eSSAY
THE ENVIRONMAENT
The Environment The impact of people on their environment can be devastating. This is where the respective role of governments can make decisions that shape environmental policy and responsibilities. These governments can be broken up into four different levels: local, state, federal and international. Air quality and biodiversity are two current issues that can be related to the role of governments. Global warming is also another implication that has a devastating effect on the environment. Current examples include the rise in sea levels, polar meltdowns, the melting of ice sheets and glaciers and human deaths due to disease from the effects of global warming. Firstly the environment can be defined as the natural features of our surroundings such as plant and animal life and their habitats, water, soils and the atmosphere. A local government named Rockdale Municipal Council has implemented certain actions to deal with the quality in that region. They have recognized that the main source of poor air quality originates from air pollution sources such as motor vehicles, industrial premises and aircraft emissions. The solutions to these problems include improvements to Ryde and Botany Bay cycle way, integration of land use and transport planning strategies, production of Air Quality - the Facts booklet for community, investigation of complaints regarding odours and dust, tree planting and preparation of a Local Air Quality Management Plan in 1999. Air quality is a major issue in most states within Australia that affects our greenhouse, to tackle the implications state governments have created policies and responsibilities. For instance Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) is a program that enables mainly state governments to take action on greenhouse. CCP provides these state governments with a strategic framework to diminish greenhouse gas emissions by helping them identify and recognize the emissions of their council and community, set a reduction goal and develop and utilize an action plan to reach that goal. State actions include: capturing the methane from landfill sites and public and non-car transport into urban planning. On a federal or national basis Australia has employed policies to increase the air quality. For example the Commonwealth Government will guarantee that Australia carries its fair-share of the burden in worldwide efforts to combat global air pollution through policy development and implementation. They have also supported the National Greenhouse Strategy (NGS) which began in late 1996. The government will also support the development of a national strategy to observe and manage air toxics. The air toxics strategy will monitor, establish the levels of community exposure to, and manage emissions of selected air toxics. The federal government will even consider the inclusion of air toxics in a future National Environmental Protection Measure. Further measures include the leading of the development of national ambient air quality standards through the National Environmental Protection Council and the assistance of the establishment of a National Pollutant Inventory which will require large companies to publicly report their emission of 90 pollutants. Local government Rockdale Municipal Council has introduced responsibilities and policies to reduce the loss of biodiversity. This local government has learned that the cause involves the introduction of species, pollution of land and water, weed invasion and urban encroachment. Their solutions to these problems comprise of the planting of over 3,500 plants and shrubs in Bardwell Valley and Scotts Reserve, bush regeneration and planting in Scarborough Reserve, involvement in Cooks River Foreshores Working Party and preparation of a flora and fauna study in 2000. Policies towards the community include controlling noxious weeds on your property, planting native trees indigenous to the area and applying to the council prior to removing any trees. The Labor Tasmanian Government has created a new Environment Policy on biodiversity that hopes to preserve native plants and animals. The policies commit the government to encourage community involvement in biological diversity programs, proclaim the Tasman National Park, establish a State Biodiversity Committee with community representation to arrange a Tasmanian Biodiversity Strategy, support the development of a State Policy on the protection of remnant native vegetation, examine the possibility of incorporating the Biodiversity Strategy into legislation and seeking the co-operation of local government and the community in including and enforcing biological diversity guidelines in development criteria. The federal government has enabled several policies to deal with conservation of Australia's biodiversity. The government will support the National Reserve System program to expand Australia's National Parks, support off-reserve biodiversity conservation including the planting of trees and the protection of vegetation through the Bushcare program and work with the States to reduce unsustainable land clearing, develop an alert list of introduced plants and animals that pose a risk to our environment. The government will also maintain a ban on the export of live fauna; support research into Australia's floral and fauna assemblages as well as biodiversity conservation methods and ratify the Desertification Convention. An international conference held in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997 discussed issues on how best to reduce global warming. Kyoto Protocol negotiations have reached a legally binding agreement limiting the amount of gas emissions all industrialized countries. The protocol also included provisions for emission trading between industrialized countries. The overall nominal effect of the Kyoto protocol is for a reduction of 5.2% of emissions by 2010. However the agreement has many flaws and could lead to emission rising above 1990 levels. The protocol specifies that Japan must reduce emissions by 6%, USA by 7% and the European Union by 8%. The chairman of the conference negotiators, Raul Estrada said that further discussions were needed to find a way of implementing a system of trading in emissions. Trading allows countries that produce high levels of greenhouse gases, such as the USA, to buy the right to retain or even increase emissions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Global warming refers to an expected rise in global average temperature due to the continued emission of greenhouse gases produced by industry and agriculture which trap heat in the atmosphere. Higher temperatures are expected to be accompanied by changing patterns of precipitation frequency and intensity, changes in soil moisture and a rise of the global sea level. To assess current examples relating to global warming, an examination is first needed on these examples. Sea levels could rise six feet and up in future centuries. The entire Amazon rainforest will be lost if the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases by more than 50%. But no matter whatever action the world takes to stop global warming, sea levels are set to rise and wipe out several island nations. The worst news is that whatever governments do to cut emissions, sea levels will rise by at least 2 metres over the next few hundred years, devastating Tuvalu and Kiribati in the Pacific and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Low-lying farmland and cities occupied by hundreds of millions of people will also be engulfed. Robert Nicholls of Middlesex University in London stated that thermal expansion of the ocean will continue for many hundreds of years after CO2 is stabilized, due to the gradual penetration of heat deeper and deeper into the ocean. All around the world ice sheets and glaciers are melting at a rate quite remarkably since record keeping began. A worldwide institute, based in Washington DC says that glaciers and other features are particularly sensitive to temperature shifts, and that scientists suspect the enhanced melting is among the first observable signs of human induced global warming. Some of the effects of global warming are as follows: arctic ocean sea ice shrunk by 6% since 1978, with a 14% loss of thicker year round ice, Greenland ice sheet has thinned by more than a metre a year on its southern and eastern edges since 1993 and 22% of glacial ice volume on the Tien Shan mountains has disappeared in the last 40 years. Worldwatch declared that the Earth's ice cover reflects much of the sun's heat back into space and the loss of much of it would affect the global, raise sea levels, and threaten water supplies. They also stated that the land and water left revealed by the retaining ice would themselves retain heat, creating a feedback loop that would speed up the warming process. The institute pronounced that the world's glaciers, taken as a whole, are now shrinking faster than they are growing. Worldwatch also warns of the outcomes of retaining ice on wildlife. In northern Canada reports of hunger and weight loss among polar bears have been associated with ice cover changes. And in Antarctica, sea loss, rising air temperatures and increased condensation are altering the habitats and the feeding and breeding patterns of seals and penguins. Cornell University ecologists believe that global warming may account for millions of human deaths from disease. David Pimentel a professor of ecology at Cornell stated and assumes that Most of the increase in disease is due to numerous environmental factors, including infectious microbes, pollution by chemicals and biological wastes and shortages of food and nutrients. Global warming will only make matters worse. Global warming will produce a favorable climate for disease producing organisms and plant pests. Global climate change will result in a net loss of obtainable food, for example the decline in rainfall (due to global warming) causes crop and plant production to die out. Infectious disease and environmental factors are to blame for more than 75% of all deaths in the world. Environmental disease may comprise of organic and chemical pollutants, including smoke from tabacco and wood sources. More than three billion people are malnourished. Malnutrition increases vulnerability to pollution-related illnesses and diseases such as diarrhea. Therefore Pimental concluded, we're seeing the first signs that global climate change can influence the incidences of human disease. And that this change combined with population growth and environmental degradation, will probably intensify world malnutrition and increases in other diseases as well. Melting is taking on vast and unprecedented level in the Arctic sea ice, the Antarctic and in dozens of mountain and sub-polar glaciers, and the rate has accelerated immensely in the past decade. The Earth's ice cover could have intense changes on the global climate and rising sea levels could start regional flooding. Melting of mountain glaciers could also endanger urban water supplies and the habitats of plant and animal species in fragile environments. Within the next 35 years, the Himalayan glacial area is expected to shrink by one-fifth, to just 100, 000 kilometres. A prediction forecasts that the remaining glaciers could disappear in 30 years. The melting has been especially noticeable in the past three decades, and scientists believe that it is the result of human behaviour and the build up of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. All current examples of global warming are significant due to the effects that it has on the environment and people. For people, it can cause infectious diseases and pollution-related illnesses that in turn effect our standard of living. Some examples can be more significant than others. For example diseases amongst people is more so important than the rise in sea levels and melting of glaciers since peoples existence are endangered.
GLOBAL WARMING:
What happens when too much carbon dioxide gets omitted into the Earth’s atmosphere? The condition known as Global Warming occurs. Global Warming is the rising of the Earth’s surface temperature due to chemicals in the atmosphere. Global Warming has many threats on the climate and even the health of the people on this planet. Some of these threats include the altering of crop seasons and even effect the way organisms survive on the planet. The first thing I think I should discuss when talking about global warming is what causes it to occur. Gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, which are known as greenhouse gases, all build up in the atmosphere of the earth. All these gases make it so that it becomes harder for the radiation that the sun shines into the atmosphere to escape. The heat continues to build up and this is what causes the temperatures to increase. I know this seems like the temperatures increase massively but in the last hundred years the average temperature of the Earth has gone up between 0.8 and 1.0 degrees farenheight. Also in the last fifteen years, we have had the ten warmest years in record. Global Warming also helps the Earth and it has been for many years. Without global warming, the Earth’s temperature would be a lot lower than the 60-degree average. Unfortunately due to there being many more harmful “greenhouse gases” being placed into the atmosphere, instead of the temperature staying at a constant, its rising. What are many of the dangers of the Earth’s temperature rising? First of all it cause many of the glaciers that are floating in the Arctic and Greenland to melt. This in turn causes the sea levels to rise around the world. In the last hundred years alone the seas around the planet have risen anywhere from four to ten inches. I know it does not sound like a massive change but being able to raise all the seas in the world a whole ten inches is a huge problem. Sea levels also continue to rise is because the hotter temperature cause the ocean water to expand. An example of the sea level causing problems could happen on a little Native Island in the middle of an Ocean. On these islands usually where native tribes live, if the sea level rises three fourths of a meter then half of the island will sink. This could happen in many different islands around the world and if the water keeps on rising as it is, then farming land near the seashores will be flooded and the crops will be destroyed and many farmers will be left without much to live off of. The melting of the glaciers are also causing some problems in the Himalayas. Many of the tips of the mountain’s in that area. Massive flooding and rivers that are well above their normal levels are threatening the crops and homes in the area. Many of the locals that live in the area and many of the scientists that are surveying the area are saying that the glaciers are melting at a phenomenal rate. Another danger that comes with the changing of the climate is that the increased heat causes more evaporation to occur in the hotter climates. This causes there to be more precipitation in many other climates that are not used to handling massive rainfalls. The increased rainfall also leads to speeding up the process of the sea levels rising. Health is also something that becomes threatened because of global warming. Heat becomes a huge factor in the health of humans, especially the elderly. Incidents such as heat stroke head exhaustion and diseases increase drastically. The heat makes it possible for mosquitoes and other insects to transmit diseases. This is something that happened in New York during this summer. A very rare disease called St. Louis Emphyitis (spelling?) that would spread in puddles of water that mosquitoes would drink out of due to the heat. These mosquitoes would then bite humans and infect them with this disease. I don’t recall how many people, if any died due to this, but it did cause a bit of a panic in the New York Metropolitan area. Heat is not the only weather problem. Global Warming doesn't only increase temperatures in hot areas. It also decreases temperatures in cold areas. An example of this has been the cold spell that struck the Midwest. In Montana, temperatures plummeted to 30 degrees below and stayed there. The coldest weather ever recorded plagued our country's heart for over three weeks and still hasn't returned too normal. A related incident has been the blizzards of the East Coast. Some places in New York State got over twenty feet of snow. So what is in store for Earth in the future? Possible nothing. There are many people that believe global warming is nothing more than the normal rise of temperature around the world. So if this is the case, we have nothing to really worry about. Unfortunately, this scenario of normal raise in temperature might not be the case. If it isn’t, Scientists estimate that the global temperature will rise between five and nine degrees by the middle of the 21st century accompanied by a sea-level rise of one to four feet. Once the temperature reaches a certain threshold, the polar ice caps will began to melt. While those living in the Arctic may find that a nice surprise, the implications for the rest of the world are serious. Even a partial melting of the polar ice caps will cause sea levels to rise so much as to completely wipe out most coastal cities. This includes such big cities such as San Francisco and New York. Those cities that are not totally wiped out by the water will eventually be hit with hurricanes much more severe than any other one in history. Of course, inland cities are not safe either. Rather than surging seawaters and hurricanes, they will face drought. So what can be done in order to keep from all of that from happening? We need to stop putting so much pollution in to the air. No matter what there will always be a little bit of Carbon Dioxide omitted into the atmosphere. If we could just limit all the coal and fossil fuels that we burn, there will not be so much “greenhouse gases” and it would keep all of that from happening so quickly. There have also been many attempts by the United States Presidents Administrations in order to help slow down the effect. In my lifetime I know that I won’t see anything too drastic happen due to global warming, but there is a chance that my children and grandchildren will. Hopefully they wont.
