Environment And Development Issues

Answer : It’s a prime opportunity to take a closer look at the serious environmental issues we’re facing and the solutions that need to be put in place to alleviate them. Ignorance may be bliss, but it’s getting increasingly difficult to ignore the damage we’ve done to the environment, especially when the effects have been hitting so close to home.

Climate change, Extreme weather, Deforestation, FSC Certified Wood, Pollution, Great Pacific Garbage Patch, recycling, Biodiversity, oceanic dead zones, bee population, rising sea levels, overpopulation, environmental destruction are some of the major environmental challenges. Climate change is first and foremost an issue because people can’t even agree on whether or not it’s an issue in the first place. Before we even get into the solutions, we all (regardless of political party) need to come to the realization that yes, climate change is real and yes, it is affecting us in ways that we can see and feel.If we still believe that the freakish weather and heat waves we’ve been experiencing have nothing to do with climate change, you might want to ask your neighbor what he or she thinks because the majority of Americans say they believe global warming is causing these incidents.

It has been noticed that the weather’s been hotter than usual, or everyone might have noticed a drought in your area or conversely, unusual storms. Furthermore, even small temperature changes are causing crops to die, decreasing the amount of food available. On top of all that, higher temps are causing the polar icecaps to melt, flooding certain areas and leading to an imbalance for wildlife. So we know the threat is real, but what can we do to prevent climate change from being exacerbated even more?

We mentioned planting more forests above, and sadly at a time when we need more forests, trees are being uprooted at an alarming rate. Deforestation is a rapidly-growing problem in areas like Africa, Central and South America. Not only does this mean less trees, less cleansing oxygen, and the displacement of the wildlife, deforestation means a dangerous decrease in a natural fighter of global warming – the #1 threat to our Earth right now. Removing trees also leads to much drier climates, as trees extract groundwater to release into the air.

Pollution comes in many forms and no matter where we live, we have seen some form of it. From litter on streets to the smog that lingers over LA to the plastic trash that floats in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the visible signs of pollution are more than evident.

The main reason for why pollution has gotten so out of control is that our desire for more “stuff” has led to our old stuff being thrown away at an alarming and unnecessary rate. For more information on this, watch Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff.

This need for manufactured items also leads to the air and water pollution emitted from factories, which in many countries are highly unregulated. Looking at the bigger picture, government oversight and sloppy industrial practices on the part of big companies has also exacerbated our pollution problem.

Each species has a role in our planet, and when one dies out, it can have catastrophic effects on the rest of us. We don’t want to get all “Butterfly Effect” on us but even a population dwindling can cause major problems for the human race. For example, with their role of pollination, the decline of the bee population has a direct effect on both the environment and food production. Currently, many other animals are in danger of becoming extinct, either from being forced out of their habitats by man or by climate change.

Climate change also contributes to another dangerous problem – melting polar ice-caps, which in turn causes rising sea levels. According to the NRCD, average temperatures in the Arctic region are rising twice as fast they are elsewhere and the ice is melting and rupturing. NASA satellite images reveal that the area of our permanent ice cover is shrinking at a rate of 9% every decade. At that rate, the Arctic could be totally ice-free in the summer season within decades.

Along the coasts of heavily populated communities, scientists have found more and more dead zones – areas where depleted oxygen levels cannot support marine life. 146 dead zones were found in the world’s oceans, caused by high levels of chemicals in the waters. North America’s Gulf Coast has a high concentration of dead zones, which causes fish to become unable to reproduce.

It’s usually true that the more the merrier, but not when the human population is growing to a point that our society and systems can’t handle. Last year, the world population hit a whopping 7 billion, and while we welcome the newcomers with open arms, we also want to make sure that we don’t continue to put a strain on our water, food, well-being, space and sanity.

Answer : One of the main points of contention among scientists is what will happen to the planet as a result of global warming. Some believe that the earth will actually benefit if the climate continues to grow warmer. Others insist that the opposite is true, saying that if the planet continues to heat up, the effects will be catastrophic.

Many see global warming as a harbinger of what is to come. If we don’t curb our greenhouse gas emissions, then low-lying nations could be awash in seawater, rain and drought patterns across the world could change, hurricanes could become more frequent.On the other hand, there are those, some of whom are scientists, who believe that global warming will result in little more than warmer winters and increased plant growth. They point to the flaws in scientists’ measurements, the complexity of the climate, and the uncertainty in the climate models used to predict climate change. They claim that attempting to lower greenhouse emissions may do more damage to the world economy and human society than any amount of global warming. In truth, the future probably fits somewhere between these two scenarios.

They base their beliefs on the fact that there has never been a time in history when the earth did not experience widely fluctuating temperatures. Humans, animals, and plant life have always adapted to changing conditions, and these scientists believe this will continue to happen. Plus, because carbon dioxide is necessary for the survival of all living things, their perspective is that the more CO 2 there is in the atmosphere, the more the planet and its inhabitants will benefit. Scientists who are the most alarmed about global warming predict that the earth is headed for catastrophe if the temperature keeps rising-which they are convinced, will continue to do. They know that greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, have been building up for several hundred years. Once they are in the atmosphere, most of them remain there for a very long time, and billions of tons of these gases are still being emitted every year. Also, over the past fifty years the planet warmed more rapidly than at any other time in history. Many scientists are convinced that temperatures will continue to rise at the same rate-or perhaps even faster.No matter where scientists stand on the global warming issue, they all have strong opinions about it. At this point, there is more guesswork involved than anything else----something even the most astute scientists do not deny. Schneider says that many people think of the study of global warming as a fuzzy, uncertain science, which, in many ways, it is.

The dilemma rests, metaphorically, in our need to gaze into a very dirty crystal ball; but the tough judgment to be made here is precisely how long we should clean the glass before acting on what we believe we see inside.

Answer : Conservation of environment simply implies the sustainable use as well as management of natural resources which include wildlife, water, air, and earth deposits. There are renewable and non-renewable natural resources. Conservation of natural resources generally focuses on the needs & interests of human beings, for instance the biological, economic, cultural and recreational values. Conservationists have the view that development is necessary for a better future, but only when the changes occur in ways that are not wasteful. Read on to know more about preservation and conservation of environment.

Unfortunately, humans appear to be the greatest problem for our planet. The world’s population is rapidly growing which results in increased pressure on the environment, in the first place on natural resources including water, food, energy and various materials.

The data shows that wildlife species are disappearing faster than ever before in Earth’s history, while the average global temperature is dangerously rising. The glaciers are melting, extreme weather events are becoming more common and if we do not start taking better care of the environment, we are risking an unprecedented climate change which may threaten the very existence of life as we know it today on a global scale. Although the planet’s climate is known to go through cycles and to change dramatically in the past as well, the climate change we are already witnessing is primarily a result of human activities.

Conserving the environment and reversing the threatening climate change affects the entire world and requires a global action to achieve a global effect. Unfortunately, poor nations which mainly depend on the natural environment for survival need help to tackle poverty to be able to deal with environmental concerns. Then, there is the unwillingness of some countries to adopt more rigorous environmental laws out of fear to jeopardise their economic growth. Many environmentalists therefore worry that a global action will start only when it will be too late and urge the people to take action themselves.