MFA10103 (2012) - SCM - Environmental Concerns.ppt

7/28/2019 MFA10103 (2012) - SCM - Environmental Concerns.ppt

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MFA10103


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Environmental Threat due to built environment : It consumeslarge amounts of natural resources and produces a great dealof pollutants.Ethics of construction players: Not serious about

environmental protection in construction sites, assume that aconstruction site is only a temporary setup, ignorance sourceof pollutants generationCO2 emission : Contributing to the global warming andextreme weather.Other Impacts : The harvest of timber leads to the lost of natural forests, widespread use of toxic chemicals inmaterials.

ENVIRONMENTAL THREAT


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a or nv ronmenta ren s

Population growth

Species extinctionDeforestationDestruction of wetlandsDesertification of farmlandsSoil erosion

Salinization of farmland soilsFarmland conversionGroundwater contaminationGroundwater depletionDeclining oil supplies

Declining mineral suppliesWater shortagesGlobal warmingAcid depositionOzone depletion

Source: Lessons from Nature, Daniel D. Chiras, Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1992


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Critical Environmental ProblemsLoss of biodiversityPolluted Water

Polluted AirLoss of Productive SoilGreenhouse Warming

Ozone DepletionImpacts on Global Geochemical Cycles

Summary: Loss of Critical Natural Capital


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The Global Geochemical CyclesHydrologicCarbon

NitrogenSulfur Phosphorous


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Contributions to Global WarmingGas Percent Contribution Carbon Dioxide 50

Methane 19CFCs 17 Tropospheric Ozone 8Nitrous Oxide 4


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The Natural Hydrologic Cycle


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The Hydrologic Cycle - HumanImpacts


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The Carbon Cycle


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The Carbon Cycle with HumanImpacts


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The Natural Nitrogen-Sulfur Cycle


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The Nitrogen Cycle with HumanEffects


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Impacts


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Phosphorous Cycle with Human Effects


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ConclusionsHuman activities are inducing a 6 th major upheaval. The other five:

Ordovician (440 million years ago)Devonian (365 million years ago)

Permian (245 million years ago)Triassic (210 million years ago)Cretaceous (66 million years ago)

Planetary systems are in distressGlobal average temperature is risingSpecies extinction rates are 100 to 1000 timeshigher than before the arrival of humankindUnsustainable activities are destro in the


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Sustainable DevelopmentSYSTEM

CLIMATECHANGE


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Global Climate ChangeThroughout time, the earth's climate hasalways been changing.For the past century, Earth s climate has

been changing due to human activities.Observations show that Earth s surfacewarmed by approximately 0.68C (1.18F) onaverage in the 20th Century.Much of this warming has been attributed toincreasing abundances of GreenHouseGases (GHGs) emitted to the atmosphere byhuman activities.

Although it is difficult to quantify thiscontribution against the backdrop of naturalvariability and climate-forcing uncertainties.

Atmospheric abundances of the major anthropogenic greenhouse gases (carbon

dioxide; methane; nitrous oxide; halocarbonsmanufactured by humans, such aschlorofluorocarbons; and troposphericozone) reached their highest recorded levelsat the end of the 20th Century, and all butmethane have continued to rise.Major causes of this rise have been fossilfuel use, agriculture, and land-use change


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Impacts

Health: pollution and vector-born diseasesEconomyPolitical

Agriculture: most sensitive to weather variability and extremesFlooding: Infrastructure and property damagesWater scarcityLoss of biodiversityDifferentiated impactsDeveloping countries at greater risk: Low capacity for adaptation


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The Climate System

While climate conventionally has been defined as the long term statistics of: the weather (e.g.,temperature, cloudiness, precipitation), improved understanding of the atmosphere s interactionswith the oceans, the cryosphere (ice-covered regions of the world), and the terrestrial andmarine biospheres has led scientists to expand the definition of climate to encompass theoceanic and terrestrial spheres as well as chemical components of the atmosphere

Problem of globalwarming

History1. Adoption numerous

declarations at regional

conferences to reduceGreen House Gasses.

2. Meeting of Legal andPolicy Experts onProtection of the

Atmosphere in Ottawa1989 consideredelements of climatechange convention.

3. IPPC 1990.4. UN General Assembly

initiated negotiations in1990.

5. 1992, UNFCCC at RioConference.


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Green House EffectOne of the factors affecting the climate is the

greenhouse effect.

There is much debate about it, and how itrelates to human activity. So what is it? Mostsunlight energy passes straight through theatmosphere and warms up the Earth's oceansand continents.

These get hot and they give out infra redradiation. This radiation cannot travel throughsome gases in the atmosphere, so it getstrapped. So some gases trap heat in the sameway as glass traps heat inside a greenhouse.Hence the name greenhouse effect .

Gases which do this are called greenhousegases.When there is more greenhouse gas in theatmosphere the Earth heats up.

About half of the sunlight that falls on earthreaches the ground from where it is thrownback in part as infrared light - what we feelas heat -, which spans a range of wavelengths from 1 to 40 m (m =micrometer = one millionth of a meter).Some gases - so called greenhouse gases -in the atmosphere have the ability to absorbinfrared light and this way hold back heat,

resulting in a temperature rise on earth.


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Green House EffectWhen there is less greenhouse gas the Earthcools. So which gases are these greenhouse

gases?There is much talk of the greenhouse gascarbon dioxide , and evidence from carbondioxide in air bubbles trapped in ice shows thatthe amount of CO2 in the air has increased byabout a quarter since the industrial revolution began around 1750.But We need to consider all greenhouse gasesto get the complete picture. Other greenhousegases include methane and nitrous oxide andwater vapor .The most important greenhouse gas is water vapor, and the amount of this varies much more

than the amount of carbon dioxide. Also water vapor creates cloud, which stops sunlightcoming down to the surface, so the true pictureis complex.The greenhouse effect raises the averagetemperature of the Earth by more than 30degrees, so without it the Earth would be a very

cold place!

G H Eff
http://www.historyoftheuniverse.com/co2.htmlhttp://www.historyoftheuniverse.com/indurevo.htmlhttp://www.historyoftheuniverse.com/water.htmlhttp://www.historyoftheuniverse.com/water.htmlhttp://www.historyoftheuniverse.com/indurevo.htmlhttp://www.historyoftheuniverse.com/co2.html


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The greenhouse effect refers to the change in thethermal equilibrium temperature of a planet or moon bythe presence of an atmosphere containing gas that absorbs

and emits infrared radiation.Greenhouse gases , which include water vapor, carbondioxide and methane, warm the atmosphere by efficientlyabsorbing thermal infrared radiation emitted by the Earth ssurface, by the atmosphere itself, and by clouds.

As a result of its warmth, the atmosphere also radiatesthermal infrared in all directions, including downward to theEarth s surface.

In the absence of thegreenhouse effect and anatmosphere, the Earth'saverage surface temperatureof 14 C (57 F) could be aslow as 18 C (0.4 F), theblack body temperature of theEarth.

Anthropogenic global warming(AGW), a recent warming of the Earth's lower atmosphere

as evidenced by the globalmean temperature anomalytrend, is believed to be theresult of an "enhancedgreenhouse effect" mainly dueto human-produced increasedconcentrations of greenhousegases in the atmosphere, andchanges in the use of land.The greenhouse effect is oneof several factors that affectthe temperature of the Earth.Other positive and negative

feedbacks dampen or amplifythe greenhouse effect.

Green House Effect


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Greenhouse Gases / air pollutants

Examples :Carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide,Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O),Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),Perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6).

Sources natural and anthropogenic

Natural occurrence:water vapor, swamps- methane;volcanic eruptions [sulfur dioxide]

Anthropogenically induced (i.e. Humanactivities):combustion process of fossil fuels.decomposition of organic wastes.

Agriculture.Deforestation.


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Kyoto ProtocolThe Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the UnitedNations Framework Convention on ClimateChange (UNFCCC or FCCC), an internationalenvironmental treaty produced at the UnitedNations Conference on Environment andDevelopment (UNCED), informally known as theEarth Summit , held in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil ,from 3 14 June 1992.

The treaty is intended to achieve "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in theatmosphere at a level that would preventdangerous anthropogenic interference with theclimate system.

The Kyoto Protocol establishes legally binding

commitments for the reduction of four greenhouse gases ( carbon dioxide , methane ,nitrous oxide , sulfur hexafluoride ), and twogroups of gases ( hydrofluorocarbons andperfluorocarbons ) produced by (industrialized)nations, as well as general commitments for allmember countries

Aim: tighten commitment on reductionof GHGs (GreenHouse Gases).

Provisions Bindin g emission reductiontargets for industrialized countriesonlyImplement elaborate policiesand measures to meetreductions objective.

Emissions trading set a quantitative limit on theglobal emissions of a greenhousegas and allow emissions permits

to be traded like ordinary goodsand services.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Summithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_de_Janeirohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_hexafluoridehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrofluorocarbonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfluorocarbonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfluorocarbonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrofluorocarbonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_hexafluoridehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_de_Janeirohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Summit


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OZONEDEPLETION


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OZONE DEPLETION [Vienna convention(1985 )and Montreal Protocol, 1987]

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), any of severalorganic compounds composed of carbon,

fluorine, chlorine, and hydrogen. CFCs aremanufactured under the trade name Freon

Freon :a (trademark), any of severalchlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that are usedin commerce and industry.

The Freons neither present a fire hazardnor give off a detectable odour in their circulation through refrigerating and air-conditioning systems.

The greenhouse effect refers to the change in the thermal equilibrium temperature of a planetor moon by the presence of an atmosphere containing gas that absorbs and emits infraredradiation .Greenhouse gases , which include water vapor, carbon dioxide and methane, warm theatmosphere by efficiently absorbing thermal infrared radiation emitted by the Earth s surface,by the atmosphere itself, and by clouds .

As a result of its warmth, the atmosphere also radiates thermal infrared in all directions,including downward to the Earth s surface. Thus, greenhouse gases trap heat within the

surface-troposphere system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_equilibriumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospherehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infraredhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infraredhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gaseshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gaseshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infraredhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infraredhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospherehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_equilibrium


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Effects of Ozone depletionIncrease eye cataractsSuppression of the Immune systemIncrease skin cancer Increase eye burningDecrease in crop yields: corn, rice, soybeanDamage to aquatic plants essential to oceanfood websIncreased global warming-ice melts increase in ocean volume-ocean front property erodes

The highest levels of ozone in theatmosphere are in the Stra tosphere .

Low levels of ozone in theatmosphere are in the Tropospher ic

Stop producing CFCsproperly recycle oldCFCsUse safe alternativesEducate other governments for

environmentalpoliciesCar poolMass transitWalking/bikingBuy cars with better gas mileageAlternative cars/fuels

Solutions for Stratospheric Ozone


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DEFORESTATION


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Effects of Deforestation

The United Nations Conference on Environmentand Development (UNCED) in 1992 definesdeforestation as:

"land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and sub-humid areas resulting from various factors

including climatic variations and humanactivities

The effects of deforestation can be categorizedin three ways. They are:

environmental effects,local social effects, andglobal social effects.

Many of the environmental effects contribute to

the severity of the social problems.

That is why it is important to understand theenvironmental effects of deforestation and howthey contribute to the social effects of deforestation.

Effects on Biodiversity

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) definesbiodiversity as "the wealth of life onEarth, the millions of plants, animals, andmicro-organisms, the gens they containand the intricate ecosystems they buildinto the living environment."

Rainforest are one of the mostbiologically diverse regions of the world.Over a millions species of plants andanimals are known to live in the forestsand millions more are not classified.

The unique environment of the rainforestallows for such biodiversity to exist.
http://www.wwf.org/http://www.wwf.org/


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3. Moist Humid Region Changes to Desert. This isrelated to the desiccation of previously moist forest soil.Primarily because of the lack of moisture and the inability to

keep moisture, soil that is exposed to the sun will dry andturn into desert sand. Even before that happens, when thesoil becomes dry, dust storms become more frequent. Atthat point, the soil becomes useless.

Environmental Effects

4. No Recycling of Water Moisture from the oceans fallas rain on adjacent coastal regions. The moisture is soonsent up to the atmosphere through the transpiration of foliage to fall again on inland forest areas. This cycle repeats

several times to rain on all forest regions.


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5. Less Carbon Dioxide andNitrogen Exchange

The rainforests are important in thecarbon dioxide exchange process.They are second only to oceans asthe most important "sink" for atmospheric carbon dioxide. Themost recent survey on deforestation

and greenhouse gas emissionsreports that deforestation mayaccount for as much as 10% of current greenhouse gas emissions.Greenhouse gases are gases in theatmosphere that literally trap heat.There is a theory that as moregreenhouse gasses are released intothe atmosphere, more heat getstrapped. Thus, there is a globalwarming trend in which the averagetemperature becomes progressivelyhigher.


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5. More Desertification According to the UnitedNations Environmental Programmed (UNEP) in1977, deforestation is an important factor contributing to desertification.

What is unclear is how fast deserts are expandingis controversial. According to UNEP, between 1958and 1975, the Saharen Desert expandedsouthward by about 100km. In 1980 UNEPestimated that desertification threatened 35 per

cent of the world's land surface and 20 per cent of the world's population. Recently, groups challengedthose conclusions. Some scientists claim that theconclusion were based on insufficient data.Nevertheless, desertification still threatens moreand more dry lands.

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7. Other Effects

There many rewards such as clean air and

clean water, perhaps the two mostimportant, that forests provide. Rainforestsalso provide many aesthetic, recreationaland cultural rewards. If the rainforests aredestroyed, then these rewards disappear.This has major social repercussions for theentire world.


6. Soil Erosion The relationship betweendeforestation and soil erosion.

Deforestation is known to contribute to run-off of rainfall and intensified soil erosion. Theseriousness of the problem depends much onsoil characteristics and topography.


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SYSTEM

DESERTIFICATION

Sustainable Development


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D tifi ti I t


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A major impact of desertification is biodiversity loss and loss of productive capacity, for example, by transition from land dominated by shrublands to non-native grasslands.

Desertification Impacts

In the semi-arid regions of southern California, many coastalsage scrub and chaparralecosystems have been replacedby non-native, invasive grassesdue to the shortening of fire returnintervals. This can create amonoculture of annual grass thatcan not support the wide range of animals once found in the originalecosystem.

Earths Biodiversity


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LOST OFBIODIVERSITY

Lost of Biodiversity


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The Global Convention on Biological Diversity, signed in1992 at the Earth Summit, describes biodiversity as the:

"variability among all living organisms from allsources, including terrestrial, marine and other

aquatic ecosystems and ecological complexes of which they are part, this includes diversity within

species, between species and of ecosystems."


Biodiversity is shorthand for biological diversity or thevariability of living organisms and the ecologicalcomplexes of which they are part. It is the total variety of genetic strains, species and ecosystems. This diversity isa wonder and a delight but also a great responsibility.

Loss of Biodiversity is probably the most controversialone. When looking, for example, at the destruction of rain forests over the last twenty years, it becomes

obvious that mankind is destroying this heritage at anincredible speed.

The number of species endangered by human activitiesand the number of natural or semi-natural habitats beingdestroyed, fragmented or changed are constantlygrowing, thus destabilising ecosystems, causing the lossof vital resources together with genetic and culturalimpoverishment.



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Biodiversity is built over millions of years and extremely diverse habitatssuch as tropical rainforests have takenlong stretches of geologic time to

develop.That's why the extinction of species issuch an important issue: once they'regone, not only are they gone forever,but it takes millions of years for newspecies to evolve in their place.


Scenario 1 (Business-as-usual)Based on what the authors say is a fairly modest business-as-usualscenario, the accrued amount of ecological debt is equivalent to 34years of the planet s entire bioproductivity.

Scenario 2 (Slow-shift)This scenario brings humanity out of overshoot by 2080. The authorsmake the point that even though most renewable energy sourcesreduce carbon dioxide emissions, they increase the demand on land.

They also say that the challenge is to increase energy supply whilstreducing carbon dioxide emissions, without shifting the burden on toother parts of the biosphere. I wish I d thought of that.

Scenario 3 (Rapid-reduction)This scenario is the only one that will get us out of trouble, as itmoves us out of overshoot by 2050. It also preserves 30% of biosphere capacity for wild species by 2100. It illustrates that we mustinvest in our future - it has the greatest up-front cost but carries theleast risk for humanity.



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Some extinctions are natural, but avariety of human activities have vastlyincreased the numbers of speciesdisappearing every day.

Habitat destruction is the main cause,especially since the richest habitatswith the most species, such as tropicalforests, are being destroyed at thefastest pace.

Extinction rates are now hundreds or even thousands of times higher thanbefore humans came to be sonumerous.

Some scientists have estimated thatas many as one fifth of all speciesalive today could be extinct or nearlyextinct by the year 2020.


Cleared for agriculture An area of rainforest cleared by soya beanfarmers in Novo Progreso, Brazil.

In flames

Destruction of rainforest (Against the law)

The loss of the

biodiversity in Amazon rainforestsmay have adisastrous effect onthe world economy

We all depend on the naturalworld to sustain us with food,clothing and other necessities,establishing a set of use values.


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Documents

MFA10103 (2012) - SCM - Environmental Concerns.ppt