Environmental Degradtion and Society

Trevor Craig

Energy Science 110

Environmental Degradation and Society

8/30/11           

This lecture was about the great acceleration of the world using energy, fossil fuels, and the potential effects from this great acceleration on our planet. In the year 1800 we were using a little under 1000 million tons of oil equivalent, but as time went on we quickly increased the amount of energy we were using, when in 1990 we were using about 30000 million tons of oil equivalent. The type of fuel we have been using to make our world run has been changing through the years, in 1800 the world used 1000 million tons of biomass, but in 1990 and today we mostly use coal and oil, coal at 5000 million tons and oil at 3000 million tons, and biomass was a little under 2000 million tons.

With this great increase in the use of fossil fuels we have also increased the amount of our carbon emissions. In 1800 the world was emitting close to 0 carbon but in 2000 the United States and Canada were emitting a little over 1600 million metric tons of carbon per year. This was a great acceleration to happen in a matter of 200 years, we will never know the amount of changes to our planet happened due to this quick acceleration. Entire ecosystems are changing due to this rapid acceleration causing many animals to go extinct.

 Could these extinctions also be caused by the increase of lead and other elements like nickel, zinc, copper and cadmium, into the air as a result for our need of energy? Lead for example, in the years 1850-1900 only emitted 25000 tons of lead was being pumped into the air yearly, where in the years 1981-1990 about 340000 tons of lead was being pumped into the air a year. That could be one reason for the extinction rate increasing, but it could also be due to the fact that the majority of the world’s animals live in the rain forests and due to the rising population of people, many changes are starting to affect their delicate ecosystem. One of these changes is deforestation.

The world’s population of people is rising and with the invention of things like planes, trains, and automobiles our world becomes smaller, allowing us to trade with anyone in the world. Many people are changing their diets from starches to meats, and with this new world market whoever can sell the materials the cheapest and get the easiest people will buy. Places like Brazil are good for growing soy beans which China wants to buy to feed to their animals, so often times they will cut the forests down to grow crops to sell to other countries so they can make a profit in this world, causing extinctions. In 1995 China bought close to 0 soy beans from Brazil, but in 2002 they were buying about 6 Mmt from Brazil. De

There are many examples other examples of ways that we are destroying our forests and other natural places for a profit on the world trade market. If this continues there will be a rise of animal extinctions. In the last 300 years we have reduced our forests by about 40%, the damages that have already happened are almost unimaginable. But before we can focus on these very important environmental problems, we first need to concentrate on our wars, debts, and national bankruptcy, because trend shows that those things cause the end of empires. Are we the next great empire to fall?

Terrestrial- Living or growing on land; not aquatic: a terrestrial plant or animal.

Biodiversity- diversity among and within plant and animal species in an environment.

ENSC110 Craig Environmental Degradation and Society