Category Science

The long-term shifts in temperature and weather patterns is referred to as climate change. While these shifts have been natural for the longest period of humanity, human activities have become the main driver of climate change since the 1800s. This is mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal oil and gas, which then produces heat-trapping gases to alter the delicate equilibrium governing the Earth in a negative fashion.

What Causes Climate Change?

There are lots of factors that contribute to Earth’s climate. However, scientists agree that Earth has been getting warmer in the past 50 to 100 years due to human activities.

Certain gases in Earth’s atmosphere block heat from escaping. This is called the greenhouse effect. These gases keep Earth warm like the glass in a greenhouse keeps plants warm.

Human activities — such as burning fuel to power factories, cars and buses — are changing the natural greenhouse. These changes cause the atmosphere to trap more heat than it used to, leading to a warmer Earth.

When human activities create greenhouse gases, Earth warms. This matters because oceans, land, air, plants, animals and energy from the Sun all have an effect on one another. The combined effects of all these things give us our global climate. In other words, Earth’s climate functions like one big, connected system.

Thinking about things as systems means looking for how every part relates to others. NASA’s Earth observing satellites collect information about how our planet’s atmosphere, water and land are changing.

By looking at this information, scientists can observe how Earth’s systems work together. This will help us understand how small changes in one place can contribute to bigger changes in Earth’s global climate.

Credit : Climate kids 

Pictyre Credit : Google 

Biodiversity is the name we give to the variety of all life on Earth. Bacteria to baboons, plants to people – the range of life on our planet is incredible.

All living things exist within their own communities, or ecosystems – oceans, forests, deserts, ice caps and even cities. All this put together is biodiversity: the volume of life on Earth as well as how different species interact with each other and with the physical world around them.

The word biodiversity is a contraction of ‘biological diversity’. The concept is broad and complex, but that complexity is what makes Earth a perfect place for humans to live.

Biodiversity and species richness

When we talk about biodiversity, we often talk about species richness as well. Species richness is the number of different species in an area, a way of measuring biodiversity.

Studying species richness helps us to understand the differences between places and areas.

For example, the Amazon rainforest very species-rich as it is home to 10 million species. In contrast, the Sahara Desert is far less rich, with just a few thousand species.

About 1.5 million species have been described by scientists, and most of them are insects. But it is thought that there are millions more sharing our planet with us.

Endangered species and mass extinction

Overall biodiversity loss can speed up extinction. More and more animals and plants are facing an uncertain future.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the global authority on the status of the natural world. It keeps a Red List of endangered species, an important indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity.

Currently, more than 30,000 species are listed as threatened with extinction, which is 27% of all assessed species.

We know that millions of species have already gone extinct over the long history of planet Earth. Biodiversity rates have always ebbed and flowed. In fact, at least 99% of all the organisms that have ever lived are now extinct. Researchers agree that five huge mass extinction events have already happened, including the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

However, extinction rates have been accelerating as human populations continue to grow, and many scientists argue we are living through a sixth mass extinction. This time, humans rather than natural events are to blame. Species diversity in more than half of land ecosystems is now critically low.

A 20% drop is widely considered the threshold at which biodiversity’s contribution to ecosystem services is compromised. It’s estimated that over a quarter of Earth’s land surface has already exceeded this.

Causes of biodiversity loss

Biodiversity is in trouble in the UK and across the globe, and its loss can refer to local and worldwide extinctions. Species and ecosystems can be fragile, so small changes can have large consequences.

The causes of biodiversity loss are complicated, but we know the human population is making the problems worse.

In the short time humans have been on the planet we have increasingly disrupted the balance of biodiversity through changing land use, overexploitation of resources and the impact we are having on climate.

We are converting natural habitats into farms, factories, roads and cities. In the ocean, we are overfishing, drilling and mining.

Cities and towns have a smoothing effect on biodiversity, tending to favour generalist species like feral pigeons. Those that require a particular habitat, or are intolerant of disturbance or pollution, often can’t survive. This is called biotic homogenization.

Animals and plants that can only live in one small area of land – like unique butterflies or flowers – can go locally extinct if the city’s conditions are unfavorable to them.

A lichen specimen held in the crypt herbarium at the Museum. All living things, including plants and fungi, are represented by the word ‘biodiversity’.

Credit : Natural history museum 

Picture Credit : Google

The word biodegradable, used in conjunction with a substance or object, denotes the capability of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms and thereby avoiding pollution. While this adjective describes things that can be broken down into basic substances through natural environmental techniques, the products it is used along with can vary greatly in the time they take to break down. For instance, while a loaf of bread requires only a couple of weeks. a piece of paper might need months and a biodegradable plastic carton could take even years to break down.

Some items are obviously biodegradable. Examples include food scraps and wood that hasn’t been treated with chemicals to resist bugs and rot. Many other items, such as paper, also biodegrade relatively easily. Some products will biodegrade eventually, but it may take years. This includes steel products, which eventually will rust through and disintegrate, and some plastics.

However, conditions are important to encourage biodegradability. Products that will biodegrade in nature or in home compost heaps may not biodegrade in landfills, where there’s not enough bacteria, light, and water to move the process along.

Many organic companies use biodegradable packaging for products or produce organic biodegradable products, but the items may not be as biodegradable as customers think. To make matters more confusing, many items are labeled as “compostable.”

Compostable products are all biodegradable, but they are specifically intended for a composting environment. In the right setting, these products break down even more quickly, usually within 90 days, and they leave behind a nutrient-rich organic material called humus, which creates a healthy soil environment for new plant growth.1

Whether an item is compostable or simply biodegradable, it needs to be placed in an environment that facilitates its breakdown. Compostable products require composting environments. But, even some biodegradable items need to be degraded in a controlled composting environment or facility—and very few of these facilities exist in the United States. These large facilities are designed to keep materials at 140 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 consecutive days.

For example, PLA, a popular biodegradable material for green companies, will only decompose into carbon dioxide and water in a controlled composting environment, not in a backyard composting arrangement, according to standards developed by the Biodegradable Products Institute.

With all of these variables, business owners need to communicate clearly with their customers about what they mean when they say “biodegradable.” Even better are those businesses that take it a step further and educate their customers about how to properly dispose of their products.

Credit : The balance small business 

Picture Credit : Google 

A broad term that includes all forms of precipitation with acidic components like sulphuric acid or nitric acid, acid rain, or acid deposition, falls to the ground in wet or dry forms from the atmosphere. When sulphur dioxide or nitrous oxides emitted into the atmosphere react with Oxygen, water and other chemicals it forms acids, which then further mix with water and other materials before falling to the ground as rain, hail, snow, fog, or even acidic dust.

What are the effects of acid rain?

The ecological consequences of acid rain are seen most strongly in marine habitats, such as streams, lakes and marshes where fish and other wildlife can be toxic. Acidic rainwater can leach aluminium from soil clay particles as it flows through the soil and then floods into streams and lakes.

What will happen if we don’t stop acid rain?

Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are the principal chemicals for acid rain. It can also influence humans since the acid goes into fruits, vegetables and animals. In other words, we can get really sick if acid rain doesn’t stop, and we eat those things. In general, acid rain affects men, but not directly.

What is acid rain? What are its harmful effects?

It has been shown that acid rain has detrimental effects on trees, freshwaters and soils, destroys insects and aquatic life-forms, causes paint to peel, corrosion of steel structures such as bridges, and weathering of stone buildings and sculptures, as well as impacts on human health.

What are three ways to reduce acid rain?

Alternative energy sources should be used, such as solar and wind power. Renewable sources of energy are helping to reduce acid rain, as they produce much fewer emissions. There are other electricity sources as well, such as nuclear power, hydropower, and geothermal energy. Among these, the most extensive use is among nuclear and hydropower.

How does acid rain affect plants?

Acid rain can affect the health of plants. Acid rain changes the pH of the land where the plant is growing, thereby affecting the overall growth of the plants. Moreover, it binds or dissolves essential soil minerals such as nitrogen and phosphorus and carries them away.

What is acid rain made of?

Acid rain comprises highly acidic water droplets due to air emissions, specifically the disproportionate levels of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emitted by vehicles and manufacturing processes. Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide combine with water molecules to form sulphuric and nitric acid.

What is the primary source of acid rain?

The power plants primarily cause acid rain. It releases most of the sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide while burning fossil fuels. Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide combine with water molecules to form sulphuric and nitric acid causing acid rain.

Can acid rain damage buildings?

Yes, acid rain harms buildings. It strips away the materials and corrodes the metals of the buildings. Example: Tarnishing of Taj Mahal.

Can acid rain burn your skin?

No, acid rain can not burn the skin.

Picture Credit : Google