ENVIROMENTAL ISSUES

Environmental issues are defined as problems with the planet's systems (air, water, soil, etc.) that have developed as a result of human interference or mistreatment of the planet.
There are many types of things that people do and it is very bad for The Earth.
Some of them are:

• Global warming
• Deforestation
• Air and water pollution
• Overpopulation
• Soil erosion
• Other climate change issues
• Destruction of biodiversity
• Littering
• Destruction of natural habitats
• Destruction of natural resources
• Attack of marine life
• Oil spills
• Nuclear issues
• Acid deposition
• Environmental disasters
• Volcanic eruption
• Greenhouse effect
• Heavy metals
• Sea level rise
• Burning of fossil fuels
• Species extinction
• Soil contamination

Now we are going to explain some of them that I think that are the most important.

After explain some problems we are going to see a video, I know that the people of the class know it because Juana in Biology show it but I want that all the class can see it.


1. What do you think about the video?

2. What do you think about the differents problems that we make all the days?

ECOLOGICAL CRISIS

 CLIMATE CHANGE:
The climate change is the most important problem of the world.
Now, we are detroying the ozone layer with the CFC and the gases of the vehicles.
Ozone layer will gradually refine and much larger hole.

The sun insides in the earth and the heat does not come out.
This effect is known as greenhouse effect.

Now we can see a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U_FznW-n-U

Bye

 
 

THE EARTH WARMS UP

We look at the sun rising every day. It´s bright, it´s big and it´s warms us up. Our sun happens to be the brightest object in our universe and it has captured our curiosity and imaginations throughout history.

Well, I'm not sure if you know about the daily routine of the sun or something like that, but, today, I'm going to tell you that we could be in danger because the emitions that we emitted to the sun. I mean, we could die faster than you think. One example is that the plants won't be able to do the photosynthesis and then we won't be able to breathe. I wanted to ask you why I'm asking you this and if I am crazy or not.  

If you think that I'm a little bit crazy, please, watch the video:

     

                                           

Ecological Crisis

Factors of Ecological Crisis.

Ecological crisis is when a specie or a population changes in a way that destabilized its continued survival.


Main causes of  Ecological crisis are:

Abiotic factors:

Climate change is starting to have major impacts on ecosystems. With global temperature rising, there is a decrease in snow-fall, and sea levels are rising. Ecosystems will change or evolve to cope with the increase in temperature. Consequently, many species are being driven out of their habitats.

Fresh water and wetland ecosystems are dealing with extreme effects of the increase of temperature. The climate change could be devastating to salmon and trout and to other aquatic life.

Overpopulation:

Overpopulation of some species can cause the extintion of ohters, for example, in the Argentine Patagonia, for example, European species such as the trout and the deer were introduced into the local streams and forests, respectively, and quickly became a plague, competing with and sometimes driving away the local species of fish and ruminants.

Humans:

Humans are, in my opinion, the most important factor in the Ecological crisis.

We know about it, we can stop it but the most part of the people don´t do nothing.

ECOLOGICAL CRISIS

An ecological crisis occurs when the environment of a species or a population changes in a way that destabilizes its continued survival.

There are many possible causes of such crisis:

>  It may be that the environment quality degrades compared to the species' needs, after a change of abiotic ecological factor (for example, an increase of temperature, less significant rainfalls).

>  It may be that the environment becomes unfavourable for the survival of a species (or a population) due to an increased pressure of predation.

>  It may be that the situation becomes unfavourable to the quality of life of the species (or the population) due to raise in the number of individuals (overpopulation). 

Ecological crisis may be more or less brutal (occurring within a few months or taking as long as a few million years). They can also be of natural or anthropic origin. They may relate to one unique species or to many species (see the article on Extintion event).

Lastly, an ecological crisis may be local (as an oil spill) or global (a rise in the sea level due to global warming).

According to its degree of endemism, a local crisis will have more or less significant consequences, from the death of many individuals to the total extinction of a species. Whatever its origin, disappearance of one or several species often will involve a rupture in the food chain, further impacting the survival of other species.

HOW LIVING BEINGS SUFFER THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS?

Living beings are organisms that can do the three vital functions: nutrition, interaction and reproduction. 

As we can see, there are many risks to living beings because of several factors. Then, we are going to study the bad consequences for living beings due to the ecological crisis.

First, we have to know what ecological crisis is.

A living being suffers an ecological crisis when its environment is affected by radical changes that make that this living being doesn't live in its environment like always.

Now, we are going to learn some causes that create an ecological crisis.

ABIOTIC FACTORS

The main abiotic factor that affects living beings is the famous "climate change", that is characterized by the increasing in temperature due to the increasing of the temperature of gases in the atmosphere.

This is very bad for living beings that used to live in cold, warm and hot climates because they can't bear (they can't resist) the high temperatures! Although, the climate change don't only affect directly to living beings, but living beings are also affected indirectly by the reducing of ice where many animals live such as polar bears that need the ice for hunting their aliment (mainly seals).

What's more, we also are affected by the climate change and we observe it in summer, when the temperatures are higher than before.

BIODIVERSITY EXTINCTION

Since many millions of years, dinosaurs don't exist because a big meteorite fell in the Earth.

Nowadays, many species are in danger of extinction and they are more that we think, for example, the polar bear and the cheetah are in danger of extinction.

The main danger of species in danger in extinction are WE, THE HUMANS because we kill them to obtain materials like ivory from elephants or skin from a cheetah. Furthermore, we cut down many trees to build roads or cities! The biodiversity extinction is in our hands!!

This is a theme that we know very well, so can you tell me what of these species are in danger of extinction?

Whale shark - Spider monkey - Robin - Elephant - Hippopotamus - Venomous pit viper

INTRODUCTION OF INVADING SPECIES

Some people that travel around the world, take with them their pets. In some cases, they forget them in the place where they have travelled and that pet can be dangerous for the environment and other living beings.

For example, a girl took her rabbits to an island in the Pacific where no rabbits lived. She forgot her rabbits and they reproduced of an unlimited way because in that island, rabbits were a "foreign" specie and that specie didn't have predators so those rabbits created a plague.

At the moment, there are about 200000 rabbits in that exotic island. It seems like a very estrange thing, but it occurs in many places in the world.

Now, you can tell me other examples of invading species.

There are many more causes of the ecological crisis, but I wanted to centre in these three causes because these are the most interesting!

Finally, I want to put a video that have an objective: to do that all of us work together to save the planet!