Enviromental change and management

• natural environments produce no waste
• 1. Environmental sustainability- the management of the world’s environment and the needs of the present population without reducing capacity of future generations to meet their needs
• 1. Environments - the surroundings of conditions in which a person, animal or plant lives or operates
• Challenges to sustaining natural environments include:

  • Population growth: puts more pressure on natural resources, causing greater levels of pollution
  • Energy use: creates more pollution and solid waste disposal
  • Climate change: leads to increased temperatures, droughts, heatwaves, health risks, and species loss
  • Pollution: harms human health and the environment
  • Land degradation: reduces food production, dries up water sources, and pressures populations to move to more hospitable areas
  • Habitat loss: increases erosion and reduces nutrient levels in terrestrial ecosystems
  • Urbanization: contributes to greater poverty
  • Exploited oceans: result in destructive fishing
• the four functions of the environment are source, sink, service and spiritual
• The source function of the environment is its ability to apply the food and the materials on which we depend. Examples include water, soil, timber, fish stocks, minerals and fossil fuels.

  Earth's natural geomorphic, atmospheric, hydrologic and biologic systems are responsible for both their existence and their uneven distribution across the planet.
• The sink function of the environment is its ability to break down, recycle or absorb wastes.  It is the way in which the environment deals with what people put into it. Humans depend on the environment to break down, recycle or safely store their waste, including rubbish, gaseous emissions from use of vehicles, effluent, industrial wastes and fertilizer run-off.
• The service function of the environment is the processes that support our life without requiring human action to produce them. For example, the earth's natural greenhouse effect operates to ensure that the atmosphere holds the heat produced by incoming solar radiation during the day so we are able to keep warm at night (climate regulation). The way in which earth's ozone layer helps to screen out ultraviolet radiation is also illustrative of the earth's service function. Another example is the carbon cycle and the water cycle. 
• The spiritual function of the environment is its recreational, psychological, aesthetic and spiritual value to people. The extent of this function will vary depending on the culture, beliefs and

  values of the people who use the land and sea. For example, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have very strong spiritual links to the land based on their beliefs of the Dreamtime.
• The carbon cycle involves the exchange of carbon between the atmosphere, land, oceans, and living organisms. Plants absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, animals release carbon dioxide through respiration, decomposing organisms release carbon back into the atmosphere or soil, and carbon can be stored in fossil fuels. This cycle plays a crucial role in regulating the global climate and balancing carbon levels in the environment.
• Excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to the enhanced greenhouse effect, causing global warming and climate change. This leads to rising sea levels, extreme weather events, ecosystem disruptions, and challenges to agriculture and food security, posing significant risks to human societies, ecosystems, and overall planetary health.
• Renewable sources - are generated after use (they don’t run out) e.g. wind, sun.

  Nonrenewable sources - a natural resource that is consumed after use (it runs out as there is only a limited supply) e.g. coal, wood and oil
• Ecological footprint is the impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources.
• Carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of the activities of a particular individual, organization, or community.
• Earth Overshoot Day is the calculated illustrative calendar date on which humanity's resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources that year.
• Biodiversity is the variety of all living things and their interactions. Biodiversity is built out of three ecosystem features: genetic diversity, species diversity and ecosystem diversity. Biodiversity is essential for the processes that support all life on Earth, including humans. Without a wide range of animals, plants and microorganisms, we cannot have the healthy ecosystems that we rely on to provide us with the air we breathe and the food we eat. And people also value nature.
• to protect biodiversity, buy fewer products, use products that minimize impacts of biodiversity, and invest in ways that promote biodiversity.
• the four spheres of the environment are the lithosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere
• lithosphere - the rocky outer part of the earth

  hydrosphere - the total amount of water found on the planet

  atmosphere - the mixture of gasses that surround the earth

  biosphere - an ecosystem made up of living things(biotic) and non living things(abiotic)
• the water cycle - the oceans or lakes' liquid evaporates to water vapor, condensation(water going to the clouds), transpiration(clouds moving), precipitation(water coming out of the clouds), land, runoff and groundwater
• human impacts of the water cycle

  deforestation - climate change, desertification, soil erosion, fewer crops, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

  irrigation - Reduced downstream drainage and groundwater quality

  greenhouse effect - The flooding of coastal cities, the desertification of fertile areas, the melting of glacial masses and the proliferation of devastating hurricanes
• Climate change is a change in the usual weather found in a place. This could be a change in how much rain a place usually gets in a year. Or it could be a change in a place’s usual temperature for a month or season. 

  Global warming is a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth’s atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, CFCs and other pollutants 

  Extreme weather events such as more frequent and prolonged droughts, storms, heat waves, blizzards and floods.
• the greenhouse effect steps

  1 - the sun's electromagnetic waves travel into the atmosphere 

  2- excess energy is reflected back through the atmosphere 

  3 - this exits to space 

  4 - human activities are thickening the outer layers of the atmosphere by adding excess gasses 

  5 - more heat/energy is trapped inside the atmosphere 
• the greenhouse effect Is the process by which the layer of gasses traps a certain amount of heat in the atmosphere and releases the rest.  

  This helps to maintain air temperature at sustainable levels.

  Releasing greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, largely from burning  fossil fuels and cattle farming, reduces the ability of enough heat to exit our atmosphere.

  Result? Global warming, climate change and extreme weather events.
• Danger in the tundra

  -The permafrost is …permanently frozen subsoil in the Tundra biome.

  -The gas buried in the permafrost is methane. But if the gasses “burp” then the methane gasses will raise temperatures and the gas will be released. This will cause the earth and seas to rise in temperature

  -Global warming is caused by greenhouse gasses
• climate change management strategies

  Kyoto Protocol was introduced in 1997 and first started in 2008 and finished in 2020. The intervention by the Japanese helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 192 parties joined except the USA which signed but stopped later. the aim was to reduce global warming. Kyoto Protocol is no longer running it is now the Paris Agreement and that started in 2016
• land degradation is a reduction in the quality or quantity of land available through human actions
• The four main types of land degradation in Australia include overgrazing, deforestation, industrialisation, and cropping.
• overgrazing is excessive grazing on land that causes damage to our grassland. Australia has ancient and fragile soil and when sheep and goats graze on it with their hooves it makes it hard for soil to recover. Overgrazing contributes to 79% of land degradation.
• Deforestation is clearing land for timber and paper products but also for agriculture, mining settlements, and industry. there has been a net loss of vegetation because of deforestation. Because of this there is less vegetation which means there is a loss of animals, plants, erosion and decline in water quality. Deforestation contributes to 12% of land degradation.
• Industrialisation is the process by which the economy is transformed from a primarily agricultural one to one based on manufacturing goods. It is when countries use machines to do work done by people. Smaller areas of land can become degraded through industrial use like the extraction of minerals of the earth’s crust, power stations and factories as well as pollution from industrial and urban sources. Industrialisation including mining, energy production and pollution only causes 1% of land degradation. 
• Cropping is plants grown on a certain area of soil over a period of time. The harvest of crops each year is highly vulnerable to climate change because there has been an increase in farming due to higher tech farming. Soil can be damaged from acidification from the overuse of fertilizers. Cropping contributes to 8% of land degradation.
• the extent of deforestation globally

  Over the last 40 years, approximately 60% of the world's forests have been cleared, this places significant constraints on ecosystems ability to function.
• Unfortunately, a cheap and fast process of deforestation of rainforests is by simply burning vegetation. This results in the release of vast amounts of carbon dioxide. Some consequences of this activity include;

  •habitat loss

  •air pollution
• processes related to land and water management are water erosion, wind erosion, salinity and irigation
• salinity can be two types: irrigation and dryland
• Clear felling is another cause of soil erosion as it leaves the topsoil with no protection and no roots to hold it together.
• salinity is the increase in the concentration of salts naturally occurring near the soil surface such as potassium, sodium, and calcium resulting in environmental degradation and lost soil productivity. human actions mobilize these salts through irrigation vegetational loss or they can increase the salts by adding them in fertilizer.
• dryland salinity is the removal of deep-rooted plants, trees, shrubs and native grasses that can cause the water table to rise. one of the causes of dryland salinity is removing deep-rooted all year round plants. this will cause excess water to seep down into the ground water causing the water table to rise
• wind erosion is the movement of soil and rock particles caused by wind-blowing. the solution to this is by planting windbreaks such as a tall pine tree planted close together