GLOBAL WARMING

Cause: Scientists have spent decades trying to figure out what is causing global warming. They've looked at the natural cycles and events that are known to influence climate. But the amount and pattern of warming that's been measured can't be explained by these factors alone. The only way to explain the pattern is to include the effect of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted by humans.

One of the first things scientists learned is that there are several greenhouse gases responsible for warming, and humans emit them in a variety of ways. Most come from the combustion of fossil fuels in cars, factories and electricity production. The gas responsible for the most warming is carbon dioxide, also called CO2. Other contributors include methane released from landfills and agriculture (especially from the digestive systems of grazing animals), nitrous oxide from fertilizers, gases used for refrigeration and industrial processes, and the loss of forests that would otherwise store CO2.

Effects: Globally, the mercury is already up more than 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius), and even more in sensitive polar regions. Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles.

This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antartica and Greenland and Artic sea ice. Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, on average. Sea levels rose faster over the last century. Hurricanes and other storms are likely to became stronger. Floods and droughts have become more common. Some diseases are spreading rapidly, such as malaria carried by mosquitoes.

Less fresh water will be available. Ecosystems will change - some species will move farther north or become more successful; others won’t be able to move and could become extinct.
 

POLLUTION

• Worldwide, rainforests are disappearing at a rate of one and a half football fields per second. Each spring the forests breathe in oxygen and the earth breathes out again the following autumn, but like a heavy smokers lungs the earth is losing its ability to breathe at all. Just a few centuries ago, earths equator was girdled by a green belt of 15 million sq. miles of rain forest, an area about 5-times that of the USA. Now the equivalent of 3 USA's worth of forests are gone! There is only 6.2 million sq. miles left.
   

• Americans consume 22% of the world’s oil, even though they make up just 5% of the world's population - as a result the past 100 years has seen heat trapping gases increase by 22%
   

• Other 'warming gases' are; methane, nitrous, oxide and chloroflurocarbons (or CFC's).
   

• In the year AD1 there were about 250million humans on earth. It took 1,650 years for that number to double. Between 1650 and 1930 the human population rose 4 times to 2 billion. By the turn of the century 6 billion on Earth - 3 times the population just 70 years earlier.
  
   

Effects: Scientists have determined many of the harmful local effects of air pollution. We know, for instance, that air pollution can negatively impact human health and cause coughs, burning eyes, breathing problems, and even death. We know that atmospheric haze or smog reduces visibility and that acid rain from chemical emissions damages property, pollutes water resources, and can harm forests, wildlife, and agriculture.
 

SANITATION

The global sanitation sector is in a severe situation. Over 2.4 billion people are without access to improved sanitation facilities in the world. The first step to improve this harsh situation is to grasp the current situation with accuracy. Here the current situation of global sanitation sector is described from various angles by utilizing the following information sources.

The vast majority of people without safe water supply and improved sanitation facilities are in Asia and Africa, where the population has increased by 15.8% and 27.5% respectively during the period 1990-2000.

The lack of wastewater treatment is hazardous to human health and the environment. In the developing regions of the world, treatment is applied in only a minority of systems. Even in the industrialized countries, sewage is not universally treated.

Effects:

• Approximately 4 billion cases of diarrhoea each year cause 2.2 million deaths, mostly among children under the age of five.
   

• Intestinal worms infect about 10% of the population of the developing world. These can be controlled through better sanitation, hygiene and water supply. Intestinal parasitic infections can lead to malnutrition, anemia and retarded growth, depending upon the severity of the infection.
   

• It is estimated that 6 million people are blind from trachoma and the population at risk from this disease is approximately 500 million.
   

• 200 million people in the world are infected with schistosomiasis, of which 20 million suffer severe consequences. The disease is still found in 74 countries of the world.

GLOBAL RECYCLING

• Recycling is important to both the natural environment and us. We must act fast as the amount of waste we create is increasing all the time. Increasing wealth means that people are buying more products and ultimately creating more waste.
   

• Increasing population means that there are more people on the planet to create waste.
   

• New packaging and technological products are being developed, much of these products contain materials that are not biodegradable.
   

• New lifestyle changes, such as eating fast food, means that we create additional waste that isn’t biodegradable.
   

• Harmful chemicals and greenhouse gasses are released from rubbish in landfill sites. Recycling helps to reduce the pollution caused by waste.
   

• Habitat destruction and global warming are some the effects caused by deforestation. Recycling reduces the need for raw materials so that the rainforests can be preserved.
   

• Huge amounts of energy are used when making products from raw materials. Recycling requires much less energy and therefore helps to preserve natural resources.
   

• Recycling is essential to cities around the world and to the people living in them. There is no space for waste. Our landfill sites are filling up fast, and by 2010, almost all landfills in the UK will be full.
   

• Reduce financial expenditure in the economy. Making products from raw materials costs much more than if they were made from recycled products.
   

• Preserve natural resources for future generations. Recycling reduces the need for raw materials; it also uses less energy, therefore preserving natural resources for the future.