Environmental Crisis
and
Sustainable Development
World’s Leading Environmental Problems
The depredation caused by:
Industrial and transportation toxins and plastic in the
ground
The defiling of the sea, rivers, and water beds by oil
spill and acid rain
The dumping of urban waste
World’s Leading Environmental Problems
Changes in global weather patterns
Overpopulation
The exhaustion of world’s natural
non-renewable resources from oil
reserves to portable water.
World’s Leading Environmental Problems
A waste disposal catastrophe due to excessive
amount of waste unloaded by communities in
landfills as well as the ocean and the dumping
of nuclear waste.
The destruction of million year-old ecosystems
and the loss of biodiversity that have led
extinction of particular species and the decline
in the numbers of others.
World’s Leading Environmental Problems
The reduction of oxygen and the increase in
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of
deforestation, resulting in the rise in ocean
acidity as much as 150% in the last 250 years.
The depletion of ozone layer protecting the
planet from sun’s deadly ultraviolet rays due to
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the atmosphere.
Deadly acid rain as a result of fossil fuel combustion,
toxic chemical erupting volcanoes, and the massive
rotting vegetables filling up garbage dumps or left on
the streets.
Water pollution arising from industrial and community
waste residues seeping into underground water tables,
rivers and seas.
Urban sprawls that continue to expand as a city turns
into a megapolis, destroying farmlands, increasing traffic
gridlock and making smog cloud a permanent urban
fixture.
Pandemics and other threats to public health arising from
waste mixing with drinking water, polluted environments
that become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and disease
carrying rodents and pollution.
A radical alteration of food systems because of genetic
modifications in food production.
Natural Changes: Volcanic Eruptions
US Geological Survey:
“That Kilauea (volcano in Hawaii) has been releasing more than twice the
amount of noxious sulfur dioxide (SO2) as the dirtiest power plant on
the United States mainland.”
Eruption of Mount Pinatubo (June 15, 2001)
“15-20 megaton of sulfur oxide in the stratosphere to offset the present
global warming trends severely impact the ozone budget.”
(University of Hawaii)
Man-Made
Pollutions
China
Saudi Arabia Coal Fumes in China:
Sandstorms Burning coals that is India
dangerous to
combined with inhale(emit gas,
Green Peace Nigeria Gaborone,
combustion smoke, vapor).
India- Botswana
exhaust from
traffic and 20% of China’s soil is Reported in
94% of
industrial waste. contaminated 2015, air population is 7th most
pollution in exposed to air polluted city
Riyadh- one of Rice lands in Hunan
and Zhuzhou have the country pollution in the world
the most
heavy materials from was at its
polluted cities in
the world.
the mines worst.
threatening the food
supply.
2030
The emission of aerosols and other gases from car exhaust, burning of
word or garbage, indoor cooking, diesel-fueled electric generators, and
petrochemical plants are projected quadruple.
Aerosol is tagged as the main culprit in changing rainfall patterns in Asia
and Atlantic Ocean.
Shanxi Maanqiao Ecological Mining Ltd.
-Producing 12,000 tons of gold
-It caused pollution and safety problems
20 years ago in China: 50,000 rivers
2013: 28,000 rivers disappeared as a result of climate change
Malanjkhand, India
Biggest copper mine in India
Discharge high levels of toxic heavy metals are projected quadruple.
Scientific American
-Archive article in a journal
-Blamed the pollution for contributing to more than
half a million premature deaths each year at the cost of
hundreds billion dollars.
International Agency for Research on Cancer
-Blamed the air pollution for 223,000 lung cancer
deaths in 2010.
West Virginia- Coal mines made people sick, some are with rare cancers
-Kids with kidney stones
-Premature deaths
-Short life expectancy for children with congenital disabilities
India
Impaired Lung Function due to air pollution :
Delhi-46%
Calcutta-56%
China
Toxicity of soil has raised concerns over food security and health of the
most vulnerable.
Metropolitan Manila
4 million (37%) of population live in slum communities.
Marife Ballesteros
Concluded that unhealthy environment deepens poverty, increases
vulnerability of both slum and non-poor living in slums.
Bus
One of the largest contributor to environmental pollution
problems worldwide.
Motorbike/Three-Wheeled Vehicles
Form 75%-80% of the traffic in Asian cities
Burns oil and gasoline
Command lower price because of durability and low
operating cost to the middle class
Catching Up
United States
• Worst polluter in history of the world.
• Model of the ideal modern society
• Until the 1970s, was a global economic power, with a
middle class that was the envy of the world.
Environmental Consequences of U.S
• Responsible for 27% of the world’s carbon dioxide
emissions
• 60% cars and other vehicles, coal factories etc.
• Methane from farms and breakdown of organic matter,
paint aerosol, and dusts.
Countries in the Midst of a Frenzied Effort to Catch Up With the
West:
China India Indonesia
Climate Change
Global Warming- result of billions of tons of carbon dioxide,
various air pollutants and other gases, accumulating in the
atmosphere
Greenhouse effect- responsible for recurring heat waves
and long droughts in certain places.
California, USA- experienced its worst water shortage in
1,200 years due to global warming.
India and Southeast Asia- Global warming altered the
summer monsoon patterns.
Typhoon Haiyan (Super Typhoon Yolanda)
Category 5 typhoon
Hit the Central Philippines on November 8, 2013
Deadliest typhoon ever recorded by killing
6,300 people.
Sustained winds of more than 150 mph
Persistent body of dense ice that is constantly
moving under its weight.
Melting every year since 2002
Antartica losing 134 billion metric of ice
The Largest Glacier on Earth is 60 Miles Wide
Glaciers and Around 270 Miles Long.
Arctic sea ice is declining at a rate of 12.8
percent per decade.
Flooding
Has allowed breeding grounds for disease
carriers.
• Aedes Aegypti- a mosquito that can
spread: Dengue fever
Chikungunya
Zika fever
• Cholera- an infectious disease that causes
severe watery diarrhea, which can lead to
dehydration and death.
Combating Global Warming
Kyoto Protocol- an international treaty which commits state
parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
December 11, 1997
Signed by 195 countries
To reduce greenhouse
gases:
1.Carbon Dioxide
2.Methane
3. Nitrous Oxide
4. Hydrofluorocarbon
5.Perfouro Carbons
6. Sulfur Hexafluoride
Paris Accord
• December 2015
• 195 countries
• Seeks to limit the increase in
global average temperature
Social Movements
• South Africa- Communities engage in environmental
activism
• Atlantic, El Salvador- Local officials and grassroots
organization from 1000 communities
• Universities- “Strike a balance between urgently needed
economic growth and improved air quality”.
Conclusion
Every person, regardless of his/her race, nation
or creed, belongs to the same world.
There is no choice but to find global solutions to
this global problems.
