The Millennium Book: Module 5: Environmental Challenges in the twenty-first century
By Ned Johnson
()
About this ebook
For over 40 years there has been an ever-increasing drum beat of alarm messages related to our earthly environment. Initially it was simply focused on fairly ordinary features like roadside litter, polluted water, and smog. But as the momentum grew it shifted in both intensity and scope to include many other areas, the majority of which few people had ever considered or even heard of. In addition, the foreground issues moved from local problems to regional and eventually to global ones. By the year 2000, we had gone from smog to ozone depletion to global warming.
Now there are all kinds of focal points, but most of the high-profile ones are in some way related to global warming and its consequences on climate and ultimately human life. The debate over whether it is actually happening has just about been settled. It isn't a mirage. There are still many discussions ongoing (and they are energetic, to say the least) as to just how bad things are and what we need to do about it.
In the next ten chapters we will explore the most important aspects of this arena, and try not only to make sense of where we are today and how we got here, but what we should expect in the decades, or even centuries, to come.
* Greenhouse gases and global warming
In this chapter you will find the basic facts about the greenhouse effect, its pitfalls and solutions.
* Sustaining our food chain
Every living thing is dependent on a chain for food, and humans, who are at the top of the food chain, are no exception. Here we explore the intricacies of our food supply and the important factors that may affect it in the future.
* Waste disposal
People create waste and they always have. The more people, the greater the challenges of handling their waste.
* Nuclear waste
This type of waste is the most enduring, dangerous, and pernicious. But it also offers many seeming benefits. What are the real facts concerning nuclear power, and what are our best alternatives for the future?
* Development of sustainable energy sources
There is much talk about specific alternatives to fossil fuels, but seldom does anyone make an umbiased comparison between all the frontrunners at one time. Here, we do.
* Improved prediction of natural forces
Forewarned is forearmed. As we are better able to predict natural disasters, we are better able to protect ourselves from their destructive effects.
* Better engineering against natural calamities
Better engineering is one of the surest ways to at least limit, if not prevent, damage from natural events. The strengths, weaknesses, and progress of these technologies are discussed here.
* Better damage control methods after disasters
Once disaster has struck, how can we best recover from it? Are we getting smarter, and if so, how?
* Endangered species
What are the facts about the disappearance of entire species from the Earth? Whose responsible? How does the future look? What can we do to make it better?
After reading this material, you will have a much better picture of the state of our planet's environment, how it got that way, and what the challenges and solutions for the future are.
Ned Johnson
Ned B. Johnson has published several non-fiction books, but and one novel. He has also written many short stories Some of the stories are free here, and some have a price tag.Translation Translation AllFull-length books will be added to the collection as they become available.As to the character of his work, if you don't feel better after reading than when you started, you just weren't paying very close attention.
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The Millennium Book - Ned Johnson
The Millennium Book
Module 5
Following are the ten chapters of Module 5 of The Millennium Book. If you haven't already read them, the first ten chapters in Module 1 are available by clicking here. Links to all the other modules can be found at the end of this document.
Environmental challenges
For over 40 years there has been an ever-increasing drum beat of alarm messages related to our earthly environment. Initially it was simply focused on fairly ordinary features like roadside litter, polluted water, and smog. But as the momentum grew it shifted in both intensity and scope to include many other areas, the majority of which few people had ever considered or even heard of. In addition, the foreground issues moved from local problems to regional and eventually to global ones. By the year 2000, we had gone from smog to ozone depletion to global warming.
Now there are all kinds of focal points, but most of the high-profile ones are in some way related to global warming and its consequences on climate and ultimately human life. The debate over whether it is actually happening has just about been settled. It isn't a mirage. There are still many discussions ongoing (and they are energetic, to say the least) as to just how bad things are and what we need to do about it.
In the next ten chapters we will explore the most important aspects of this arena, and try not only to make sense of where we are today and how we got here, but what we should expect in the decades, or even centuries, to come.
Greenhouse gases and global warming
The dialog about greenhouse gases has been on the table for decades. Yet even today few people, outside of scientific circles, really know what all the talk is actually about. So we will start here with a very quick little refresher on that subject.
The so called greenhouse gases (GHGs) are compounds (chemicals) that are suspended in our atmosphere and that both absorb and radiate infrared light (IR). This type of light is more commonly known simply as heat. They have the effect of trapping heat in the atmosphere much the same way a greenhouse traps heat within it, hence the name that has been given to them.
Although there are quite a number of GHGs, five are by far the most significant. These are, in order of their prevalence:
water vapor (H2O)
carbon dioxide (CO2)
methane (CH4)
nitrous oxide (N2O)
ozone (O3)
There are a great many factors that determine how relevant a GHG is to the environment, and the interaction of these factors is quite complex. Just be aware that the main variables are the capacity of the substance to trap heat, the amount of it in the atmosphere, the rate at which it is removed from the atmosphere, and the rate at which it is put into the atmosphere in the first place. Taking all of these into consideration, though water vapor is the most common GHG, carbon dioxide is the most troublesome. It also gets the most press, for many reasons.
First, it has the highest potential for creating problems, most notably global warming. Also, it tends to hang around for along time after it first becomes airborne. Also, other GHGs already in