Transcript Human Activity and Environmental Stress, Sustainable development

Introduction to Environmental
Engineering Seminars
(1)
Human Activity and Environmental
Stress, Sustainable development and
environmental sustainability.
“Despite the artistic pretensions,
sophistication and many
accomplishments oh humankind, we
owe our very existence to a six inch
layer of soil and the fact that it rains”
- anonymous
Human Activity and the Environment
Stress-Response Environmental Statistical System
(STRESS)
• Stressors
– Natural Sources
– Harvesting
– Extraction and Depletion of Non-Renewable
Resources
– Environmental Restructuring
– Generation of Waste Residuals
– Population
Extraction and Depletion
of Non-Renewable Resources
• Metals and Non-metallic Minerals
• Fossil Fuels
Environmental Restructuring
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Land Use and Land Conversion
Restructuring of Water Systems
Transportation Networks
Resource Development
Generation of Waste Residuals
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Mining
Manufacturing
Thermal Energy Generation
Transportation Activity
Household Consumption and Municipal
Wastes
Elements of the Environmental
Engineering Program
• Water and Wastewater Treatment
• Air Pollution Control
• Solid and Hazardous Waste
Management
• Groundwater and Soil Pollution
• Environmental Impact Assessment
Climate
Change
Deniz Karman
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Carleton University
The atmospheric greenhouse effect
• If there was no water vapour or carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere, the average surface
temperature would be 33 C cooler, we would not
be able to survive on the face of the planet.
• Of this greenhouse effect of 33 degrees,
28 C due to water vapour
5 C due to carbon dioxide
The Challenge of Stabilization of Atmospheric
Concentrations of Carbon Dioxide
• If governments decide to stabilize the atmospheric
concentration of carbon dioxide at 550ppm (about
twice the pre-industrial level), global emissions would
have to peak by about 2025 and fall below current
levels by 2040 to 2070.
• This would mean that all regions would have to
deviate from most “business-as-usual”scenarios within
a few decades
• Climate change is one of the most
significant environmental challenges the
world has ever faced
• The buildup of CO2 concentrations in
the atmosphere is the main factor for
climate change and is due to human
activity (burning fossil fuels)