Human Identity AND Environmental challenges-illustrate & explain
1. Introduction:
The epochal scale of today’s environmental challenges is now beyond serious scientific dispute. Awareness of the scale of these challenges grows ever greater in the case of climate change; it seems that the prognoses of climatologists grow yet more urgent on an almost weekly basis. And as this awareness grows, so too does our understanding of the gulf between what needs to be done and what is actually being done. The environmental movement has achieved a great deal in attempting to meet these environmental challenges, investing remarkable effort with limited funding against powerful countervailing forces. In these attempts, the environmental movement pursues two basic types of strategy: engaging organizations (both government and businesses) and engaging the particular behaviors that individual citizens pursue. Here we present an overview of these two strategies as a prelude to introducing a third approach to which we feel the environmental movement must pay close attention. We believe that this third approach, which we call identity campaigning, holds substantial promise for enhancing the effectiveness of the movement’s current work and for developing useful strategies for new types of intervention.
2. Human Identity AND Environmental challenges:
Three aspects of human identity that empirical research suggests are associated with behavioral decisions that often serve to frustrate optimal responses to environmental challenges. Identity refers to people’s sense of themselves: who they think of themselves as [1][2]being. most identity theorists agree that identity influences how people respond to the broader social world and how they choose to live their lives, and that this sense of self emerges from the confluence of internal psychological dynamics on the one hand and the social context on the other. Clearly there is substantial room for subjectivity in deciding which aspects of the human psyche in general, and of human identity in particular, are especially important in determining humans’ responses to environmental challenges. Our choice of the processes described below is based on three main factors. First, of course, is our own particular knowledge of psychology. Second, as alluded to above, is the existence of theoretical and empirical work demonstrating that these aspects of human identity are associated with unsustainable responses to environmental challenges?
3. Global Warming:
The planet is warming, from North Pole to South Pole, and everywhere in-between. Globally, the mercury is already up more than 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius), and even more in sensitive Polar Regions. And the effects of rising temperatures aren’t waiting for some far-flung future. They’re happening right now. Signs are appearing all over, and some of them are surprising. The heat is not only melting glaciers and sea ice, it’s also shifting precipitation patterns and setting animals on the move.
Some impacts from increasing temperatures are already happening.
· Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice.
· Researcher Bill Fraser has tracked the decline of the Adélie penguins on Antarctica, where their numbers have fallen from 32,000 breeding pairs to 11,000 in 30 years.
· Sea level rise became faster over the last century.
· Some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants have moved farther north or to higher, cooler areas.
· Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, on average.
· Spruce bark beetles have boomed in Alaska thanks to 20 years of warm summers. The insects have chewed up 4 million acres of spruce trees.
4. Depletion of Ozone layer:
The ozone layer is a layer in Earth’s atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone (O3). This layer absorbs 93-99% of the sun’s high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to life on earth [1]. Over 91% of the ozone in Earth’s atmosphere is present here. It is mainly located in the lower portion of the stratosphere from approximately 10 km to 50 km above Earth, though the thickness varies seasonally and geographically[2]. The ozone layer was discovered in 1913 by the French physicists Charles Fabry and Henri Buisson. Its properties were explored in detail by the British meteorologist G. M. B. Dobson, who developed a simple spectrophotometer (the Dobson meter) that could be used to measure stratospheric ozone from the ground. Between 1928 and 1958 Dobson established a worldwide network of ozone monitoring stations which continues to operate today. The “Dobson unit”, a convenient measure of the total amount of ozone in a column overhead, is named in his honor.
[3]The ozone depletion caused by human-produced chlorine and bromine compounds is expected to gradually disappear by about the middle of the 21st century as these compounds are slowly removed from the stratosphere by natural processes. This environmental achievement is due to the landmark international agreement to control the production and use of ozone-depleting substances. Full compliance would be required to achieve this expected recovery. Without the Montreal Protocol and its Amendments, continuing use of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-depleting substances would have increased the stratospheric abundances of chlorine and bromine tenfold by the mid-2050s compared with the 1980 amounts
5. Acid Rain:
The bulk of the acidity in rain comes from the reaction of sulfur dioxide (SO2) with hydrogen peroxide in clouds, a reaction that produces sulfuric acid. This is the important mechanism in the summer, when most acid rain falls. [4]The hydrogen peroxide is formed from the photochemical reactions of volatile organic compounds derived from such divergent sources as trees and automobile exhaust. In the eastern United States in the summer the hydrogen peroxide in clouds is commonly sufficient to convert all of the SO2 to sulfuric acid. In the winter, however, the hydrogen peroxide concern- traction is considerably lower so that much of the emitted SO2 goes out to the Atlantic Ocean without reacting. Therefore, controlling SO2 emissions in the summer would be more effective than in the winter. A minor fraction of the sulfuric acid responsible for acid rain is formed by the reaction of SO2 with ozone or other oxidants in the air (not clouds). Since we cannot control the emission of volatile organic compounds from natural sources, we can Decrease the sulfuric acid component of rain only by reducing SO2 emissions.
6. Effect of acid rain:
Acid rain and the air pollution that causes it can severely damage ECOSYSTEMS. An ecosystem is all the living and nonliving things in an area, as well as the interactions between them. Ecosystems come in all sizes. An entire forest is an ecosystem, but so is a single tree. Some scientists even consider the entire Earth an ecosystem. The study of ecosystems is called ecology. Ecologists study things like predator-prey relationships, how nutrients are taken from the soil into trees, or the kinds of bacteria found in a pond. Every ecosystem is much interconnected, and the organisms that live there rely heavily on each other. For example, ecosystems have food webs, where species depend on one another for food. If anyone animal is affected, so are several others. This is how acid rain can affect entire ecosystems. Acid rain may only damage a few organisms in an ecosystem, but everything else is indirectly affected. The damage acid rain causes can also take years, or even decades to reverse.
7. Deforestation
[5]Deforestation is the conversion of forest to an alternative permanent non-forested land use
Such as agriculture, grazing or urban development Deforestation is primarily a concern for the developing countries of the tropics (Myers, 1994) as it is shrinking areas of the tropical forests causing loss of biodiversity and enhancing the greenhouse effect (Angelsen et al., 1999). FAO considers a plantation of trees established primarily for timber production to be forest and therefore does not classify natural forest conversion to plantation as deforestation (but still records it as a loss of natural forests). However, FAO does not consider tree plantations that provide non-timber products to be forest although they do classify rubber plantations as forest. Forest degradation occurs when the ecosystem functions of the forest are degraded but where the area remains forested rather cleared (Anon., 2010). Thirty per cent of the earth’s land area or about 3.9 billion hectares is covered by forests.
8. Effects of deforestation:
1. Destruction of carbon sinks: Carbon sinks are huge stores of carbon, e.g. Swamps and forests
2. Soil Erosion: Deforestation makes soil prone to erosion by agents such as wind and water. The roots of trees hold the particles of soil together thus, preventing the fertile top soil from being carried away. Soil erosion leads to loss of productivity of the land due to loss of mineral nutrients and soil microorganisms
3. Destruction of animal habitats: Apart from domesticated animals and marine and fresh water animals, all other animals need forests as their habitats. These forests do not only provide a place for the animals to roam day but also provide their food and act as a source of protection from predators through camouflage. Destruction of the animals’ habitats literally kills the animals.
4. Medicinal Plants: Some trees are used as herbs. Trees such as the Cinchona have been used as treatment against Malaria since time immemorial. Destruction of these forests leads to destruction of medicinal plants that could be used as treatment for various ailments.
5. Trees act as windbreakers: Absence of these trees enables strong winds and or storms e.g. Hurricanes and Tornados. I write this in the wake of a Tsunami at the Indonesian coast where about 150 people have just lost their lives. Hurricanes like Katrina are still fresh in our memories. I cannot over emphasize this point.
9. Population explosion:
The rapid population growth and economic development in country are degrading the environment through the uncontrolled growth of urbanization and industrialization, expansion and intensification of[6] agriculture, and the destruction of natural habitats. One of the major causes of environmental degradation in India could be attributed to rapid growth of population, which is adversely affecting the natural resources and environment. The growing population and the environmental deterioration face the challenge of sustained development without environmental damage. The existence or the absence of favorable natural resources can facilitate or retard the process of economic development. The three fundamental demographic factors of births, deaths and migration produce changes in population size; composition, distribution and these changes raise a number of important questions of cause and effect. Population Reference Bureau estimated the 6.14 billion world’s population in mid-2001. Contribution of India alone to this population was estimated to be 1033 million. It is estimated that the country’s population will increase to 1.26 billion by the year 2016. The projected population indicates that India will be a first most populous country in the world and China will be second in 2050
10. Toxic Waste:
Hazardous wastes are poisonous byproducts of manufacturing, farming, city septic systems, construction, automotive garages, laboratories, hospitals, and other industries. The waste may be liquid, solid, or sludge and contain chemicals, heavy metals, radiation, dangerous pathogens, or other toxins. Even households generate hazardous waste from items such as batteries, used computer equipment, and leftover paints or pesticides.
The waste can harm humans, animals, and plants if they encounter these toxins buried in the ground, in stream runoff, in groundwater that supplies drinking water, or in floodwaters, as happened after Hurricane Katrina. Some toxins, such as mercury, persist in the environment and accumulate. Humans or animals often absorb them when they eat fish.
The rules surrounding hazardous waste are overseen in the U.S. by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as state departments of environmental protection. EPA requires that hazardous waste be handled with special precautions and be disposed of in designated facilities located throughout the United States, which charge for their services. Many towns have special collection days for household hazardous waste.
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[1] M. R. 1996. So far from power, so near to the forest: a structural analysis of gain and blame in tropical development. In: Borneo in transition: people, forests, conservation and development, eds. Padoch, C. and Peluso, N. L. Pp 41-58. Oxford University Press, Kuala Lampur
[2] Shellenberger and Nordhaus, 2003: 25
[3] United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 2007. UNEP 2007 Annual Report. Available at: http://www.unep.org/PDF/AnnualReport/2007/AnnualReport2007_en_web.pdf
[4] Hard castle and Baird, Capability and Cost Assessment of the Major Forest Nations to Measure and Monitor Their acid rain effect on their forrest .
[5] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2006 IPCC Guidelinesfor National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (prepared by the
National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme, edited by H.S.Eggleston and others, Hayama, Japan, 2006)
[6] Centre for Science and Environment, (1982), “Citizen’s Report” The State of India’s Environment, world bank