First things first, we should discuss why exactly we need to look after the planet. If it isn’t instantly obvious: we need it to survive. This planet is our home, and if it isn’t apparent, we rely on it for everything, and now its relying on us to look after it.
The planet is a delicate system, energy enters into the system in the form of sunlight and just enough is trapped by the atmosphere to create a cosy habitat for all organisms to live and grow. The oxygen converted by plants, aids the life of most other organisms and everything lives in equilibrium. That was until the humans arrived and started making a right old mess of everything.
When there was just a few of us running around and living within our means, everything was fine. When mass agriculture began, mass deforestation and land change began, which in turn meant a disruption of natural balance through disruption of species and loss of biodiversity. The mass rearing of livestock also hugely alters the balance due to the need to grow food for the animals, pump them full of pharmaceuticals and massively increase the number of one or two species in an area. The farming industry is responsible for a huge proportion of climate change and a meat diet compared with a vegan diet can produce up to twice as much CO2. Some studies show that food system emissions could account for close to a quarter of human emissions. (Vermeulen et al, 2012)
When industrialisation began on mass, the level of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere massively increased and is altering the way the atmosphere works to balance the planet. Currently the planet is warming at a faster rate than ever before within human history and is on track to create a hostile planet not seen in over 120,000 years. Industrialisation also introduced pollutants into the air that do not naturally occur, affecting the general health of many organisms. Lichens can be used as a bioindicator of air pollution by storing the contaminant without being killed. The Lichens can show how contaminants are visible in a wide variety of ecosystems. (Contie, 2001)
It’s not just CO2 that is being emitted into the atmosphere. Increased agriculture has meant an increase in methane, which traps 100 times more heat than CO2 over 5 years. Black Carbon particles, from fires, vehicles and factories are also a common aerosol that becomes trapped in the atmosphere as seen in the image below as the red areas. (NASA, 2018) This image may appear beautiful but it actually highlights the aerosols in the atmosphere. Aerosols cause a scattering of radiation travelling through the atmosphere and again alter the balance.
The general warming of the planet means that all ecosystems are being changed. Alarming sea temperature increase is causing an effect called coral bleaching. This is when the polyps in the coral expel their algae and the coral discolours. The coral visibly shows the change in sea ecosystems (find pic) and ocean warming is going to cause huge biodiversity change in the near future.
When you briefly summarise the damage we are doing to the planet by simply existing it really illustrates the importance of humanity becoming more sustainable. We rely on the earth for our materials, our air, our food and our water, and even more our enjoyment and a place to be happy. In this blog I will explore more reasons to care for the planet and investigate how this can be done. I hope that reading this you may feel a little responsible for the way the planet look,s after us and how we need to look after it.
Contie, M., Cecchetti, G. (2001) ‘Biological monitoring: lichens as bioindicators of air pollution assessment — a review’ Environmental Pollution. Issue 3, Volume 114 (October) 471-492.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0269-7491(00)00224-4
Nasa (2018) Aerosols Earth Resized Accessed at: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/92654/just-another-day-on-aerosol-earth Downloaded: January 2019
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (2018) Coral Bleaching Accessed at: https://blog.education.nationalgeographic.org/2015/10/09/coral-bleaching-crisis/
Vermeulen, S., Campbell, B., Ingram, J. (2012) ‘Climate Change and food Systems’ Annual Review of Environment and Resources. Volume 27. (November) 195-222
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-020411-130608
Environment Through the Eye 