Environmental Crisis and Sustainable Development

World’s Leading Environmental Problems

The depredation caused by:
 Industrial and transportation toxins and plastic in the ground
 The defiling of the sea, rivers, and water beds by oil spill and acid rain
 The dumping of urban waste
 Changes in global weather patterns
 Overpopulation
 The exhaustion of world’s natural non-renewable resources from oil reserves to portable
water.
 A waste disposal catastrophe due to excessive amount of waste unloaded by communities
in landfills as well as the ocean and the dumping of nuclear waste.
 The destruction of million year-old ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity that have led
extinction of particular species and the decline in the numbers of others.
 The reduction of oxygen and the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of
deforestation, resulting in the rise in ocean acidity as much as 150% in the last 250 years.
 The depletion of ozone layer protecting the planet from sun’s deadly ultraviolet rays due
to chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the atmosphere.
 Deadly acid rain as a result of fossil fuel combustion, toxic chemical erupting volcanoes,
and the massive rotting vegetables filling up garbage dumps or left on the streets.
 Water pollution arising from industrial and community waste residues seeping into
underground water tables, rivers and seas.
 Urban sprawls that continue to expand as a city turns into a megapolis, destroying
farmlands, increasing traffic gridlock and making smog cloud a permanent urban fixture.
 Pandemics and other threats to public health arising from waste mixing with drinking
water, polluted environments that become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and disease
carrying rodents and pollution.
 A radical alteration of food systems because of genetic modifications in food production.

Natural Changes: Volcanic Eruptions

US Geological Survey: “That Kilauea (volcano in Hawaii) has been releasing more than twice
the amount of noxious sulfur dioxide (SO2) as the dirtiest power plant on the United States
mainland.”
Eruption of Mount Pinatubo (June 15, 2001) “15-20 megaton of sulfur oxide in the stratosphere
to offset the present global warming trends severely impact the ozone budget.” (University of
Hawaii)

Man-Made Pollutions
Saudi Arabia  Sandstorms combined with combustion exhaust from traffic and industrial
waste.
Riyadh - one of the most polluted cities in the world.
China - Coal Fumes in China: Burning coals that is dangerous to inhale(emit gas, smoke, vapor).
20% of China’s soil is contaminated.
Rice lands in Hunan and Zhuzhou have heavy materials from the mines threatening the
food supply.
India - Green Peace India - Reported in 2015, air pollution in the country was at its worst.
Nigeria - 94% of population is exposed to air pollution.
Gaborone, Botswana - 7 th most polluted city in the world.

2030
The emission of aerosols and other gases from car exhaust, burning of word or garbage, indoor
cooking, diesel-fueled electric generators, and petrochemical plants are projected quadruple.
Aerosol is tagged as the main culprit in changing rainfall patterns in Asia and Atlantic Ocean.

Shanxi Maanqiao Ecological Mining Ltd.

-Producing 12,000 tons of gold
-It caused pollution and safety problems
20 years ago in China: 50,000 rivers
2013: 28,000 rivers disappeared as a result of climate change.

Malanjkhand, India
Biggest copper mine in India
Discharge high levels of toxic heavy metals are projected quadruple.

Scientific American
-Archive article in a journal
-Blamed the pollution for contributing to more than half a million premature deaths each year at
the cost of hundreds billion dollars.
International Agency for Research on Cancer
-Blamed the air pollution for 223,000 lung cancer deaths in 2010.

West Virginia
- Coal mines made people sick, some are with rare cancers
-Kids with kidney stones
-Premature deaths
-Short life expectancy for children with congenital disabilities.

India
Impaired Lung Function due to air pollution :
Delhi-46%
Calcutta-56%

China
Toxicity of soil has raised concerns over food security and health of the most vulnerable.

Metropolitan Manila
4 million (37%) of population live in slum communities.

Bus
One of the largest contributor to environmental pollution problems worldwide.
Motorbike/Three-Wheeled Vehicles
Form 75%-80% of the traffic in Asian cities
Burns oil and gasoline
Command lower price because of durability and low operating cost to the middle class

United States
Worst polluter in history of the world.
Model of the ideal modern society
Until the 1970s, was a global economic power, with a middle class that was the envy of the
world.

Environmental Consequences of U.S

Responsible for 27% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions
60% cars and other vehicles, coal factories etc.
Methane from farms and breakdown of organic matter, paint aerosol, and dusts.

Climate Change
Global Warming- result of billions of tons of carbon dioxide, various air pollutants and other
gases, accumulating in the atmosphere
Greenhouse effect- responsible for recurring heat waves and long droughts in certain places.
California, USA- experienced its worst water shortage in 1,200 years due to global warming.
India and Southeast Asia- Global warming altered the summer monsoon patterns.

Typhoon Haiyan (Super Typhoon Yolanda)

Category 5 typhoon
Hit the Central Philippines on November 8, 2013
Deadliest typhoon ever recorded by killing 6,300 people.
Sustained winds of more than 150 mph
Glaciers
Persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its weight.
Melting every year since 2002
Antartica losing 134 billion metric of ice
The Largest Glacier on Earth is 60 Miles Wide and Around 270 Miles Long.
Arctic sea ice is declining at a rate of 12.8 percent per decade.
Flooding
Has allowed breeding grounds for disease carriers.
Aedes Aegypti - a mosquito that can spread: Dengue fever, Chikungunya, Zika fever
Cholera- an infectious disease that causes severe watery diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration
and death.

Combating Global Warming

Kyoto Protocol- an international treaty which commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
 December 11, 1997
 Signed by 195 countries
To reduce greenhouse gases:
1.Carbon Dioxide
2.Methane
3. Nitrous Oxide
4. Hydrofluorocarbon
5.Perfouro Carbons
6. Sulfur Hexafluoride

Paris Accord
 December 2015
 195 countries
 Seeks to limit the increase in global average temperature
 Social Movements
South Africa- Communities engage in environmental activism
Atlantic, El Salvador- Local officials and grassroots organization from 1000 communities
Universities- “Strike a balance between urgently needed economic growth and improved air
quality”.

Conclusion
 Every person, regardless of his/her race, nation or creed, belongs to the same world.
 There is no choice but to find global solutions to this global problems.