environment Flashcards
air pollution
- kills 7 million people worldwide annually
- 9 out of every 10 people live in areas with high levels of air pollutants
- nitrous oxide emissions, from soils, leaching and runoff, direct emissions and animal manure, increased by 29% from 2000 to 2010. methane emissions from cattle increased by 19% in the same time frame.
APB
- brews Tiger Beer
- has waste treatment plants on-site to recycle water used in the brewing process. It has since saved 11% of its water consumption in this manner.
- has solar panels to reduce its carbon footprint
- has a returnable bottle system with a 86% return rate
fast fashion
- a third of Singaporeans have thrown away an item of clothing after wearing it just once
- 7% of millennials have kept their clothes for under a year before throwing them away, as compared to 3% of baby boomers
effect of climate change
- Andean glaciers, which provide vital water resources for millions of people, are melting
- by the 2070s, the top Asian cities in terms of population exposure to coastal flooding are Dhaka, Guangzhou and Bangkok, threatening hundreds of millions of people with displacement
biodiversity
- 40% of the world’s economy and 80% of the needs of the poor are derived from biological resources
- biodiversity increases opportunities for medical discoveries, economic development and adaptive responses to new challenges like climate change.
- only 1.5million species out of an estimated 9 million have been formally described
mangroves in vietnam
- planting and protecting nearly 12,000 hectares of mangroves in Vietnam cost just over a million dollars, but saved annual expenditures on dyke maintenance of well over seven million dollars.
- mangroves are one of the most valuable ecosystems on the planet. The WWF values them at $1.86 billion a year, which is considered by many experts to be a huge underestimate.
riots or protests related to natural resource extraction
Peru’s 2012 Tintaya conflict involved protests against environmental pollution and the insufficient sharing of benefits from the local copper mine. Hundreds of locals from the Espinar province clashed with police and private security, resulting in dozens injured and several killed. Similar demonstrations of resentment and anger have occurred across Latin America, Africa and South Asia, where nearly three quarters of countries have experienced riots or protests related to natural resource extraction in the recent years. One database lists more than 2,300 active social conflicts worldwide that are related to natural resource extraction.
humans as catalysts to species’ extinctions
- according to a 2014 study by Conservation Biology, the pre-human extinction rate was 10x lower than that of the current rate
- various studies have identified the main cause of extinctions to be human population growth and per capita consumption
samsung
- the IT sector is a major energy consumer with a large carbon footprint
- Samsung was graded D in a Greenpeace report based on energy efficiency and renewable energy procurement
nonrenewable energy sources/ the industry’s contribution to emissions
- 85% of the world’s energy usage comes from non-renewable energy sources
- 30% of total carbon emissions come from the industry
- in 2014, 41% of energy fuels for the generation of electricity was coal, while 22% was natural gas. in 2020, coal contributed to 34% of total energy production.
human intervention (African national parks)
scientists analysed two national parks– Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, where the elephants were relatively undisturbed by human activity, and South Africa’s Pilanesburg National Park, where a large proportion of the elephant population was culled. It was later found that the Pilanesburg herd was unable to distinguish the calls of friends from foes due to a lack of adult guidance and knowledge. The culling of adult elephants had resulted in weakened decision making and behavioural responses.
private transportation & carbon footprint
private transportation accounts for about 10% of an individual’s carbon footprint
Samsung & renewable energy
- Greenpeace protestors took to the streets during the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea in 2018, and activists hung banners and uploaded videos to spread awareness about Samsung’s non-environmentally friendly practices. Samsung has since managed to switch to renewable energy sources for 100% of the power used in the US, Europe and China.
- however, it is possible that these targets have been achieved via the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which could have negated the company’s emissions.
ecosystem services
- in 1997, ecologist Robert Costanza estimated that the biosphere provides services worth $33 trillion a year. As a form of comparison, the global economy produced $18 trillion that year.
- a 2010 study estimated that unchecked species loss would wipe off 18% of global economic output by 2050.
cost of conservation
- in 2012, it is estimated that reducing the threat of extinction can cost USD 5 billion a year.
- establishing and maintaining protected areas for threatened wildlife can cost another USD 76 billion.
