Portal:Environment

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Introduction Land management has preserved the natural characteristics of Hopetoun Falls, Australia while allowing ample access for visitors. The natural environment or natural world encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses the interaction of all living species, climate, weather and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity. The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished as components: Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive civilized human intervention, including all vegetation, microorganisms, soil, rocks, atmosphere, and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries and their nature. Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from civilized human actions. In contrast to the natural environment is the built environment. In such areas where humans have fundamentally transformed landscapes such as urban settings and agricultural land conversion, the natural environment is greatly changed into a simplified human environment. Even acts which seem less extreme, such as building a mud hut or a photovoltaic system in the desert, the modified environment becomes an artificial one. Though many animals build things to provide a better environment for themselves, they are not human, hence beaver dams, and the works of mound-building termites, are thought of as natural. People seldom find absolutely natural environments on Earth, and naturalness usually varies in a continuum, from 100% natural in one extreme to 0% natural in the other. More precisely, we can consider the different aspects or components of an environment, and see that their degree of naturalness is not uniform. If, for instance, in an agricultural field, the mineralogic composition and the structure of its soil are similar to those of an undisturbed forest soil, but the structure is quite different. Natural environment is often used as a synonym for habitat, for instance, when we say that the natural environment of giraffes is the savanna. (Full article...) A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale from microscopic to global in extent. It can also be subdivided according to its attributes. Examples include the marine environment, the atmospheric environment and the terrestrial environment. The number of biophysical environments is countless, given that each living organism has its own environment. The term environment can refer to a singular global environment in relation to humanity, or a local biophysical environment, e.g. the UK's Environment Agency. (Full article...) Selected article - Achieving sustainability will enable the Earth to continue supporting life. Sustainability is the capacity to endure in a relatively ongoing way across various domains of life. In the 21st century, it refers generally to the capacity for Earth's biosphere and human civilization to co-exist. It is also defined as the process of people maintaining change in a homeostasis-balanced environment, in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations. For many in the field, sustainability is defined through the following interconnected domains or pillars: environmental, economic and social, which according to Fritjof Capra, is based on the principles of systems thinking. Sub-domains of sustainable development have been considered also: cultural, technological and political. According to Our Common Future, sustainable development is defined as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Sustainable development may be the organizing principle of sustainability, yet others may view the two terms as paradoxical (seeing development as inherently unsustainable). Sustainability can also be defined as a socio-ecological process characterized by the pursuit of a common ideal. An ideal is by definition unattainable in a given time and space. However, by persistently and dynamically approaching it, the process results in a sustainable system. Many environmentalists and ecologists argue that sustainability is achieved through the balance of species and the resources within their environment. As is typically practiced in natural resource management, the goal is to maintain this equilibrium, available resources must not be depleted faster than resources are naturally generated. (Full article...) List of selected articles Global warming Kyoto Protocol Sustainable development Invasive species Renewable energy Urban heat island Food waste in the United Kingdom 100,000-year problem Abyssal plain Leopold Report Global dimming Climate variability and change Tropical cyclone Merchants of Doubt Great Barrier Reef Exelon Pavilions Solar energy Three Gorges Dam Energy in Iceland High-level radioactive waste management Hanford Site Restoration of the Everglades Nissan Leaf Plug-in electric vehicle The World Without Us Retreat of glaciers since 1850 Ecosystem FernGully: The Last Rainforest Indirect land use change impacts of biofuels Agriculture Ecology Nature An Inconvenient Truth Green marketing Patterns in nature Anti-nuclear movement in Australia The Clean Tech Revolution African humid period Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand Climate system Congestion pricing Decline in amphibian populations Environmental threats to the Great Barrier Reef Requiem for a Species Renewable energy in Russia March for Science Portland Jevons paradox Global Climate Coalition Wind power Sea level rise Seacology 1966 New York City smog Conservation of slow lorises Draining and development of the Everglades The World Without Us Did you know - ...that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) can cause ozone depletion, and the ozone hole needs to take more than a decade to recover? ... that Minamata disease was caused by mercury poisoning due to pollution drained into Minamata Bay in Japan? ...that in 2004, the worldwide energy consumption of the human race was 15 TW (= 1.5 x 1013 W) with 86.5% from burning fossil fuel? ... that each year in 22,500 cemeteries across the United States approximately 30 million board feet (70,000 m³) of hardwoods are buried as caskets? ... that the Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center was originally housed in a Cincinnati mansion built around 1815? Selected image - Mai Po Marshes is a nature reserve in Hong Kong. It is managed by World Wide Fund for Nature. The marshes have an area of about 1800 acres and is listed as a Ramsar site under Ramsar Convention in 1995. It provides a conservation area for mammals, reptiles, insects, and over 350 kinds of birds (including Saunders's Gull and a quarter of world's Black-faced Spoonbill population). It also has inter-tidal mangroves along with 24 traditionally operated shrimp ponds (called Gei Wai locally) to provide food for the birds. It receives 40,000 visitors annually. Current events April 21: European Union to reduce carbon emissions by 55% of 1990 levels by 2030 November 27: Wikinews interviews Craig Farquharson, Liberal Democrat candidate for 2020 Groom by-election November 26: Wikinews interviews Sandra Jephcott, Sustainable Australia candidate for 2020 Groom by-election December 12: Greta Thunberg named 2019 Time Person of the Year Selected biography - Thunberg in March 2020 Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (Swedish: [ˈɡrêːta ˈtʉ̂ːnbærj] (listen); born 3 January 2003) is a Swedish environmental activist who is internationally known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation. Thunberg initially gained notice for her youth and her straightforward speaking manner, both in public and to political leaders and assemblies, in which she criticises world leaders for their failure to take what she considers sufficient action to address the climate crisis. Thunberg's activism started after persuading her parents to adopt several lifestyle choices to reduce their own carbon footprint. In August 2018, at age 15, she started spending her school days outside the Swedish Parliament to call for stronger action on climate change by holding up a sign reading Skolstrejk för klimatet (School strike for climate). Soon other students engaged in similar protests in their own communities. Together they organised a school climate strike movement under the name Fridays for Future. After Thunberg addressed the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference, student strikes took place every week somewhere in the world. In 2019, there were multiple coordinated multi-city protests involving over a million students each. To avoid flying, Thunberg sailed to North America where she attended the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit. Her speech there, in which she exclaimed "how dare you", was widely taken up by the press and incorporated into music. (Full article...) List of selected biographies David Suzuki Rachel Carson John Muir Al Gore Marjory Stoneman Douglas Ernst Haeckel Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford David Attenborough June Haimoff Jonathon Porritt Chico Mendes Arne Næss George Monbiot Gro Harlem Brundtland Paul R. Ehrlich Buckminster Fuller Donella Meadows Amory Lovins Elinor Ostrom Wangari Maathai James Bernard Harkin Lester R. Brown Gary Varner Clare Palmer Carol Browner Robert Sterling Yard Mauricio González-Gordon y Díez Bob Marshall (wilderness activist) Selected organization - Logo of Greenpeace Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over 55 countries and an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Greenpeace was founded in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, Canadian and US expat environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity" and focuses its campaigning on worldwide issues such as climate change, deforestation, overfishing, commercial whaling, genetic engineering, and anti-nuclear issues. It uses direct action, lobbying, research, and ecotage to achieve its goals. The global organization does not accept funding from governments, corporations, or political parties, relying on three million individual supporters and foundation grants. Greenpeace has a general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and is a founding member of the INGO Accountability Charter, an international non-governmental organization that intends to foster accountability and transparency of non-governmental organizations. Greenpeace is known for its direct actions and has been described as one of the most visible environmental organisations in the world. It has raised environmental issues to public knowledge, and influenced both the private and the public sector. The organization has received criticism; it was the subject of an open letter from more than 100 Nobel laureates urging Greenpeace to end its campaign against genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The organization's direct actions have sparked legal actions against Greenpeace activists, such as fines and suspended sentences for destroying a test plot of genetically modified wheat and damaging the Nazca Lines, a UN World Heritage site in Peru. Along with several other NGOs, Greenpeace was the subject of an improper investigation by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation between 2001 and 2005. The Inspector General of the US Justice Department determined that there was "little or no basis" for the investigation and that it resulted in the FBI giving inaccurate and misleading information to the United States Congress. (Full article...) List of selected organizations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Brundtland Commission The Nature Conservancy International Union for Conservation of Nature World Wide Fund for Nature The Wildlife Trusts Green Party of Canada Sierra Club General images The following are images from various environment-related articles on Wikipedia. The Forest Landscape Integrity Index measures global anthropogenic modification on remaining forests annually. 0 = Most modification; 10= Least. WWF terrestrial ecoregions Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World (Olson et al. 2001, BioScience) Environmental science examines the effects of humans on nature, such as the Glen Canyon Dam in the United States Ibex in an alpine habitat Wetland habitats in Borneo Proportion of forest area by forest area density class and global ecological zone, 2015, from Food and Agriculture Organization publication The State of the World's Forests 2020. Forests, biodiversity and people – In brief Dense mass of white crabs at a hydrothermal vent, with stalked barnacles on right An Antarctic rock split apart to show endolithic lifeforms showing as a green layer a few millimeters thick A conifer forest in the Swiss Alps (National Park). Biomes of the world This coral reef in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area provides rich habitats for marine life Loch Lomond in Scotland forms a relatively isolated ecosystem. The fish community of this lake has remained stable over a long period until a number of introductions in the 1970s restructured its food web. Biological nitrogen cycling Biodiversity of a coral reef. Corals adapt and modify their environment by forming calcium carbonate skeletons. This provides growing conditions for future generations and forms a habitat for many other species. Rich rainforest habitat in Dominica Flora of Baja California Desert, Cataviña region, Mexico Desert scene in Egypt Few creatures make the ice shelves of Antarctica their habitat, but water beneath the ice can provide rich habitats for multiple species Rainforest ecosystems are rich in biodiversity. This is the Gambia River in Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park. A map of the Amazon rainforest ecoregions. The yellow line encloses the ecoregions per the World Wide Fund for Nature. The High Peaks Wilderness Area in the 6,000,000-acre (2,400,000 ha) Adirondack Park is an example of a diverse ecosystem. A freshwater lake in Gran Canaria, an island of the Canary Islands. Clear boundaries make lakes convenient to study using an ecosystem approach. A map of North America's bioregions Decompositional sequence of a pig carcass The Amazon River in Brazil. View of Earth, taken in 1972 by the Apollo 17 crew. Approximately 71% of Earth's surface (an area of some 361 million square kilometers) consists of ocean Twenty five years after the devastating eruption at Mount St. Helens, United States, pioneer species have moved in. Blue Marble composite images generated by NASA in 2001 (left) and 2002 (right) Spiny forest at Ifaty, Madagascar, featuring various Adansonia (baobab) species, Alluaudia procera (Madagascar ocotillo) and other vegetation. The Ötztal Alps, a mountain range in the central Alps of Europe, are part of the Central Eastern Alps, and can both be termed as ecoregions. The Earth's atmosphere Global oceanic and terrestrial phototroph abundance, from September 1997 to August 2000. As an estimate of autotroph biomass, it is only a rough indicator of primary production potential and not an actual estimate of it. Selected quote - Main topics Natural environment Acid rain Biodiversity Climate change Conservation Deforestation Desertification Ecosystem Environmental economics Environmental law Environmental policy Environmental science Environmentalism Environmental technology Global warming Greenhouse gas Green Politics Lists (Books, Dates, Issues) Ozone depletion Recycling Renewable energy Soil retrogression and degradation Sustainable development Waste management Related articles Things you can do This list is transcluded from the tasks list page. To edit the list, click here Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : Article requests can be posted at: Natural sciences requests page, Create articles for red-links at Vertical kiln, Geoecology, Environmental behavior, Environmental perception, Environmental writing. Copyedit : Ecosystem management Expand : Environmentalist, Environment (biophysical), Environment minister, Environmental studies, Habitat, Micro-sustainability, Built environment Maintain : Environment pages needing attention, 2021 in the environment and environmental sciences NPOV : DDT (see Talk:DDT), Energy development, Hydraulic fracturing Photo : Environmental chemistry Stubs : Stub categories: Environment, Environmental organizations, International development, Renewable energy, Sustainability, Waste, Water supply, More... Update : Ecosystem management, Renewable energy transition, List of highly toxic gases Verify : Appropriate technology, Biosphere, Environmental economics, Environmental engineering, Environmental ethics, Environmental movement, Environmental science, Natural environment, Pollution, Sustainable agriculture Other : * Articles needing expert attention: International development. 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