1.
The Blue Marble
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The Blue Marble is an image of the Earth made on December 7,1972, by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft at a distance of about 45,000 kilometers. It is one of the most reproduced images in human history, the image with the official NASA designation AS17-148-22727 reproduces the view of the Earth as seen by the Apollo crew traveling toward the Moon. The translunar coast photograph extends from the Mediterranean Sea to Antarctica and this was the first time the Apollo trajectory made it possible to photograph the south polar ice cap, despite the Southern Hemisphere being heavily covered in clouds. In addition to the Arabian Peninsula and Madagascar, almost the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible, the Asian mainland is on the horizon. The photograph, taken by astronauts on December 7,1972, EST, is one of the most widely distributed photographic images in existence. The image is one of the few to show an almost fully illuminated Earth disk, to the astronauts, the slightly gibbous Earth had the appearance and size of a glass marble, hence the name. The time of Apollo 17s launch,12,33 a. m, EST, meant that Africa was in daylight during the early hours of the spacecrafts flight. With the December solstice approaching, Antarctica was also illuminated, the 1972 Tamil Nadu cyclone can be seen in the top right of the image. This storm had brought flooding and high winds to the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on December 5, the photographs official NASA designation is AS17-148-22727. NASA photograph AS17-148-22726, taken just before and nearly identical to 22727, is used as a full-Earth image. The photographer used a 70-millimeter Hasselblad camera with an 80-millimeter Zeiss lens, Apollo 17 was the last manned lunar mission. No human since has been far enough from Earth to photograph an image such as The Blue Marble. The Blue Marble was not the first clear image taken of a face of the Earth. NASA archivist Mike Gentry has speculated that The Blue Marble is among the most widely distributed images in human history, there has also been a childrens television program called Big Blue Marble. The data also included a similarly manually assembled cloud-cover and night-lights image sets, a subsequent release was made in 2005, named Blue Marble Next Generation. A number of viewers for these data have also been released. On 25 January 2012, NASA released an image of the western hemisphere of Earth entitled Blue Marble 2012. The picture logged over 3.1 million views on the Flickr image hosting website within the first week of release
2.
Environment (biophysical)
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The biophysical environment can vary in scale from microscopic to global in extent. It can also be subdivided according to its attributes, examples include the marine environment, the atmospheric environment and the terrestrial environment. The number of environments is countless, given that each living organism has its own environment. The term environment is used as a short form for the biophysical environment. The expression the environment often refers to a global environment in relation to humanity. All life that has survived must have adapted to conditions of its environment, temperature, light, humidity, soil nutrients, etc. all influence any species, within any environment. However life in turn modifies, in forms, its conditions. Some long term modifications along the history of our planet have been significant and this process consisted in the breakdown of carbon dioxide by anaerobic microorganisms that used the carbon in their metabolism and released the oxygen to the atmosphere. This led to the existence of oxygen-based plant and animal life, other interactions are more immediate and simple, such as the smoothing effect that forests have on the temperature cycle, compared to neighboring unforested areas. Environmental science is the study of the interactions within the biophysical environment, part of this scientific discipline is the investigation of the effect of human activity on the environment. Ecology, a sub-discipline of biology and a part of environmental sciences, is mistaken as a study of human induced effects on the environment. Environmental studies is an academic discipline that is the systematic study of interaction of humans with their environment. It is a field of study that includes the natural environment, built environments. Environmentalism is a social and philosophical movement that, in a large part, seeks to minimise. The issues of concern for environmentalists usually relate to the environment with the more important ones being climate change, species extinction, pollution. One of the studies related include employing Geographic Information Science to study the biophysical environment, biophysics subject to the context List of conservation topics List of environmental issues Lists of environmental topics Miller, G. Tyler. McCallum, Malcolm L. Gwendolynn W. Bury, google search patterns suggest declining interest in the environment
3.
Human impact on the environment
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Human impact on the environment or anthropogenic impact on the environment includes impacts on biophysical environments, biodiversity, and other resources. The term anthropogenic designates an effect or object resulting from human activity, the atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen introduced the term Anthropocene in the mid-1970s. The term is used in the context of pollution emissions that are produced as a result of human activities but applies broadly to all major human impacts on the environment. Environmental impacts caused by the application of technology are often perceived as unavoidable for several reasons, third, according to the second law of thermodynamics, order can be increased within a system only by increasing disorder or entropy outside the system. Thus, technologies can create “order” in the economy only at the expense of increasing “disorder” in the environment. According to a number of studies, increased entropy is likely to be correlated to environmental impacts. The environmental impact of agriculture based on the wide variety of agricultural practices employed around the world. Ultimately, the impact depends on the production practices of the system used by farmers. The connection between emissions into the environment and the system is indirect, as it also depends on other climate variables such as rainfall. An example of a means-based indicator would be the quality of groundwater, an indicator reflecting the loss of nitrate to groundwater would be effect-based. The environmental impact of agriculture involves a variety of factors from the soil, to water, the air, animal and soil diversity, plants, and the food itself. Some of the issues that are related to agriculture are climate change, deforestation, genetic engineering, irrigation problems, pollutants, soil degradation. These conservation issues are part of conservation, and are addressed in fisheries science programs. There is a gap between how many fish are available to be caught and humanity’s desire to catch them, a problem that gets worse as the world population grows. The journal Science published a study in November 2006, which predicted that, at prevailing trends. Many countries, such as Tonga, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, the impacts stem from the changed hydrological conditions owing to the installation and operation of the scheme. An irrigation scheme draws water from the river and distributes it over the irrigated area. These may be called direct effects, effects on soil and water quality are indirect and complex, and subsequent impacts on natural, ecological and socio-economic conditions are intricate
4.
Global warming
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Global warming and climate change are terms for the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earths climate system and its related effects. Multiple lines of evidence show that the climate system is warming. The largest human influence has been emission of gases such as carbon dioxide, methane. These findings have been recognized by the science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing. Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe, anticipated effects include warming global temperature, rising sea levels, changing precipitation, and expansion of deserts in the subtropics. Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic, with the retreat of glaciers, permafrost. Effects significant to humans include the threat to security from decreasing crop yields. Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction, adaptation to its effects, building systems resilient to its effects, most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change. Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing, a global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54% consider it a very serious problem. There are significant regional differences, with Americans and Chinese among the least concerned, the global average surface temperature shows a warming of 0.85 °C in the period 1880 to 2012, based on multiple independently produced datasets. Earths average surface temperature rose by 0. 74±0.18 °C over the period 1906–2005, the rate of warming almost doubled for the last half of that period. The rest has melted ice and warmed the continents and atmosphere, the average temperature of the lower troposphere has increased between 0.12 and 0.135 °C per decade since 1979, according to satellite temperature measurements. The warming that is evident in the temperature record is consistent with a wide range of observations. The probability that these changes could have occurred by chance is virtually zero, temperature changes vary over the globe. Since 1979, land temperatures have increased about twice as fast as ocean temperatures, ocean temperatures increase more slowly than land temperatures because of the larger effective heat capacity of the oceans and because the ocean loses more heat by evaporation. Since the beginning of industrialisation the temperature difference between the hemispheres has increased due to melting of sea ice and snow in the North. Average arctic temperatures have been increasing at almost twice the rate of the rest of the world in the past 100 years, the thermal inertia of the oceans and slow responses of other indirect effects mean that climate can take centuries or longer to adjust to changes in forcing. Some of this warming will be driven by past natural forcings which are still seeking equilibrium in the climate system
5.
Environmentalism
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While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecologism combines the ideology of social ecology and environmentalism. ‘Ecologism’ is more used in continental European languages while ‘environmentalism’ is more commonly used in English. For this reason, concepts such as an ethic, environmental ethics, biodiversity, ecology. The exact measures and outcomes of this balance is controversial and there are different ways for environmental concerns to be expressed in practice. Environmentalism and environmental concerns are represented by the color green. Environmentalism denotes a movement that seeks to influence the political process by lobbying, activism. The word was first coined in 1922, an environmentalist is a person who may speak out about our natural environment and the sustainable management of its resources through changes in public policy or individual behavior. In various ways, environmentalists and environmental organizations seek to give the world a stronger voice in human affairs. In general terms, environmentalists advocate the sustainable management of resources, in its recognition of humanity as a participant in ecosystems, the movement is centered around ecology, health, and human rights. A concern for environmental protection has recurred in diverse forms, in different parts of the world, for example, in Europe, King Edward I of England banned the burning of sea-coal by proclamation in London in 1272, after its smoke had become a problem. The fuel was so common in England that this earliest of names for it was acquired because it could be carted away from some shores by the wheelbarrow. Earlier in the Middle East, the Caliph Abu Bakr in the 630s commanded his army to Bring no harm to the trees, nor burn them with fire, at the advent of steam and electricity the muse of history holds her nose and shuts her eyes. The origins of the movement lay in the response to increasing levels of smoke pollution in the atmosphere during the Industrial Revolution. An Alkali inspector and four sub-inspectors were appointed to curb this pollution, typically the highest priority went to water and air pollution. The Coal Smoke Abatement Society was formed in 1898 making it one of the oldest environmental NGOs and it was founded by artist Sir William Blake Richmond, frustrated with the pall cast by coal smoke. Although there were pieces of legislation, the Public Health Act 1875 required all furnaces and fireplaces to consume their own smoke. It also provided for sanctions against factories that emitted large amounts of black smoke, financial incentives were offered to householders to replace open coal fires with alternatives, or for those who preferred, to burn coke instead which produces minimal smoke. Smoke control areas were introduced in some towns and cities in which only smokeless fuels could be burnt, the act formed an important impetus to modern environmentalism, and caused a rethinking of the dangers of environmental degradation to peoples quality of life
6.
Environmental education
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Environmental education refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating disciplines such as biology, chemistry, physics, ecology, earth science, atmospheric science, mathematics, the term often implies education within the school system, from primary to post-secondary. However, it includes all efforts to educate the public and other audiences, including print materials, websites, media campaigns. Engaging with citizens of all demographics to,2, think critically, ethically, and creatively when evaluating environmental issues,3. Make educated judgments about those issues,4. Develop skills and a commitment to act independently and collectively to sustain and enhance the environment, to enhance their appreciation of the environment, resulting in positive environmental behavioural change. Environmental education has crossover with other disciplines. These fields of education complement environmental education yet have unique philosophies, specifically, CCE needs to help learners develop knowledge, skills and values and action to engage and learn about the causes, impact and management of climate change. Science Education focuses primarily on teaching knowledge and skills, to develop innovative thought in society, outdoor Education relies on the assumption that learning experiences outdoors in ‘nature’ foster an appreciation of nature, resulting in pro-environmental awareness and action. Outdoor education means learning in and for the outdoors, garden-based learning is an instructional strategy that utilizes the garden as a teaching tool. Inquiry-based Science is an open style of teaching in which students follow scientific steps in a similar manner as scientists to study some problem. Often used in biological and environmental settings, while each of these educational fields has their own objectives, there are points where they overlap with the intentions and philosophy of environmental education. Several decades later, Louis Agassiz, a Swiss-born naturalist, echoed Rousseau’s philosophy as he encouraged students to “Study nature, not books. ”These two influential scholars helped lay the foundation for an environmental education program, known as nature study. The nature study movement used fables and moral lessons to help develop an appreciation of nature. A new type of education, Conservation Education, emerged as a result of the Great Depression. Conservation Education dealt with the world in a drastically different way from Nature Study because it focused on rigorous scientific training rather than natural history. Conservation Education was a scientific management and planning tool that helped solve social, economic. The modern environmental movement, which gained significant momentum in the late 1960s and early 1970s, stems from Nature Study
7.
Ecological humanities
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The ecological humanities is an interdisciplinary area of research, drawing on the many environmental sub-disciplines that have emerged in the humanities over the past several decades. This world view in turn shares a connection with Lotkas physiological philosophy. This broadened conception of justice involves enlarged or ecological thinking, which presupposes the enhancement of knowledge sharing within fields of plural and this kind of knowledge sharing is called transdisciplinarity. It has links with the philosophy of Hannah Arendt and the works of Italo Calvino. As Calvino put it, enlarge the sphere of what we can imagine and it also has connections with Leibnizs Enlightenment project where, the sciences are simultaneously abridged while also being enlarged. The situation is complicated however by the recognition of the fact that connections are both non-linear and linear, the ecological humanities therefore, require both linear and non-linear modes of language through which reasoning about justice can be done. Thus there is a motivation to find linguistic modes which can express both linear and non-linear connectivities. From the second axiom the notions of “ecological embodiment/ embeddedness” and “habitat” have emerged from Political Theory with a fundamental connectivity to rights, democracy, the third axiom comes from the strong self-reflective tradition of all humanities scholarship and it encourages ecological humanities to investigate its own theoretical basis. Some theorists have suggested that the inclusion of non-humans in the consideration of justice links ecocentric philosophy with political economics and this is because the theorising of justice is a central activity of political economic philosophy. e. The question of language can best depict the linear and non-linear causal connections of ecological systems appears to have been taken up by the school of ecology known as systems ecology. To depict the linear and non-linear internal relatedness of ecosystems where the laws of thermodynamics hold significant consequences, odum predicated the Energy Systems Language on the principles of ecological energetics. In ecological energetics, just as in ecological humanities, the bond between connections is considered an ontic category. Ecocentric Political theory Systems ecology Ecological economics Biophysical economics Value theory Principles of energetics Biosemiotics Ecosemiotics ^ S. Kingsland, ^ L. Courtart, translated by D. Rutherford, R. T. Monroe. CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Ecological Humanities website Environmental Humanities What is the Environmental Humanities, nye, L. Rugg, J. Fleming, and R. Emmett, Background Paper, The Emergence of the Environmental Humanities. Mistra, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, R. Hutchings Understanding of and Vision for the Environmental Humanities, Environmental Humanities, vol
8.
Environmental law
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The core environmental law regimes address environmental pollution. Other areas, such as environmental impact assessment, may not fit neatly into either category, early examples of legal enactments designed to consciously preserve the environment, for its own sake or human enjoyment, are found throughout history. In the common law, the protection was found in the law of nuisance. Thus smells emanating from pig stys, strict liability against dumping rubbish, private enforcement, however, was limited and found to be woefully inadequate to deal with major environmental threats, particularly threats to common resources. During the Great Stink of 1858, the dumping of sewerage into the River Thames began to smell so ghastly in the heat that Parliament had to be evacuated. In 19 days, Parliament passed a further Act to build the London sewerage system, London also suffered from terrible air pollution, and this culminated in the Great Smog of 1952, which in turn triggered its on legislative response, the Clean Air Act 1956. The basic regulatory structure was to set limits on emissions for households, notwithstanding early analogues, the concept of environmental law as a separate and distinct body of law is a twentieth-century development. Air quality laws govern the emission of air pollutants into the atmosphere, a specialized subset of air quality laws regulate the quality of air inside buildings. Air quality laws are designed specifically to protect human health by limiting or eliminating airborne pollutant concentrations. Regulatory efforts include identifying and categorizing air pollutants, setting limits on acceptable emissions levels, Water quality laws govern the release of pollutants into water resources, including surface water, ground water, and stored drinking water. Some water quality laws, such as drinking water regulations, may be designed solely with reference to human health, regulatory areas include sewage treatment and disposal, industrial and agricultural waste water management, and control of surface runoff from construction sites and urban environments. Waste management laws govern the transport, treatment, storage, and disposal of all manner of waste, including solid waste, hazardous waste. Regulatory efforts include identifying and categorizing waste types and mandating transport, treatment, storage, Environmental cleanup laws govern the removal of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, sediment, surface water, or ground water. Chemical safety laws govern the use of chemicals in human activities, as contrasted with media-oriented environmental laws, chemical control laws seek to manage the pollutants themselves. Regulatory efforts include banning specific chemical constituents in consumer products, Environmental impact assessment is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or concrete projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. Environmental assessments may be governed by rules of administrative procedure regarding public participation and documentation of decision making, Water resources laws govern the ownership and use of water resources, including surface water and ground water. Regulatory areas may include water conservation, use restrictions, and ownership regimes, mineral resource laws cover several basic topics, including the ownership of the mineral resource and who can work them. Mining is also affected by regulations regarding the health and safety of miners
