It is sometimes hard to to establish which are the most pressing Global
Environmental Issues. Some issues such as
ocean plastics can be very
emotive. Whilst others can be ignored as they make for unpleasant reading, or
seem "unfixable".
Most of the below problems relate to our obsession with growth. If a countries
economy does not grow we say it is failing, and so we chase perpetual growth. Is
this practical, possible and sensible?
1 - Population Growth
The growth rate of the human
population on
Planet Earth is very rapid. When viewed over the long term and presented
on a graph
the result is un-settling. If this graph were representative of virtualy
any other data set, we would likely take action. By example imagine if
this graph were representative of a hospital patient's blood pressure,
or the population of rats on a ship then control measures would be
implemented.
Human Populations growth is the route cause of all our planets ailments.
Humans have the potential to fix most of the environmental issues we
have created, but that will become more and more difficult as the
population rises.
On a smaller scale overpopulation in nature soon results in Disease,
Lack of Food and Damaged Eco-Systems. We regularly see all these
symptoms in the Human Population yet we ignore the signals.
2 - Climate Change
I have placed Climate Change
in second place because it is affecting a system which we all depend
upon for life. It is being altered by human activity, to a point where
we just do not know what will happen.
For hundreds of millions of years the
CO2 levels in the
atmosphere have stayed between a set range. We can assume that the
planet as a system has regulated levels by means of natural systems. As
well as burning millions of years worth of fossilised carbon, we are
also quickly removing the ability of our planet to regulate CO2 by
damaging the very life support system on which we depend.
Our rampant consumerism is not helpful, and the global nature of supply
chains often masks domestic footprints. For example the UK has a
reasonably low carbon footprint per capita if we consider emissions from
our own cars and factories, but if you add on the emissions from all our
imported goods from China & India we are one of the worst emitters
in the world.
3 - Ocean Acidification
As CO2 level rise the ocean absorbs more and more CO2. This lower the PH of
the ocean, it becomes more acidic. The ocean is still alkaline, but it is more
acidic than it should be. The acid of the ocean is balanced by a process called
Ocean Calcium Carbonate Flux.
This process involves Carbon Dioxide is dissolved from the air in to
the ocean, and are "locked" in to Calcium Carbonate input by marine organisms.
Many of these marine organisms use the Dissolve Carbon Dioxide to build their
shells, which are made from Calcium Carbonate. When these organisms die there
shells fall down to the ocean floor where they remains for 10,000s of years,
removed from the carbon cycle. This is good because it helps to keep Carbon
Dioxide levels stable.
As an example one of the small marine organisms that help trap CO2 in
this way is a
coccolithophores. These are tiny little things that build shells,
and then dye drifting down to the sea floor. If you are familiar with
chalk (the rock) you can thank
coccolithophores for it, as it is largely composed of their shells.
As the oceans become more acidic it reduces the ability of
coccolithophores to retain the Calcium Carbonate in their shells, and so
we can expect them to do less and less carbon removal and the ocean
acidify. This is not a good thing, as it is a system that has kept the
planets climate in check for millions of years, and we are sticking a
spanner in the works.
To explain this process the following information has been
simplified, but a full explanation can be found on
Wikipedia.
4 - Deforestation
As with the ocean the Forest and Jungles of Planet Earth are a key part of a
system that regulates our climate. We are annihilating our forests on an
industrial scale.
When a tree grows it locks carbon dioxide in to its structure as lignin or
some other carbon based substance. It stays locked up for many years, unless we
dynamite the trees to pieces, or smash them down with bulldozers. . .
unfortunately they is a tree genocide going on globally.
5 - Contamination
Humans are contaminating the entire globe with our waste products. As
we introduce more and more contaminants in to the environment the very
substrates we depend upon for life (air, water and soil) become less and
less useful too us. Many of the contamination we see that causes the big
problem, is small dose and long term.
Ocean Plastics have made the news a great deal in the last year. But
this is just one area where all of our dumped rubbish is messing with
nature.
We spill oil on to land. Oil in to the sea.
Micro Plastics from or laundry pollute rivers and sea. In the Thames
River (London) there are
islands made from wet wipes discharged by sewer companies, these are
washed in to the sea adding to the
ocean plastic problem.
This contamination of our environment has been going on for thousands
of years. There is still lead contaminating parts of the world, which
was left there by the romans. And we are still inventing new ways to
contaminate our environment, with industries such as Fracking smashing
the rocks beneath our feet and injecting chemicals.
As one example we are slowly increasing the concentration of
plastics in our environment, and they are tuning up in everything from
sea salt, to fish fingers.
Fish are eating these plastics and in some cases prefer eating them
to their normal food. All kinds of marine organisms are filter feeders
which sift masses of water for food, they eat the plastic which
contaminates their bodies.
This contamination then works its way up the food chain, with large fish
eating smaller fish, and sharks and dolphins eating larger fish. We
humans are eating some of this fish. We are eating the plastic we are
throwing in to the river and oceans.
