THE WORLD AROUND US

1. THE WORLD AROUND US Environmental Threats Work done by: João Martins 11ºA nº 12 Francisco Marques 11ºA nº8 João Rolo 11ºA nº11 Ruben Amaral 11ºC nº12

2. Environmental Threats • Global Warming • Air and Sea Pollution • Climate Change • Resource Depletion • Overfishing • Consumer Habits

3. Global Warming

4. What is this threat ? When coal, gas and oil are burned, they produce carbon dioxide that builds up in the atmosphere and traps the sun’s heat. Much of this greenhouse gas released today remains in the atmosphere after even 100 years, trapping more and more heat. Since the mid-1800s, emissions of carbon dioxide have skyrocketed, and subsequently global temperatures have risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the last century. Earth has not experienced such a rapid change in temperature in thousands of years.

5. What is this threat ? Unless we reduce the pollution that causes global warming, temperatures could climb between 2-10 degrees Fahrenheit this century. Such a rapid rise in temperature would fundamentally reshape the planet’s climate, forever changing the landscape and water resources people and wildlife depend upon.

6. How to reduce this threat ? • Conserving energy in our daily lives • Helping Wildlife supporting the production of renewable energy • Reducing the levels of pollution in our lifestyle

7. How to conserve energy in our daily lives ? • Change the filter in your furnace! Keep heating and cooling systems running efficiently! • Change to fluorescent light bulbs! They use far less energy than incandescent. • Combine trips! Plan your errands to reduce transportation time! • Lower the temperature on your water heater! You’ll still have hot water, but it means the heater uses less energy when you are not using hot water. • Check your car’s tire pressure! Poorly inflated tires wastes gas and causes more pollution

8. You can do easy things to help the environment such as: • Produce solar energy using a solar panel! • Produce Aeolian energy by the wind force! • Produce energy by the movement of dam water! • Produce energy through the waste (biomass energy)! • Produce energy through the heat inside the world (Geothermal energy)!

9. How to reduce the pollution in our lifestyle ? Lifestyle Choices • Carpool or take mass transportation whenever possible. This can also reduce your commute if it gives you access to high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, available in some communities. • Combine errands to reduce trips! • Try to live close to your work or school! • Avoid peak time travel! • If you need to rent a vehicle, rent the smallest one available. Sometimes you can even rent a hybrid vehicle. • Support industries that recycle tires by buying items made from tires. You can find doormats, roofing, playground material and asphalt.

10. How to reduce the pollution in our lifestyle ? Driving Style • Learn how to start your vehicle! Fuel-injected vehicles do not need to have the gas pedal pumped. • Avoid quick acceleration or sudden braking unless your life is in danger! Avoid tailgating because it requires more braking and accelerating! • Use cruise control when highway driving! • Put items inside the vehicle rather than on roof racks to reduce drag. If possible, remove roof racks when you are not using them! • Avoid rough roads where possible! Smooth road surfaces can reduce fuel consumption. • Avoid riding your brake i.e. having one foot on your brake and one on the gas pedal!

11. Air pollution • Air pollution is the presence of any chemicaL, physical (e.g. particulate matter), or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere. The atmosphere is a complex, dynamic natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on earth. • Worldwide air pollution is responsible for large numbers of deaths and cases of respiratory disease. Enforced air quality standards, like the Clean Air Act in the United States, have reduced the presence of some pollutants.

12. Air pollution • While major stationary sources are often identified with air pollution, the greatest source of emissions are actually mobile sources, principally the automobile. There are many available air pollution control technologies and urban planning strategies available to reduce air pollution; however, worldwide costs of addressing the issue are high. The most immediate method of improving air quality would be the use of bioethanol fuel, biodiesel, solar energy, and hybrid vehicle technologies.

13. Deaths • The World Health Organization estimates that 4.6 million people die each year from causes directly attributable to air pollution. • [1] Many of these mortalities are attributable to indoor air pollution. • [2] Worldwide more deaths per year are linked to air pollution than to automobile accidents. • [3] Research published in 2005 suggests that 310,000 Europeans die from air pollution annually. • Direct causes of air pollution related deaths include aggravated asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, lung and heart diseases, and respiratory allergies.

14. The worst short term civilian pollution crisis in India was the 1984 Bhopal Disaster. Leaked industrial vapors killed more than 2,000 people outright and injured anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 others, some 6,000 of whom would later die from their injuries. • The United Kingdom suffered its worst air pollution event when the December 4th Great Smog of 1952 formed over London. In six days more than 4,000 died, and 8,000 more died within the following months. • An accidental leak of anthrax spores from a biological warfare laboratory in the former USSR in 1979 near Sverdlovsk is believed to have been the cause of hundreds of civilian deaths. • The worst single incident of air pollution to occur in the United States of America occurred in Donora, Pennsylvania in late October, 1948, when 20 people died and over 7,000 were injured.

15. Air Pollution • Air is the ocean we breathe. Air supplies us with oxygen which is essential for our bodies to live. Air is compost by 99.9% nitrogen, oxygen, water vapour and inert gases. Human activities can release substances into the air, some of which can cause problems for humans, plants, and animals. • There are several main types of pollution and well-known effects of pollution which are commonly discussed. These include smog, acid rain, the greenhouse effect, and "holes" in the ozone layer. Each of these problems has serious implications for our health and well-being as well as for the whole environment. • One type of air pollution is the release of particles into the air from burning fuel for energy. Diesel smoke is a good example of this particulate matter . This type of pollution is sometimes referred to as "black carbon" pollution. The exhaust from burning fuels in automobiles, homes, and industries is a major source of pollution in the air. • Some authorities believe that even the burning of wood and charcoal in fireplaces and barbeques can release significant quantities of soot into the air.

16. Another type of pollution is the release of noxious gases, such as sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and chemical vapours. These can take part in further chemical reactions once they are in the atmosphere, forming smog and acid rain. • Pollution also needs to be considered inside our homes, offices, and schools. Some of these pollutants can be created by indoor activities such as smoking and cooking. • In the United States, we spend about 80-90% of our time inside buildings, and so our exposure to harmful indoor pollutants can be serious. It is therefore important to consider both indoor and outdoor air pollution.

17. Air pollution and health • Air pollution can affect our health in many ways with both short-term and long-term effects. Different groups of individuals are affected by air pollution in different ways. • Some individuals are much more sensitive to pollutants than others. Young children and elderly people often suffer more from the effects of air pollution. People with health problems such as asthma may also suffer more when the air is polluted. • Examples of short-term effects include irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, and upper respiratory infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia. • Long-term health effects can include chronic respiratory disease, lung cancer, heart disease, and even damage to the brain, nerves, liver, or kidneys.

18. Sea Pollution • Polluting the seas • The seas and oceans receive the brunt of human waste, whether it is by deliberate dumping or by natural run-off from the land. In fact over 80% of all marine pollution comes from land-based activities and many pollutants are deposited in estuaries and coastal waters. Here the pollutants enter marine food chains, building up their concentrations until they reach toxic levels. • It often takes human casualties to alert us to pollution and such was the case in Minimata Bay in Japan when many people died as a result of a pollutant building up in food chains. A factory was discharging waste containing methyl mercury in low concentrations into the sea and as this pollutant passed through food chains it became more concentrated in the tissues of marine organisms until it reached toxic levels. As a consequence 649 people died from eating fish and shellfish contaminated with mercury and 3500 people suffered from mercury poisoning.

19. Oil pollution • Black tar-like oil is sometimes washed onto beaches not only causing a nuisance to holidaymakers but also killing many sea-birds. The oil mainly comes from tankers which wash out their holds while out at sea to save time in port. • Enforcement of laws concerning the dumping of oil is difficult and responsibility rests with the captain of each tanker to obey the law. • Once oil is in the sea and the tanker has sailed on, it is difficult to prove that an offence has been committed and unless the culprit can be identified the cost of clearing up is the responsibility of the local council. If you find that oil has been washed ashore report it at once to your local council who will arrange for the beach to be cleaned up. Local volunteers can also begin the task of trying to save the lives of sea-birds contaminated with oil.

20. Climate Change

21. Climate change: refers to the variation in the Earth's global climate or in regional climates over time. It describes changes in the variability or average state of the atmosphere—or average weather—over time scales ranging from decades to millions of years. These changes may come from processes internal to the Earth, be driven by external forces (e.g. variations in sunlight intensity) or, most recently, be caused by human activities. Climate change factors Climate changes reflect variations within the Earth's environment, natural processes going on around it, and the impact of human activity. The external factors which can shape climate are often called climate forcing and include such processes as variations in solar radiation, the Earth's orbit, and greenhouse gas concentrations.

22. Variations within the Earth's climate This includes the average temperature, amount of precipitation, days of sunlight, and many other variables that might be measured at any given site. However, there are also changes within the Earth's environment that can affect the climate. • Glaciation • Ocean variability Non-climate factors driving climate change • Greenhouse gases Current studies indicate that radioactive forcing by greenhouse gases is the primary cause of global warming. Greenhouse gases are also important in understanding Earth's climate history. According to diferent studies, the greenhouse effect, which is the warming produced as greenhouse gases trap heat, plays a key role in regulating Earth's temperature.

23. Plate tectonics • Solar variation • Orbital variations • Volcanism Human influences on climate Anthropogenic factors are acts by humans that change the environment and influence climate. The biggest factor of present concern is the increase in CO2 levels due to emissions from fossil fuel combustion, followed by aerosols (particulate matter in the atmosphere) which exerts a cooling effect. Other factors, including land use, ozone depletion, and deforestation also impact climate. • Aerosols • Land use

24. Examples of climate change Climate change has continued throughout the entire history of Earth. The field of paleoclimatology has provided information of climate change in the ancient past, supplementing modern observations of climate. Obviously, most of these prehistoric changes are solely the result of natural factors. • Climate of the deep past Faint young sun paradox Snowball earth Oxygen Catastrophe • Climate of the last 500 million years Phanerozoic overview Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum Cretaceous Thermal Maximum Permo–Carboniferous Glaciation Ice ages

25. Climate of recent glaciations Dansgaard–Oeschger event Younger Dryas Ice age temperatures • Recent climate Holocene Climatic Optimum Medieval Warm Period Little Ice Age Temperature record of the past 1000 years Global warming

26. Resource Depletion

27. Resource Depletion • Population Pressures • Food and Agriculture • Renewable Energy

28. Population Pressures • Rapid or persistent population growth can force farmers and fishermen to over-exploit fragile ecosystems with damaging results. It can also increase pressures on local infrastructures and services. It speeds the rate of urbanisation (itself not a bad thing), often leading to dangerous, overcrowded and unplanned settlements, with poor sanitation, a lack of clean water and disastrous air pollution. • In some rural settings the population growth appears to have stimulated new farming methods, but elsewhere it has resulted in the over-use of slash and burn techniques, and unsustainable land clearance on fragile, sloping and forested land and destructive coastal development.

29. Population Pressures • Where resources are already limited, rapid population growth can make it more difficult to eradicate poverty. • More than any other resource, water shortage is becoming critical issue both for agriculture (which makes up about 70 per cent of demand) and industry. A safe water supply is also one of the most important factors in improving the health of poor families. Up to 7 billion people, in 60 countries, will face water scarcity within the next half century, according to the UN World Water Development Report released in March 2003.

30. Food and Agriculture According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, the annual growth in cereal yields is projected to fall to about one per cent during the next two decades. However, the Food and Agricultural Organisation estimates that total food production of all sorts will grow annually at about 1.5 per cent over the next 30 years, keeping ahead of population growth, now running at 1.3 per cent a year.

31. Food and Agriculture Most experts agree that if we are to feed 8 billion people - many of them demanding a meat-rich diet - in 2030, then world food production will have to increase by at least 40 per cent. In the view of FAO, 80 per cent of this increase will have to come from more intensive crop production, and the remaining 20 per cent from expansion of arable land, much at the expense of existing forests.

32. Renewable Energy By some estimates, "new renewables" (which excludes large-scale hydropower and traditional biomass) already supply the equivalent of the residential electricity needs of more than 300 million people. Wind and solar power are the fastest-growing energy sources in the world, experiencing rates of growth and technology advancement comparable to the electronics industry (see figure 1).

33. Overfishing

34. Overfishingis a situation where one or more fish stocks are reduced below predefined levels of acceptance by fishing activities. More precise definitions are provided in biology and bio economics. Biological over fishing occurs when fishing mortality has reached a level where the stock biomass has negative marginal growth. Over fishing may lead to depletion in cases of subsidised fishing, low biological growth rates and critical low biomass levels . The ability for nature to restore the fisheries is also dependent on whether the ecosystems are still in a state to allow fish numbers to build again. Dramatic changes in species composition may establish other equilibrium energy flows which involve other species compositions than before (ecosystem shift).

35. Solutions In order to meet the problems of over fishing principles of precautionary approach and Harvest Control Rule (HCR) management principles have been introduced in the main fisheries around the world. The Traffic Light colour convention introduces sets of rules based on predefined critical values, which could be adjusted as more information is gained. The "United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea" treaty deals with aspects of over fishing. Another possible solution, at least for some areas is fishing quotas, so fishermen can only take a certain amount of fish legally. A more radical possibility is declaring certain areas of the sea "no-go zones" and make fishing there strictly illegal, so the fish in that area have time to recover and repopulate.

36. Instances of overfishing • Examples of the outcomes from over fishing exist in areas like the North Sea, and the Grand Banks on the east coast of North America. The result has been not only disastrous to fish stocks but also to the fishing communities relying on the harvest. Like forestry and hunting, fishery crisis is susceptible to economic interaction between ownership or stewardship and sustainability, or the tragedy of the commons. • The economic system of Peruvian coastal anchovy fisheries crashed in the 1970s after over fishing, and reportedly an El Niño largely depleted anchovies from its waters. Anchovies had previously been a major natural resource in Peru; indeed, 1971 alone yielded 10.2 million metric tons of anchovies. However, in the following year, and the four after that, the Peruvian fleet's catch amounted to only about 4 million tons. This was a major loss to Peru's economy. • The sole solea solea fisheries in the Irish Sea, the west English Channel and other locations have become over fished to the point of virtual collapse according to the UK government's official Biodiversity Action Plan. The UK has created elements within this plan to attempt to restore the sole fishery; however, the expanding human population has reached a point where demand for food threatens the stability of these fisheries, even if not the species survival.

38. Did you know that… • We have used over six billion glass bottles and jars each year? • You would have taken over three and a half thousand years to sing “Six Billion Green Bottles” again?

39. Did you know that… • Every year we need a forest the size of Wales to provide all the paper used in Britain?

40. Did you know that… • We have thrown away 28 million tonnes of rubbish from home each year in Britain? • This rubbish has weighed the same as three and a half million double buses?

41. Did you know that… • An average person has thrown away 74 kg of organic waste each year, which is the same as 1007 banana skins?

42. Did you know that… • The amount of waste paper buried each year would fill 103,448 double decker buses, which if parked nose to tail would stretch all the way from London to Milan?

43. Did you know that… • Each year food shops have given away enough carrier bags to cover the whole of London with a layer of plastic?

44. Did you know that… • Every day 80 million food and drink cans have ended up being buried in landfill sites? • We have thrown away one and a half cans per person every day? • In a year, each person could fill a bath with the contents of the cans?

45. Did you know that... • We have filled about 300 million square metres of land with rubbish every year? • The land covered with rubbish could be the same as covering the pitch of Old Trafford, Manchester United Football Club’s Ground, 28450 times?

46. Did you know that... • One million tonnes of nappies have been thrown away every year? • 8 million nappies have been thrown away every day? • Each child has used a total of 5850 nappies during its infancy? • The nappies used by each child during its infancy have weighted the same as an average family car?

47. Did you know that… • In the 50’s the world has made less than 5 million of plastic products? • This has increased to about 80 million tonnes today? • We can produce and use 20 times more plastic today than we did 50 years ago?