major types of environmental degradations

7/28/2019 major types of environmental degradations

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Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission:

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities. In 2010, CO2

accounted for about 84% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Carbon dioxide is

naturally present in the atmosphere as part of the Earth's carbon cycle (the natural circulation of carbon

among the atmosphere, oceans, soil, plants, and animals). Human activities are altering the carbon

cycle--both by adding more CO2 to the atmosphere and by influencing the ability of natural sinks, like

forests, to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. While CO2 emissions come from a variety of natural

sources, human-related emissions are responsible for the increase that has occurred in the atmosphere

since the industrial revolution.

U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions, By Source

Note: All emission estimates from the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-

2010.

The main human activity that emits CO2 is the combustion of fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil) for

energy and transportation, although certain industrial processes and land-use changes also emit CO2.

The main consequence of CO2 emissions is in all over the world in the following.

1) Increasing in temperature2) Changing in rainfall3) Health problem
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4) Flood and drought5) Land degradation6) Loss of biodiversity

Increasing in temperature:

Temperature is a physical quantity that is a measure of hotness

and coldness on a numerical scale. It is a measure of the local thermal energy of matter or radiation; it

is measured by a thermometer, which may be calibrated in any of various temperature scales, Celsius,

Fahrenheit, Kelvin, etc.

Changing in rainfall:

Changing in rainfall encompasses the rainfall distribution across

different regions of the planet Earth. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where

upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation. On the leeward side of

mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating

Health problem:

Health effects of carbon monoxide:

Headaches, dizziness , shortness of breath, slower reflexes and reduced perception,

at high levels: seizures, unconsciousness, coma, respiratory failure and death.

Flood and drought :

Carbon dioxide (CO2) flooding is a process whereby carbon dioxide is injected into an oil

reservoir in order to increase output when extracting oil.

Each year in Bangladesh about 26,000 km2, (around 18%) of the country is flooded, killing over

5,000 people and destroying 7 million homes. The floods have caused devastation in Bangladesh

throughout history, especially during the years 1966, 1987, 1988 and 1998. More recent floods

include 2004 and 2010

Small scale flooding in Bangladesh is required to sustain the agricultural industry, as sediment

deposited by floodwaters fertilizes fields
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Drought tolerance refers to the degree to which a plant is adapted to arid or drought

conditions. Desiccation tolerance is an extreme degree of drought tolerance

Land degradation:

Land degradation is a process in which the value of the bio physical environment is affected by one or

more combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land.

the process of land degradation:

The process by which land is damaged to the point where it can no longer support the local ecosystem.

Loss of biodiversity:

Deforestation on a human scale results in decline in biodiversity, and on a natural

global scale is known to cause the extinction of many species. The removal or destruction of areas of

forest cover has resulted in a degraded environment with reduced biodiversity. Forests support

biodiversity, providing habitat for wildlife; moreover, forests foster medicinal conservation. With forest

biotopes being irreplaceable source of new drugs (such as taxol), deforestation can destroy genetic

variations (such as crop resistance) irretrievably.

Solid/ liquid/gaseous waste:

Solid, liquid, or gaseous by-products resulting from human biological processes, manufacturing,

materials processing, consumption of goods, or any other human activity. This does not include the

processing and storage facilities for such waste. This does not include any latent waste released into or

present in the environment.

Industrial Waste: All solid, liquid, and gaseous waste resulting from the manufacture of goods.

This does not include the processing and storage facilities for such waste. This does not includeany latent waste released into or present in the environment.

Medical Waste: All solid, liquid, and gaseous waste resulting from the treatment of illness andtrauma. This includes the waste produced by all hospitals and clinics. This does not include

waste resulting from the manufacture of pharmaceutical, drugs, and medical supplies, which fallsunder Industrial Waste. This does not include radioactive medical waste, which falls under
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Medical Nuclear Waste. This does not include the processing and storage facilities for such

waste. This does not include any latent waste released into or present in the environment.

Oil and Gas Waste: All solid, liquid, and gaseous waste resulting from the discovery,

extraction, and processing of oil and natural gas. This includes drilling wastes. This does not

include the processing and storage facilities for such waste. This does not include any latentwaste released into or present in the environment.

Waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal, managing and monitoring of

waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and the process is

generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics.

Pollution:

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that causes adverse change.

Air pollution is the introduction into the atmosphere ofchemicals, particulates, or biological materials

that cause discomfort, disease, or death to humans, damage other living organisms such as food crops,
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or damage the natural environment or built environment.

Water pollution is the contamination ofwater bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and

groundwater). Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water

bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds.

Land pollution is the degradation of Earth's land surfaces often caused by human activities and their

misuse of land resources. It occurs when waste is not disposed properly. Health hazard disposal of urban

and industrial wastes, exploitation of minerals, and improper use ofsoil by inadequate agricultural

practices are a few factors. Urbanization and industrialization are major causes of land pollution
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Noise pollution is displeasing or excessive noise that may disrupt the activity or balance of human or

animal life.he source of most outdoor noise worldwide is mainly caused by machines and transportation

systems, motor vehicles, aircrafts, and trains.

Degradation of forest:

Degradation is when something is degraded, or made worse.

Forest degradation means any negative changes in a forest that damage its productivity; any time

a forest is made worse by

overexploitation (any time it is used too much by farmers or tourists), logging (deforestation), logging camps and logging roads built through the forest. air pollution, fires, insects and vegetation diseases. firewood scavenging animal foraging pasturing industrialisation (factories) urbanisation (buildings)

Sometimes the term Forest Degradation does NOT include cutting down trees, which is then

referred to as Deforestation.
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Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) is a set of steps designed to use

market and financial incentives in order to reduce the emissions ofgreenhouse gases from deforestation

and forest degradation. Its objective is to reduce greenhouse gases.

Desertification:

Desertification is a type ofland degradation in which a relatively dry land region becomes

increasingly arid, typically losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife. It is

caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities[citation needed].Desertification is a significant global ecological and environmental problem.

The world's great deserts have been formed by natural processes interacting over long intervals of time.

During most of these times, deserts have grown and shrunk independent of human activities. Pale

deserts are large sand seas now inactive because they are stabilized by vegetation, some extending

beyond the present margins of core deserts, such as the Sahara, the largest hot desert

Urbanization:
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Urbanization is the physical growth ofurban areas as a result of rural migration and even suburban

concentration into cities. Urbanization is closely linked to modernisation, industrialisation, and the

sociological process ofrationalisation. Urbanization can describe a specific condition at a set time, i.e.

the proportion of total population or area in cities or towns, or the term can describe the increase of this

proportion over time. So the term urbanisation can represent the level of urban relative to overall

population, or it can represent the rate at which the urban proportion is increasing.

Urbanization occurs as individual, commercial, and governmental efforts to reduce time and expense in

commuting and transportation while improving opportunities for jobs, education, housing, and

transportation

Destruction of wetland:

A patch of land that develops pools of water after a rain storm would not be considered a "wetland,"

even though the land is wet. Wetlands have unique characteristics: they are generally distinguished

from other water bodies or landforms based on their water level and on the types ofplants that thrive

within them. Specifically, wetlands are characterized as having a water table that stands at or near the

land surface for a long enough period each year to support aquatic plants.
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The causes of wetland destruction is mining, construction, pollutants, releasing of toxic chemicals...

A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, such that it

takes on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem. The water found in wetlands can be saltwater,

freshwater, or brackish Wetlands play a number of roles in the environment, principally water

purification, flood control, and shoreline stability. Wetlands are also considered the most biologically

diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal life.

Depletion of ground water:

Ground water depletion is when all the ground water is pumped out of an aquifer and no more

groundwater is left. This causes the water table to sink and lakes and rivers to sink as well.
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Groundwater is a highly useful and often abundant resource. However, over-use, or overdraft, can

cause major problems to human users and to the environment.

The most evident problem (as far as human groundwater use is concerned) is a lowering of the water

table beyond the reach of existing wells. Wells must consequently be drilled deeper to reach the

groundwater; in some places (e.g., California, Texas and India) the water table has dropped hundreds of

feet because of extensive well pumping. In the Punjab region of India, for example, groundwater levels

have dropped 10 meters since 1979, and the rate of depletion is accelerating. A lowered water table

may, in turn, cause other problems such as groundwater-related subsidence and saltwater intrusion.

Land slide/River bank erosion:

River Bank Erosion is the wearing away of the banks of a stream orriver. This is distinguishedfrom erosion of the bed of the watercourse, which is referred to as scour.

The roots oftrees growing by a stream are undercut by such erosion. As the roots bind the soil tightly,

they form abutments which jut out over the water. These have a significant effect upon the rate and

progress of the erosion.[
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In many places, whether or not the banks are unstable due to human activities, people try to keep a

river in a single place. This can be done for environmental reclamation or to prevent a river from

changing course into land that is being used by people. One way that this is done is by placing riprap or

gabions along the bank.

A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement,

such as rockfalls, deep failure ofslopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal

and onshore environments. Although the action ofgravity is the primary driving force for a landslide to

occur, there are other contributing factors affecting the original slope stability.
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Typically, pre-conditional factors build up specific sub-surface conditions that make the area/slope

prone to failure, whereas the actual landslide often requires a trigger before being released.

Acid rain:

Acid rain can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by

emissions ofsulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere

to produce acids.

"Acid rain" is a popular term referring to the deposition of wet (rain, snow, sleet, fog, cloud water, and

dew) and dry (acidifying particles and gases) acidic components.

The principal cause of acid rain is sulfur and nitrogen compounds from human sources, such as

electricity generation, factories, and motor vehicles. Electrical power complexes utilizing coal are among

the greatest contributors to gaseous pollutions that are responsible for acidic rain.
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major types of environmental degradations

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