Global Environmental Impacts and Sustainable Solutions
Nuclear Fusion Technology
Nuclear fusion is a process where the fusion (union of atomic cores) releases heat, which is used to vaporize water, moving turbines and generating electric current.
- Advantages: Necessary raw materials are practically inexhaustible, and the process does not generate radioactive waste.
- Disadvantages: So far, scientists have not been successful in controlling the nuclear fusion process for sustained energy production.
Human Activities and Planetary Impacts
Human activities result in several critical environmental impacts:
1. Increased CO2 Levels
The burning of fossil fuels and cement production have increased atmospheric CO2 levels. CO2 is a primary greenhouse gas responsible for global warming.
2. Acid Rain
The burning of fossil fuels and the use of fertilizers produce nitrogen and sulfur oxides. When these combine with water in the atmosphere, they produce acids. These acids cause serious damage to soil, vegetation, and the flora and fauna of lakes. Aluminum, which is insoluble in water, dissolves in the acid, passes into plants, and weakens or kills them.
3. Biocontamination
Chemicals (such as medicines, insecticides, refrigerants, fumes, and fertilizers) are contaminants that dissolve in water or evaporate into the atmosphere, eventually reaching our bloodstream. These problems, which often originate in localized regions, are extending across the entire Earth.
4. Solid Waste
The disposal of solid waste via incinerators pollutes the environment and releases toxic substances.
5. Environmental Accidents
Accidents occur during the manufacturing and transport of certain substances, including toxic substance leakage and oil spills.
Fires and Forestry
Forest fires remove vegetation and fauna from forests. Vegetation is crucial because it prevents erosion, absorbs CO2 (restricting the greenhouse effect), and helps avoid desertification.
6. Climate Change
Many scientists maintain that human activity is producing global climate change, evidenced by:
- Increased temperature without natural justification.
- Decrease in snow-covered surface area.
- Rising sea levels.
- Increased frequency of hurricanes.
- Slowing of the global transport conveyor belt (ocean currents).
If preventive measures are not taken, the consequences include:
- The temperature increase will generate a greater number of storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes.
- Rain distribution changes: deserts could penetrate into temperate zones (such as the Mediterranean), while currently desert areas (such as the Sahara) could repopulate.
- Glaciers and fauna would disappear, sea levels would rise, and coastal aquifers would salinize, making densely populated areas uninhabitable.
- The global transport conveyor belt (which leads CO2 to the deep sea) would stop, making the accumulation of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere unstoppable.
Sustainable Development
Sustainable development is that which satisfies the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to satisfy their own needs.
It is based on two main principles:
- Exploiting non-renewable resources at a rate slower than the maximum restocking rate.
- Not releasing more waste into the environment than it can absorb.
Measures to be taken to achieve sustainable development include:
- Replacing the combustion of coal, oil, etc., with clean, renewable energies.
- Utilizing public transport and replacing gasoline or diesel cars with hybrid gas-electric vehicles, eventually transitioning solely to electric cars (based on hydrogen technology).
- Improving the efficiency of orientation, insulation, heating, cooling, lighting, and appliances in homes.
- Finding alternatives in the manufacture of materials whose production contributes to global warming (such as steel, cement, and paper).
- Replacing deforestation with reforestation.
- Developing and utilizing techniques for capturing CO2 so that factories can remove the emissions they produce.
- Reusing, reducing, and recycling waste generation.