UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL00076 Lecture 2 - Introduction to Environmental Geoscience PDF

UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Concept of Environmental Geoscience Environmental Issues (Pollution, Natural Hazards, Resources) Environmental Geoscience and a multidisciplinary perspective 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL...

UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Concept of Environmental Geoscience Environmental Issues (Pollution, Natural Hazards, Resources) Environmental Geoscience and a multidisciplinary perspective 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Concept of Environmental Geoscience (i) ChatGPT “Define Environmental Geoscience” 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Concept of Environmental Geoscience (ii) Earth Systems: Understanding the processes in the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere that shape the environment. Climate Change: Investigating natural and human-induced climate variations and their impacts on ecosystems, weather patterns, and global systems. Pollution and Waste Management: Analyzing the sources, transport, and effects of pollutants in air, soil, and water, as well as strategies to mitigate their impacts. Natural Resources: Studying sustainable use of natural resources, including fossil fuels, minerals, water, and renewable energy sources. Natural Hazards: Assessing risks and impacts of earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, and landslides, and developing mitigation strategies. Sustainable Development: Integrating environmental concerns with social and economic development to ensure a balance between human needs and ecosystem health. ChatGPT “Define Environmental Geoscience” 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Concepts in Environmental Geoscience ▪ Understanding Earth, Climate and interacting Human systems has a long history Numberless wonders, terrible wonders walk the world but none the match for man…holds his steady course - and the oldest of the gods he wears away - the Earth, the immortal, the inexhaustible as his ploughs go back and forth, year in, year out with the breed of stallions turning up the furrows Sophocles, Antigone (5th century BCE) 1945 2018 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Head et al. 2022. Episodes, https://doi.org/10.18814/epiiugs/2022/022025 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Concepts in Environmental Geoscience: Anthropocene conditions Highest atmospheric CO2 concentration in >> 800,000 years, probably in 3 million years. Global mean temperature + 1.2°C (and rising, already 1.5 °C?) Enormously increased extinction rates (>100 – 1000x) Humans and domesticated mammals are 96% of the biomass of all living mammals Sediment transport due to human activity far exceeds natural rates Energy consumption by humans in the last 70 years, 1.5x more than the sum of 12,000 years 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Concepts in Environmental Geoscience: Anthropocene conditions …remaining optimistic… https://vauxhallsociety.org.uk/BatterseaPowerStation.html 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Concepts in Environmental Geoscience > Environmental Issues These are events or processes that threaten the state of environments leading to degradation and ability to function Traditionally classified into natural and human events/processes Reality is that causes and effects are intertwined, far more so now than in the past 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Concepts in Environmental Geoscience > Environmental Issues ▪ Pollution and Waste Management Sources, transport, and effects of pollutants in air, soil, and water, as well as strategies to mitigate their impacts Air Pollution Urban air pollution Noise pollution GLOBAL Water pollution LOCAL Nutrients Hydrocarbons Sediment Land pollution Solid waste Organic pollutants 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Concepts in Environmental Geoscience > Environmental Issues ▪ Resources Sustainable use of natural resources, including fossil fuels, minerals, water, and renewable energy sources. https://www.resourcepanel.org/news-events/cop26-how-natural-resource-management- 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 can-address-biodiversity-loss-and-climate-change UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Concepts in Environmental Geoscience > Environmental Issues ▪ Resources Sustainable use of natural resources, including fossil fuels, minerals, water, and renewable energy sources. 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Concepts in Environmental Geoscience > Environmental Issues ▪ Natural Hazards Assessing risks and impacts of earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, and landslides, and developing mitigation strategies. 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Environmental Geoscience as a multidisciplinary concept Environmental Geoscience needs to be both interdisciplinary science and multidisciplinary to understand our physical surroundings and nature of life on Earth. “Humans and other living things are an outgrowth of the physical structure of the planet and an engine of its global cycles1”. 1 Ferris Jabr (2024). Becoming Earth, Picador, UK 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Steffen, Will, et al (2020) https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-019-0005-6 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Environmental Geoscience in a multi-disciplinary, political world 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Summary Environmental Geoscience provides a systematic and logical study of the Earth and the interaction between natural and human activities The physical (geological) environment which supports life on Earth has been recently and massively impacted by an unprecedented scale of industrialisation, resource extraction and waste production. Environmental issues created by this are complex. When we talk about environmental sustainability. Is “this” sustainable? Environmental Geoscientists are awesome and you have the potential to help provide solutions for genuine planetary sustainability 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience A short visual quiz as it is Monday morning. Geologists are pretty good at reading landscapes and understanding their evolution. In the next series of images think about what environmental processes and human activity are happening/have happened. Discuss with person next to you, come up with some ideas. Write down the first environmental geoscience-based idea that pops into your mind. More points awarded for invisible/conceptual things. 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience London, UK 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Lake District, UK 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Mississippi River, New Orleans, USA 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Urban lake, Birmingham, UK 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Street excavation, N London, UK 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Tai Hu, China 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Barrier Reef, Belize 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Haus der Kulturen de Welt, Berlin 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Noise pollution, air pollution from traffic, concrete (interferes with percolation water cycle?), green space (soil type, vegetation type), water pollution of Big river, large Why parkland urban area. Thames (impacts anything that attempts here? to survive), light pollution Urban Urban soils hydrology Air quality? Clean or Polluted 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Lake District, UK landslides, flooding (?), acid rain (as a result of offlaid pollution from major cities) Where are the trees? Big valley, small stream? Fieldworkers 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Mississippi River, New Orleans, USA human sediment transport, surface runoff of pollutants into the river, water pollution, Bridge higher flooding than the land? How often does this flood? Why? Where is this going? Where from? 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Urban lake, Birmingham, UK Why some Lots of plants? intact? Is this water polluted? Why fragments lots of waste (organic and inorganic) pollution, organic sediment transport, urban = manmade therefore could be more susceptible to flooding? 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Tai Hu, China Human waste run-off the bridge (petrol etc) sediment transport into delta along bed of lake, current (?) Contaminant problems but still providing water supply for 3 million people in the region. Where is the end of the bridge? What engineering used for foundation? 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Street excavation, N London, UK Why being dug? How old are these layers What is the underlying geology digging of manmade concrete 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 (sewers?) UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Barrier Coral Reef, Belize coral systems, tidal systems, pH and temperature change, water pollutions (oil spills, dumped waste), over-fishing, damage to ecosystem from tourism (commercial and recreational diving) Is the coral in good health? What effect will sea level rise have on How would we communities know? 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Spot the Environmental Geoscience Haus der Kulturen de Welt, Berlin How best to communicate Environmental Geoscience Very nice concrete pillars and floor. 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Spot the Environmental Geoscience Environmental Geoscience is everywhere you look The imprint of human activity on surface processes is ubiquitous*. Think how has the past influenced present environmental conditions. How will environments change in the future? *not including volcanoes, plate tectonics, mantle and core dynamics… 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2 UCL Earth Sciences: GEOL0076 Introduction to Environmental Geoscience Any Questions? Steffen, Will, et al (2020) https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-019-0005-6 30/09/2024 Simon Turner: Lecture 2