Environmental Issues

Revision cards on the unit environmental issues

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  • Created by: Emma
  • Created on: 16-05-10 20:17

What is an environmental issue?

Natural Environment is any part of the planet that ia already there, e.g. Land or Sea

Problems that we face:

  • Global warming
  • Recycling
  • Animal Extinction
  • Deforestation
  • Pollution (Noise/Air/Sea)
  • Land fill sites
  • Desertification

Reasons:

  • Population --> 0.5billion to 6billion in 2000 years --> world is over populated
  • Technology --> more technological advances --> need more natural resources to provide energy
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Uses of the Amazon

- An ecosystem is a mixture of plants & animals working together in a natural environment.

- Deforestation is the cutting down or burning of trees and plants over a wide area.

Actions in the Amazon:

  • Logging
  • Extraction of minerals
  • Cattle Ranching
  • Engineering projects

Groups in the Amazon:

  • Researchers/Scientists - want to study life/ecosystems, against above actions
  • Commercial companies - want to make money, for the above actions, expanding business, provides jobs
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Rainforest depletion and how we can help...

Desertification --> habitats die --> more carbon dioxide released

- Stewardship = people who use natural environments understand what it needs to survive

- Sustainable development = making use of resources without harming environment

Stewardship:

  • Yanomani, take what they need without damaging the rainforest
  • Original and natural
  • Hard to achieve

Sustainable development:

  • Making some areas untouchable
  • Governments need to restrict things to help their country
  • Make use of the forest that you have already used
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Case studies - ARPA and Stewardship

ARPA:

  • Amazon Region Protected Areas program
  • Agreement signed by President Cardoso, Brazil
  • $81 million donated so far
  • Used to buy surveillance equipment to stop illegal poaching and logging
  • Allows endangered plants and animals to have a secure habitat
  • Protects plants that make up half of our modern day medicines

Environmental Stewardship:

  • New type of scheme
  • Supporters farmers who make good use of their land
  • Wants to - Conserve wildlife/Maintain landscape/Protect natural resources
  • Farmers are given money or resources
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How are natural resources exploited? Case study -

Aral Sea:

  • used to be 66,100km squard
  • Soviet Government cut off water supply from local rivers
  • sea level fell by 14 metres
  • climate change - winters warmer and summers cooler
  • desertification
  • diseases became more prominent from polluted water

Overexploitatoon of fish:

  • there is now more demand for fish
  • oceans are of ecological importance
  • overfishing to make more money
  • most of the fish caught are young, meaning they will not reproduce
  • taking more fish than are able to produce in a given time frame
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Pollution of the oceans

Pollution = Any substances in water, soil or air which damage the natural quality of the environment.

- Land/industry/domestic waste = sewage, agricultural waste, food and drink

- Atmosphere = vehicles/fires/gases/dust

- Off shore production = oil/gas extraction

- Dumping at sea = disposal by barges/ bilge/dreging/ships rubbish

- Marine transport = pleasure boating/cargo spills/oil leaks

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Development of tourism

  • Imporve lifestyle - more jobs/better health and education/expanding businesses
  • Develop economy - raises wages/produces jobs/outside investment/ development in industry
  • Protection of places of beauty and interest

Transport

  • essential
  • more air pollution/greenhouse gases produced
  • changes to the ecology of the area

Accommodation

  • costal areas that were mainly undeveloped until recently
  • local people are often moved or left with little resources
  • sewage is dumped in the sea
  • builing that tourism demands creates pollution as well as water, electricity and plumbing having to be installed
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Pressure groups

Union of Concerned Scientists

  • experts in what they talk about
  • from USA
  • produce publications for the public and media
  • hard to challenge them

Friends of the Earth

  • first pressure group in UK
  • campaign/fundraising/advertising

Greenpeace

  • best known pressure group in UK
  • make headline news with dramatic stories
  • unusual and risky methods
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Pros and cons of leisure and tourism

Advantages:

  • money
  • jobs
  • investment
  • increase property values
  • improve lifestyle
  • protect areas

Disadvantages:

  • pollution
  • destroy local area through building
  • over crowding
  • changing culture
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Climate change

- Floods/heatwaves/gales/droughts/forest fires/snow have become more frequent since 1980's.

- Effects include ruined homes and businesses as well as people sometimes being left physically hurt.

Droughts in Southern Africa:

  • short term = no water making it difficult to survive
  • long term = crops don't grow, meaning countries have to import food

Slowing climate change;

  • we should recycle/use less electricity/run eletric cars
  • we need more renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and solar panels
  • more nuclear power stations
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More about Greenpeace

- International environmental organisation since 1971

Demonstations/protests:

  • Against ESSO - large amounts of fuel are causing global warming
  • Local issue - shut down SELCHP incinerator in South London for 4 days
  • National issue - published 'zero waste' report for Britain to become rubbish free
  • International issue - Greenland, visited isolated communities using dogs and sleds

Airplot:

  • One of the biggest campaigns that they are working on
  • Campaigning against third runway at Heathrow
  • Have bought piece of land where the proposed runway is to be
  • If the expansion took place, Heathrow would be the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK
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National Parks

- Large area of the countryside that are protected, to preserve and care for the environment.

- Popular tourist destination, making lots of money

- Over 3500 footpaths that are used regularly, leading to erosion

- Orienteering leads to habitats being disturbed.

- Sometimes damage to lifestock and wild animals, such as glass scatterd across the park.

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Comments

lovebiology101

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thank you so much, could do with more details

but thanx for sharing

Danielle

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I downloaded the MP3 thing and i always listen to it on my laptop it a good thing epically if your one of those people who listen to music it a great thing to use. :)  

Haider Ali

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ooooooooooooo

Zainab

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that was great helped me a lot thanx could u do more for the other topics such as culture and beliefs

Joshua Bell

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Thanks for puting it in plan english

hanan

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thanks

Sarim Syed

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if you could, please also put some of the exam question too.

Samhayn.askari

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exams tmrw it helped quite a bit thanks could do with more details though :P **

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