Environmental Awareness

►Environmental Awareness
- being aware of the natural environment and making choices that benefit
the earth, rather than hurt it.
- to understand fragility of our environment and the importance of its
protection.

►Environmentalism
- an ideology that evokes the necessity and responsibility of humans to
respect, protect and preserve the natural world from its anthropogenic afflictions.

►Environmental Issues and Concerns:

1. Air Pollution
- Any substance in the air that is harmful to our health or to our
surroundings.

○Effects:
• Arsenic Poisoning
→ Nerve Damage → Increased Cancer risk
→ Skin Damage → Circulatory problems in skin

• Lead Poisoning
→ High levels of lead
- Mental retardation, coma, convulsions and death
→ Low levels of lead
- Reduced IQ and attention span, impaired growth, reading and learning
disabilities, hearing loss and a range of other health and behavioral effects.

2. Greenhouse Effect
- A phenomenon where certain gases in the lower atmosphere absorb the
heat radiated by the earth, thereby preventing the heat from escaping to outer space.

→ Greenhouse Gases:
- Carbon dioxide (CO2)
- Methane (CH4)
- Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCS)
- Nitrous oxide (N2O)
- Ozone (O3)
 3. Global Warming
- an aspect of climate change that can be caused by an increase in the
amount of heat being received from the sun.

○ Impacts of Global Warming:

• Changing Rain and Snow Patterns • Rising Sea Level
• Stronger Storms • Higher Temperatures and More
Heat Waves
• Damaged Corals • Warmer Oceans
• Changes in Animal Migration • More Droughts and Wildfires
and Life Cycles

4. Climate Change
- a significant and lasting change weather patterns over long periods.

○ Three Main Effects of Climate Change Impacts

• Physical System
- which can be observed into the melting of the poles.
Which leads to:

→ Glacial regression → Droughts in rivers and lakes

→ Snow Melting → Coastal erosion
→ Warming and Thawing up →Sea level rise and extreme natural
Permafrost phenomena
→ Flooding in rivers and lakes

• Biological Systems
- death of flora and fauna in terrestrial and marine ecosystems
- wildfire and flora and fauna displacement searching for bot ter life
Conditions.

• Human Systems
- affects and destroys crops and food production.
- causes diseases and death
- destruction and loses of economic livelihoods
- migration of climate refugees

Interrelationship between the effects of climate change

- The negative consequences feed each other back and increase their
magnitudes; for example:

• Droughts frequently cause wildfires, which then destroys crops

 • Melting of glaciers, snow and ice causes sea level rise which erodes the
coast and involves the destruction of many economic means of subsistence.
• Droughts, rising sea levels, extreme natural phenomena and floods
cause climate refugees.

5. Carbon Footprint
- the total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly
support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide
(CO2).

6. Ozone Depletion
- the wearing out (reduction) of the amount of ozone in the stratosphere.
Unlike pollution, which has many types and causes, ozone depletion has been
pinned down to one major human activity.

○ Preventing Ozone Depletion:

• Be an ozone-friendly consumer.
- By products that are labeled “ozone-friendly” or “CFC free”.
• Be an ozone-friendly citizen.
- Read and learn more about the effects of the ozone depletion on
people, animals and the environment.

7. Water Pollution
- contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities.

○ Major Causes:
• Domestic sewage • Acid rain
• Industrial wastewater • Global Warming
• Agricultural waste

8. Solid Waste
- any discarded or abandoned materials.
- It can be solid, liquid, semi-solid or containerized gaseous material.

○ Adapting the 5 R
• Reuse • Refuse
• Reduce • Repurpose
• Recycle

9. Loss of Biodiversity
- Extinction of species worldwide, and also the local reduction of loss of
species in a certain habitat.
 ○ 6 Main Threats to Biodiversity
• Human Activities and Loss of Habitat • Increasing Wildlife Trade
• Deforestation • Climate Change
• Desertification • Marine Environment

►Concerns:
• Planet Earth • Health and Harmony with nature
• Values • Sustainable Development

►Things we can do to protect our Environment Everyday:

• Don’t leave your rubbish lying around.
• Support conservation campaigns.
• Get your family and school thinking about environmental issues every
day.
• Start a nature club.
• Plant trees-care fore and nurture them.
• Encourage your community to recycle their waste.
• Promote anti-pollution awareness demand car-free days.
• Create a garden Grow fruits and vegetables. Reward yourself with
nature’s riches every day.

► Insights
○ “The global environmental crises have much affects all of us. Everything we do,
has a consequence that we cannot escape. The impacts it brings will always be
felt by every human being especially to the new generations. The environment
that we have now, concerns us all. So, we as caretakers should observe and
address these global threats through collective actions. It isn’t too late to start
caring for our environment. Don’t sit this one out. Do something.”