Planet Earth

Problems and Possible Solutions:

1.Population:

The worlds population has tripled in the last 60 years placing stress on every aspect of the environment. More land is developed every day to accommodate the urban spread.

In 1950 the population stood at 2,555,982,611 compared to 2012 which it now stands at over 7,000,000,000. The actual maths is that the worlds population has increased by almost 3 times. That is staggering when you think about it. That figure is increasing even as we speak!

Possible Solution:

Population Control. Right now, the Earth cannot sustain the existing human population indefinitely, and this is not including the current population growth. As a result, the world's resources are quickly dwindling without replacements. The only logical solution to this problem is population control. Since the world cannot indefinitely support the entire human population, then the world's population needs to decrease to a level so that the planet can sustain both humanity and wildlife indefinitely.

2. Climate Change:

Recently an overwhelming majority of climate scientists, believe that human activities are currently affecting the climate and that the tipping point has already been passed. In other words, it is too late to undo the damage that climate change has done to the environment.

Possible Solution:

At this stage the best we can do is regulate the further impact upon the environment by developing more environmentally friendly methods of energy production by reducing the mining and burning of fossil fuels.

3.Pollution:

Pollution of air, water and soil by chemical compounds that take many years to breakdown. Most of these chemicals are the bi-products of our modern lifestyle and are created by industry and motor vehicle exhaust.

Pollution isn’t just limited to the air. Soil is another place where pollution is starting to take hold. Common toxic substances include heavy metals, nitrates and plastic. A lot of the plastics that are discarded by humans end up the ocean. These plastics tend to go unseen by humans as the pollution is usually blown out to sea by prevailing winds.

Possible Solution:

-Recycle everything! Instead of having our trash sent to landfills, everything that people consume and eventually throw out must be recycled. Therefore, we need recycling plants for batteries, electronics, organic (food and garden) wastes, medals, etc. in addition to recycling paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum. Even existing landfills need to be recycled. You can find out about different ways to recycle landfills from this article.

-Renewable Resources. Humanity is currently consuming more resources than the planet can renew, and this does not include non-renewable resources such as oil. Therefore, business will eventually have to convert to strictly self sustainable and renewable resources in the near future.

What´s the biosphere?

Introduction:

-The biosphere, (from Greek bios = life, sphaira, sphere) is the layer of the planet Earth where life exists. The biosphere extends from the deepest root systems of trees, to the dark environment of ocean trenches, to lush rain forests and high mountaintops.

-Scientists describe the Earth in terms of spheres. The solid surface layer of the Earth is the lithosphere. The atmosphere is the layer of air that stretches above the lithosphere. The Earth’s water—on the surface, in the ground, and in the air— makes up the hydrosphere.
-Since life exists on the ground, in the air, and in the water, the biosphere overlaps all these spheres. Although the biosphere measures about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from top to bottom, almost all life exists between about 500 meters (1,640 feet) below the ocean’s surface to about 6 kilometers (3.75 miles) above sea level.

The origin of the Biosphere:

-The biosphere has existed for about 3.5 billion years. The biosphere’s earliest life-forms, called prokaryotes, survived without oxygen. Ancient prokaryotes included single-celled organisms such as bacteria and archaea.

-Some prokaryotes developed a unique chemical process. They were able to use sunlight to make simple sugars and oxygen out of water and carbon dioxide, a process called photosynthesis. These photosynthetic organisms were so plentiful that they changed the biosphere. Over a long period of time, the atmosphere developed a mix of oxygen and other gases that could sustain new forms of life.

-The addition of oxygen to the biosphere allowed more complex life-forms to evolve. Millions of different plants and other photosynthetic species developed. Animals, which consume plants (and other animals) evolved. Bacteria and other organisms evolved to decompose, or break down, dead animals and plants.

-The biosphere benefits from this food web. The remains of dead plants and animals release nutrients into the soil and ocean. These nutrients are re-absorbed by growing plants. This exchange of food and energy makes the biosphere a self-supporting and self-regulating system.

-The biosphere is sometimes thought of as one large ecosystem—a complex community of living and nonliving things functioning as a single unit. More often, however, the biosphere is described as having many ecosystems.

Biosphere Reserves:

Currently, there are 563 biosphere reserves all over the world. The first biosphere reserve was established in Yangambi, Democratic Republic of Congo. Yangambi, in the fertile Congo River Basin, has 32,000 species of trees and such endemic species as forest elephants and red river hogs. The biosphere reserve at Yangambi supports activities such as sustainable agriculture, hunting, and mining.