Environment

The principles of sustainability agenda requires Governments, industry and the public to make efforts to reduce the amount of wastes by: encouraging recycling; reducing wasteful packaging of products; introducing products that are more environmentally sound. At the moment, the amount of waste produced in the developed world is not sustainable. For example, 99% of the …

Noise pollution is an increasing source of misery to many people in our society. Noise can be defined as unwanted sound. It is a source of irritation and stress for many people and can even damage our hearing if it is loud enough. Many of us are exposed to stressful levels of noise at home …

Soil is an integral part of the environment. It is essential for the production of food and other crops, for maintaining biodiversity, for the landscape. It contains much archaeological evidence of our history. Soil quality is not a major problem in the UK, although there are localised problems of erosion, acidification and other contamination. But …

Ozone is a form of oxygen. In the stratosphere, around 25 km above the Earth’s surface, there is a layer of ozone that absorbs ultra-violet light from the Sun. Ultra-violet light is known to cause skin cancer in humans, and to damage plants. The ozone layer forms a protective shield around the Earth, and without …

Sustainability requires the balancing of the needs for land for development with the amount of land available. Large populations place significant stresses on available land, with natural habitats frequently given over to agriculture and urban development. In modern times the introduction of the motor car has allowed populations to slowly spread outwards from existing urban …

Covering about 70% of the earths surface, the oceans are a highly productive system which continuously recycles chemicals, nutrients and water through the “hydrological cycle”, which powers climate and weather, and which regulates global temperature by acting as a giant heat reservoir from the sun. About two-thirds of the world’s population live within 60 kilometres …

Lakes are one of the planet’s most important freshwater resources providing water for domestic, agricultural and industrial uses for much of the world’s population. We are all familiar with the image of Earth as the “blue planet” when seen from space. It gives the impression that water is plentiful and indeed it is. However, pictures …

Although it has often received bad publicity, many people argue that nuclear power has a significant part to play in maintaining a balanced energy policy. It currently contributes to 29% of the UKs electricity generation and a great deal more in countries like France and Germany. Nuclear power generation does not contribute to air pollution …

In recent years the increasing amount of lighting, including street, security and advertising lighting, has meant that a dark sky has become a rarity, particularly in urban areas. This is of concern to astronomers and the general public because the sight of the stars is one of Nature’s wonders. No one wishes to deny our …

The environment is our life support system. It includes everything that we rely on during our lifetime such as air, water, metals, soil, rock and other living organisms. It is important to remember that the state of our environment is influenced by our behaviour and that we have the opportunity to either nurture or mistreat …