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Homework #1 – Environmental Issues

Carlos Cabrejos Niquen

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Fall 2021 - (Shonali Laha)

Env.E Career Orientation and Project Management

9/15/2021
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Environmental Issues in our Planet

The environment is under pressure following the rapid surge of the human populace.

While environmental pollution and resource depletion are major problems faced by developed

countries, developing countries are on the verge of destruction following increased economic and

industrialization advancement pressure. This implies that the changes in our global environment

threaten the future of sustainable life on earth. Global warming contributes to the major

environmental problem influenced by human population growth. According to scientists, global

warming is likely to cause rising sea levels and life-threatening weather conditions in the future.

Deforestation is occurring at a faster rate to compensate for the massively growing human

population. Natural resources are also under pressure due to humans’ great demand for wealth on

earth. The continuous use of fuel and energy has initiated the depletion of several non-renewable

resources. The growing human population also suffers from food and water shortage; hence, the

limited resources are still under demand pressure. Resources and biodiversity depletion, waste

production, and destruction of natural habitats are major challenges attributed to the increasing

global population. To make life on earth more sustainable across generations, strategies should

address these issues in the best way possible. Using energy more efficiently, producing

electricity and natural gas as delivered to your door generates greenhouse gas emissions,

installing renewable energy, and conserving water are the most effective ways of reducing the

negative impacts of human population growth on the environment.

Plastic in the ocean is a major threat to marine life. Plastic poison is a major cause of

death to the array of species inhabiting the ocean. Sea creatures are succumbing to the effects of

plastic poison in the water. The gray whale that succumbed to the effects of plastic poison in
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2010 was dissected. The contents in the stomach revealed plastic rubbish of more than twenty

plastic bags and a golf ball alongside other non-biodegradable wastes. Another example of a sea

creature that succumbed to the effects of plastic is the harbor seal pup whose intestines were

contaminated by a tiny piece of the plastic wrapper on the Scottish island of Skye. The United

Nations revealed that not less than eight hundred marine species suffer the effect of marine

debris. Marine debris mainly comprises plastic waste, which forms eighty percent of the whole.

The amount of plastic litter deposited in the ocean is estimated to be around thirteen million

metric tons every year. This quantity is compared to the amount of rubbish loaded in a garbage

truck every single minute. Sea creatures comprising marine mammals, fish, sea turtles, and

seabirds are susceptible to plastic debris ingestion or trapping, resulting in drowning, starvation,

and suffocation of the species. This threat extends to humans through the consumption of

seafood. In as much as plastic decomposition is estimated to take place within a span of a

hundred years fully, some break down within a short duration to end up in the seafood we

consume; hence we have no immunity to this threat. Research reveals that over half the

population of sea turtles worldwide has consumed plastic. The result has been starvation

afterward, with the assumption that they have ingested enough after feeling full. The rate of

pollution due to plastic on the beaches is so widespread that reproduction rates of turtles are

affected through alteration of sand temperatures which favor incubation. High risks of death are

associated with turtles having ingested fourteen pieces of plastic, and the young are more

vulnerable because they are not that selective on their meals and are carried with currents like

plastics. Up to a million seabirds are killed by plastic every year with their stomach full of plastic

waste. According to scientists, an estimation of sixty percent of all seabirds have consumed

plastic, and this figure is predicted to rise to ninety-nine percent by 2050. Plastic waste
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stimulates pathogens that thrive in the ocean. Scientists have declared that corals coming into

contact with plastic are likely to contract the disease by 89 percent. Plastic in the ocean can be

solved by reducing plastics, proper recycling of plastic litters, participation in an organized beach

cleanup, and supporting bans on plastic products.

The prolonged sustainability of many wildlife populations and migration is threatened by

the intensification of isolation of protected areas. Field studies over the past decade reveal the

harmful impacts of wildlife isolation in reserves and endangered environments. Loss of

biodiversity, the establishment of roads and fences, diseases, and overhunting are the basic

stimulants of the isolation of wildlife. Wildlife movement is restricted by these drivers and forms

lapses in the progressively human-dominated environment surrounding such isolated and

endangered environments. Area and edge influences are crucial in determining the persistence of

species as per the post-establishment patterns of Arctic and Antarctic wildlife and large mammal

species extinction in African reserves. The concern on wildlife in isolated and endangered

environments must therefore be tackled using a multi-pronged protection plan. Habitat

demolition has propelled many once-adjoining wildlife populaces into various sizes and isolation

of vestige patches. The fundamental outline for the protection of disjointed populations is

established on the ideologies of island biogeography. The likelihood of species existence in

disjointed habitats differs as a purpose of size and isolation of an area. The general significance

of patch area and seclusion as determinants of species settlement in disintegrated terrestrial

settings stands unspecified due to the lack of computable synthesis. Compile occupancy data

reveals how patch areas and isolation are ineffective in predicting species occupancy. The kind

of land cover distinguishing patches strongly influences species sensitivity after examining

unsuitable scaling and biases when representing species. However, dominant matrix features
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should not be overlooked. Enhancing the quality of the matrix may result in advanced

conservation results than controlling the size and alignment of remaining patches for several

species persisting in the outcome of habitat damage.

Indonesia’s lands have served as habitat to extensive and most abundant and varied plants

and widespread wildlife species. Several national parks have been established for the protection

of endangered and almost extinct wildlife. However, deforestation has led to biodiversity loss as

large forest covers have been cleared by big international pulp companies like Asia Pulp and

Paper. Human has additionally proved greedy by clearing forests and replacing with plantations.

Farmers and plantation owners normally burn forests covers to fulfill their desires. The logging

industry has also stimulated deforestation in Indonesia due to Chinese and Japanese demand.

Restoration of rainforests can be achieved by extending Indonesia's forest and peatland

suspension, resolving land-use conflicts, using new financial models for conservation and

restoration, improving agricultural value chains, and reducing food loss and waste.

A career in environmental engineering entails utilizing engineering, biology, soil science,

and chemistry to establish resolutions to environmental challenges. My career in environmental

engineering shall rotate around various settings because of the type of activities associated with

environmental engineering. Working alongside other engineers and city and regional directors,

environmental engineers carry out solutions by constructing projects in offices and construction

sites.
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References

- Professor Rosling’s lecture on changing demographics

http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html

- Captain Moore’s talk about the seas of plastic

http://www.ted.com/talks/capt_charles_moore_on_the_seas_of_plastic.html

- Paul Nicklen-- photographs the creatures of the Arctic and Antarctic, generating global
awareness about wildlife in these isolated and endangered environments
https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_nicklen_tales_of_ice_bound_wonderlands

-Willie Smits’ - --- lecture about recreating a rain forest in Indonesia

http://www.ted.com/talks/willie_smits_restores_a_rainforest.html

-Movie Home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU

- Andrades, R., Dos Santos, R. A., Martins, A. S., Teles, D., & Santos, R. G. (2019). Scavenging
as a pathway for plastic ingestion by marine animals. Environmental Pollution, 248, 159-165.

- Crist, E., Mora, C., & Engelman, R. (2017). The interaction of human population, food
production, and biodiversity protection. Science, 356(6335), 260-264.

- Elias, S. E. "Climate change and energy." Reference Module in Earth Systems and
Environmental Sciences. Amsterdam: Elsevier (2017).

- Schmitt Filho, A., & Farley, J. (2020). Transdisciplinary case study approaches to the
ecological restoration of rainforest ecosystems. In Ecological Economic and Socio-Ecological
Strategies for Forest Conservation (pp. 185-212).