INTRODUCTION TO

ENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES

Bhanu Prakash
¨ 3 Lectures/week

¨ MTE (25%)
¨ Final (50%)
¨ Tutorials (25%)

¨ Attendance – 75%
 How can Engineers make

Economically & Environmentally Informed

Decisions?
Introductory class
¤ Adverse environmental impact of human actions
WHY DO WE CARE
?
Global Warming
Ref: NASA
Global Warming
IPCC, 2007: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M.Tignor and
H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
Climate change

World map of the Global Climate Risk Index for 1997–2016

[Germanwatch & Munich Re NatCatService]
Climate change
Atmospheric layers
Ref: NASA
Ozone Hole
Ref: NASA
 River?

Water Pollution
Affects aquaculture, recreation and marine life
Human, Animal conflict
¨ Thoughts?
¨ Causes?
Lake Frothing
Photo, courtesy of: The Guardian
Tsunami, 2004
Death Toll, CNN, 2005
No. of deaths

Bangladesh 2.00
Myanmar 59.00
Malaysia 68.00
Maldives 82.00
Somalia 150.00
Thailand 5,395.00
India 10,776.00
Sri Lanka 30,974.00
1,22,232.00
Indonesia
Distribution of Mangrove forests, 2000
Coastal mangrove forests mitigated tsunami:
Kathiresan and Rajendran, 2005
Growth of the shrimp farming industry in from 1987 to 1999 and
the corresponding removal of Honduras mangrove swamps.

NASA Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the University of Maryland's Global Land Cover Facility.
• The first of Iceland’s 400 glaciers to be lost to the
climate crisis

• The former Okjökull glacier, which a century ago

covered 15 sq km (5.8 sq miles) of mountainside in
western Iceland and measured 50 metres thick, has
shrunk to barely 1 sq km of ice less than 15 metres
deep and lost its status as a glacier.

• In the next 200 years all the glaciers are expected to

follow the same path
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/27/arctic-warming-scientists-alarmed-by-crazy-temperature-
rises
Current Issues of Concern
• Global warming & climate change
• Species’ extinction
• Soil degradation and loss of wetlands & agricultural land
• Ozone layer depletion
• Concentration of toxics
• Depletion & degradation of resources
https://www.climatewatchdata.org/ghg-emissions?regions=EU28%2CWORLD%2CTOP&sectors=410
GHGs
GHGs
GHGs from Energy, and its subsectors

Major consumption of energy is for

Electricity/Heat
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/11/energy-
industry-carbon-emissions-bp-report-fossil-fuels
Supposedly benign tasks and materials contribute
heavily to GHG emissions
China and India
Ø Growth vs environmental costs
Ø Quality of life
GDP (current US$) https://data.worldbank.org/?cid=GPD_29&locations=IN-CN
GDP per capita (current US$)
GDP per capita, PPP (current international $)
GDP per capita, PPP (current international $)
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/11/energy-
industry-carbon-emissions-bp-report-fossil-fuels
Particulate Matter, Courtesy, EPA
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-
interactive/2019/may/25/the-power-switch-tracking-britains-
record-coal-free-run
However, heavily coal-dependent economies in central Europe have been
slow to phase out the dirty fuel.

Germany, for instance, has delayed shutting down all coal plants until
2038 and is set to miss its goal of cutting 40% of greenhouse gas
emissions by 2020.

Depending on the prevailing type of government, policies have changed

considerably. Quite a few countries, including the USA, which currently
have populist governments, have been increasing the consumption of
fossil fuels.
2019 June month was the hottest June on record
Combined global land-surface air and sea-surface water temperature deviations from June 1951-80 average
Number of days per year that could feel 100F or hotter
Number of days per year that could feel 100F or hotter
Doggerland was thought to be densely populated by stone age standards but was submerged about 7,500 years ago

Reconstructed map of Doggerland showing areas of land above sea level at 16,000BC, and at 8,000BC, 7,000BC and
today. Illustration: William McNulty and Jerome Cookson/National Geographic
Global heating: London to have climate similar to Barcelona by 2050
Nearly 80% of cities to undergo dramatic and potentially disastrous changes, study finds

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/10/global-heating-london-similar-climate-barcelona-2050
By 2050, 104 cities are forecast to experience climatic conditions that have not yet been seen in a major city

Rainfall will be a particular problem for such cities, with

extreme flooding becoming more common alongside more
frequent and severe droughts.
 Increase in the number of extreme events: currently, one per week

Aftermath of the damage left by Cyclone Kenneth in a village north of Pemba,

Mozambique in May. Photograph: Mike Hutchings/Reuters

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/07/one-climate-crisis-disaster-happening-every-week-un-warns
Increasing concern in Developed countries
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2019/jul/19/carbon-calculator-how-taking-one-flight-emits-as-
much-as-many-people-do-in-a-year
Taking a long-haul flight generates more carbon emissions
than the average person in dozens of countries around the
world produces in a whole year
The aviation sector currently accounts for about 2% of global
emissions, and is one of the fastest-growing polluters.
Childs cited a 2014 survey by the Department for
Transport which revealed that 15% of the UK’s population
took 70% of flights.

Typically, the poor bear the brunt of climate change, while

their contribution to climate change is negligible.
 CONFLICTING INTERESTS, PERCEPTIONS AND
RESPONSES
• The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) – the UN body
responsible for limiting the carbon footprint from international air travel –
is introducing a scheme aiming to offset emissions by allowing airlines to
purchase carbon credits rather than burn less fossil fuels.

• Broderick is skeptical of the scheme’s benefits. “You still have a plan to

increase the size of the industry … at a time when we should be making
substantial reductions in emissions, particularly from the rich parts of the
world.”
Energy efficiency upgrades collapse as government subsidies close
 Suggested reading material for next class

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/12/what-is-biodiversity-and-why-does-it-matter-to-us
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/10/earths-sixth-mass-extinction-event-already-
underway-scientists-warn
Earth’s five previous mass extinctions
End-Ordovician, 443 million years ago
A severe ice age led to sea level falling by 100m, wiping out 60-70% of all species which were prominently ocean dwellers at the
time. Then soon after the ice melted leaving the oceans starved of oxygen.
Late Devonian, c 360 million years ago
A messy prolonged climate change event, again hitting life in shallow seas very hard, killing 70% of species including almost all
corals.
Permian-Triassic, c 250 million years ago
The big one – more than 95% of species perished, including trilobites and giant insects – strongly linked to massive volcanic
eruptions in Siberia that caused a savage episode of global warming.
Triassic-Jurassic, c 200 million years ago
Three-quarters of species were lost, again most likely due to another huge outburst of volcanism. It left the Earth clear for
dinosaurs to flourish.
Cretaceous-Tertiary, 65 million years ago
An giant asteroid impact on Mexico, just after large volcanic eruptions in what is now India, saw the end of the dinosaurs and
ammonites. Mammals, and eventually humans, took advantage.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/21/human-race-just-001-of-all-life-
but-has-destroyed-over-80-of-wild-mammals-study
Humans just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of wild mammals – study
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/10/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-
nature
Plummeting insect numbers 'threaten collapse of nature'

The rate of insect extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and
reptiles. Photograph: Courtesy of Entomologisher Verein Krefeld
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/30/humanity-wiped-out-animals-since-1970-major-report-
finds
Humanity has wiped out 60% of animal populations since 1970, report finds

The huge loss is a tragedy in itself but also threatens the survival of civilisation, say the world’s leading scientists
The biggest cause of wildlife losses is the destruction of natural habitats,
much of it to create farmland. Three-quarters of all land on Earth is now
significantly affected by human activities.

Killing for food is the next biggest cause – 300 mammal species are
being eaten into extinction – while the oceans are massively overfished,
with more than half now being industrially fished.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/22/half-of-worlds-oceans-now-fished-industrially-
maps-reveal
Half of world's oceans now fished industrially, maps reveal
Data gathered from more than 70,000 vessels shows commercial fishing now covers a greater surface area than
agriculture
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2017/feb/16/brazils-forgotten-state-oil-agribusiness-
threaten-amapa-forests-in-pictures
Nearly 90% of Brazil’s Amapá state is unexplored, protected rainforest.
One large dam has been built in Amapá, destroying hundreds of square kilometres of forest, and many small- and
medium-sized dams are planned. The energy generated goes to the grid and rural people in the state have little or
no electricity.
Large areas of savannah have been turned to fast-growing eucalyptus forests in the
past decade to provide the Japanese and European paper-making industries.
Since a Brazilian government moratorium was declared on new soya planting south of the Amazon, Amapá state
has become the new frontier of the global agribusiness. Its rapid expansion threatens protected land and forests
and has attracted speculators and fuelled land-grabbing.
Large- and small-scale gold, iron ore and manganese mining in Amapá state drives roads into the pristine forest,
attracts miners, and devastates the land.
Water pollution from mining is now a chronic problem, with dangerous levels of mercury found
hundreds of miles from the mines, and fish catches affected.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/19/how-to-reduce-carbon-footprint
Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth
Biggest analysis to date reveals huge footprint of livestock - it provides just 18% of calories but takes up 83% of farmland
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-
impact-on-earth
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/23/earths-resources-consumed-in-ever-greater-
destructive-volumes
Earth's resources consumed in ever greater destructive volumes
Study says the date by which we consume a year’s worth of resources is arriving faster
 Air pollution is the ‘new tobacco’, warns WHO head
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/27/air-pollution-is-the-new-tobacco-warns-who-head

Simple act of breathing is killing 7 million people a year and harming billions more, but ‘a smog of
complacency pervades the planet’, says Dr Tedros Adhanom
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2019/may/17/air-pollution-may-be-damaging-
every-organ-and-cell-in-the-body-finds-global-review

Air pollution may be damaging ‘every organ in the body’

Comprehensive analysis finds harm from head to toe, including dementia, heart and lung disease, fertility
problems and reduced intelligence
Air pollution 'as bad as smoking in increasing risk of miscarriage'
Scientists called study’s findings upsetting and said toxic air must be cut

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/11/air-pollution-as-bad-as-smoking-in-increasing-risk-of-
miscarriage
Draft UK Air Quality Plan for tackling nitrogen dioxide
Technical Report
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/26/the-governments-air-pollution-plan-is-a-beautiful-
smokescreen
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/01/air-pollution-inequality-widens-between-rich-and-poor-
nations
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/dat
ablog/2017/feb/13/most-polluted-cities-
world-listed-region
Air pollution in Coyhaique, Chile, is primarily caused by
residents burning damp wood in the winter months of June
and July.
 https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jul/17/a-city-suffocating-most-
polluted-city-in-americas-struggles-to-change-coyhaique-chile

Wood smoke smothers Coyhaique, Chile, in June and July. Yet despite the WHO ranking
its air worst in the Americas, residents are reluctant to alter their habits
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/datablog/2017/feb/13/m
ost-polluted-cities-world-listed-region

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/video/2017/feb/13/how-
bad-is-delhis-air-we-strapped-a-monitor-to-a-rickshaw-to-find-
out
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/oct/05/huge-rise-us-plastic-waste-
shipments-to-poor-countries-china-ban-thailand-malaysia-vietnam
 A crab stuck in plastic in Verde Island Passage, Batangas City,
Philippines. Photograph: Noel Guevara/Greenpeace/EPA

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/apr/04/marine-plastic-pollution-costs-the-world-up-
to-25bn-a-year-researchers-find
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/15/sin
gle-use-plastics-a-serious-climate-change-hazard-study-warns
 Plastics – which can remain buoyant for decades or longer, travelling distances of more than
3,000km from origin – create new habitats for bacteria and algae. These “colonies” increase the
biogeographical range of bacteria and algae, thereby risking the spread of invasive species and
disease, the research found.
Santa Monica prides itself on being a green city. Its only https://www.theguardian.com/us-
recycling center recently shut down. Photograph: news/2019/jun/21/us-plastic-
stellalevi/Getty Images recycling-landfills
Containers filled with plastic waste are seen before being sent back to their countries of origin in Port Klang, Malaysia.
Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Containers filled with plastic waste are seen before being sent back to their countries of
origin in Port Klang, Malaysia. Photograph: Mohd Rasfan/AFP/Getty Images
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/recycled-plastic-america-global-crisis
Waste pollutes beaches in Vietnam’s Bình Thuận province.
Photograph: Francesco Brembati/The Guardian
Business continues to boom in Minh Khai despite tightening
rules. Photograph: Bennett Murray
A processing plant in Brooklyn, New York. Americans recycle 35% of their waste, the study found, as compared with
Germany’s 68%. Photograph: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/02/us-plastic-
waste-recycling
Migrant workers sort through plastic bottles at the Thaiplastic Recycle Group plant in Samut Sakhon, outside Bangkok,
Thailand. Photograph: Diego Azubel/EPA
A worker puts styrofoam in a shredder at a recycling plant in Valenzuela City, north of Manila. Photograph: Noel
Celis/AFP/Getty Images
Plastic is stretched and formed into pellets in a variety of colors. Photograph:
Erin McCormick/The Guardian
Wong said he might spend $150 to buy a ton of
plastic scrap from a US recycler. Once it is shipped
abroad, sold to a processor, turned into pellets and
then again shipped to a manufacturer, the seller
might ask as much as $800 per ton.

Yet the cost of similar virgin plastic, which is often

higher quality, is just $900 to $1,000 a ton.
Total US plastic https://www.theguardian.com/us-
exports, monthly news/2019/jun/17/recycled-
averages in plastic-america-global-crisis
kilograms
Canumay West village in Valenzuela City has numerous recycling plants that deal with
plastic waste produced domestically and imported from other countries. Photograph:
Martin San Diego/The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jul/08/waste-recycling-smell-pollution-philippines-plastic-city

Five-year-old Shantal has been diagnosed with pneumonia

three times. Photograph: Martin San Diego/The Guardian
 Please go through the link in your phones

Humans have made 8.3bn tons of plastic since 1950. This is the illustrated story of where it's gone

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/23/all-the-plastic-ever-made-study-comic