Evm Answers

8/9/2019 Evm Answers

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ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

1. Relevance of environmental management course in management curriculum.

The impact on our world of human activities is so great that natural systems are now failing to absorb the damage that we inflict upon

them, leading to the destruction of fragile habitats, including tropical rain forests, species extinction, and the depletion of non-

renewable resources. We face acute competition for building land, waste-disposal problems, food security issues, the trans-national

spread of epidemic diseases, and the relentless rise in the total human population.

Environmental management can be so important because our environment gives a part of what we are whether our culture are dirty

people or clean, it is also nice to live in a nice and clean place which is not polluted. It is also important to get people live in that

place if a certain city, country is polluted no one will think of living there and visitors will have a negative point of view on that place.

Environmental management is the management of interaction by the modern human societies with, and impact upon the environment.

The three main issues that affect managers are those involving politics (networking), programs (projects), and resources (money,

facilities, etc.). The need for environmental management can be viewed from a variety of perspectives. A more common philosophy

and impetus behind environmental management is the concept of carrying capacity which refers to the maximum number of organisms

a particular resource can sustain. Environmental management is therefore not the conservation of the environment solely for the

environment's sake, but rather the conservation of the environment for humankind's sake.

Environmental management involves the management of all components of the bio-physical environment, both living (biotic) and

non-living (abiotic). This is due to the interconnected and network of relationships amongst all living species and their habitats. The

environment also involves the relationships of the human environment, such as the social, cultural and economic environment with the

bio-physical environment.

As with all management functions, effective management tools, standards and systems are required. An 'environmental managementstandard or system or protocol attempts to reduce environmental impact as measured by some objective criteria. The ISO 14001

standard is the most widely used standard for environmental risk management and is closely aligned to the European Eco-

Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS). As a common auditing standard, the ISO 19011 standard explains how to combine this with

quality management.

Other strategies exist that rely on making simple distinctions rather than building top-down management "systems" using performance

audits and full cost accounting. For instance, Ecological Intelligent Design divides products into consumables, service products or

durables and unsaleables - toxic products that no one should buy, or in many cases, do not realize they are buying. By eliminating the

unsaleables from the comprehensive outcome of any purchase, better environmental management is achieved without

"systems".Recent successful cases have put forward the notion of "Integrated Management". It shares a wider approach and stresses

out the importance of interdisciplinary assessment. It is an interesting notion that might not be adaptable to all cases.

"Today's businesses must comply with many Federal, State and local environmental laws, rules, and regulations. It's vital to safeguard

your company against compliance short-cuts. This approach leaves you vulnerable to violations of the law, in addition to missing

important environmental liabilities.

2. Why do managers need to study environmental management?

Environmental management issues now feature prominently on national and international political agendas. Global climate change,

sea-level rise, and pollution are threatening the equilibrium of the planet. Against the backdrop of these environmental concerns, there

is increasing demand around the world for highly skilled managers of the environment. Those who have studied environmental

management can help to meet the demand. Managers with a good idea on environmental management find that job opportunities are

expanding in public and private sector agencies and companies for specialist staff to help devise strategies to meet ambitious


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sustainability targets set by governments across the world. Not only is the employment opportunities excellent for such people, there

could hardly be a more important field for a career than environmental management.

While the competencies acquired as a result of studying for an MBA degree in are undoubtedly valuable, many employers seek

recruits with specialised training. Employers look for expertise and experience in subjects such as environmental law, economics and

policy formulation, environmental assessment techniques, environmental management approaches and strategies (including, for

example, coastal management, land restoration, marine environment management, or forest management). The facility to use

geographical information systems (GIS), and to analyse data sets perhaps acquired by remote sensing - is also deemed essential.

Such studies, undertaken within the crucial context of a deep understanding of sustainability issues, global environmental change, and

international environmental politics, provide the kind of challenging and advanced education needed by those who are required to

make critical environmental management judgements that fundamentally affect the lives of us all.

3. Why Copenhagen summit acquired so much importance?

The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in

Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 December and 18 December. The conference included the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15)

to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 5th Meeting of the Parties (COP/MOP 5) to the Kyoto

Protocol. According to the Bali Road Map, a framework for climate change mitigation beyond 2012 was to be agreed there.

The conference was preceded by the Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions scientific conference, which took place

in March 2009 and was also held at the Bella Center. The negotiations began to take a new format when in May 2009 UN Secretary

General Ban Ki-moon attended the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen, organized by the Copenhagen

Climate Council (COC), where he requested that COC councilors attend New York's Climate Week at the Summit on Climate Change

on 22 September and engage with heads of government on the topic of the climate problem.

The Copenhagen Accord was drafted by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa on December 18, and judged a "meaningful

agreement" by the United States government. It was "recognized", but not "agreed upon", in a debate of all the participating countries

the next day, and it was not passed unanimously. The document recognized that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the

present and that actions should be taken to keep any temperature increases to below 2C. The document is not legally binding and

does not contain any legally binding commitments for reducing CO2 emissions. Leaders of industrialized countries, including Barack

Obama and Gordon Brown, were pleased with this agreement but many leaders of other countries and non-governmental organizations

were opposed to it.

Although developing countries are still not satisfied by the outcome of the summit, there is now the prospect of limiting the negative

effects on the climate. Moreover, huge sums will be released, in addition to the money spent on development cooperation, to reduce

damage from climate change (such as starvation due to drought which is now visible in Africa or destruction of houses due to

flooding).Copenhagen deserves a different sort of credit, perhaps even more significant than a step towards saving the planet.

Copenhagen may mark a turning point in human nature, when the global village acquired a global mind.

What we have just witnessed is delegates from 192 countries talking about making sacrifices, slowing their development, constraining

their industry, taxing their citizens, in a collective bid to stifle climate change. Those nations included virtually every race, every

religion, every style of government from monarchy to dictatorship, from constitutional democracy to communism.

For the past 5,000 years, agreements between nations have been determined by military or economic power, by political ideology orreligious dogma. What Copenhagen has established, even if the final agreement fudges and procrastinates, is that a new force is at

work in international diplomacy.

Globally, the average temperature has risen by about 0.7C since pre-industrial times. That's a statistically significant shift (as the

boffins would say), but it's not that evidence that has driven the unprecedented move towards global co-operation in Copenhagen. It's

the predictions of future events long after the terms of office of elected representatives and even the lifetimes of monarchs and

dictators. The developing nations are unhappy with the offer of financial compensation from the affluent powers. But the amounts

over the coming decades are staggering. All of this, and the policies, laws and taxes that will be needed to implement a real agreement,


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have been driven by the opinions of people of no specific race, creed or politics, and very little personal power the scientists who

have made the doomsday predictions. What's surprising about nations acting together to avert a common threat is that it runs counter

to so much of what we know of human nature. A simple interpretation of Copenhagen would say the delegates were motivated by

altruism and shared concern, reflecting a dispassionate assessment of risk and rational decision-making. But neither humans nor other

animals normally behave like that.

The US, the European Union, India and China take the issue of climate change very seriously and Chinese Premier Wen is willing to

take concrete steps in years to come, even though CO2 emissions per capita in China are low in comparison to the US and Europe.

Despite the absence of a new formal UN treaty, Copenhagen summit is a turning point in history, now that the international

community has decided to make a real transition to sustainable energy and to an economy that produces less carbon dioxide. This

decision provides new opportunities for industries which are already strong in sustainable energy, including production of solar cells,

wind and hydropower. Similarly, countries can produce more energy by converting the sun's rays into electrical power, for example in

southern Europe or North Africa. Africa can become a producer of electricity from solar energy and sustainable use of biomass (for

example plant remains or cow manure) for biogas production.

This revolution will not happen without a fight and will involve a substantial financial commitment. This commitment can be made

manageable by reducing the cost of energy for fossil fuels and because sustainable energy will be increasingly cheaper in the future.

Countries will be able to achieve economies of scale and will have to be more discerning, for example in the use of solar energy. The

old energy facilities will be replaced by new technologies. It will be necessary to adjust energy prices and activities that require high

levels of energy, for example by limiting air traffic to a bare minimum. Countries should make use of biofuels in planes or compensate

for CO2 emissions in a sustainable way, such as reforestation.

Obviously it was not possible in Copenhagen to reach a treaty that regulates the climate problem directly and definitely. In the coming

years, climate policy will really start to take shape. However, what has come out of the summit is clear: an increasing number of

countries around the world are aware that we must address the problem of global warming and are willing to contribute to that in a

major way. With new technologies, better control over population growth and modifying our lifestyles, change is definitely possible.

4.What's the Difference Between Weather and Climate?Climate is the average Weather of a region over a period of time. Climate is determined by precipitation and the air temperature of a region.

Weather deals with the condition of a region at a specific time. Weather consists of natural occurrences in the atmosphere such as rain,

thunderstorms, snow and sunshine that happen on a particular day.

The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time,

and climate is how the atmosphere "behaves" over relatively long periods of time.According to the American Meteorological Societys Glossary

of Meteorology (second edition, 2000), climate is defined as the slowly varying aspects of the atmospherehydrosphereland surface system.

This differs from the glossarys definition of weather, which is the state of the atmosphere, mainly with respect to its effects upon life and

human activities. Climate is usually expressed by the statistical collection of weather conditions for a given region during a specific interval of

time, usually several decades.

The average value of a meteorological element (e.g., temperature and precipitation) over a 30 year period is defined as a climatological normal.

Climate normals help in describing the climate of a location and are used as a base to which observed conditions can be compared. The United

Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) requires the calculation of climate normals every 30 years. The most recent such

calculations cover the period of 1961-1990. However, many WMO members, including the United States, update their normals at the completion

of each decade. Every ten years the U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) computes new thirty-year climate normals for selected

temperature and precipitation elements for a large number of U.S. climate and weather stations. The most recently computed climate normals

produced by NCDC cover the period of 1971-2000.

5. Meaning of Orography, Topography?

Orography is the study of the formation and relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated

terrain.Orography (also known as oreography, orology or oreology) falls within the broader discipline of geomorphology. Orography has a

major impact on global climate, for instance the orography of East Africa substantially determines the strength of the Indian monsoon.


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Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those of planets, moons, and asteroids. It is also the description of such

surface shapes and features (especially their depiction in maps). In a broader sense, topography is concerned with local detail in general,

including not only relief but also vegetative and human-made features, and even local history and culture. A topographic study may be made

for a variety of reasons: military planning and geological exploration have been primary motivators to start survey programs, but detailed

information about terrain and surface features is essential for the planning and construction of any major civil engineering, public works, or

reclamation projects.

6. Difference between ecosystem and ecology?

An ecosystem is a complex set of relationships among living resources, habitats and residents of a region. And Ecology is the scientific study of

the processes influencing the distribution and abundance of organisms, the interactions among organisms, and the interactions between organisms

and the transformation and flux of energy and matter. India is blessed with a wide variety of ecosystems. But its ecosystems and ecology are

assaulted increasingly. Ecological understanding offer tangible hope for addressing extremely complex and potentially devastating assaults on

local, regional and global ecosystems. And this kind of understanding can only be developed when information on varied ecosystems and ecology

reach out not only to policy makers but also to people at large. It should especially reach out to the segments of the populations of developing

countries like India, for these are the people who suffer most from a loss of nature's services. Information on ecology and ecosystems help in

identifying key issues as well as identifying trends, drivers and potential responses. These would provide lessons that would be of great value tothe decentralized development planning.

Ecology

Ecology is the study of environmental systems, or as it is sometimes called, the economy of nature. "Environmental" usually means relating to the

natural, versus human-made world; the "systems" means that ecology is, by its very nature, not interested in just the components of nature

individually but especially in how the parts interact. Ecology is technically an academic discipline, such as mathematics or physics, although in

public or media use, it is often used to connote some sort of normative or evaluative issue as in something is ecologically bad or is or is not

good for the ecology.

The subject matter of ecology is normally divided onto four broad categories: physiological ecology, having to do with the response of single

species to environmental conditions such as temperature or light; population ecology, usually focusing on the abundance and distribution of

individual species and the factors that cause such distribution; community ecology, having to do with the number of species found at given

location and their interactions; and ecosystems ecology, having to do with the structure and function of the entire suite of microbes, plants, and

animals, and their abiotic environment, and how the parts interact to generate the whole. This branch of ecology often focuses on the energy and

nutrient flows of ecoystems, and when this approach is combined with computer analysis and simulation we often call it systems ecology.

Evolutionary ecology, which may operate at any of these levels but most commonly at the physiological or population level, is a rich and

dynamic area of ecology focusing on attempting to understand how natural selection developed the structure and function of the organisms and

ecosystems at any of these levels.

Eco systems

Within all species, individuals interact with each other - feeding together, mating together, and living together. Some species have a pecking

order as well, and each individual has a role to play within it. However, it is not only individuals within a species that interact. Different species

of animals interact with each other all the time. For instance, animals eat other animals through their interactions in a food web. But plants are

included in this web as well as they, too, are eaten by animals.

The whole earth's surface can be described by a series of interconnected ecosystems. All living beings form and are part of ecosystems. They

are diverse and always changing. Within an ecosystem, all aspects of the environment (both living things and their non-living settings) interact

and affect one another. Every species affects the lives of those around them.A small ecosystem in the boreal forest might look something like

this: in the summertime, trees in forests (that produce oxygen used by living things through photosynthesis) lower the temperature in the forest

for communities in the hot summer months. In turn, some members of the communities will probably feed upon the tree to gain nourishment, thus

affecting or stunting the tree's growth.

Different areas in the world house different ecosystems. For example, you won't find an elephant or a tropical rainforest in Alberta! The different

world ecological units are called biomes and they each have different flora, fauna, landscapes and weather patterns. An ecosystem is not the same

thing as a biome. A biome is a large unit that is home to many different ecosystems. Within Alberta, there are six different biomes that each have

their own specific flora and fauna distribution. These regions are: Grassland, Parkland, Boreal Forest, Foothill, Rocky Mountain and the Canadian

Shield, all indicated on the map of Alberta's Regions.
http://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/glossary.htm#specieshttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/Ecosystems/detritus.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/Ecosystems/changing.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/boreal/boreal.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/Ecosystems/photo.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/glossary.htm#biomehttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/glossary.htm#florahttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/grasslands/grassland.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/parklands/parkland.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/boreal/boreal.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/foothills/foothills.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/mountains/mountain.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/shield/shield.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/shield/shield.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/glossary.htm#specieshttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/Ecosystems/detritus.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/Ecosystems/changing.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/boreal/boreal.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/Ecosystems/photo.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/glossary.htm#biomehttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/glossary.htm#florahttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/grasslands/grassland.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/parklands/parkland.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/boreal/boreal.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/foothills/foothills.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/mountains/mountain.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/shield/shield.htmhttp://www.abheritage.ca/abnature/shield/shield.htm


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7. What is meant by Latitude, Longitude and mention the latitudinal / longitudinal boundary of India?

Latitude, usually denoted by the Greek letter phi () gives the location of a place on Earth (or other planetary body) north or south of

the equator. LinesofLatitude are the imaginary horizontal lines shown running east-to-west (or west to east) on maps (particularly so

in the Mercator projection) that run either north or south of the equator. Technically, latitude is an angular measurement in degrees

(marked with ) ranging from 0 at the equator (low latitude) to 90 at the poles (90 N or +90 for the North Pole and 90 S or 90

for the South Pole). The latitude is approximately the angle between straight up at the surface (the zenith) and the sun at an equinox.The complementary angle of latitude is called the colatitudes.

A region's latitude has a great effect on its climate and weather. Latitude more loosely determines tendencies in polar auroras,

prevailing winds, and other physical characteristics of geographic locations.

Longitude identified by the Greek letter lambda (), is the geographic coordinate most commonly used in cartography and global

navigation for east-west measurement. The line of longitude (meridian) that passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in

England, establishes the meaning of zero degrees of longitude, or the prime meridian. Any other longitude is identified by the east-

west angle, referenced to the center of the Earth as vertex, between the intersections with the equator of the meridian through the

location in question and the prime meridian. A location's position along a meridian is given by its latitude, which is identified by the

north-south angle between the local vertical and the plane of the equator.

8. What is meant by sustainable development?

Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these

needs can be met not only in the present, but also for future generations. The term was used by the Brundtland Commission which

coined what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as development that "meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable development ties together concern

for the carrying capacity of natural systems with the social challenges facing humanity. As early as the 1970s "sustainability" was

employed to describe an economy "in equilibrium with basic ecological support systems. Ecologists have pointed to The Limits to

Growth, and presented the alternative of a steady state economy in order to address environmental concerns.

The field of sustainable development can be conceptually broken into three constituent parts: environmental sustainability,

economic sustainability and socio-political sustainability. The concept has included notions of weak sustainability, strong

sustainability and deep ecology. Sustainable development does not focus solely on environmental issues.

The idea of sustainable development grew from numerous environmental movements in earlier decades. Summits such as the Earth

Summit in Rio, Brazil, 1992, were major international meetings to bring sustainable development to the mainstream. The United

Nations 2005 World Summit Outcome Document refers to the "interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars" of sustainable

development as economic development, social development, and environmental protection.

Environmental sustainability is the process of making sure current processes of interaction with the environment are pursued with

the idea of keeping the environment as pristine as naturally possible based on ideal-seeking behavior. An "unsustainable situation"

occurs when natural capital (the sum total of nature's resources) is used up faster than it can be replenished. Sustainability requires

that human activity only uses nature's resources at a rate at which they can be replenished naturally. Inherently the concept of

sustainable development is intertwined with the concept of carrying capacity. Theoretically, the long-term result of environmental

degradation is the inability to sustain human life. Such degradation on a global scale could imply extinction for humanity.

9. What are the non-renewable and renewable energy resources?

The use ofenergy has been a key in the development of the human society by helping it to control and adapt to the environment.

Managing the use of energy is inevitable in any functional society. In the industrialized world the development of energy

resources has become essential for agriculture, transportation, waste collection, information technology, communications that

have become prerequisites of a developed society. The increasing use of energy since the Industrials Revolution has also brought

with it a number of serious problems, some of which, such as global warming, present potentially grave risks to the world.

In society and in the context of humanities, the word energy is used as a synonym of energy resources, and most often refers to

substances like fuels,petroleum products and electricity in general. These are sources of usableenergy, in that they can be easily

transformed to other kinds of energy sources that can serve a particular useful purpose. This difference vis a vis energy in natural

sciences can lead to some confusion, because energy resources are not conserved in nature in the same way as energy is conserved
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warminghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_energy_resourceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuelshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warminghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_energy_resourceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuelshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum


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in the context of physics. The actual energy content is always conserved, but when it is converted into heat for example, it usually

becomes less useful to society, and thus appears to have been usedup.

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are

renewable (naturally replenished). In 2006, about 18% of global final energy consumption came from renewables, with 13%

coming from traditional biomass, such as wood-burning and 3% from hydroelectricity. New renewals (small hydro, modern

biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels) accounted for 2.4% and are growing very rapidly.

The share of renewables inelectricity generation is around 18%, with 15% of global electricity coming from hydroelectricity and 3.4% from new renewable.

While most renewable energy projects and production is large-scale, renewable technologies are also suited to small off-grid

applications, sometimes in rural and remote areas, where energy is often crucial in human development. Kenya has the world's

highest household solar ownership rate with roughly 30,000 small (20100 watt) solar power systems sold per year.

Some renewable energy technologies are criticized for being intermittent or unsightly, yet the renewable energy market continues

to grow. Climate change concerns, coupled with high oil prices, peak oil, and increasing government support, are driving

increasing renewable energy legislation, incentives and commercialization. New government spending, regulation and policies

helped the industry weather the 2009 economic crisis better than many other sectors.

A non-renewable resource is a natural resource which cannot be produced, re-grown, regenerated, or reused on a scale which

can sustain its consumption rate. These resources often exist in a fixed amount, or are consumed much faster than nature can

recreate them. Fossil fuel (such as coal, petroleum and natural gas) and nuclear power are examples.

Fossil fuels are continually produced by the decay of plant and animal matter, but the rate of their production is extremely slow,

very much slower than the rate at which we use them. Any non-renewable energy resources that we use are not replaced in a

reasonable amount of time (our lifetime, our children's lifetime,...) and are thus considered "used up", not available to us again.

10) Green house gases and its importance in global warming:

Greenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is

the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect.The main greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapour, carbon

dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. In our solar system, the atmospheres of Venus, Mars and Titan also contain gases that

cause greenhouse effects. Greenhouse gases greatly affect the temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth's surface would be on

average about 33 C (59 F) colder than at present.

Human activities since the start of the industrial era around 1750 have increased the levels of greenhouse gases in the

atmosphere.

In order, Earth's most abundant greenhouse gases are:

water vapour

carbon dioxide

methane

nitrous oxide

ozone

chlorofluorocarbons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozonehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorofluorocarbon#Chloro_fluoro_compounds_.28CFC.2C_HCFC.29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozonehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorofluorocarbon#Chloro_fluoro_compounds_.28CFC.2C_HCFC.29


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The contribution to the greenhouse effect by a gas is affected by both the characteristics of the gas and its abundance. For example, on

a molecule-for-molecule basis methane is about eight times stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide , but it is present in much

smaller concentrations so that its total contribution is smaller. When these gases are ranked by their contribution to the greenhouse

effect, the most important are

Water vapour, which contributes 3672%

carbon dioxide, which contributes 926%

methane, which contributes 49%

ozone, which contributes 37%

IMPORTANCE IN GLOBAL WARMING:

Global warming potential (GWP) is a measure of how much a given mass of greenhouse gas is estimated to contribute to global

warming. It is a relative scale which compares the gas in question to that of the same mass of carbon dioxide (whose GWP is by

convention equal to 1). A GWP is calculated over a specific time interval and the value of this must be stated whenever a GWP is

quoted or else the value is meaningless.

The substances subject to restrictions in the Kyoto protocol either are rapidly increasing their concentrations in Earth's atmosphere or

have a large GWP.

The GWP depends on the following factors:

the absorption ofinfrared radiation by a given species

the spectral location of its absorbing wavelengths

the atmospheric lifetime of the species

Thus, a high GWP correlates with a large infrared absorption and a long atmospheric lifetime. The dependence of GWP on the

wavelength of absorption is more complicated. Even if a gas absorbs radiation efficiently at a certain wavelength, this may not affect

its GWP much if the atmosphere already absorbs most radiation at that wavelength. A gas has the most effect if it absorbs in a

"window" of wavelengths where the atmosphere is fairly transparent. The dependence of GWP as a function of wavelength has been

found empirically and published as a graph.[1]

Because the GWP of a greenhouse gas depends directly on its infrared spectrum, the use of infrared spectroscopy to study greenhouse

gases is centrally important in the effort to understand the impact of human activities on global climate change.

11) Glacial melting and its relevance to climate change:

Global Warming is melting glaciers in every region of the world, putting millions of people at risk from floods,droughts and lack of

drinking water.

Glaciers are ancient rivers of compressed snow that creep through the landscape, shaping the planets surface. They are the Earths

largest freshwater reservoir, collectively covering an area the size of South America. Glaciers have been retreating worldwide since

the end of the Little Ice Age (around 1850), but in recent decades glaciers have begun melting at rates that cannot be explained by

historical trends1.

Projected climate change over the next century will further affect the rate at which glaciers melt. Average global temperatures are

expected to rise 1.4-5.8C by the end of the 21st century2. Simulations project that a 4C rise in temperature would eliminate nearly all

of the worlds glaciers (the melt-down of the Greenland ice sheets could be triggered at a temperature increase of 2 to 3C). Even in

the least damaging scenario a 1C rise along with an increase in rain and snow glaciers will continue to lose volume over the

coming century.

Although only a small fraction of the planets permanent ice is stored outside of Greenland and Antarctica, these glaciers are

extremely important because they respond rapidly to climate change and their loss directly affects human populations and ecosystems.

Continued, widespread melting of glaciers during the coming century will lead to floods, water shortages for millions of people, and

sea level rise threatening and destroying coastal

communities and habitats.

NATURE AT RISK
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warminghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warminghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_protocolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth's_atmospherehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_radiationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_lifetimehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_potential#cite_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_changehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_changehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warminghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warminghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_protocolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth's_atmospherehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_radiationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_lifetimehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_potential#cite_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change


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Royal Bengal tiger endangered tigers that will lose a large portion of their worldwide habitat as the Sundarbans succumb to sea

level rise.

Kittlitzs murrelet rare birds specialized to hunt in cloudy glacier water and nest on top of ice.

Coral reefs unique organisms that can be starved of energy from the sun when sea levels rise.

Climate change has already led to the loss of an entire ecosystem on the crumbling ice shelves of the Arctic. Between 2000 and 2002,

Ward Hunt Ice Shelf off of Ellesmere Island in Canada broke in two, draining much of the water from overlying Disraeli Fjord, thelargest remaining epishelf (ice shelf-bounded) lake in the Northern Hemisphere. This 3000-year old lake supported a rare ecosystem

where microscopic marine organisms near the bottom of the lake lived in harmony with their freshwater brethren in the brackish

surface waters. By 2002, 96% of this unique low-salinity habitat had been lost.

12) Vertical thermal structure of atmosphere and its relevance to atmospheric processes:

The atmosphere has a vertical thermal structure as well as a vertical

pressure structure.

A. The atmosphere has been divided into layers according to the behaviour of temperatures in their relationship to altitude.

B. The lowest layer is the troposphere, the layer in which we live and in which our weather is experienced. In fact, "troposphere"

means the realm of mixing, because air is vigorously mixed and stirred here by storms, convection, and wind systems.

1. It extends up roughly 10 km (oh, about 6 miles-ish).

2. It is characterized by an inverse relationship between air temperatures and altitude: Temperatures drop as you climb up in the

troposphere.

a. In still air, it cools by an average of 6.5 C for every kilometer (1,000 meters) gain in elevation. So, if it's a gorgeous, sunny,

toasty day at Beach, 30 C (~86 F), it'll be about 23.5 C (room temperature) on top of the Santa Monicas out near the Ventura

County line.

b. This drop in temperatures with a rise in elevation is called the

"normal lapse rate." It represents an average, not the actual lapse rate at a particular place and time

3. The tropopause is the top of the troposphere: The troposphere stops here.

a. It is situated about 10 km up

i. It's more like 8 km (5 mi.) over the polar regions in winter (cold air tends to settle downward) and 18 km (11 mi.) over the

equatorial regions, due to greater convection there (heating caused by the direct rays of the sun).

ii. In the mid-latitudes, it's lower in winter and higher in summer, for the same sorts of reasons.

13.Vertical density profile of atmosphere and its impact on various processes?

Verticaldensity profile of atmosphere tells that as there is increase in altitude (height) there is decrease in density of atmosphere due

to lowering of gravitational force of attraction of the earth. So oxygen content of air also decreases gradually with the height which is


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responsible for supporting life. So due to increase diversity of life decreases. Atmosphere is essential for sustaining the life no

atmosphere no life.

14. Water holding capacity of atmosphere and its relation to atmospheric temperature?

Water holding capacity refers to the amount of water that the air in the atmosphere can hold. In the atmosphere the total water holding

capacity amounts to a maximum of 4%. The rest 96% is a combination of different other gases. In normal case if the water content

exceeds 4% it results in rain .The water holding capacity of air plays a vital role in the rain and the normal going of our ecology.

Now lets understand how the atmospheric temperature is affecting the water holding capacity. When the atmospheric temperature

rises the density of air decreases. The air molecules loosen their bond and the air expands. And this phenomenon will lead to the

reduction of the water holding capacity of the air in the atmosphere. Consequently, when atmospheric temperature drops down, the

molecules come closer and ability to retain water molecules increases.

15. Role of inversion in the stagnation of pollution in a locality?

Temperature inversion layers, also called thermal inversions or just inversion layers, are areas where the normal decrease in air

temperature with increasing altitude is reversed and air above the ground is warmer than the air below it. Inversion layers can occur

anywhere from close to ground level up to thousands of feet into the atmosphere.

Inversion layers are significant to meteorology because they block atmospheric flow which causes the air over an area experiencing an

inversion to become stable. This can then result in various types of weather patterns. More importantly though, areas with heavy

pollution are prone to unhealthy air and an increase in smog when an inversion is present because they trap pollutants at ground level

instead of circulating them away.

Consequences: - (1) Intense thunderstorms and tornadoes are associated with inversions because of the intense energy that is released

after an inversion blocks an areas normal convection patterns.

(2) One of the most important things impacted by an inversion layer is smog.Smog is impacted by the inversion layer because it is in

essence, capped, when the warm air mass moves over an area. This happens because the warmer air layer sits over a city and preventsthe normal mixing of cooler, denser air. The air instead becomes still and over time the lack of mixing causes pollutants to become

trapped under the inversion, developing significant amounts of smog.

16. How economic growth becomes environmental concern ?

Economies are driven by energy, and energy extraction and use are currently having disastrous effects upon the environment. Without

agreements that limit the use of fossil fuels or control their emissions, the environmental degradation that has defined the twentieth


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century will continue into the twenty-first. If we limit fossil fuels without a transition to cleaner energy sources, the global economy

will will not have enough power to keep growth curves positive. While President Obama stated, " Our generation's response to this

challenge will be judged by history, for if we fail to meet it, boldly, swiftly, and together, we risk consigning future generations to an

irreversible catastrophe".

Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these

needs can be met not only in the present, but also for future generations.Environmental sustainability is the process of making surecurrent processes of interaction with the environment are pursued with the idea of keeping the environment as pristine as naturally

possible based on ideal-seeking behavior.

An "unsustainable situation" occurs

whennatural capital (the sum total of

nature's resources) is used up faster

than it can be replenished.

Sustainability requires that human

activity only uses nature's resources

at a rate at which they can be

replenished naturally. Inherently the

concept of sustainable development

is intertwined with the concept of

carrying capacity.

Theoretically, the long-term result of environmental degradation is the inability to sustain human life. Such degradation on a global

scale could imply extinction for humanity.

17. Why we say that mushrooming of high-raised buildings and influx of automobile boom in our roads are adding the global

warming impact to our region?

Global warming is real. It is not the result of a natural climatic adjustment. It is a quantifiable set of environmental results that are in

addition to any normal changes in climate. That is why the effects of global warming have catastrophic potential.

The primary cause of global warming is Carbon Dioxide emissions. CO2 is being pumped into our atmosphere at an insane pace; 8

billion tons of CO2 entered the air last year. Of course some of this is due to natural activity such as volcanic eruptions and people

breathing. But the Earth is equipped to easily absorb those into the normal regenerative process. No, the beginning of global warmingwas caused by fossil fuels being burned and emitting plenty of CO2.

12% of all CO2 released into the atmosphere is related to buildings. This figure varies from one source to the next. Some place the

percentage of emissions from buildings as high as 33%. What most of these figures do not address is the actual cause of the CO2

emissions. In newly constructed buildings, production of materials used in building and energy used during construction are sited as

the cause of carbon dioxide emissions. In existing buildings the CO2 created by the energy upkeep of the building is the root of the

emissions quotient. The general comparison is that buildings consume energy in the way that cars burn fuel. But the pollutants created

in providing power for heating, air-conditioning, lights and other usage in buildings has already been factored. Honestly this double

Consumption of renewable

resources

State of environment Sustainability

More than nature's ability to

replenishEnvironmental degradation Not sustainable

Equal to nature's ability to

replenishEnvironmental equilibrium Steady state economy

Less than nature's ability to

replenishEnvironmental renewal Environmentally sustainable
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billing accounting is more the product of auto manufacturers looking to point the blame for global warming away from gas guzzling

cars.

The United States. Though Americans make up just 4 percent of the world's population produce 25 percent of the carbon dioxide

pollution from fossil-fuel burning -- by far the largest share of any country. In fact, the United States emits more carbon dioxide than

China, India and Japan, combined.

18. What is the role of forest in the rainfall activity in a region?

Forests covering Mediterranean surface play a vital role in the regulation of water cycle and they provide quality water to the society.

However, forests are great consumers of water as well, even though some of the water returns to the atmosphere. It is therefore

necessary to understand the relationship between both of these natural resources in order to optimize the water management through

an appropriate forest management, ensuring their sustainability

Rainfall is generally believed to be a result of monsoonal effects. International evidence and simulation models suggest two conditions

under which forests generate rainfall. First, montane forests in very high altitudes (2000 m+) can harvest clouds.

Second, deforestation of vast tracts of land, i.e., more than 250,000 km2 could reduce the probability of rainfall from water cycling.

An investigation of the influence of forests on rainfall in depleted forest areas in Thailand was carried out by Tangtham and

Sutthipibul (1988). They compared the changes in average regional rainfall with changes in forest cover in the northeast between 1951

and 1984. The periods indicate that rainfall has tended to decrease significantly as forest areas decrease, while the number of rainy

days significantly increased.

Rainfall is also affected when forest-clearing fires create air pollution and release tiny particles, known as aerosols, into the

atmosphere. While aerosols can both heat and cool the air, depending on their size, shape, and color, high concentrations of biomass-

burning aerosols directly impact local climate by increasing cloud formation but decreasing rainfall.

19. Improper disposal of solid waste is also a reason for atmospheric pollution and regional warming of atmosphere, how?

When solid waste, from food remnants to chemical by-products from manufacturing, isn't discarded properly it can have far-reaching

consequences for the environment and its natural vegetation and inhabitants, as well as for public health. Usually proper solid waste

management practices are in place, but particularly in low-income areas or developing countries, those standards aren't always

practiced or, in some cases, are non-existent.

Types

The solid waste that can create such a problem falls into nine categories. There is garbage, which is your rotten banana peel or other

food-related waste that can decompose. Then there's the stuff that doesn't decay, like glass and metals. Ashes from manufacturing

operations and large debris like trees, as well as chemicals from industrial, mining and agricultural ventures, are thrown into the mix.

As unpleasant as it is, dead animals and sewage are among the types of waste that those in the disposal business concern themselves

with. Looking at the types of waste, it's easy to see the negative side effects associated with not discarding it in a responsible manner.

Methods

Ninety percent of solid waste goes straight to the landfill. Incineration is the next most popular method of disposal, followed by

composting to a much lesser extent. The dangers from landfills come into play when the site is in a place where it shouldn't be--such

as near wetlands. The other danger is a lack of monitoring the site. Usually, standards dictate that a plastic liner or clay soil be utilized

to keep waste from seeping into the groundwater.

In the case of incineration, problems usually arise when toxic materials, like batteries, aren't set aside and recycled and are instead

burned--releasing pollutants into the air.

Groundwater Contamination

If waste isn't discarded properly on land, when it rains the waste is soaked and is then carried through the landfill, eventually making

its way into the water you may drink. Especially dangerous chemicals are volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which usually come


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from household cleaners and industrial solvents used in operations like dry cleaning. These compounds have been linked to everything

from cancers to birth defects.

Disease Outbreaks

Another danger, especially with open pits, comes from the spread of diseases--usually carried by rodents and bugs. An example of this

is malaria, which festers in open areas with standing water and particularly hot and muggy temperatures. In addition, there may be a

propensity for people to scavenge wastes in landfills and open pits, which again can create unsanitary conditions and aid the spread of

disease.

Habitat Destruction

Disposal locations may encroach upon existing habitat for native flora and fauna, especially when sited in areas near wetlands. In

some cases, people have taken steps to reclaim the land by capping the landfill and later attempting to grow vegetation on it.

Climate Change

As waste begins to break down, methane is produced. Methane is considered a greenhouse gases that is responsible for some of the

spike in the earth's temperatures.

Air Quality

When wastes are burned, especially toxic chemicals like dioxin, they're released into the surrounding environment and can then cause

serious public health risks.

20. Why we say that uncontrolled way of sand mining kills the rivers?

IMPACTS OF SAND MININGFor thousands of years, sand and gravel have been used in the construction of roads and buildings. Today, demand for sand and gravel

continues to increase. Mining operators, in conjunction with cognizant resource agencies, must work to ensure that sand mining is

conducted in a responsible manner. Excessive instream sand-and-gravel mining causes the degradation of rivers. Instream mining

lowers the stream bottom, which may lead to bank erosion. Depletion of sand in the streambed and along coastal areas causes the

deepening of rivers and estuaries, and the enlargement of river mouths and coastal inlets. It may also lead to saline-water intrusion

from the nearby sea. The effect of mining is compounded by the effect of sea level rise. Any volume of sand exported from

streambeds and coastal areas is a loss to the system.

Excessive instream sand mining is a threat to bridges, river banks and nearby structures. Sand mining also affects the adjoining

groundwater system and the uses that local people make of the river.

Instream sand mining results in the destruction of aquatic and riparian habitat through large changes in the channel morphology.

Impacts include bed degradation, bed coarsening, lowered water tables near the streambed, and channel instability. These physical

impacts cause degradation of riparian and aquatic biota and may lead to the undermining of bridges and other structures. Continued

extraction may also cause the entire streambed to degrade to the depth of excavation. Sand mining generates extra vehicle traffic,

which negatively impairs the environment. Where access roads cross riparian areas, the local environment may be impacted.

Sand Budget

Determining the sand budget for a particular stream reach requires site-specific topographic, hydrologic, and hydraulic information.

This information is used to determine the amount of sand that can be removed from the area without causing undue erosion or

degradation, either at the site or at a nearby location, upstream or downstream.

In-channel or near-channel sand-and-gravel mining changes the sediment budget, and may result in substantial changes in the channel

hydraulics. These interventions can have variable effects on aquatic habitat, depending on the magnitude and frequency of the

disturbance, mining methods, particle-size characteristics of the sediment, the characteristics of riparian vegetation, and the magnitude

and frequency of hydrologic events following the disturbance. Temporal and spatial responses of alluvial river systems are a function

of geomorphic thresholds, feedbacks, lags, upstream or downstream transmission of disturbances, and geologic/physiographic

controls. Minimization of the negative effects of sand-and-gravel mining requires a detailed understanding of the response of the

channel to mining disturbances.


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Decisions on where to mine, how much and how often require the definition of a reference state, i.e., a minimally acceptable or

agreed-upon physical and biological condition of the channel. Present understanding of alluvial systems is generally not sufficient to

enable the prediction of channel responses quantitatively and with confidence; therefore, reference states are difficult to determine.

Still, a general knowledge of fluvial processes can provide guidelines to minimize the detrimental effects of mining. Well-documented

cases and related field data are required to properly assess physical, biological, and economic tradeoffs.

Riparian Habitat, Flora and Fauna

Instream mining can have other costly effects beyond the immediate mine sites. Many hectares of fertile streamside land are lost

annually, as well as valuable timber resources and wildlife habitats in the riparian areas. Degraded stream habitats result in lost of

fisheries productivity, biodiversity, and recreational potential. Severely degraded channels may lower land and aesthetic values.

All species require specific habitat conditions to ensure long-term survival. Native species in streams are uniquely adapted to the

habitat conditions that existed before humans began large-scale alterations. These have caused major habitat disruptions that favored

some species over others and caused overall declines in biological diversity and productivity. In most streams and rivers, habitat

quality is strongly linked to the stability of channel bed and banks. Unstable stream channels are inhospitable to most aquatic species.

Factors that increase or decrease sediment supplies often destabilize bed and banks and result in dramatic channel readjustments. For

example, human activities that accelerate stream bank erosion, such as riparian forest clearing or instream mining, cause stream banks

to become net sources of sediment that often have severe consequences for aquatic species. Anthropogenic activities that artificially

lower stream bed elevation cause bed instabilities that result in a net release of sediment in the local vicinity. Unstable sediments

simplify and, therefore, degrade stream habitats for many aquatic species. The most important effects of instream sand mining on

aquatic habitats are bed degradation and sedimentation, which can have substantial negative effects on aquatic life.

The stability of sand-bed and gravel-bed streams depends on a delicate balance between streamflow, sediment supplied from the

watershed, and channel form. The affected distance depends on the intensity of mining, particles sizes, stream flows, and channel

morphology.The complete removal of vegetation and destruction of the soil profile destroys habitat both above and below the ground

as well as within the aquatic ecosystem, resulting in the reduction in faunal populations.

Channel widening causes shallowing of the streambed, producing braided flow or subsurface intergravel flow in riffle areas, hindering

movement of fishes between pools. Channel reaches become more uniformly shallow as deep pools fill with gravel and other

sediments, reducing habitat complexity, riffle-pool structure, and numbers of large predatory fishes.

Stability of Structures

Sand-and-gravel mining in stream channels can damage public and private property. Channel incision caused by gravel mining can

undermine bridge piers and expose buried pipelines and other infrastructure.

Several studies have documented the bed degradation caused by the two general forms of instream mining: (1) pit excavation and (2)

bar skimming. Bed degradation, also known as channel incision, occurs through two primary processes: (1) headcutting, and

(2)"hungry" water. In headcutting, excavation of a mining pit in the active channel lowers the stream bed, creating a nick point that

locally steepens channel slope and increases flow energy. During high flows, a nick point becomes a location of bed erosion that

gradually moves upstream (Fig. 1).


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Fig. 1 Diagram of sand-and-gravel stream bed showing (A) the nick point that develops with a pit excavation, and (B) the upstream

head cutting and downstream bed degradation that develop during high flows.

Headcutting mobilizes substantial quantities of streambed sediments which are then transported downstream to deposit in the

excavated area and locations further downstream. In gravel-rich streams, effects downstream of mining sites may be short-lived when

mining ends, because the balance between sediment input and transport at a site can reestablish itself relatively quickly. Effects in

gravel-poor streams may develop rapidly and persist for many years after mining has finished. Regardless of downstream effects,

headcutting in both gravel-rich and gravel-poor streams remains a major concern.

Headcuts often move long distances upstream and into tributaries, in some watersheds moving as far as the headwaters or until halted

by geologic controls or man-made structures.

A second form of bed degradation occurs when mineral extraction increases the flow capacity of the channel. A pit excavation locally

increases flow depth (Fig. 1) and a barskimming operation increases flow width (Fig. 2). Both conditions produce slower streamflow

velocities and lower flow energies, causing sediments arriving from upstream to deposit at the mining site. As streamflow moves

beyond the site and flow energies increase in response to the "normal" channel form downstream, the amount of transported sediment

leaving the site is now less than the sediment carrying capacity of the flow. This sediment-deficient flow or "hungry" water picks up

more sediment from the stream reach below the mining site, furthering the bed degradation process (Fig. 1). This condition continues

until the equilibrium between input and output of sediments at the site is re-established.


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Fig. 2 Diagram of channel cross sections showing (A) a typical sand-gravel bar in relation to the low-flow channel, riparian zone and

water table, and (B) the wide shallow channel that results from unrestricted mining and that is characterized by bank erosion, braided

flow, sedimentation, and increased water temperatures.

A similar effect occurs below dams, which trap sediment and release "hungry" water downstream, where channel incision usually

ensues. Instream mineral excavation downstream of dams compounds this problem. Although other factors such as levees, bank

protection, and altered flow regimes also promote channel incision, mineral extraction rates in many streams are often orders-of-magnitude in excess of sediment supply from the watershed, suggesting that extraction is largely responsible for observed channel

changes. Susceptibility to hungry-water effects would depend on the rate of extraction relative to the rate of replenishment. Gravel-

poor streams would be most susceptible to disturbance.

Channel incision not only causes vertical instability in the channel bed, but also causes lateral instability in the form of accelerated

stream bank erosion and channel widening. Incision increases stream bank heights, resulting in bank failure when the mechanical

properties of the bank material cannot sustain the material weight.

Channel widening causes shallowing of the streambed (Fig. 2) as deep pools fill with gravel and other sediments. Shallowing and

widening of the channel also increases stream temperature extremes, and channel instability increases transport of sediments

downstream. Mining-induced bed degradation and other channel changes may not develop for several years until major channel-

adjustment flows occur, and adjustments may continue long after extraction has ended.

Groundwater

Apart from threatening bridges, sand mining transforms the riverbeds into large and deep pits; as a result, the groundwater table drops

leaving the drinking water wells on the embankments of these rivers dry. Bed degradation from instream mining lowers the elevation

of streamflow and the floodplain water table which in turn can eliminate water table-dependent woody vegetation in riparian areas,

and decrease wetted periods in riparian wetlands. For locations close to the sea, saline water may intrude into the fresh waterbody.

Water Quality

Instream sand mining activities will have an impact upon the river's water quality. Impacts include increased short-term turbidity at the

mining site due to resuspension of sediment, sedimentation due to stockpiling and dumping of excess mining materials and organic

particulate matter, and oil spills or leakage from excavation machinery and transportation vehicles.

Increased riverbed and bank erosion increases suspended solids in the water at the excavation site and downstream. Suspended solids

may adversely affect water users and aquatic ecosystems. The impact is particularly significant if water users downstream of the site

are abstracting water for domestic use. Suspended solids can significantly increase water treatment costs.

Summary

Impacts of sand mining can be broadly clasified into three categories:

Physical

The large-scale extraction of streambed materials, mining and dredging below the existing streambed, and the alteration of channel-

bed form and shape leads to several impacts such as erosion of channel bed and banks, increase in channel slope, and change in

channel morphology. These impacts may cause: (1) the undercutting and collapse of river banks, (2) the loss of adjacent land and/or

structures, (3) upstream erosion as a result of an increase in channel slope and changes in flow velocity, and (4) downstream erosion

due to increased carrying capacity of the stream, downstream changes in patterns of deposition, and changes in channel bed and

habitat type.

Water Quality

Mining and dredging activities, poorly planned stockpiling and uncontrolled dumping of overburden, and chemical/fuel spills will

cause reduced water quality for downstream users, increased cost for downstream water treatment plants and poisoning of aquatic life.

Ecological

Mining which leads to the removal of channel substrate, resuspension of streambed sediment, clearance of vegetation, and stockpiling

on the streambed, will have ecological impacts. These impacts may have an effect on the direct loss of stream reserve habitat,

disturbances of species attached to streambed deposits, reduced light penetration, reduced primary production, and reduced feeding

opportunities.


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Q.21. Why we say that major part of environmental disasters is weather sensitive?

Major part of environmental disasters is weather sensitive because of following reasons:

1) Many natural phenomenon takes place in our environment .for example, lightening or thunderstorm, the local area weather proves

to be responsible for the occurrence of these disasters in other local area.

2) If we consider earthquake, we all know that it is a sudden shaking of earth .but it occurs when there is movement in the core

elements inside the core of the earth due to excessive heating or warming on earth.

3) If we consider floods then it is well known fact that normally it occurs due to excess rainfall.

22) Why we say that knowledge of geography is essential in understanding climate change impact on environment?

It is rightly said that the knowledge of geography is very much essential in understanding the climate change impact on the

environment.

Few reasons can be explained as:

1) It involves distinctive knowledge, skills, technologies, concepts, and issues.

2) Geography actively involves pupils in better understanding the world, in recognising that the world can change and that they may

influence this change as engaged citizens and finally in prediction and decision-making.

3) It builds vital knowledge of places, cultures, locations, issues as it values knowledgeand objectivity.

4) Geography concerns unique big ideas: place, process and change, scale,links between human and physical spheres,

interdependence, a unique viewof current issues like sustainability and globalisation, and the complexities of

Environmental management.

5) Geography is concerned with environment and deals with issues that are happening now but that are also connected to the future

and is the only subject to deal with these issues, for example, climate change, impacts of migration, feeding the worlds population.

Our distinct knowledge, skills and technologies allow us to explore and examine these world changing matters.

6) Changes in the state of system can occur externally or internally (from ocean, atmosphere and land systems) .For example, an

external change may involve a variation in the Sun's output which would externally vary the amount of solar radiation received by the

Earth's atmosphere and surface. Internal variations in the Earth's climatic system may be caused by changes in the concentrations of

atmospheric gases, mountain building, volcanic activity, and changes in surface.

7) Animals and plants are adapted to their environment. Each plant and animal has found a niche in its ecosystem, a place where it

contributes to and is sustained by a web of other plants and animals. Scenarios about how climate change is happening and might

happen in the future abound. No one knows how people will change their actions and exactly how the planet will react. However,

there will be change. So, these are some of the reasons why geography has such an important role in understanding the climatic

change impact on environment.

23) What are the problems we are likely to face due to Himalayan glacial melting?

A glacier is a perennial mass ofice which moves over land. Apart from polar region, Himalayan glacier is the worlds largest glacial

region. Manmade emissions have led to the rapid melting of glaciers. Glaciers in the Himalaya are receding faster than in any other

part of the world and that If the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is

very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate.

The various problems that we are going to face due to Himalayan glacial melting are as follows:

Extreme flooding and it will be followed by extreme drought.

Economic and environmental problems

Since china and India contribute to almost half of the worlds wheat and rice and this will affect farmers, residents, travelling

further for water, food consumption, cost of food up and fatalities.

The availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use, mountain recreation, animals and plants that depend on glacier-

melt, and in the longer term, the level of the oceans.
http://www.physicalgeography.net/physgeoglos/s.html#solar_radiationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icehttp://www.physicalgeography.net/physgeoglos/s.html#solar_radiationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice


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24) Reasons for the sea level rise and its impact in the near future?

Answer: there are various reasons for the rise in sea level. Few are them are as follows:

1) Global warming which in turn is caused by addition of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Just as the evidence is irrefutable that

temperatures have risen in the last century, it's also well established that carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere has increased about

30 percent, enhancing the atmosphere's ability to trap heat. These greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide or methane do not stop

much of the sunlight from heating the earth as the wavelength of light is very short.

2) Thermal expansion of ocean water as they get warmed.

3) Increase in ocean mass from land based sources of ice like glaciers and icecaps.

Its impact on future:

1) Increase in coastal erosion

2) Higher storm-surge flooding

3) Inhibition of primary production processes

4) Changes in surface water quality and ground water characteristics

5) Increase in loss of property and coastal habitats

6) Loss of non-monetary cultural resources and values and obviously on the agriculture as well through decline in soil and water

quality

7) Loss of tourism, recreation, and transportation functions

The resulting rise in sea levels would likely to increase the severity of flooding in short time during the rainy season and greatly

magnify the impact of tidal storms surges during the cyclone season.

25. Role of Industries in controlling the environmental disasters?

A natural disaster is the consequence or effect of a hazardous event, occurring when human activities and natural phenomenon (a

physical event, such as a volcanic eruption, earthquake, landslide etc., become enmeshed. Environmental disasters in many cases are

affected by human usage of natural resources. Industrial disasterswhich usually occur due to accident for non-adherence of safety

norms by industrial units often turn into mass disasters.

They take place especially because of the negative impact of the over-exploitation of natural resources. Environmental disasters can

have an effect on agriculture, biodiversity, the economy and human health. The causes include pollution, depletion of natural

resources, industrial activity or agriculture.Role of industry in controlling environmental disasters:

Create Awareness: It is important for the corporate to create the awareness among the employees as well as among the masses about

the effects of the environmental disasters. They should also create awareness about practices that needs to be followed to ensure the

environment is not depleted cause of their practices.

Innovative Ideas: Innovation and technology related to climate changes must be within the public domain, not under any private

monopolistic patent regime that obstructs and makes technology transfer more expensive. Industries should come out with innovative

ideas, practices and products too.

Environmental Friendly Products: Industry should ensure the product that they produce, sell and are consumed by the consumers

should have least impact on environment. Environment friendly products not only reduces the depletion of environment it also ensures

the harmony between the nature and human race.

Follow the protocols stated by the Government: Industry should follow the protocol set by the government. These protocols are

framed after series of discussion between the experts and after considering all the aspects of environment. Hence, following these

protocols would ensure the corporate do not indulge in practices which hamper the environment.


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Adequate safety measures should be taken: Industries should ensure the proper safety measures are taken especially in the firms

which deals with hazardous product like, Nuclear Power plants, Oil companies etc. The environment disaster which killed thousands

and thousands of people cause of the negligence was infamous.

Follow the carbon emission standards set by International body: Carbon emission standards are another way to ensure that the

industries do not emit gases which results to global warming.

Effective steps to control e-waste: Industries should have proper way to ensure the e-waste are properly re-cycled. E-wastes causes

health hazards and environmental disaster.

The resulting fatalities or property damages depend on the capacity of the population to support or resist the disaster. One of the worst

industrial disasters on record is the Bhopal gas tragedy in India, in which a leakage of toxic chemicals from a Union Carbide plant

killed over 3,000 people , injured many more, and caused severe health problems to the regions human and animal populations. The

disaster was caused by the accidental release of 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) from a Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL,

now known as Eveready Industries India, Limited) pesticide plant located in the heart of the city of Bhopal, in the Indian state of

Madhya Pradesh.

Hence its the responsibility of the industries to look after the welfare of the environment and minimize disasters and take preventive

steps as the highest priority.

26. Climate change scenario with respect to rainfall

Add heavy rainfall to the litany of expected bad news due to climate change. Along with the likelihood of more intense heat waves,

wildfires, and hurricanes, a new study released today reports that extreme precipitation events are already increasing as the globe

warms.This is the first actual, observed evidence that scientists say confirms the link between global warming and more powerful

rainstorms."A warmer atmosphere contains larger amounts of moisture, which boosts the intensity of heavy downpours," reports study

co-author Brian Soden of the University of Miami.

What's worse, the measured increase in extreme rainfall is much larger than the increase that current climate models predict, which

likely means the amount of additional rainfall due to climate change is seriously underestimated.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports present current best estimates of the changes under global

warming, so far as they can currently be assessed by the majority of scientists in the field. These reports rely in part comparing

simulations by different climate models produced by different governmental and university centers around the world. For changes in

precipitation, common factors, many of which also meet the criterion of common sense, include the following. More precipitation falls

as rain (less snow), and water storage in snowpack and glaciers will be reduced, effects that sound simple but have substantial

implications for river runoff and water resources. Heavy precipitation events are estimated to be likely to become more common

because of greater water vapor available in the atmosphere, although current climate models do not all accurately reproduce the

statistics of heavy rainfall events. For a discussion of hurricane intensity changes, see the accompanying article by K. Emanuel.

Dry regions tend overall to get drier, and some wet regions get wetter in a warmer climate: Precipitation, and thus river runoff and

water availability, tends to increase at high latitudes and in some wet tropical areas, and decrease in the already dry regions of the

subtropics.

As one asks more detailed information, such as the amplitude of the rainfall change at a particular location, the models exhibit

considerable differences in their estimates, and tend to disagree on the locations of the strongest changes. For instance, the number of

models (out of an ensemble of 10) that agree not only on the sign of the rainfall change, but are required to pass a statistical

significance criterion for the trend evaluated at the model grid size shown, and furthermore to have an amplitude change that is large

enough to possibly have significant impact Unfortunately, the lack of agreement is not because the change predicted by individual

models is small, but because different models tend to put the large changes in slightly different places. The changes in rainfall under

warming appear to be very sensitive to slight differences in the model formulation when one looks at regions of a few hundred

kilometers. This suggests that we need to improve the accuracy with which the interaction of small-scale cloud processes with large-

scale climate.

27. What is meant by environmental conflicts?

Environmental disputes are public policy conflicts that involve issues associated with the natural environment and how humans will or

will not be allowed to interact with it. Examples include disputes over air and water quality, biodiversity issues, outdoor recreation

issues, natural hazards issues, toxic chemical and waste issues, and public lands management and use issues.


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A review of the scientific literature indicates three major trends:

1. Conflicts over water resources appear to be a major source of direct international conflict. The most common environmental

elements around which conflicts can erupt are water flow, diversion, salinization, floods and pollution.

2. Indirect international or indirect intranational conflict are commonly caused by resource depletion issues - deforestation, soil

erosion, desertification, flooding and pollution.

3. From the empirical evidence across all categories, it appears that the vast majority of environmentally related conflicts occur in

developing regions.

Direct Interanational Conflict

There is little theoretical literature pointing to the possibility of direct conflict over access to resources within national boundaries.

This is not surprising given that countries usually contain legal/institutionalized mechanisms for resolving direct conflicts that occur

within national boundaries, whereas the international system is characterized

by relatively impotent legal/institutionalized mechanisms for resolving nation-nation conflicts. One recent example of direct

Intranational conflict, however, is the violence that has erupted in India over irrigation rights to the Cauvery River.16 This dispute

demonstrates that the dearth of theoretical literature in this area does not rule out the general possibility that more direct Intranational

conflicts will not occur.

Indirect International Conflict

A number of analysts have recently predicted that, rather than emanating from direct competition over access to resources,

international conflict will likely arise when renewable resource scarcity interacts with other economic and social factors to inflame

tensions between nations. These analyses predict a trend, whereby wholesale clear-cutting of virgin forests, over- fishing, soil erosion,

contamination of water and agricultural resources, climate change, and countless other forms of ecological and environmental

degradation, lead to mass migrations, deteriorating human health conditions, and chronic poverty. These dire social effects, in turn,

interact with smoldering hostilities between nations; the outcome is escalating grievances between nations which ultimately find their

outlet in armed conflict.17

The majority of analyses on indirect international conflict have tended to focus on the consequences of large scale environmental

changes such as global warming and ozone depletion. For these analysts, large-scale environmental changes will generate a series of

disturbing environmental conditions, which in turn will aggravate existing social

conditions and create circumstances ripe for international conflict. Global warming, for example, has the potential for reducing

agricultural output and raising sea-levels, two conditions that could exac-erbate poverty and human suffering, foment mass migrations,

and eventually lead to international conflict.

28) Factors responsible for Climate change?

Changes in the state of system can occur externally or internally through any one of the described components. For example, an

external change may involve a variation in the sun's output which would externally vary the amount ofsolarradiation received by the

Earth's atmosphere and surface. Internal variations in the Earth's climatic system may be caused by changes in the concentrations of

atmospheric gases, mountain building, volcanic emissions, and changes in surface or atmospheric reflectivity.

The work of climatologists has found evidence to suggest that only a limited number of factors are primarily responsible for most of

the past episodes of climate change on the Earth. These factors include:

Variations in the Earth's orbital characteristics.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide variations.

Volcanic eruptions

Variations in solar output.
http://article/Solar_radiationhttp://article/Mountainhttp://article/Carbon_dioxidehttp://article/Solar_radiationhttp://article/Mountainhttp://article/Carbon_dioxide


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Variations in the Earth's Orbital Characteristics

The first cyclical variation, known as eccentricity, controls the shape of the Earth's orbit around the sun. The orbit gradually changes

from being elliptical to being nearly circular and then back to elliptical in a period of about 100,000 years.

The second cyclical variation results from the fact that as the Earth rotates on its polar axis, it wobbles like a spinning top changing the

orbital timing of the equinoxes and solstices. This effect is known as the precession of the equinox. The precession of the equinox has

a cycle of approximately 26,000 years.

The third cyclical variation is related to the changes in the tilt of the Earth's axis of rotation over a 41,000 year period. During the

41,000 year cycle the tilt can deviate from approximately 22.5 to 24.5. At the present time, the tilt of the Earth's axis is 23.5.

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Variations

Studies of long-term climate change have discovered a connection between the concentration of carbon dioxide in the

atmosphere and mean global temperature. Carbon dioxide is one of the more important gases responsible for the greenhouse

effect. Certain atmospheric gases, like carbon dioxide, water vapor and methane, are able to alter the energy balance of the Earth

by being able to absorb longwave radiation emitted from the Earth's surface. Without the greenhouse effect, the average global

temperature of the Earth would be a cold -18 Celsius rather than the present 15 Celsius.

Volcanic Eruptions

For many years, climatologists have noticed a connection between large explosive volcanic eruptions and short-term climatic

change. For example, one of the coldest years in the last two centuries occurred the year following the Tambora volcanic eruption

in 1815. Accounts of very cold weather were documented in the year following this eruption in a number of regions across the

planet. Several other major volcanic events also show a pattern of cooler global temperatures lasting 1 to 3 years after their

eruption.

Initially, scientis

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