From Ecopedia

Overview

Belonging to the Homo sapiens species, humans are the only extant homo genus members of the great ape family.

Human beings incorporate distinct characteristics such as a highly developed brain with a superior capability for abstract reasoning, introspection, language as well as problem solving. Moreover, human beings are extremely adept at making use of communication systems for self-expression, organization and exchange of ideas among many others.

Humans are known to exploit natural environment surrounding them to suit and satisfy basic human needs including food, clothing and housing, besides manipulating many natural phenomena through philosophy, science, religion and arts.^[1]

Environmental Affects

Industrialization

Two most influencing factors affecting the earth’s environment include exponentially growing human population and intense human-induced industrial activities. Human beings possess superior capabilities to alter living habitats through several methods including construction, irrigation, transport, urban planning, desertification and deforestation.^[2]

At current times, anthropogenic activities involved in land development, fossil fuel combustion and pollution are held responsible for major environmental disasters such as global climate change and the ongoing event of Holocene mass extinction.^[3]

Climate Change

Climate Change refers to the statistically significant variations in the global climate due to increased human activities, causing the release of harmful Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) in excess into the earth’s atmosphere.

Ever since the days of Industrial Revolution, which was around 150 years ago, human activity resulted in the increase of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide, which contributed to the hazardous Global Warming phenomenon.^[4]

Climate Change, limited to a specific region or across the entire world, represents a major environmental threat to our planet. Extreme weather conditions such as droughts, heat waves, heavy precipitation as well as tropical cyclone intensities are predicted due to changes in the global climatic conditions.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) observed that climate trends are progressing towards stronger, longer and hotter dry periods across the world. Dry regions are found to lose more moisture due to warmer weather, exacerbating droughts as well as desertification. ^[5]

Pollution

Main Article: Pollution

Pollution is caused due to air, water or soil contamination of the environment, resulting in widespread disorder, instability and harm to the ecosystem of the earth.

Pollution can be either in the form of chemical substances or can take the form of light, heat or noise energies.

Certain pollutants such as non-biodegradable plastics, heavy metals and persistent synthetic chemicals are not absorbed but instead get accumulated in the environment over a period of time. Such pollutants create long-term damage to the environment.

On the other hand, pollutants such as carbon dioxide (CO2), which is absorbed by plants and oceans, cause damage to the environment only in case the emission rate exceeds normal range. Such pollutants instead of being destroyed, rather get converted into little less-harmful substances or even get dispersed or diluted into harmless concentrations.^[6]

Greenhouse Effect

The greenhouse effect is caused by the excess emission of greenhouse gases, which include Water vapor, Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone and Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

Greenhouse Gases are chemical compounds found in the atmosphere of the earth, occurring either naturally or produced as a result of human-induced industrial processes.^[7]

As a result of CFCs extensive usage, large amounts of chlorine that is present in the CFCs gets released into the atmosphere.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation coming from the sun causes the release of free chlorine atoms into the stratosphere (ozone layer) of the atmosphere, causing the depletion of the ozone layer and increasing the harmful UV radiation to dangerous levels.^[8]

Acid Rains

Large concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide in the air cause environmentally-hazardous acid rains. Acid rains tend to lower fertile soil’s pH value, thus, altering the species composition of various ecosystems.^[9]

Control Measures

Many countries across the world started adopting stringent measures to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and switch to eco-friendly renewable energies such as wind power and solar power.

In an attempt to develop international strategies to combat global changes in climate, European Union became instrumental in putting forth two major UN (United Nations) treaties for reducing GHG emissions:

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed in 1992 Kyoto Protocol, agreement signed in 19975

UNFCCC

The members of the convention signed Copenhagen Accord, which obliged several developing as well as developed countries to commit to minimizing carbon emissions and pledging support for transfer of technologies, besides acknowledging the crucial role of forest systems in countering the affects of climate change. ^[10]

Kyoto Protocol

The international agreement signed in Kyoto Protocol, committed the member countries to set binding targets for minimizing greenhouse gas emissions by about 5% against the levels recorded in 1990. The protocol set a time period of five years, from 2008 to 2012, to achieve the target level. The rules set for the implementation of the protocol, known as “Marrakesh Accords”, were finalized and adopted at COP7 in the year 2001, in Marrakesh.

While the UNFCCC encouraged industrialized nations to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions, the Kyoto Protocol committed the member countries to reduce the emissions.^[11]

References

1. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_beings
2. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_beings
3. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_beings
4. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change
5. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change
6. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution
7. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect
8. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollutant
9. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect
10. ↑ http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php
11. ↑ http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php