environmental science
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Scrap Book and
Environmental Science
Submitted by: LUMONGSOD, MACKY A.
Submitted to: Mrs. JONA DORILAG
Environmental Science
Environmental science is the science of the interactions between the physical, chemical, and biological components of the environment, including their effects on all types of organisms but more often refers to human impact on the environment.- The ecological foundation of environmental systems, the ecological impacts of environmental degradation by humans, and strategies for sustainable management of environment and natural resources.
Negative Effects:
Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time (i.e., decades to millions of years). Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions, or in the time variation of weather around longer-term average conditions (i.e., more or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics, and volcanic eruptions. Certain human activities have also been identified as significant causes of recent climate change, often referred to as global warming
Causes:
On the broadest scale, the rate at which energy is received from the Sun and the rate at which it is lost to space determine the equilibrium temperature and climate of Earth. This energy is distributed around the globe by winds, ocean currents, and other mechanisms to affect the climates of different regions.
Factors that can shape climate are called climate forcing’s or "forcing mechanisms". These include processes such as variations in solar radiation, variations in the Earth's orbit, variations in the albedo or reflectivity of the continents and oceans, mountain-building and continental drift and changes in greenhouse gas concentrations. There are a variety of climate change feedbacks that can either amplify or diminish the initial forcing. Some parts of the climate system, such as the oceans and ice caps, respond more slowly in reaction to climate forcing’s, while others respond more quickly. There are also key threshold factors which when exceeded can produce rapid change.
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. It is defined as any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable.
Causes:
While environmental degradation is most commonly associated with the activities of humans, the fact is that environments are also constantly changing over time. With or without the impact of human activities, some ecosystems degrade over time to the point where they cannot support the life that is "meant" to live there.
Things like landslides, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and wildfires can completely decimate local plant and animal communities to the point where they can no longer function.
Environmental health is the branch of public health that is concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment that may affect human health. Other terms referring to or concerning environmental health are environmental public health, and public health protection / environmental health protection. Environmental health and environmental protection are very much related. Environmental health is focused on the natural and built environments for the benefit of human health, whereas environmental protection is concerned with protecting the natural environment for the benefit of human health and the ecosystem.
Concerns:
Environmental health addresses all human-health-related aspects of the natural environment and the built environment. Environmental health concerns include:
Air quality, including both ambient outdoor air and indoor air quality, which also comprises concerns about environmental tobacco smoke.
Climate change and its effects on health.
Disaster preparedness and response.
Food safety, including in agriculture, transportation, food processing, wholesale and retail distribution and sale.
Hazardous materials management, including hazardous waste management, contaminated site remediation, the prevention of leaks from
underground and the prevention of hazardous materials releases to the environment and responses to emergency situations resulting from such
releases.
Housing, including substandard housing abatement and the inspection of jails and prisons.
Childhood lead poisoning prevention.
Land use planning, including smart growth.
Liquid waste disposal, including city waste water treatment plants and on-site waste water disposal systems, such as septic tank systems and
chemical.
Medical waste management and disposal.
Occupational health and industrial hygiene.
Radiological health, including exposure to ionizing radiation from X-rays or radioactive isotopes.
Recreational water illness prevention, including from swimming pools, spas and ocean and freshwater bathing places.
Safe drinking water.
Solid waste management, including landfills, recycling facilities, composting and solid waste transfer stations.
Toxic chemical exposure whether in consumer products, housing, workplaces, air, water or soil.
Vector control, including the control of mosquitoes, rodents, flies, cockroaches and other animals that may transmit pathogens.
Environmental issues with energy
The environmental impact of the energy industry is diverse. Energy has been harnessed by human beings for millennia. Initially it was with the use of fire for light, heat, cooking and for safety, and its use can be traced back at least 1.9 million years.[3] In recent years there has been a trend towards the increased commercialization.
Consumption of fossil fuel resources leads to global warming and climate change. In most parts of the world little change is being made to slow these changes. If the peak oil theory proves true, and more explorations of viable alternative energy sources are made, our impact could be less hostile to our environment.
Rapidly advancing technologies can achieve a transition of energy generation, water and waste management, and food production towards better environmental and energy usage practices using methods of systems ecology and industrial ecology.
Issues:
Biofuel use/Bio-diesel/ Firewood/ Fossil fuel use/ Coal/ Electricity generation/ Reservoirs/ Nuclear power and Wind power.
Causes:
Climate change
Environmental issues with war
The environmental impact of war focuses on the modernization of warfare and its increasing effects on the environment. Scorched earth methods have been used for much of recorded history. However, methods of modern warfare cause far greater devastation on the environment. The progression of warfare from chemical weapons to nuclear weapons has increasingly created stress on ecosystems and the environment.
Human overpopulation
Human overpopulation occurs if the number of people in a group exceeds the carrying capacity of the region occupied by that group. Overpopulation can further be viewed, in a long term perspective, as existing when a population cannot be maintained given the rapid depletion of non-renewable resources or given the degradation of the capacity of the environment to give support to the population.
Causes:
From a historical perspective, technological revolutions have coincided with population explosions. There have been three major technological revolutions – the tool-making revolution, the agricultural revolution, and the industrial – all of which allowed humans more access to food, resulting in subsequent population explosions and food production further increased with the industrial revolution.
Significant increases in human population occur whenever the birth rate exceeds the death rate for extended periods of time. Traditionally, the fertility rate is strongly influenced by cultural and social norms that are rather stable and therefore slow to adapt to changes in the social, technological, or environmental conditions.
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that causes adverse change.[1] Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light. Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants. Pollution is often classed as point source or nonpoint source.
Causes:
Air pollution
Soil pollution
Water pollution
Resource depletion
Resource depletion is the consumption of a resource faster than it can be replenished. Natural resources are commonly divided between renewable resources and non-renewable resources (see also mineral resource classification). Use of either of these forms of resources beyond their rate of replacement is considered to be resource depletion.
Resource depletion is most commonly used in reference to farming, fishing, mining, water usage, and consumption of fossil fuels.
Causes:
Habitat degradation/Irrigation/Mining/Overconsumption/Pollution/Slash-and-burn/ Soil erosion/Technological and industrial development and Deforestation.
.Toxicant
A toxicant is any toxic substance. In popular usage, the term is often used to denote substances made by humans or introduced into the environment by human activity, in contrast to toxins, which are toxicants produced naturally by a living organism Toxicants are poisonous.
Waste
Waste and wastes are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance which is discarded after primary use, or it is worthless, defective and of no use.
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