Environmental Issues and Sustainability

Posted on May 9, 2024 in Geology

Acid Deposition

Main Pollutants: Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide
Effects: Alters soils, stresses forest vegetation, acidifies freshwaters, harms fish
Toxicity: Depletes essential nutrients (magnesium, calcium) in soil, harming trees and forests
Mitigation: Filtering/detoxifying industrial wastewater, reducing pollutant gas emissions, promoting renewable energy

Energy Security: Stable access to affordable, sustainable energy sources
Ukraine Case: (To be elaborated)
Energy and Resources: Capacity to do work, essential for life processes. Resources produce heat, power, movement, or electricity.
Fossil Fuels vs. Green Energy: Fossil fuels pollute and contribute to climate change. Green energy (solar, wind) is efficient, clean, and sustainable.
Renewable Sources: Solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower

Climate vs. Weather: Climate is long-term average weather of a region; weather is short-term atmospheric conditions.
Greenhouse Effect: Gases trap Sun’s heat, warming Earth. Essential for life but amplified by human activities.
Greenhouse Gases: Carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, water vapor
Methane: Potent greenhouse gas, contributes significantly to global warming.
Enhanced Greenhouse Effect: Increased warming due to human-released greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution.
Global Warming Potential: Relative warming effect of a greenhouse gas over time.
Impacts: Warmer temperatures, species loss, food scarcity, rising sea levels
“An Inconvenient Truth”: Documentary on human-caused climate change and its consequences.
Global Dimming: Reduction in sunlight reaching Earth’s surface.
“The Great Global Warming Swindle”: Film denying scientific consensus on climate change.
Feedback Mechanisms: Processes amplifying or diminishing initial warming effects.
Climate Modeling: Computer simulations of Earth’s climate system.
Consensus on Global Warming: Overwhelming scientific agreement on human causation.

Strategies: Renewable energy transition, sustainable agriculture, education, public transportation

Measuring Changes: Current population minus past population in an area.
LEDCs and MEDCs: Less economically developed countries (LEDCs) vs. more economically developed countries (MEDCs).
Population Growth and Resources: Increased demand for resources with population growth.
Food Shortages: Population growth, especially in resource-limited countries, can lead to food insecurity.
Overpopulation: Population exceeding the carrying capacity of the environment.
Demographic Transition Model (DTM): Model describing population changes as countries develop economically.

Natural Capital and Income: Natural resources providing sustainable goods or services (capital) and the yield obtained (income).
Dynamic Nature of Capital: Value and status of natural capital vary based on cultural, economic, environmental, and political factors.