Environmental Awareness and Pollution Effects

Study Notes

Environmental awareness is understanding our environment's fragility and the importance of protecting it.
Environmentalism is an ideology emphasizing the need for humans to respect, protect, and preserve the natural world from human-caused harm.

Air pollution is any substance in the air that, in high enough concentrations, harms humans, animals, plants, or materials.
Air pollution is anything harmful to health or the environment.

Arsenic poisoning can cause nerve damage and skin problems (hyperkeratosis and pigment changes). It also increases cancer risk (lung, bladder, kidney, and liver). Circulatory problems in skin can also occur.
Lead poisoning in high levels can cause mental retardation, coma, convulsions, and death. Low levels of lead can cause reduced IQ, attention span issues, impaired growth, reading and learning disabilities, hearing loss, and behavioural problems.

Water pollution is detrimental to life-sustaining fluids when sewage, rubbish, and harmful chemicals are introduced.

Cities in developing countries often lack proper facilities for managing solid and human waste. This poses a significant health problem.

Reduce, reuse, recycle, recover are key principles for environmental sustainability.

Biodiversity encompasses the wide variety of life forms in nature.
The variety of plants and animals face severe extinction threats. Species loss is occurring.

The greenhouse effect describes the phenomenon of certain gases in the lower atmosphere absorbing heat radiated by the earth, preventing it from escaping outer space.
The effect retains heat, essential for life on Earth.

Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), nitrous oxide (N2O), and ozone (O3) are greenhouse gases. These absorb heat and cause warming, which can raise the global temperature.

450 to 550 parts per million of carbon dioxide (CO2) is a dangerous level, potentially leading to a 2–3°C increase in global temperature. This increase would have a severe negative impact on the planet.
The issues include critical thresholds, vulnerabilities of the climate system, and their impacts on human and natural systems.

Human activities contribute to climate change through open burning, fossil fuel emission, gas emissions from vehicles, and CFC gases.

Emissions trading allows countries to buy and sell greenhouse gas emissions units or credits. The Clean Development Mechanism finances emission-reduction or prevention projects in developing nations. Joint Implementation enables industrialized nations to assist other developed nations to reduce emissions.

Upgrade to energy-efficient fridges.
Reduce water boiling to precise amounts only.
Switch off electronic devices when not used.
Use energy-efficient bulbs.
Adjust thermostats to conserve energy.
Reduce, reuse, and recycle waste.
Grow your own vegetables.
Purchase locally produced, seasonal, and organic food.
Reduce personal travel emissions through carpooling, cycling, walking, or public transport. Reduce international travel for holidays.

Increase energy efficiency standards and encourage renewable energy sources. Remove subsidies for fossil fuels and protect and restore forests.
Accurate emissions inventories. Consider climate change in agricultural, industrial, energy, natural resource, and coastal activities. Develop national plans to slow climate change.

Impacts of climate change on climate systems, human systems, and biodiversity are numerous. This includes increasing temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, stronger storms, thawing permafrost, rising sea levels, and the damage to coral reefs. Changes to animal migration patterns and plant life cycles are also occurring.