Understanding Environmental Concepts: Land Degradation, Pollution, and Sustainability
Understanding Environmental Concepts
The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) supports the generation of environmental indicators to help countries improve their environmental performance.
Environmental goods are tangible benefits of nature (water, timber, soil, air) that we benefit from directly.
Environmental resources are common biophysical systems that support social life.
Land degradation is the loss of function and ecosystem services, caused by alterations from which the system cannot recover by itself.
Main Causes of Land Degradation
- Impacts of land use change
- Impacts of human overpopulation
- Contamination
- Erosion
- Desertification
Erosion is the natural process of removal of topsoil.
Desertification is land degradation in arid and semi-arid areas as a result of several factors.
Air Pollution
Smog is a mixture of highly toxic contaminants.
The ionosphere is a part of the atmosphere that starts at the top of the mesosphere and extends to the top of the thermosphere.
We usually think of air pollution occurring in the open, but the air inside your home or office may also be contaminated. Sources of indoor pollution include:
- Biological contaminants like mold and pollen
- Snuff smoke
- Household products and pesticides
- Gases such as radon and carbon monoxide
- Construction materials such as asbestos, formaldehyde, and lead
Anthropogenic Impact and Sustainable Development
Anthropogenic: Intervention made by humans that has altered nature.
Sustainable Development: Satisfying the needs of the present without compromising future generations.
Planet Earth (Gaia): Also called the Blue Planet.
Processes for those who work the earth: Energy flow and material cycling, both regulated by humans.
Land as an existing system: The interaction of various ecosystems within it.
Lithosphere composition: 30% polar areas, 32% forests, 25% pastures, 11% surface, 2% human settlements.
Classification of finite resources: Renewable and non-renewable.
Homeostasis: When the biosphere of the planet self-regulates the conditions for maintaining stable or equilibrium conditions.
Two principal components of the Earth: Biological and physical.
Physical subsystems: Atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water), lithosphere (land).
Atmosphere composition: 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 0.033% other greenhouse gases.
Hydrosphere: Oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, glaciers, raindrops.
Biological subsystem components: Producers, consumers, and decomposers.
Biosphere: Interactions and abiotic processes occurring in the two subsystems that constitute an ecological system.
Four principles of nature: The Earth is a closed system subject to energy flow.
Most abundant element in living beings: Oxygen.
Six principles of nature: Ecosystem productivity and sustainability with a finite capacity to provide goods and services to humans.
Classification of environmental services: Regulation, provision, and support.
Seven principles of nature: Limiting factors and carrying capacity are determinants in the population dynamics of species.
Agenda 21: Document that provides guidelines to promote sustainable development at global, national, and local levels.
Indicator: A perceptible sign of a trend or phenomenon that is not easily detectable.
Integrated approach: Joint approach of all items that let you organize the information.