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Transcript
Introduction to Environmental Engineering Seminars (1) Human Activity and Environmental Stress, Sustainable development and environmental sustainability. “Despite the artistic pretensions, sophistication and many accomplishments oh humankind, we owe our very existence to a six inch layer of soil and the fact that it rains” - anonymous Human Activity and the Environment Stress-Response Environmental Statistical System (STRESS) • Stressors – Natural Sources – Harvesting – Extraction and Depletion of Non-Renewable Resources – Environmental Restructuring – Generation of Waste Residuals – Population Extraction and Depletion of Non-Renewable Resources • Metals and Non-metallic Minerals • Fossil Fuels Environmental Restructuring • • • • Land Use and Land Conversion Restructuring of Water Systems Transportation Networks Resource Development Generation of Waste Residuals • • • • • Mining Manufacturing Thermal Energy Generation Transportation Activity Household Consumption and Municipal Wastes Elements of the Environmental Engineering Program • Water and Wastewater Treatment • Air Pollution Control • Solid and Hazardous Waste Management • Groundwater and Soil Pollution • Environmental Impact Assessment Climate Change Deniz Karman Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Carleton University The atmospheric greenhouse effect • If there was no water vapour or carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the average surface temperature would be 33 C cooler, we would not be able to survive on the face of the planet. • Of this greenhouse effect of 33 degrees, 28 C due to water vapour 5 C due to carbon dioxide The Challenge of Stabilization of Atmospheric Concentrations of Carbon Dioxide • If governments decide to stabilize the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide at 550ppm (about twice the pre-industrial level), global emissions would have to peak by about 2025 and fall below current levels by 2040 to 2070. • This would mean that all regions would have to deviate from most “business-as-usual”scenarios within a few decades • Climate change is one of the most significant environmental challenges the world has ever faced • The buildup of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere is the main factor for climate change and is due to human activity (burning fossil fuels)