatment. Aquatic species consume these harmful chemicals and become a huge menace to the ecosystem. It also leads to the reduction of oxygen content in the rivers and lakes.

Also, ruthless usage of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture, are a reason to pollute water bodies. Uncontrolled discharge of wastes and improper sanitation also contribute to water pollution. When humans and animals intake water from these polluted rivers and lakes, it affects the health adversely. You can easily identify impure water from its color.

The most critical step to prevent water pollution is to adopt appropriate waste management policies. Setting up of wastewater treatment plants can resolve this issue and hence we can protect our natural water resources from contamination and embrace an eco-friendly life.

Air Pollution

2021-07-25T01:37:00.004-07:00

The World Health Organisation defines air pollution as “the presence of materials in the air in such concentration which are harmful to man and his environment”. In fact, air pollution is the occurrence or addition of harmful particles, gases and other pollutants into the air which have an adverse effect on human beings, animals, vegetation, etc.

Sulfur dioxide emitted from the combustion of fossil fuels like coal, petroleum and other factory combustibles are one the major cause of air pollution. Pollution emitting from vehicles cause an immense amount of pollution. We depend on vehicles of fulfilling our basic need of transportation. But, their overuse is killed our environment as dangerous gases are produced from vehicles.

Ammonia is a very common product from agricultural related activities and is one of the most hazardous gases in the atmosphere. They emit harmful chemicals into the air and can also cause water pollution. Manufacturing industries release large amount of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, organic compounds and chemicals into the air thereby depleting the quality of air.

Mining is a process wherein minerals below the earth are extracted using large equipment. During this process dust and chemicals are released in the air causing massive air pollution. Household cleaning products, painting supplies emit toxic chemicals in the air.

Climate Change (danger of the earth)

2021-07-24T21:58:00.004-07:00

Global warming has really taken effect in the world over the last century. It is the unusually rapid increase in the Earth’s average surface temperature over the past century primarily due to the greenhouse gases released as people burn fossil fuels. Global warming is due to the enhancing greenhouse gases emission and build-up in the Earth’s environment. The gases that have an influence on the atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, dinitrogen-oxide, and methane. Almost 30 percent of incoming sunlight is reflected back into space by bright surfaces like clouds and ice. In the other 70 percent, most is absorbed by the land and ocean, and the rest is absorbed by the atmosphere. The absorbed solar energy heats our planet. This absorption and radiation of heat by the atmosphere is beneficial for life on Earth. Today, the atmosphere contains more greenhouse gas molecules, so more of the infrared energy emitted by the surface ends up being absorbed by the atmosphere. By increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases, we are making Earth’s atmosphere a more efficient greenhouse. Climate has cooled and warmed throughout the Earth history for various reasons. Rapid warming like we see today is unusual in the history of our planet. Some of the factors that have an effect on climate, like volcanic eruptions and changes in the amount of solar energy, are natural. Climate can change if there is a change in the amount of solar energy that gets to the Earth. Volcano eruptions can really affect climate, because when it erupts it spews out more than just lava and ash. Volcanoes release tiny particles made of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. These particles get into the stratosphere and reflect solar radiation back out to space. Snow and ice also have a great effect on climate. When snow and ice melts Earth’s climate warms, less energy is reflected and this causes even more warming. There are many different ways that plants, animals, and other life on our planet can affect climate. Some can produce greenhouse gases that trap heat and aid global warming through the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide is taken out of the atmosphere by plants as they make their food by photosynthesis. During the night, plants release some carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Methane is made while farm animals, such as cattle and sheep digest their food. Cars and trucks can effect climate by releasing carbon dioxide when fossil fuels are burned to power them. When wildfires occur, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. However, if a forest of similar size grows again, about the same amount of carbon that was added to the atmosphere during the fire will be removed. Some effects that scientists have predicted in the past would result when global change was occurring: loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise, and more intense heat waves. Scientists have confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for decades to come, largely due to greenhouse gases produced by human activities. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that the extent climate change effects on individual regions will vary over time and with ability of different societal and environmental systems mitigate or adapt to change (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). This has been the warmest decade since 1880. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2010 and 2005 has been the warmest years on record. The earth could warm by an additional 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit during the 21st century if we fail to reduce emissions from burning fossil fuels (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). The rising of temperature will have great effects on the earth’s climate patterns and on all living things. Industrial activities that our modern civilization depends upon have raised atmospheric carbon dioxide from 280 parts per million to 379 parts per million in the last 150 years (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).

In conclusion, we need to take part and try to stop global warming and other effects on climate change. If the earth’s temperatures continue to rise in the future, living things on earth would become extinct due to the high temperatures. If humans contribute to control global warming, this world would be cooler and the high temperatures we currently have would decrease. If everybody as one take stand and try to end most of the climate changes that are occurring, this world would be a safer place to live on.

Waste

2015-04-15T20:47:00.001-07:00

During the year 2008/2009, 37% of UK household waste was recycled, compared to only 14% in 2000/2001 and during that period the amount sent to landfill fell from 78% to 50%. According to DEFRA (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) waste management accounted for an estimated 3.6% of the UK's green house emissions during 2

008. 89% of this came from landfill, 9% from wastewater handling and 2% from waste incineration.
Vast amounts of domestic and industrial waste are generated each year and landfill remains a common means of waste disposal in most countries. Traditionally this was simply dumped into holes in the ground and sites were located in former quarries, mining voids or borrow pits.
If properly designed and well managed, landfill can provide a hygienic and relatively inexpensive method of waste disposal. On the other hand, poorly designed or poorly managed landfill sites can create wind blown litter, attract vermin and allow contamination to leach into the soil. In addition as the waste breaks down methane and carbon dioxide are produced, which are greenhouse gases and can cause odour problems and kill surface vegetation.
These problems can largely be overcome by lining the pit with clay to prevent leaching; compacting the waste to increase density and stability; covering the material to prevent attracting rats and mice; and installing gas extraction systems.
In spite of this, landfill is becoming more controversial, partly due to the ever-decreasing number of suitable sites, but largely for the fact that it encourages the dumping of materials that could be reused or recycled.
People are beginning to look for other solutions and attention is turning to ways in which all this waste can be put to good use. Incineration of waste has always been fairly common in a domestic context, but it is also carried out on an industrial scale. It is useful for disposing of residue of both solid waste management and solid residue from wastewater management. The process reduces volumes of solid waste to between 20% and 30% of its original volume.
Incineration can be used for the disposal of solid, liquid and gaseous waste and is recognised as being a practical method of disposing of certain hazardous waste materials such as biological medical waste.
It is a particularly common method of waste disposal in highly populated countries such as Japan where land is scarce. Again, this is a controversial means of waste disposal. Often these incineration furnaces are used to generate, heat, steam or electricity, but combustion is not always perfect and there is concern about the emission of gaseous pollutants and the harm that they might do to the environment.
Recycling can be a very cost-effective way of disposing of waste materials by collecting them for reprocessing into new products. Many items of domestic and industrial waste can be recycled. Aluminium from beverage cans, steel food or aerosol cans, copper wire, old cars, plastic bottles, glass bottles, scrap paper, newspapers, magazines and cardboard are just some examples.
Materials such as glass, steel and aluminium can be recycled an infinite number of times and reprocessed using a fraction of the amount of energy that is needed to create a new product. It should be pointed out that if glass is put in landfill it will take about 4,000 years to break down.
Computers and electronic equipment can also be recycled, but this usually involves painstaking dismantling. For this reason, combined with lack of regulation, this type of e-waste (ewaste or electronic waste), is often shipped to developing countries where labour costs are lower; much of it ending up in large e-waste dumps.
Biological reprocessing of waste is really another name for composting, where the aim is to recycle material to produce a mulch or compost for agricultural or landscaping purposes. Quite often the waste gas, such as methane, that is generated as part of the process will be captured and used for generating electricity or heat, thus maximising efficiencies.
Composting is very common in the domestic situation and has been popular with generations of gardeners, where vegetable matter such as garden waste is rotted down on the traditional compost heap.
Anaerobic digestion is the next step. Each year the UK produces 100 million tonnes of waste suitable for anaerobic digestion. Most of this, 80 to 90 million tonnes, is made up of manures and slurries, but 12 to 20 million tonnes is food waste.
It is estimated that by 2020 this could generate at least 10 to 20 TWh (terawatt hours - thousand million kilowatt hours) of heat and electricity per year, or 27 TWh if converted into biomethane for injection into the gas grid. Putting this into perspective, 27 TWh represents about 7% of current UK domestic gas demand.
It is also suggested that this gas could be further refined to produce hydrogen for use in stationary cogeneration fuel cells. If used in this way it would eliminate the pollution from products of combustion.
In the UK 66% of sewage sludge is already treated by anaerobic digestion and in 2008 this produced 0.7 TWh of electricity.
A further bonus of anaerobic digestion is that diversion of biodegradable waste from landfill can achieve a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Capturing biogas from one tonne of food waste will save the equivalent of 0.5 to 1 tonne of carbon dioxide.
Waste products always contain energy and this can be harnessed either by using them as direct combustion fuel or indirectly by processing them into another kind of fuel. Anaerobic digestion is an excellent example of this indirect process.
In the years of plenty our society became a ''throw away'' society; when something broke or wore out it was simply thrown away. An important part of waste management is to prevent the creation of such waste material. This includes repairing broken items rather than simply replacing them with new ones; reusing cotton shopping bags rather than using throwaway plastic ones; avoiding the use of disposable products and designing products that use less material while serving the same purpose, such as lightweight drink cans and bottles.
The cornerstone of most waste management strategies is the waste hierarchy, also known as the ''3 Rs'' - reduce, reuse, recycle. The aim is to extract the maximum practical benefit from products and to generate the minimum amount of waste.
It can be compared to a six-layer pyramid.

At the peak is the ultimate aim - the prevention of waste.

The next layer is minimisation, where you generate as little waste as possible.

Below this is reuse, where you repair rather than throw away.

The next layer is recycling where waste materials are processed into new products.

Fifth from the top is energy recovery where energy is extracted from remaining waste.

Finally, the bottom line, the disposal of anything that is left. Various strategies have been considered to deal with waste. Producer responsibility is a strategy designed to promote the integration of all costs associated with a product up to its eventual disposal. Manufacturers, importers or vendors of a product are required to be responsible for its end-of-life disposal. The costs of this would obviously be reflected in the purchase price.
Another strategy is the polluter pays principle. In this case the polluting party is responsible for paying for the impact caused to the environment. With respect to waste management, this will generally mean being required to pay for appropriate disposal of waste.
An example of this principle would involve the kerbside collection vehicle weighing each bin as it was being emptied and the consumer subsequently being billed accordingly.
One of the most critical issues with respect to waste management is education and awareness. The world's natural resources are in grave danger. Environmental pollution and degradation are occurring at an unprecedented scale and speed.
Waste material represents a fantastic resource that in many cases is simply there waiting to be tapped. To simply bury it in the ground or burn it is not a realistic option in the 21^stcentury.

Food and Water Security

2015-04-13T21:02:00.001-07:00

How easy it is to take things for granted. From the comfort of the developed world it is hard to imagine what it must be like to be constantly hungry, with an ever-present fear of starvation and to live in a world where a plentiful supply of fresh water is just a dream.
Nobody knows the exact number of malnourished people in the world. Latest estimates by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), released in October 2010, put the number at 925 million, which is 13.6% of the estimated world population. Other sources maintain that by 2007 there were already a billion malnourished people in the world and the number has been rising by 10 million a year ever since. Whatever source you care to rely on for information, these are mind boggling numbers. In round figures at least 1 in 7 people are hungry.

As long ago as 1996 the World Food Summit said that food security would only exist ''when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.'' Taking 824 million as the starting point, which was the number in 1990-92, a target was set to halve this number of undernourished people by 2015. Although there has been progress in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, it is clear that the world is not making much overall progress towards this goal.
Understandably, nearly all of the undernourished people come from developing countries, with 62% coming from Asia and the Pacific Region and 26% coming from Sub-Saharan Africa. Somewhat surprisingly according to FAO 19 million malnourished people live in developed countries.
Children are the most vulnerable and poor nutrition plays a part in at least half of the 10.9 million child deaths each year. Children born to a malnourished mother have a higher proportion of learning disabilities, mental problems, general poor health, blindness and premature death.
Poverty is the underlying cause of hunger and the political situation in a given area can also be an important factor. In many cases the resources and income of an area are based on military, political and economic power. Typically this will end up in the hands of a minority who live well, while those at the bottom barely survive.
Clearly there must be political will to improve the local situation, but often the question is ''where on earth do we start?'' In countries that are already desperately poor, it is necessary to prioritise scarce resources. Unfortunately it often boils down to who can shout the loudest.
Charities can make a significant contribution, but it is important if possible to avoid 'food aid' projects where food is simply handed out. This in effect is no more than ''dumping' food and will simply undermine the local economy by undercutting local producers, who will then stop producing.
Sometimes in the case of extreme famine, immediate support is necessary and food aid is the only answer, but initiatives to support local producers by providing tools, seeds and expertise have proved to be significantly more successful in the longer term. Often a combination of both is an appropriate solution.
Poverty and political turmoil are the usual reasons for hungry people to stay hungry, but it is important to look at the reasons why they are hungry in the first place. Almost invariably the answer will point to climatic conditions.
Many of the poorer people of the world live by subsistence farming and their crops are dependent on the weather. Extreme weather can prove fatal. Crops can fail if the weather is too hot or too cold; or too dry or too wet, or simply because rain does not fall at the right time.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believes that: ''climate change alone is estimated to increase the number of people at risk of hunger to between 40 million and 170 million.'' It is considered to be very likely that climate change and variability will lead to extreme weather events such as more intense and longer droughts. This coupled with water scarcity reduces dietary diversity and overall food consumption, which in turn can lead to under nutrition.
The frequency of rainfall has increased over most land areas and the risk of flooding may increase, both from sea level rise and increased rainfall in coastal areas. As a result it is likely that more people will become exposed to diarrhoeal and other infectious diseases, which will lower their capacity to utilise their food effectively.
The projection is that by 2020 climate change will increase the burden of diarrhoeal diseases in low income regions by 2% to 5%. In Africa it is estimated that by 2100 climate change will have increased the number of person-months of exposure to malaria by 16% to 28%. This will affect food availability, access an utilisation and contribute to increased rates of anaemia in pregnancy.
Changes in vegetation on a large scale will affect surface temperatures and alter regional rainfall patterns. Diminishing and melting mountain glaciers could lead to water shortages and further food insecurity. It has been estimated that a 2^°C rise in world temperature would lead to 220 million people being put at risk of under nutrition due to reduced agricultural output.
Water security in many ways goes hand in hand with food security At present, almost 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water and more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Studies indicate that around 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year as a result of water and sanitation-related diseases.
In October 2010 the UN Human Rights Council affirmed that the right to safe, clean drinking water and sanitation is contained in existing human rights treaties and that States have a primary responsibility to ensure the full realisation of this and all other basic human rights. This is legally binding.
Food and water security are complex sustainable development issues, linked to heath through malnutrition, but also to sustainable economic development environment and trade.
We live in a world of extremes. Many of us have so much food that the World Health Organisation estimates that more than 1.5 billion adults, aged 20 and older, are overweight. Of these over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women are obese. Yet at the same time, in other parts of the world, millions are starving.
Food and water security are an aspiration for all and their absence is an affront to human dignity. Regrettably it must be said that universal food and water security are still a long way off but this should not stop everyone from doing everything in their power to bring it closer.
A major contributor to this lack of security is obviously climate change and although it is impossible to halt its relentless progress, by becoming more environmentally aware at least we can help to slow it down. From the comfort of the developed world it is easy to forget that we have a global responsibility for all mankind

The real-world effects and consequences of global warming

2015-04-09T21:56:00.003-07:00

The phrase 'global warming' has been thrown about so much, in the ongoing debate over dangers of man-made climate change, that it can seem more like a dark shadow on the horizon, than an imminent threat. But if the weighty evidence of thousands of scientific papers over the last two decades is to be believed, global warming isn't just real and happening now - its negative consequences are being played out all around us, affecting the lives of millions. So what exactly do we know about the effects of global warming on our planet in the here-and-now? And how will our futures be affected, as the global thermometer continues to rise?

Global warming - tortoise or hare?
One of the many confusing aspects of global warming is the very phrase itself. 'Global warming' was coined by climate scientists to describe the biggest knock-on from the increase in man-made greenhouse gases. As a whole, and averaged out over decades, the amount of heat trapped in the earth's atmosphere will gradually increase - in tandem with the rising levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. And years of painstaking temperature measurements from thousands of weather station records, have confirmed a slow inexorable rise in that overall temperature across the globe.
But while 'global warming' itself sounds big and scary, the actual numbers put to the planet's average temperature rise sounds rather small - maybe 1˚C averaged out over a century. Which sounds more like a tortoise than a hare, and so maybe not so scary a problem after all. However, it's not the slow rise of that difficult-to-measure global thermometer that's the problem. It's how that extra energy in the atmosphere knocks through to the rest of the climate - which we experience as weather - that is having the biggest impact on us all.

Hotter, wetter, wilder - the new normal?
Of course, the most obvious impact on us from global warming is a rise in the temperatures we experience day-to-day. However, that effect isn't felt 'in average' - it is being felt across the world's climate regions in a widely varying manner. Some parts of the globe are experiencing a rapid temperature increases - for example the Arctic, which has seen dramatic rises of over 2^°C in the last 30 years - others less so. And while most places are hotting up, a few are actually experiencing temporary cooling, such as parts of Antarctica.

The temperature changes are also happening at a faster rate than the planet has experienced in millions of years. Unused to this speed of change, major stress is being caused to the natural world - from ocean life, to trees, to birds. And because we depend for our food and water on the health of the world's ecosystems, those stresses are being felt by us too. So rising temperatures are already reducing food harvests, threatening fish stocks, and drying water sources.
And the problems with the heat don't stop there. Scientists predict that, not only will much of the globe see gradually rising temperatures, but extreme temperature spikes - such as heat-waves - will become much more common; and much more extreme. The destructive potential is well-illustrated by 2010's Russian heatwave, which saw 9 million hectares of crops destroyed, and 10,000 excess deaths. That extreme weather event has been linked conclusively to global warming.
It's not just extra heat that we are all having to deal with. The way water is moved around the from sea to atmosphere is changing too. The amount of rain that can fall from the skies is tied to how much water vapor is stored in the atmosphere. As the temperature of the air rises, it can hold more water vapor. So global warming charging up weather systems, allowing storms to dump greater volumes of water down upon our heads, so increasing the risks of flooding. Recent unprecedented floods in the Mississippi basin, Thailand and Pakistan may have had a helping hand from global warming.

Seas on the move
While the rising temperatures of global warming may be pushing the atmosphere towards greater extremes of weather - with all the destructive potential that implies - that extra heat is also having an effect on the oceans. As the oceans warm, they are expanding and swelling, so pushing sea levels higher. Add to that the extra water flowing into the seas from melting glaciers and land-locked ice-sheets, and global warming can be seen as the culprit for threatening the safety of low-lying coasts.
Again, it's not the gradual long-term rise in sea-levels that is a direct threat - thought to amount to as much as 1 meter, or 3 feet, over the next century - but how that higher base-line affects the natural 'sloshing about' of sea. The level of the sea is constantly on the move, in response to the tidal pull of the moon, and the heightening affect of low-pressure weather systems. That random rippling sea-level already causes occasional flooding risk to coastal communities, especially when storms push walls of sea-water ahead of them in 'surges'. But with average sea-levels inching higher, those storm-surges will be more common, go further inland, and be more destructive.

The unknown unknowns

While all of the above effects areIce sheets are melting faster than forecast and could disappear; tropical rain-forests such as the Amazon may be dried-out and decimated by shifting rainfall patterns; or the greenhouse gases locked up in the Arctic oceans could be released in a great methane belch.
serious enough - and are causing the most distress to those parts of the planet least able to deal with them - it is the changes we don't know about that are perhaps the greatest threat. Global warming is shifting climate patterns in ways we find difficult to predict.
Even one of these events could result in dramatically more serious consequences for the planet, and its inhabitants - which includes us. We already have a good understanding of the risks we are living with, because of global warming so far. But it is the dangers of these unknowable risks from future warming that should weigh heaviest, in the ongoing debate over global warming and climate change.

The Importance Of Environmental Protection Environmental Sciences

2015-04-09T01:44:00.003-07:00

In recent decades, many environmental problems have increased as the result of human activities and unplanned management of the technological development those interference ecosystems. Therefore, a dispute between the importance of conservation and preservation of ecosystems to protect environment and the necessity to satisfy human desire by sacrifice the environment has been arise across the world. According to Glossary of Environment Statistics the term "environmental protection" can be defined as the prevention to conserve and preserve the standard healthy level of environmental media by reducing the production of pollutants or polluting substances in environmental media (1997, internet).Various human activities have induce many undesirable effects to the environment which can be threatening human health, economic, natural resources and gene pool of ecosystems such as pollutions, greenhouse effect, global warming and soil erosion. In this essay, it is arguable that the environmental protection is worth for fight due to the several reasons. Firstly, the environmental pollution is one of the main reasons why we should fight to protect environment. Besides, global warming is also another reason caused by the deforestation. Furthermore, warm climate change and flood also increase the opportunity of spread out pests and vector diseases.

Pollution can be divided into four types; water pollution, air pollution, thermal pollution and sound pollution. Fossils fuels used in most factories, petroleum and gas usage for vehicle is the major cause of air pollution. Environment pollution can also be an addition harmful substance that could affect human health and human life (Gan, 2006, 311). Given the above, environmentalist should fight for a better environment because pollutions caused by burning of fossil fuels will results in severe environmental problems such as the occurrence of acid rain due to the production of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen monoxide (NO). Casiday and Frey mentioned that combustion process not only increases the concentration of carbon dioxide(CO2) in the atmosphere but it is also the main source in producing high level of nitrogen monoxide(NO) and sulphur dioxide (SO2). These are the two major reactants that cause the formation of acid rain. Acidity of acid rain changes the pH of the river water and lakes which then disrupt the nature habitat of aquatic organisms and reduce the chance of survival of aquatic organisms, for example fishes cannot survive due to lack of oxygen. In addition, the insoluble aluminum ions added to the water can causes water to become poisonous which can also be known as water pollution (1998, internet). For example, Norway has blamed that the sea and lakes are poisoned by the formation of acid rain for many years due to the unclean air pollution that comes from Britian's power stations (Nova Science In The News, 1997, internet).

Since the global concentration of carbon dioxides have increased given the reasons of combustion of fossil fuels and also human activities such as deforestation. The reasons for deforestation are usually resulted from cutting down the forests for lumber logging and also for building a new farming for animal. Forest can also be known as "carbon sink" because trees can be used as an absorber of carbon dioxide in the environment and in returns release some oxygen to the atmosphere. However, unplanned deforestation activities have significantly reduced the concentration of oxygen (O2) and caused the rise in temperature of the Earth. Christopher Monckton also emphasises that every doubling the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is sufficient to rise the global surface temperature by 3.26 Â°C (2008, 3). Rise in global temperature will significantly caused ice melting, for instance, according to the My Eco Project Organization, the reports of ice melting at Arctic Retreat prepares in the late summer 2007 surprised the experts that every week, the Arctic sea ice is continuously melting and the amount of melted ice can fill up to as large as two Britain country (2009, internet). Meanwhile, the consequence of ice melting at Arctic has increased the sea water levels. According to the evidence gathered by Shepherd and his team, they found that the sea water level has increased by 2.6% which has the same volume with 49 microns per year spread across the oceans from over the world due to the distinct value between the density and temperature of ice and sea water (University Of Leeds, 2010, internet). In addition, the polar bear will also face extinction in the future due to global warming. Based on the report from National Geographic News, several studies that have been conducted by the U.S. government has show that melting of Arctic's ice that caused by the global warming will endangered two-thirds of the world's polar bears and cause them to face extinction by 2050 (Roach, 2007, 1). Given the above fact, environmentalist should fight for a better environment and save our earth.
Furthermore, environmental protection should be implemented due to warm climate changes and flood which heighten the risks of spread out pests and vector diseases. Some infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue, cholera and encephalitis can also spread out rapidly throughout the whole area by mosquitoes, flies and other insects those usually adapt to live in warm weather region. As World Health Organization notes that contamination of water resources due to the occurrence of flood enlarge the chances of getting water-borne diseases and also for mosquitoes to carry disease around the environment (2010, internet). Malaria and dengue fever have threaten the Southeast Asia and South Pacific island due to the climate change as increases the population of mosquitoes and migration of refugees (Allianz Knowledge Partnership,2008.internet). Hence, it can be concluded that flood and climate change will destroy our safety health environment. Moreover, high temperature in the river will encourage the growth of algal broom and causes the water pollution index to increases and decrease the amount of oxygen supplied for the aquatic organisms. Since the river water pollution increases dramatically, the level of biochemical oxygen demand which known as BOD level also will increases. The higher the biochemical oxygen demand level will result in the higher of the pollution level. For instance, large amount of blue-green algae devastate the nature of the universal solvent and threaten the public health by releasing toxins into the water. Diseases and infection that can cause by the algae's toxin are sore throats, gastro-enteritis and skin or eye-infections

In conclusion, there are several factors described above that strongly supported the argument to fight for environmental protection and create a better environment. Some of the reasons include environmental air pollution which increases the concentration of carbon dioxide that caused the formation of acid rain. Another reason is one of the side effects like global warming caused by the deforestation which increases the global temperature caused the occurrence of ice melting. Moreover, the global warming change the climate become warmer and flood encouraged the growth of the pests and vectors like malaria and dengue fever to spread the disease out to the environment which increases the level of biochemical oxygen demand. Therefore, the environment should be protected for a better life in future.

Environmental Pollution

2015-04-08T00:04:00.001-07:00

Environmental pollution is the biggest menace to the human race on this planet today. It means adding impurity to environment. The environment consists of earth, water, air, plants and animals. If we pollute them, then the existence of man and nature will be hampered.

It is true that trees are being cut down rapidly. Our earth is becoming warmer. If pollution continues, the day is not far when our earth will be a boiling pan and become a desert. Or it will be covered with sea water causing destruction of mankind.

Pure air is always needed for inhaling. If we take pure air, our health improves. On the other hand impure air causes diseases and impairs our health and causes our death. Smoke pollutes the air. It is the root of air pollution. The smoke which is discharged from industries, automobiles and kitchens is the mixture of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane etc. These are all poisonous gases. These cause lung-cancer, tuberculosis etc. which take a heavy toll of life. The glaring incident is the Bhopal gas leak in December 1984. Thousands of the residents of Bhopal died due to lungs problem which was caused by methylamine gas from the Union Carbide Plant.

The garbage emitting foul smell, the decaying plants and animals also cause air pollution. Hence the doctors advise the patients having lungs trouble to settle in some rural places because the air of villages is pure and free from population.

Then comes sound pollution. The harsh sounds of buses, its, mopeds etc. affect our power of hearing and causes fart trouble. It has been reported that there are two villages named Biraspalli and Devadas Palli near Dum Dum airport m Calcutta where a large number of people have lost their power of hearing. This is because of the frequent sounds of planes coming in and going out of Dum Dum Airport. The evils of sound pollution can be imagined from this example.

The water of rivers and seas is being constantly polluted all over the world by various dangerous chemical and biological wastes. Mills and factories discharge very harmful waste waters into many rivers and sea. The water of the Ganges flowing by the side of both Varanashi and Calcutta is extremely polluted and contains all sorts of dangerous bacteria. It is really very strange and laughable that large number of the Indians regard this water as holy. They even drink this water for salvation. There is no doubt that the fish that grow in such waters are poisonous too.

Reckless application of chemical fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides pollutes the soil. Vegetables and fruits are quite injurious today, because they contain the poison of insecticides and pesticides.

If the air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil which produces our crops, vegetables and fruits, all become more and more impure, then our chances of good health and longevity will be very less and less. Environment pollution is a serious menace to our existence. Realising the danger, we must plant trees in large number to absorb impure air. Impure water from industries can be sent back for purification and then it can be used for irrigation purpose. Our government is well aware of the fact and is taking steps to save environment from pollution. We have also I minister to look after the environment.

Seven ways to protect the environment

2015-04-06T19:34:00.001-07:00

We all want to protect our planet, but we're mostly too busy or too lazy to put up big change that would improve our lifestyle and save the environment.

These are 7 simple habits to implement in your everyday life which will make a difference. There is nothing new here but if you follow at least some of these tips, you can be proud of yourself participating in the protection of the environment.

Use compact fluorescent light bulbs:
It is true that these bulbs are more expensive, but they last much longer and they can save energy and in the long term your electricity bill would be reduced.
Donate:
You have tons of clothes or things you want to get rid of. If they are still usable, give them to someone who needs them. You may also choose to give them to associations. These associations may sell them and collect a little money. Not only will you protect the environment, but you will also contribute to a good cause.
Turn off your devices:
When you do not use a house device, turn it off. For example, if you don't watch TV, turn it off. Turn off the light when you leave a room (even if you intend to return.) It's an easy habit to take up which will help you save a lot of money.
Walk or cycle:
Driving is one of the biggest causes of pollution. If you want to use your car, ask yourself the following question: do I really need my car? Walk or use your bike if the journey is a short one.
Detergent:
Follow the recommended dose of detergent to wash your clothes or dishes.
leaky faucets:
Watch leaky faucets, which can cause a significant increase in the the water bill. An average of 120 liters of water can be wasted due to a dripping faucet.
Rainwater:
Think of recovering rainwater. This water can be used for different purposes.

This list is far from being exhaustive but in addition to saving the environment, all these tips will help you save money

How to Protect The Environment

2011-06-20T09:30:00.002-07:00

What does protecting the environment mean to you? Protecting the environment means not leaving a large ecological footprint on the earth. Some people spend their whole lives making sure not to pollute and ruin the earth, others want to commit to a few daily routines that will protect our environment. Ready to "Go Green"? See steps below for how to protect the environment one day at a time!

1. WATER
Use it sparingly. Don't let water run down the drain. You can fill the sink with some water to wash your fruit and vegetables and then use the same water to wash dishes. Adjust your sprinklers so they will only water grass and not the sidewalk. Use water efficient shower heads, dishwater, facets, and sprinklers. Drop your tissue in the trash instead of down the toilet. There are many ways to save and conserve water daily, it just takes a little bit of effort.

2. AIR
Clean air is vital to our health, so do your part in keeping the air clean. Most pollutants come from manufacturing, but there are some things you can do to help in your everyday activities. Choose pump sprays, not aerosol sprays, choose latex paints over oil-based paints, don't overfill your gas tank, and drive smart. Planting a tree is a great way to give back to the environment too!

3. WASTE
One of the easiest things you can do is eliminate extra waste from your life. When you go grocery shopping do you reach for the food with major packaging? Do you buy something and toss out all the wrappings? Try purchasing second hand goods, or shopping at a farmers market for food. Bring your own reusable bag to the shop. Reuse and share products. Go Green!

4. ECYCLE
We've all heard it. But can we all do it? YES! If you just put your mind to it. Many communities already have containers to separate and recycle paper, plastics, and glass. You can also recycle and reuse by sharing, or donating your clothes, old cars, electronics, magazines, etc.

5. BE THOUGHTFUL
All it takes it a second to think about if what you are doing to the environment is harmful. Be mindful of your actions and make choices that are environmentally friendly. Not only will you help protect the environment, you will feel great knowing you did your part for mother earth!

The kinds of environmental pollution

2011-06-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

WATER POLLUTION:
Water pollution is the introduction into fresh or ocean waters of chemical, physical, or biological material that degrades the quality of the water and affects the organisms living in it. This process ranges from simple addition of dissolved or suspended solids to discharge of the most insidious and persistent toxic pollutants (such as pesticides, heavy metals, and nondegradable, bioaccumulative, chemical compounds).
Conventional:
Conventional or classical pollutants are generally associated with the direct input of (mainly human) waste products. Rapid urbanization and rapid population increase have produced sewage problems because treatment facilities have not kept pace with need. Untreated and partially treated sewage from municipal wastewater systems and septic tanks in unsewered areas contribute significant quantities of nutrients, suspended solids, dissolved solids, oil, metals (arsenic, mercury, chromium, lead, iron, and manganese), and biodegradable organic carbon to the water environment.
Conventional pollutants may cause a myriad of water pollution problems. Excess suspended solids block out energy from the Sun and thus affect the carbon dioxide-oxygen conversion process, which is vital to the maintenance of the biological food chain. Also, high concentrations of suspended solids silt up rivers and navigational channels, necessitating frequent dredging. Excess dissolved solids make the water undesirable for drinking and for crop irrigation.
Although essential to the aquatic habitat, nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus may also cause overfertilization and accelerate the natural aging process (eutrophication) of lakes. This acceleration in turn produces an overgrowth of aquatic vegetation, massive algal blooms, and an overall shift in the biologic community--from low productivity with many diverse species to high productivity with large numbers of a few species of a less desirable nature. Bacterial action oxidizes biodegradable organic carbon and consumes dissolved oxygen in the water. In extreme cases where the organic-carbon loading is high, oxygen consumption may lead to an oxygen depression: (less than 2 mg/l compared with 5 to 7 mg/l for a healthy stream) is sufficient to cause a fish kill and seriously to disrupt the growth of associated organisms that require oxygen to survive.

Nonconventional:
The nonconventional pollutants include dissolved and particulate forms of metals, both toxic and nontoxic, and degradable and persistent organic carbon compounds discharged into water as a by-product of industry or as an integral part of marketable products. More than 13,000 oil spills of varying magnitude occur in the United States each year. Thousands of environmentally untested chemicals are routinely discharged into waterways; an estimated 400 to 500 new compounds are marketed each year. In addition, coal strip mining releases acid wastes that despoil the surrounding waterways. Nonconventional pollutants vary from biologically inert materials such as clay and iron residues to the most toxic and insidious materials such as halogenated hydrocarbons (DDT, kepone, mirex, and polychlorinated biphenyls--PCB). The latter group may produce damage ranging from acute biological effects (complete sterilization of stretches of waterways) to chronic sublethal effects that may go undetected for years. The chronic low-level pollutants are proving to be the most difficult to correct and abate because of their ubiquitous nature and chemical stability.

THERMAL POLLUTION:
Thermal pollution is the discharge of waste heat via energy dissipation into cooling water and subsequently into nearby waterways. The major sources of thermal pollution are fossil-fuel and nuclear electric-power generating facilities and, to a lesser degree, cooling operations associated with industrial manufacturing, such as steel foundries, other primary-metal manufacturers, and chemical and petrochemical producers.
The discharge temperatures from electric-power plants generally range from 5 to 11 C degrees (9 to 20 F degrees) above ambient water temperatures. An estimated 90% of all water consumption, excluding agricultural uses, is for cooling or energy dissipation.
The discharge of heated water into a waterway often causes ecologic imbalance, sometimes resulting in major fish kills near the discharge source. The increased temperature accelerates chemical-biological processes and decreases the ability of the water to hold dissolved oxygen. Thermal changes affect the aquatic system by limiting or changing the type of fish and aquatic biota able to grow or reproduce in the waters. Thus rapid and dramatic changes in biologic communities often occur in the vicinity of heated discharges.

LAND POLLUTION:
Land pollution is the degradation of the Earth's land surface through misuse of the soil by poor agricultural practices, mineral exploitation, industrial waste dumping, and indiscriminate disposal of urban wastes.
Soil Misuse:
Soil erosion--a result of poor agricultural practices--removes rich humus topsoil developed over many years through vegetative decay and microbial degradation and thus strips the land of valuable nutrients for crop growth. Strip mining for minerals and coal lays waste thousands of acres of land each year, denuding the Earth and subjecting the mined area to widespread erosion problems. The increases in urbanization due to population pressure presents additional soil-erosion problems; sediment loads in nearby streams may increase as much as 500 to 1,000 times over that recorded in nearby undeveloped stretches of stream. Soil erosion not only despoils the Earth for farming and other uses, but also increases the suspended-solids load of the waterway. This increase interferes with the ecological habitat and poses silting problems in navigation channels, inhibiting the commercial use of these waters.
Solid Waste :
In the United States in 1988 municipal wastes alone--that is, the solid wastes sent by households, business, and municipalities to local landfills and other waste-disposal facilities--equaled 163 million metric tons (1980 million U.S. tons), or 18 k (40lb) per person, according to figures released by the Environmental Protection Agency. Additional solid wastes accumulate from mining, industrial production, and agriculture. Although municipal wastes are the most obvious, the accumulations of other types of wastes are the most obvious, the accumulations of other types of waste are far greater, in many instances are more difficult to dispose of, and present greater environmental hazards.
The most common and convenient method of disposing of municipal solid wastes is in the sanitary landfill. The open dump, once a common eyesore in towns across the United States, attracted populations of rodents and other pests and often emitted hideous odors; it is now illegal. Sanitary landfills provide better aesthetic control and should be odor-free. Often, however, industrial wastes of unknown content are commingled with domestic wastes. Groundwater infiltration and contamination of water supplies with toxic chemicals have recently led to more active control of landfills and industrial waste disposal. Careful management of sanitary landfills, such as providing for leachate and runoff treatment as well as daily coverage with topsoil, has alleviated most of the problems of open dumping. In many areas, however, space for landfills is running out and alternatives must be found.
Recycling of materials is practical to some extent for much municipal and some industrial wastes, and a small but growing proportion of solid wastes is being recycled. When wastes are commingled, however, recovery becomes difficult and expensive. New processes of sorting ferrous and nonferrous metals, paper, glass, and plastics have been developed, and many communities with recycling programs now require refuse separation. Crucial issues in recycling are devising better processing methods, inventing new products for the recycled materials, and finding new markets for them.
Incineration is another method for disposing of solid wastes. Advanced incinerators use solid wastes as fuel, burning quantities of refuse and utilizing the resultant heat to make steam for electricity generation. Wastes must be burned at very high temperatures, and incinerator exhausts must be equipped with sophisticated scrubbers and other devices for removing dioxins and other toxic pollutants. Problems remain, however: incinerator ash contains high ratios of heavy metals, becoming a hazardous waste in itself, and high-efficiency incinerators may discourage the use of recycling and other waste-reduction methods.
Composting is increasingly used to treat some agricultural wastes, as well as such municipal wastes as leaves and brush. Composting systems can produce usable soil conditioners, or humus, within a few months (see compost).

PESTICIDE POLLUTION:
Pesticides are organic and inorganic chemicals originally invented and first used effectively to better the human environment by controlling undesirable life forms such as bacteria, pests, and foraging insects. Their effectiveness, however, has caused considerable pollution. The persistent, or hard, pesticides, which are relatively inert and nondegradable by chemical or biologic activity, are also bioaccumulative; that is, they are retained within the body of the consuming organism and are concentrated with each ensuing level of the biologic food chain. For example, DDT provides an excellent example of cumulative pesticide effects. (Although DDT use has been banned in the United States since 1972, it is still a popular pesticide in much of the rest of the world.) DDT may be applied to an area so that the levels in the surrounding environment are less than one part per billion. As bacteria or other microscopic organisms ingest and retain the pesticide, the concentration may increase several hundred- to a thousandfold. Concentration continues as these organisms are ingested by higher forms of life--algae, fish, shellfish, birds, or humans. The resultant concentration in the higher life forms may reach levels of thousands to millions of parts per billion.
Many pesticides are nondiscriminatory; that is, they are not specific for a particular plant or organism. A dramatic example of this effect is DDE (a product of the breakdown of DDT), which effectively inhibits the ability of birds to provide sufficient calcium deposits for their eggs, producing fragile shells and a high percentage of nested eggs that break prematurely. Another reported side effect of pesticides is their effect on the nervous system of animals and fish; they can cause instability, disorientation, and, in some cases, death. These examples are generally a result of relatively high body residuals producing acute (short-term) readily recordable results.
The long-term (chronic) effects of persistent pesticides are virtually unknown, but many scientists believe they are as much an environmental hazard as are the acute effects. Nonpersistent (readily degradable) pesticides or substitutes, insect sterilization techniques, hormone homologues that check or interfere with maturation stages, and introduction of animals that prey on the pests present a potentially brighter picture for pest control with significantly reduced environmental consequences.

RADIATION POLLUTION:
Radiation pollution is any form of ionizing or nonionizing radiation that results from human activities. The most well-known radiation results from the detonation of nuclear devices and the controlled release of energy by nuclear-power generating plants (see nuclear energy). Other sources of radiation include spent-fuel reprocessing plants, by-products of mining operations, and experimental research laboratories. Increased exposure to medical X rays and to radiation emissions from microwave ovens and other household appliances, although of considerably less magnitude, all constitute sources of environmental radiation.
Public concern over the release of radiation into the environment greatly increased following the disclosure of possible harmful effects to the public from nuclear weapons testing, the accident (1979) at the Three Mile Island nuclear-power generating plant near Harrisburg, Pa., and the catastrophic 1986 explosion at Chernobyl, a Soviet nuclear power plant. In the late 1980s, revelations of major pollution problems at U.S. nuclear weapons reactors raised apprehensions even higher.
The environmental effects of exposure to high-level ionizing radiation have been extensively documented through postwar studies on individuals who were exposed to nuclear radiation in Japan. Some forms of cancer show up immediately, but latent maladies of radiation poisoning have been recorded from 10 to 30 years after exposure. The effects of exposure to low-level radiation are not yet known. A major concern about this type of exposure is the potential for genetic damage.
Radioactive nuclear wastes cannot be treated by conventional chemical methods and must be stored in heavily shielded containers in areas remote from biological habitats. The safest of storage sites currently used are impervious deep caves or abandoned salt mines. Most radioactive wastes, however, have half-lives of hundreds to thousands of years, and to date no storage method has been found that is absolutely infallible.

NOISE POLLUTION:
Noise pollution has a relatively recent origin. It is a composite of sounds generated by human activities ranging from blasting stereo systems to the roar of supersonic transport jets. Although the frequency (pitch) of noise may be of major importance, most noise sources are measured in terms of intensity, or strength of the sound field. The standard unit, one decibel (dB), is the amount of sound that is just audible to the average human. The decibel scale is somewhat misleading because it is logarithmic rather than linear; for example, a noise source measuring 70 dB is 10 times as loud as a source measuring 60 dB and 100 times as loud as a source reading 50 dB. Noise may be generally associated with industrial society, where heavy machinery, motor vehicles, and aircraft have become everyday items. Noise pollution is more intense in the work environment than in the general environment, although ambient noise increased an average of one dB per year during the 1980s. The average background noise in a typical home today is between 40 and 50 decibels. Some examples of high-level sources in the environment are heavy trucks (90 dB at 15 m/50 ft), freight trains (75 dB at 15 m/50 ft), and air conditioning (60 dB at 6 m/20 ft).
The most readily measurable physiological effect of noise pollution is damage to hearing, which may be either temporary or permanent and may cause disruption of normal activities or just general annoyance. The effect is variable, depending upon individual susceptibility, duration of exposure, nature of noise (loudness), and time distribution of exposure (such as steady or intermittent). On the average an individual will experience a threshold shift (a shift in an individual's upper limit of sound detectability) when exposed to noise levels of 75 to 80 dB for several hours. This shift will last only several hours once the source of noise pollution is removed. A second physiologically important level is the threshold of pain, at which even short-term exposure will cause physical pain (130 to 140 dB). Any noise sustained at this level will cause a permanent threshold shift or permanent partial hearing loss. At the uppermost level of noise (greater than 150 dB), even a single short-term blast may cause traumatic hearing loss and physical damage inside the ear.
Although little hard information is available on the psychological side effects of increased noise levels, many researchers attribute increased irritability, lower productivity, decreased tolerance levels, increased incidence of ulcers, migraine headaches, fatigue, and allergic responses to continued exposures to high-level noises in the workplace and the general environment.

AIR POLLUTION:
Air pollution is the accumulation in the atmosphere of substances that, in sufficient concentrations, endanger human health or produce other measured effects on living matter and other materials. Among the major sources of pollution are power and heat generation, the burning of solid wastes, industrial processes, and, especially, transportation. The six major types of pollutants are carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, particulates, sulfur dioxide, and photochemical oxidants.

Local and Regional :
Smog has seriously affected more persons than any other type of air pollution. It can be loosely defined as a multisource, widespread air pollution that occurs in the air of cities. Smog, a contraction of the words smoke and fog, has been caused throughout recorded history by water condensing on smoke particles, usually from burning coal. The infamous London fogs--about 4,000 deaths were attributed to the severe fog of 1952--were smog of this type. Another type, ice fog, occurs only at high latitudes and extremely low temperatures and is a combination of smoke particles and ice crystals.
As a coal economy has gradually been replaced by a petroleum economy, photochemical smog has become predominant in many cities. Its unpleasant properties result from the irradiation by sunlight of hydrocarbons (primarily unburned gasoline emitted by automobiles and other combustion sources) and other pollutants in the air. Irradiation produces a long series of photochemical reactions (see photochemistry). The products of the reactions include organic particles, ozone, aldehydes, ketones, peroxyacetyl nitrate, and organic acids and other oxidants. Sulfur dioxide, which is always present to some extent, oxidizes and hydrates to form sulfuric acid and becomes part of the particulate matter. Furthermore, automobiles are polluters even in the absence of photochemical reactions. They are responsible for much of the particulate material in the air; they also emit carbon monoxide, one of the most toxic constituents of smog.
All types of smog decrease visibility and, with the possible exception of ice fog, are irritating to the respiratory system. Statistical studies indicate that smog is a contributor to malignancies of many types. Photochemical smog produces eye irritation and lacrimation and causes severe damage to many types of vegetation, including important crops. Acute effects include an increased mortality rate, especially among persons suffering from respiratory and coronary ailments. Air pollution also has a deleterious effect on works of art (see art conservation and restoration).
Air pollution on a regional scale is in part the result of local air pollution--including that produced by individual sources, such as automobiles--that has spread out to encompass areas of many thousands of square kilometers. Meteorological conditions and landforms can greatly influence air-pollution concentrations at any given place, especially locally and regionally. For example, cities located in bowls or valleys over which atmospheric inversions form and act as imperfect lids are especially likely to suffer from incidences of severe smog. Oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, carried long distances by the atmosphere and then precipitated in solution as acid rain, can cause serious damage to vegetation, waterways, and buildings.

10 ways to prevent global warming

2011-06-12T01:46:00.001-07:00

Global warming is an issue, for many of us, as seeming to be to big of a problem for any single person to handle. Its that response that makes it such a difficult problem to solve. As individuals, only then can we trulymake a difference in our current crisis. By educating ourselves, our children and others, we take on the challenges needed to change our lifestyles to better suit our needs and our planets needs. By leading the way ourselves and taking the first steps, either politically or socially, each of us can make a difference that counts not only for our planet, but also our wallets.

Below you will find practical steps that reduce the impact we have on our natural world around us. As we use these ideas in our lives, we not only attribute to the health of mother nature, but we are also making our lives better in the process. Using less fuel and energy saves us money. Driving less by biking and walking improves our health. Eating organic and locally grown food reduces pesticides and fertilizers, and the fuel used to harvest and transport mass produced goods are reduced. All the aspects of these steps saves and heals all of us as well as leaving a sustainable planet for our grandchildren to come.

Energy efficient lighting

One of the simplest ways to reduce your energy needs is to replace all your regular incandescent light bulbs with super efficient compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL's). Of course, convalescents are much cheaper than fluorescents, but the cost upfront will pay for itself over time, due to the fact that CFL's last 10 times longer than incandescents and use 66% less energy. You can buy CFL's at most hardware stores, and due to their increasing popularity, have begun to decrease in price.

Energy efficient appliances.

Lets face it, unless your rich, your just not going to buy new appliances. But keep in mind, that old refrigerator in the garage thats just cooling a 6 pack of beer, could be turned off and save yourself a few $100 a year. Use your microwave more often if you only need to heat small items. Turning on the stove to heat up water can be easier and cheaper in the microwave. Use large appliances such as the dishwasher or dryer at night during off peak hours to save money and more energy. Phantom loads drain power during non use. The VCR clock is a phantom load. Even though the VCR is off, the power is still being drawn for the display. Hook up phantom load appliances to a timer or power bar, and turn them off at night.
If in fact you are looking to buy new appliances, energy star appliances have the best energy ratings. For information on the newest energy saving appliances, visit www.energystar.gov

Heat and cool more efficiently
Heating and cooling your home accounts for 45% of your total energy usage. Thats almost half of your energy consumption. By simply turning down your thermostat 2 degrees in winter and 2 degrees up in the summer, can add up to real energy savings over time. By upgrading to a digital programmable thermostat, your can program the thermostat to go off during hours when its not needed, such as when you're at work or school, or as you sleep at night. By adding insulation to your walls, attic spaces, and crawl space, your energy efficiency goes up and less power is used.

Conserve hot water

Your energy usage can be reduced further, by limiting your hot water usage. Check your hot water heaters temperature, and set it below 120 degrees or at a lower temperature. Insulated the area your water heater is in also. You can use low flow restrictive shower heads to save on hot water usage. Wash clothes in warm or cold water, rather than hot lowers your bills and energy consumption as well. Remember when buying those appliances, front loading dishwashers are much more efficient than top loading machines for conserving hot water.

Energy efficient computers

Turning your computers to a more efficient mode, helps to conserve power. Whether at home or work, turning your computer to hibernate mode or low power mode conserves a considerable amount of money and energy. Up to 70% of the power a computer uses is wasted by idling. Upgrading to a laptop from a desktop can change your efficiency by 90%. Also switching to an ink jet printer from a laser printer can save you another 90%

Performing an energy audit

The average home in America uses around $1500 per year on energy, and with a few well thought out ideas and upgrades, can save around $450 or more. Doing an energy audit can show you the areas of your home that are consuming the most power. It also shows you where in your home the most energy is wasted. You can do your own energy audit by getting information and tools on-line at : www.energyguide.com

Switch to green power.

Renewable power has long been known as the key to reducing our dependency on fossil fuels. As more and more people use the sun and wind for energy, the cost in buying solar equipment and the like will decrease. Although the price is still high, their are large tax breaks and grants for funding that are available from the government. If your not able to afford a solar upgrade like most of us, there is an alternative. In many regions, the local power utility can contract to receive energy from more Eco- friendly sources. The cost may be higher, but as more and more people elect to use these ways, the prices will go down. For more information on the subject go on-line to: www.epa.gov/greenpower. If green power is not available in your area you can also buy tradeable renewable energy certificates (TRC's) For more information visit www.green-e.org.

Drive less

Around 30% of all carbon dioxide emissions come from vehicles that transport us, and transport our goods and services. More than 90% of this travel is by car. While fuel efficiency has declined in the past 10 years, gas prices have risen and created a new market for more efficient cars. As the government sets tighter restrictions on fuel economy, and the demand for fuel efficiency grows, the scenario sets it self for us to buy and create hybrid vehicles and electric cars. Reduce the numbers of hours in the car by biking and walking more. Consolidating all of your trips into one trip throughout the week, or use mass transit. If you can save 20 miles a week, then you just saved the earth about 1000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

Drive smarter
By changing some driving habits, you can save on fuel economy. Avoid driving during rush hour if possible. By wasting less time sitting in traffic you save on all that gas spent idling. Drive the speed limit. A cars fuel efficiency drops sharply over 55 mph. Keep your car in top order. A clean air filter and properly inflated tires on a well serviced car will save big at the pump. Drive with the windows up at high speeds can save more over time to.

Reduce air travel
Not everyone flies, but if your a frequent flyer then taking two or more flights less a year can seriously reduce emissions. If you don't fly, but drive for vacations, try taking them closer to home. By driving less, and using mass transit such as a train or bus, can save greatly on traveling expenses as well as the environment. If you must fly, then your alternative is buying carbon offsets in exchange for the emissions spent. For information on carbon offsets contact: www.betterworldclub.com

Global Warming and the Weather was chagned

2011-06-12T01:25:00.000-07:00

The weather channel's Dr. Heidi Cullen made a statement that all meteorologists that don't buy in to global warming should not receive AMS certification. This has sparked quite a debate among the nation's weather people.
As it should have, because global warming is not a definite conclusion, it is a sound theory. The world we live in is a vast reservoir capable of with standing a lot of abuse. That is a very good thing as man has been pretty abusive of his environment.

Cooling trends typically follows weather-warming trends. These trends may be a few years or a few decades. The 100-year storm reference was coined for a reason. Weather can have very long cycles before repetition. Random events like major volcanic eruptions can change weather patterns for years. The lack of major volcanic eruptions over a prolonged period can change conditions as well. There are a lot of variables that affect the weather of our planet.

So for Dr.Cullen to imply that if you don't believe in global warming you don't deserve to be a meteorologist is a bit disconcerting for me.

The greenhouse effect describes how carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases produced through man's industry can cause a warming of the average planetary temperature. This is as sound theory based on the effect that higher than normal level of these gases can produce planetary warming. It is still a theory.

Global warming, which is a much better sound bite than the greenhouse effect has been endorsed by the most famous of all American scientists, Al Gore. One of my primary beliefs is that a politician's lips are moving that is a good indication the politician is lying. This makes it difficult for me to jump on Gore's bandwagon.

I try to obtain the scientific data that I rely on from better sources. I also view scientific news releases with a little skepticism. Announcements like the discovery of cold fusion should be viewed with a little caution in my opinion.

While the greenhouse effect may be the major contributor to current warming trends it is a little difficult for me to determine as we are in an El Nino cycle this season. El Nino, which to the best of my knowledgeexisted prior to Al Gore, causes unusual weather patterns.

While I do not discount the possibility that "Global Warming" is happening, I reserve the right to vouch for it when more accurate, definitive data is available. That does not mean that I don't promote more environmentally friendly fuels. But I fell the politicizing of science is poor politics and poor science.