Transcript NATIONAL CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS

PLANET EARTH
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HISTORY OF EARTH
MILLION
YEARS BC
INDEXED
(Earth formed
to now =100)
EVENT
4,700
100
Earth formed
3,800
81
200 - 65
4.3 - 1.4
5
0.11
0.13
0.003
Earliest
evidence of life
Age of
dinosaurs
First human
like apes
Homo sapiens
appeared
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SOME EFFECTS OF MAN ON THE
ENVIRONMENT
TIME/PERIOD
SOME EFFECTS
8000 BC
Development of agriculture
Classical Greek
Deforestation in Greece
Classical Roman
Copper in atmosphere as result
of copper production for
coinage
Middle Ages
Deforestation in Kent.
Pollution in villages, towns and
cities
Major pollution and ecological
damage
Industrial revolution
First half 20th century
Smog in industrial cities
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SOME PAST ENVIRONMENTS
Gin Lane by Hogarth (1750)
Legacy of industrial
revolution by
Lowry
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LONDON SMOG OF 1952
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THE 20th CENTURY
• Environmental change is as old
as the planet
• Man has continually altered the
environment, but there has never
been anything like the 20th century
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SOME MEASURES OF 20TH CENTURY
ITEM
INCREASE 1890-1990
World population
4
World urban population 13
Average life expectancy Increased
Industrial output
40
Energy use
16
Carbon dioxide
emissions
Water use
Marine fish catch
17
Cars
Astronomical increase
9
35
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LATTER HALF OF 20th CENTURY
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Population (bln)
Life expectancy at birth
Megacities (> 8 mln)
Food (avg cal/capita)
Fish catch (mln tons)
Water use (bln cu m)
Rain forest cover index
CO2 emissions (bln t C)
CFC in atmosphere (ppb)
1950
1997
2.5
47
2
1980
19
1300
100
1.6
<1
5.8
67
25
2770
91
4200
70
7.0
3.0
Source:World Resources Institute, 1996
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IMPROVED LOT OF MANKIND
By many indicators the lot of mankind
has vastly improved. For example:
• Prosperity
• Life expectancy
• Education
However this does not mean that things
are good enough
Lomborg, 2001
Also there are threats and unknowns
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
• The good news is good: never before
have so many experienced so rapid an
improvement in their standards of living
• The bad news is appalling: a large
number of desperately poor countries are
falling further behind
Wolf, Financial Times, 2003
Question: are there environmental
implications of the good news?
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DEVELOPMENT AND THE
ENVIRONMENT: SCHEMATIC
Affluence problems: many
industrialisation problems plus
concerns over, e.g.
• GM foods
Poverty problems, e.g
• Malnutrition
• lack of clean water
• lack of sanitation
• smoke from cooking
• pressure on local
resources e.g. wood for
fires
• child labour
Scope: local
Industrialisation problems, e.g
• SO2 and other toxic industrial and
transport related emissions
• greenhouse gas emissions
• total consumption of water, energy
and other non renewable resources
• waste
• urbanisation
• child labour
Scope: local, regional and global
• chemicals in environment
• nuclear energy
• destruction of countryside
• pressure on wildlife
• transport: roads, airports
Economic development (GDP)
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MAJOR GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL
ISSUES
Include:
• Greenhouse gases and global
warming
• Use of non renewable resources
• Fresh water availability and quality
• Food availability and distribution
• Pollution and waste
• Biodiversity loss
• Deforestation
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OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
Include:
• Food safety
• Genetically
modified food
• Noise
• Chemicals in the
environment
• Traffic
• Litter
• Mobile phones
• Nuclear energy
• Ozone hole in
atmosphere
• Destruction of
countryside
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YEARS OF LOST LIFE CAUSED BY
SOME MAJOR RISK FACTORS
30
Malnutrition
25
Years of
life lost
20
15
Water &
Sanitation
Tobacco
Physical
inactivity
%
10
Unsafe sex
5
0
World, total
Developing
Developed
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MAGNITUDE OF SOME ISSUES AND
COST TO ALLEVIATE
Issue
Effects
Approx cost
to provide
Clean drinking
2 million
$165 billion
water for 1.1
billion people
Sanitation for 2.5
billion people
deaths plus 0.5
billion seriously
ill per year
Cleaner air indoors 1.6 million
for 2.4 billion
deaths per
people who use
annum from
traditional cooking
effects of smoke
stoves
$30 billion
$30 billion
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COMPARISON OF THREE MAJOR
ISSUES
Issue
Effects
AIDS
To 2003:
• 42 million cases
• 22 million dead
Per year:
• 2 million deaths
• 0.5 billion seriously ill
Per year:
• 70,000 deaths
Clean drinking
water and
sanitation
Natural
disasters
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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
x
£
x
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FACTOR FOUR
If the world population and average
wealth doubles, then for there to be
no increase in environmental impact
the third term will have to improve by
dramatic factor of 4
This is merely to maintain the ‘status
quo’. To reduce environmental impact,
higher values are required. For example
to halve greenhouse gas emissions an
improvement factor of 8 would be needed
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ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS
If the entire world lived like
North Americans, it would
take three planet Earths to
support the present world
population
Energy is the main component of
this
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POTENTIAL IMPACT OF DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES: SCHEMATIC
Developing countries if
resource consumption and
emission figures increase
to those of developed
countries
Global
environmental
impact in terms
of resource
depletion and
major emissions
Developed countries
2000
6 billion people
Adapted from an FoE publication
Year and global
population
2100
9 billion people
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MAJOR GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL
CHALLENGES
• 1.2 billion people living in poverty
on less than 1 US dollar a day
• Potential impact of industrialising
countries like China and India, e.g. in
generation of greenhouse gases
• Disproportionate impact of developed
countries, e.g. in generation of
greenhouse gases
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ECONOMIC GROWTH AND HUMAN
HAPPINESS
In economically developed
countries the link between
economic growth and human
happiness is breaking
Something is missing!
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MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF HUMAN
NEEDS
SELF-ACTUALISATION
pursue inner talent,
creativity, fulfilment
SELF-ESTEEM
achievement, mastery,
recognition, respect
BELONGING, LOVE
friends, family, spouse
SAFETY
security, stability, freedom from fear
PHYSIOLOGICAL
food, water, shelter, warmth
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GEOGRAPHICAL IMPACT OF OUR
ACTIONS
• Some things we do impact
locally, e.g. waste generation
• Some things we do impact
locally and globally, e.g.
greenhouse gas emissions
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SOME ISSUES TO CONSIDER
Consider:
• What effect our actions have on
our local environment
• What effect our actions have on
the global environment
• What example are we setting to
less developed countries
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Some reasons for an individual’s
position on the environment
Personal values
Laws
Societal ‘norms’
Available
Options
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