Oceans
Why the ocean is important:
- Ocean conveyor, regulating world temperatures by transporting heat from equatorial regions toward the poles
- starting point for the hydrologic cycle
- Carbon sinks and producers of life-giving oxygen (microscopic plants living near the surface of the ocean, called phytoplankton, are responsible for the production of approximately 25% of the world's oxygen!)
- Used oil ends up being flushed into storm drains, dumped on the ground, or flushed into local streams. Poorly maintained vehicles drip gas and oil on roadways and parking lots, which is washed into storm drains with every rainfall.The annual oily runoff from a city of 5million people can be equivalent to one oil tanker spill.
- Ships flush out their bilges and pump the oily discharge overboard.
- Oil tankers, after unloading their cargo of oil at a refinery, flush sludge from their sludge from their cargo tanks with seawater on their journey back to the loading terminal
- Illegal dumping by cruise ships
- Agricultural run-off: fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are not readily biodegradable and are carried by rainwater into groundwater and oceans
- Sewage and other waste from large urban centers
- Industrial waste and thermal pollution
- Recreational boating oil and gasoline leaks and sewage released into marina waters, close to sensitive shoreline wetlands
- Offshore oil drilling: 15 million gallons of oil into our oceans
- Increasing pollution leads to a decrease in the oceans' ability to produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide and thereby accelerate the effects of global warming.
- If global warming continues to melt polar icecaps, rising sea levels will claim a large portion of the coastal floodplains that today are the major food growing areas of the world. If this happens, we have very little choice but to become farmers of the sea. Severely polluted oceans would inhibit this, possibly resulting in mass starvation
- Food production in a polluted ocean will also allow unacceptable levels of toxins to enter the food chain posing a threat to human health
- Slowly and steadily, toxic pollutants kill marine plants and animals and greatly diminish the biodiversity of our aquatic ecosystems.
Fisheries
Beginning in the 1950's total fish catches increased dramatically due largely to improved technology. Today it is estimated that 90% of all large ocean fish are now gone. These include tuna, swordfish, halibut and cod, among others.
Reasons for decline of world fish stocks
Reasons for decline of world fish stocks
- Over-fishing
- Technological advances in vessel designs and fish finding capabilities
- Bottom-dredging vessels catch every species of fish not just the targeted ones. When the nets are brought to the surface, the unwanted fish, often dead, are thrown back into the sea. The delicate sea floor ecosystem is also severely damaged by these dragged nets
- Poor regulation and planning by fisheries officials
- Recent emphasis on eating protein low in cholesterol
- Pollution of coastal waterways
- Draining of wetlands
- Thermal pollution resulting from factories discharging heated water into rivers
- Urban development, deforestation, mining, and the construction of hydro dams
- Global warming
- Drift-net fishing uses long nets, some as much as 50 km in length. These nets indiscriminately catch everything that swims into them. During stormy weather it is not uncommon for drift-nets to break loose from the fishing vessels. These abandoned nets, pushed by wind and ocean currents, can stay adrift for weeks catching and killing thousands of marine creatures of all types, that were unlucky enough to swim into them. Eventually the weight of the catch becomes too great and the drifting 'wall of death' disappears to the ocean floor.
Fresh Water
Only 3% of water on earth is fresh. The pollution of our fresh water is a growing concern. It is our only source of drinking water, but it is also the main transporter of disease in the world. The World Health Organization estimates that 1.5 billion people in the world do not have access to clean, safe drinking water and more than 5 million people die each year from diseases attributed to consuming unsafe water.
Key Sources of Pollution
Key Sources of Pollution
- Aging septic tanks
- Storm drains
- Landfills
- Mining operations
- Clear-cut logging operations
- Strict conservation plan endorsed by agriculture, industry, and domestic users of fresh water
- More efficient crop irrigation (consumers more than 80% of the fresh water in the world annually)
- Industry can reuse water
- Families need to use less water
Global Warming
Causes:
The earth’s climate changes naturally. Some of these solar cycles- like the four glacial-interglacial swings during the past 400,000 years- extend over very long scales and can have large amplitudes of 5 to 6 degrees Celsius. For the past 10,000 years, the earth has been in the warm interglacial phase of such a cycle. Other solar cycles are much shorter, with the shortest being the 11 year sunspot cycle. Other natural causes of climate change include variations in ocean currents (Which can alter the distribution of heat and precipitation), the release of methane gas from arctic tundra and wetlands, and large eruptions of volcanoes (which can sporadically increase the concentration of atmospheric particles, blocking out more sunlight).
Still, for thousands of years, the Earth’s atmosphere has changed very little. Temperature and the balance of heat-trapping greenhouse gases have remained just right for humans, animals, and plants to survive. But today we’re having problems keeping this balance.
The Greenhouse Effect
When the sun’s radiation reaches our atmosphere, some is reflected back into space and some passes through and is absorbed by the earth. Certain molecules in the atmosphere, called greenhouse gases, including water and carbon dioxide, allow sunlight to pass through them, but tend to reflect infrared or heat. Without greenhouse gases, Earth’s average temperature would be –19 degrees Celsius instead of +14 degrees Celsius—33 degrees Celsius colder!. Because greenhouse gases in the atmosphere act like a mirror and reflect back to the Earth a part of the heat radiation, which would otherwise be lost to space, the higher the concentration of green house gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the more heat energy is being reflected back to the Earth.
Because we burn fossil fuels to heat our homes, run our cars, produce electricity, and manufacture all sorts of products, we’re adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. By increasing the amount of these gases, we’ve enhanced the warming capability of the natural greenhouse effect.
The main contributor to the enhanced greenhouse effect is carbon dioxide ) Globally, it accounts for over 60% of the enhanced greenhouse gas effect. In industrialised countries, carbon dioxide makes up more than 80% of greenhouse gas emissions.
The following are the highest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions:
•Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning power plants:
•Carbon dioxide emissions from burning gasoline for transportation
•Methane emissions from animals, agriculture such as rice paddies, and from Arctic seabeds
•Deforestation, especially tropical forests for wood, pulp, and farmland
•Increase in usage of chemical fertilizers on croplands
The Effects
Warming of the seas creates ‘thermal expansion’- where warm water begins to take up more space than cool water, making the sea’s surface level increase. Thermal expansion has already raised the height of the oceans by 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20cm), according to National Geographic.
Steadily melting glacial ice also adds significantly to the elevation in water surface level, and many low-lying or coastal communities and facilities will be under threat of eradication should the sea levels continue to rise.
The destructive power of hurricanes has increased by some 50% in the last 30 years, a figure that is closely connected with the rising temperature of the ocean.
As the temperature of oceans rises, so will the probability of more frequent and stronger hurricanes.
As northern countries warm, disease carrying insects migrate north, bringing plague and disease with them.
Although some areas of Earth will become wetter due to global warming, other areas will suffer serious droughts and heat waves. Africa will receive the worst of it, with more severe droughts also expected in Europe.
Hurricanes cause billions of dollars in damage, diseases cost money to treat and control and conflicts exacerbate all of these.
An increase in tsunamis may happen due to the fact that changes in the temperature of the oceans may affect streams and underwater geophysical masses producing environmental conditions that may precipitate seismic movements at a given place.
A cold wave is characterized by a major plunge in temperature over a 24 hour period. It can be a devastating shock for crops and commerce, and also bring death and injury to humans and animals through accidents, hypothermia and starvation. More than 150 people lost their lives during the 2009 to 2010 winter after record low temperatures and abundant snowfall caused disruption to much of Europe .
A consequence of the increased amounts of humid air generated by global warming is that more thunderstorms will be triggered.
A powerful combination of vehicular fumes, ground-level ozone, airborne industrial pollution and the stagnant hot air associated with heat waves, smog represents an immediate and chronic health threat to those living in built-up urban areas.
Dry areas of land already vulnerable to wildfires are likely to be ravaged by even more frequent and destructive episodes. In 2007, more than 3,000 fires brought destruction to Southeastern Europe thanks to a long summer that created arid and parched conditions.
This raises sea levels-. If all glaciers melted today the seas would rise about 230 feet (National Snow and Ice Data Center), melting ice caps will throw the global ecosystem out of balance (alter ocean currents, which regulate temperatures), endanger several species of animals, and intensifies global warming: if the ice caps melt, the only reflector is the ocean. Darker colors absorb sunlight, further warming the Earth.
Loss of habitat for polar-ice edge communities such as polar bears is perhaps the most obvious consequence of having a warmer climate. Animals that are entirely dependent on cold environments will retreat to more northerly locations as the planet heats up – leading to encroachment upon other eco-systems and displacement of other animals from their natural habitat. A strong connection between oceanic warming, declines in reproduction and increases in mortality rates among seabirds, seals and sea lions has already been observed.
The world’s oceans absorb roughly 30% of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide that seeps into the atmosphere, and so inevitably, as more fossil fuels are burned, ocean life will continue to suffer the negative consequences of global warming.
Animals that are driven from their natural habitats or normal migration routes by environmental factors could easily come into contact with human settlements, leading to many deaths among humans and already endangered animals.
With greatly reduced rainfall, more severe droughts and loss of soil fertility, food and water supplies would soon diminish, resulting in higher prices, famine, disease, malnutrition, starvation and, ultimately, death.
Countries and factions would seek to control precious, dwindling resources and provide safety and shelter for their own people – perhaps at the cost of others. Simultaneously, previously heavily populated places would become uninhabitable due to heat or other factors, displacing millions of people. Even now, relocations are taking place. Mumbai’s population is estimated to become swollen by a further 7 million people by the year 2050.
The Deadly Dozen is a group of 12 diseases that have been identified as those most likely to spread due to global warming. It includes Avian Flu, Cholera, Plague, Ebola and Tuberculosis. Other sources of serious illnesses are exacerbated by the effects of pollution and the release of CFCs that harm the ozone layer.
Elevation in atmospheric and ground-level temperatures is likely to aggravate soil and vegetation loss in already hot climes
The earth’s climate changes naturally. Some of these solar cycles- like the four glacial-interglacial swings during the past 400,000 years- extend over very long scales and can have large amplitudes of 5 to 6 degrees Celsius. For the past 10,000 years, the earth has been in the warm interglacial phase of such a cycle. Other solar cycles are much shorter, with the shortest being the 11 year sunspot cycle. Other natural causes of climate change include variations in ocean currents (Which can alter the distribution of heat and precipitation), the release of methane gas from arctic tundra and wetlands, and large eruptions of volcanoes (which can sporadically increase the concentration of atmospheric particles, blocking out more sunlight).
Still, for thousands of years, the Earth’s atmosphere has changed very little. Temperature and the balance of heat-trapping greenhouse gases have remained just right for humans, animals, and plants to survive. But today we’re having problems keeping this balance.
The Greenhouse Effect
When the sun’s radiation reaches our atmosphere, some is reflected back into space and some passes through and is absorbed by the earth. Certain molecules in the atmosphere, called greenhouse gases, including water and carbon dioxide, allow sunlight to pass through them, but tend to reflect infrared or heat. Without greenhouse gases, Earth’s average temperature would be –19 degrees Celsius instead of +14 degrees Celsius—33 degrees Celsius colder!. Because greenhouse gases in the atmosphere act like a mirror and reflect back to the Earth a part of the heat radiation, which would otherwise be lost to space, the higher the concentration of green house gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the more heat energy is being reflected back to the Earth.
Because we burn fossil fuels to heat our homes, run our cars, produce electricity, and manufacture all sorts of products, we’re adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. By increasing the amount of these gases, we’ve enhanced the warming capability of the natural greenhouse effect.
The main contributor to the enhanced greenhouse effect is carbon dioxide ) Globally, it accounts for over 60% of the enhanced greenhouse gas effect. In industrialised countries, carbon dioxide makes up more than 80% of greenhouse gas emissions.
The following are the highest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions:
•Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning power plants:
•Carbon dioxide emissions from burning gasoline for transportation
•Methane emissions from animals, agriculture such as rice paddies, and from Arctic seabeds
•Deforestation, especially tropical forests for wood, pulp, and farmland
•Increase in usage of chemical fertilizers on croplands
The Effects
- More Floods:
Warming of the seas creates ‘thermal expansion’- where warm water begins to take up more space than cool water, making the sea’s surface level increase. Thermal expansion has already raised the height of the oceans by 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20cm), according to National Geographic.
Steadily melting glacial ice also adds significantly to the elevation in water surface level, and many low-lying or coastal communities and facilities will be under threat of eradication should the sea levels continue to rise.
- Destructive storms:
The destructive power of hurricanes has increased by some 50% in the last 30 years, a figure that is closely connected with the rising temperature of the ocean.
- Warmer waters and more hurricanes:
As the temperature of oceans rises, so will the probability of more frequent and stronger hurricanes.
- Spread of disease:
As northern countries warm, disease carrying insects migrate north, bringing plague and disease with them.
- Increased probability and intensity of droughts and heat waves
Although some areas of Earth will become wetter due to global warming, other areas will suffer serious droughts and heat waves. Africa will receive the worst of it, with more severe droughts also expected in Europe.
- Economic Consequences
Hurricanes cause billions of dollars in damage, diseases cost money to treat and control and conflicts exacerbate all of these.
- Tsunamis
An increase in tsunamis may happen due to the fact that changes in the temperature of the oceans may affect streams and underwater geophysical masses producing environmental conditions that may precipitate seismic movements at a given place.
- Cold Waves
A cold wave is characterized by a major plunge in temperature over a 24 hour period. It can be a devastating shock for crops and commerce, and also bring death and injury to humans and animals through accidents, hypothermia and starvation. More than 150 people lost their lives during the 2009 to 2010 winter after record low temperatures and abundant snowfall caused disruption to much of Europe .
- More dangerous thunderstorms
A consequence of the increased amounts of humid air generated by global warming is that more thunderstorms will be triggered.
- Death by smog
A powerful combination of vehicular fumes, ground-level ozone, airborne industrial pollution and the stagnant hot air associated with heat waves, smog represents an immediate and chronic health threat to those living in built-up urban areas.
- Fires and wildfires
Dry areas of land already vulnerable to wildfires are likely to be ravaged by even more frequent and destructive episodes. In 2007, more than 3,000 fires brought destruction to Southeastern Europe thanks to a long summer that created arid and parched conditions.
- Polar ice caps melting:
This raises sea levels-. If all glaciers melted today the seas would rise about 230 feet (National Snow and Ice Data Center), melting ice caps will throw the global ecosystem out of balance (alter ocean currents, which regulate temperatures), endanger several species of animals, and intensifies global warming: if the ice caps melt, the only reflector is the ocean. Darker colors absorb sunlight, further warming the Earth.
- Loss of biodiversity and animal extinction
Loss of habitat for polar-ice edge communities such as polar bears is perhaps the most obvious consequence of having a warmer climate. Animals that are entirely dependent on cold environments will retreat to more northerly locations as the planet heats up – leading to encroachment upon other eco-systems and displacement of other animals from their natural habitat. A strong connection between oceanic warming, declines in reproduction and increases in mortality rates among seabirds, seals and sea lions has already been observed.
- Death of ocean life
The world’s oceans absorb roughly 30% of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide that seeps into the atmosphere, and so inevitably, as more fossil fuels are burned, ocean life will continue to suffer the negative consequences of global warming.
- Animal attacks
Animals that are driven from their natural habitats or normal migration routes by environmental factors could easily come into contact with human settlements, leading to many deaths among humans and already endangered animals.
- Diminished food and water supplies
With greatly reduced rainfall, more severe droughts and loss of soil fertility, food and water supplies would soon diminish, resulting in higher prices, famine, disease, malnutrition, starvation and, ultimately, death.
- Migration, conflict and wars
Countries and factions would seek to control precious, dwindling resources and provide safety and shelter for their own people – perhaps at the cost of others. Simultaneously, previously heavily populated places would become uninhabitable due to heat or other factors, displacing millions of people. Even now, relocations are taking place. Mumbai’s population is estimated to become swollen by a further 7 million people by the year 2050.
- More outbreaks of deadly diseases
The Deadly Dozen is a group of 12 diseases that have been identified as those most likely to spread due to global warming. It includes Avian Flu, Cholera, Plague, Ebola and Tuberculosis. Other sources of serious illnesses are exacerbated by the effects of pollution and the release of CFCs that harm the ozone layer.
- Desertification
Elevation in atmospheric and ground-level temperatures is likely to aggravate soil and vegetation loss in already hot climes
- Increased volcanic activity
Waste
In North America we produce enough garbage every day to fill over 70,000 garbage trucks. It has become common practice to bury solid waste in landfill sites but today we are beginning to look at waste as a valuable resource that must not be discarded and wasted in landfills
Most of our garbage consist of paper and organic products: stuff we can compost and recycle.
{The composition of a landfill}:
When biodegradable wastes settle into the surface of the earth, there is both an aerobic and anerobic decomposition of the matter. This can result in the release of a lot of methane gas, which is potentially harmful to the environment. In landfills, the trash is so heavily deposited that there is not enough oxygen for aerobic decomposition to occur. Also, since they are so densely packed, the anerobic decomposition takes a lot of time thus technically becoming solid wastes
How can we reduce the amount of waste that we put into landfills:
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
Hazardous Waste:
Many toxins do not break down readily and may pose a health risk for thousands of years.
For decades, toxic waste was dumped into streams, pumped into unlined confinements, or taken to landfills where contamination of surface water and groundwater continues to occur today.
Many contaminated toxic waste sites across North America remain untouched mainly because clean-up is costly and environmentally proper means of dealing with the waste poses new challenges.
Most of our garbage consist of paper and organic products: stuff we can compost and recycle.
{The composition of a landfill}:
- 32.7% Paper
- 30% Organic
- 26.5% Other
- 8.8% Plastic
When biodegradable wastes settle into the surface of the earth, there is both an aerobic and anerobic decomposition of the matter. This can result in the release of a lot of methane gas, which is potentially harmful to the environment. In landfills, the trash is so heavily deposited that there is not enough oxygen for aerobic decomposition to occur. Also, since they are so densely packed, the anerobic decomposition takes a lot of time thus technically becoming solid wastes
How can we reduce the amount of waste that we put into landfills:
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
Hazardous Waste:
Many toxins do not break down readily and may pose a health risk for thousands of years.
For decades, toxic waste was dumped into streams, pumped into unlined confinements, or taken to landfills where contamination of surface water and groundwater continues to occur today.
Many contaminated toxic waste sites across North America remain untouched mainly because clean-up is costly and environmentally proper means of dealing with the waste poses new challenges.