The  Internet's Impacts on

the environment

      We are all becoming increasingly dependent on the internet as technology continues to rapidly develop. Whether it be on our computer, tablet, or TV the accessibility of the internet has allowed all information to be within our reach. You may be wondering why is this under the  "environmental global concerns" tab. This is because the internet is now used everywhere and we are so dependent on it that our economy would collapse without it.

     So let's begin our discussion on the environmental impacts of the devices and the internet. The cooling systems in devices to make sure they do not overheat can emit pollutants through CO2 emissions into the environment. Data centers themselves can ‘consume up to 100 times more energy than a standard office building.’ (Cho, Chang, Jung, & Yoon, 2017). But it isn't just the internet's impacts now that are bad; it is also the potential environmental repercussions that could result in the future. As written in an Ari Howard's allconnect article, "According to The New Republic, the internet will generate 20% of the world’s carbon emissions by 2030 if we continue to use it at its current rate. This would put the internet right behind the U.S., China and India for greatest environmental impact. " Howard also writes in her article streaming one hour of Netflix each week consumes more energy annually than the output of two new refrigerators. For most of us Netflix is a commodity, yet it is doing so much more harm than we think.

     BBC's Smart Guide to Climate Change states, “​​Although the energy needed for a single internet search or email is small, approximately 4.1 billion people, or 53.6% of the global population, now use the internet. Those scraps of energy, and the associated greenhouse gases emitted with each online activity, can add up.”

     Everybody uses the internet but not many people know that it has dire environmental effects. Spreading awareness of this issue is the first step out of many we can take to increase publicity of this issue. Because we are overly dependent on our devices and the internet, we can aim to prevent this problem from growing by encouraging computer scientists and engineers to better the internet's sustainable functions. We could also limit this problem by slowing down our internet speeds and by trying to use it fewer times everyday. It is our decision whether we take the initiative to make the change or the effects take control of us.

                                                                                                                           Special thanks to allconnect for the information needed for this short article, statistics, and image below. Article HERE

A Major positive feedback looP: the

amplification of Natural Disasters

   Most of us probably know some of the problems that climate change can cause. Most of us have even directly experienced the repercussions of human-induced, accelerated climate change. This write-up gives a broad overview of the amplification of natural disasters.
    What are some common thoughts that pop up when you hear the word "natural disaster"? A natural disaster is, like its name, a natural event that can induce harm and hardships. Some examples include wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, droughts, heat waves, and active volcanic eruptions.
   Climate change is greatly affecting the strength, predictability, and frequency of natural disasters. For example, in southeastern North Carolina where I live hurricanes are frequent during "hurricane months" from August to October. However, they are becoming more unpredictable and even more dangerous. In 2018, Hurricane Florence hit the Carolinas and lingered for days causing great property damage, split trees, and deaths. The costs from this single hurricane was 24 billion dollars. Hurricanes also hit in 2019 and 2020 at a much less extent. However, Hurricane Dorian that hit in 2019, had peaked as a Category 5 hurricane in the ocean, a rare occurrence that had only happened once before.
  Although North Carolina has always dealt with hurricanes, weather reports are becoming much less predictable of future forecasts. Climate change results in changing ocean temperatures, currents, and other abiotic factors many times facilitating the formation of hurricanes. Wind gusts have the potential to become much stronger thereby contributing to greater hurricane categories.
  This pattern that we have discussed in the extensive example of hurricanes is called a positive feedback loop, where change continues to be amplified. Climate change has caused many positive feedback loops with negative implications. Here is another positive feedback loop example with overfishing: fishing too much --> no fish --> collapse of the food web --> eutrophication --> hypoxia. From something as simple as fishing too can eventually lead to hypoxia or oxygen deficiency in an ecosystem.
 Natural disasters are inevitable. However as we continue to accelerate climate change they will continue to get more unpredictable with potential problems lurking in the future.

For more information on preventing natural disasters: https://www.nap.edu/read/1840/chapter/6

 biodiversity's continuing decrease

Throughout the world there are many regions that had once been perfect that have now been destroyed by humans. As a result of humans' increasing power, activities throughout the world continue to increase without thinking of the harm it may do to the environment. Many species are going on the list of endangered or extinct because of the destruction we, humans, are causing to the environment. Although Charles Darwin did state that evolution would be a result of survival of the fittest, because of the drastic changes we are causing to the environment many species that would be able to evolve, cannot. Therefore we are having a loss in biodiversity. Biodiversity is what makes life on Earth one-of-a-kind. Biodiversity is also needed for ecosystems and niches to thrive. Losing biodiversity will lack an ecological balance, which in turn will end up resulting in a more unhealthy environment for all living organisms including us. We can identify how the overall biodiversity of a community is by identifying how many keystone species there are, what the species richness/eveness is. A special formula called the Simpson's Biodiversity Index can also be used for a more mathematical biodiversity calculation.

Link about the  Simpson's Biodiversity Index: https://geographyfieldwork.com/Simpson%27sDiversityIndex.htm

Also check out the European Commission Environment to learn why we need to protect our biodiversity. 

The recorded information session from the Zoom Webinars on this topic is below:

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 Global Warming

 Global warming is a problem that continues to become greater and greater everyday. As we industrialize and innovate we are constantly assisting in the rise of temperatures throughout the world. Global warming happens when CO2 (carbon dioxide), air pollutants, and greenhouse gases collect in our atmosphere which absorbs solar radiation and sunlight that bounce off of Earth's surface. This means that heat gets trapped in within our planet causing the planet to get more hot which is also known as the greenhouse effect. Burning of fossil fuels and the transportation sector are two of the largest sources of carbon pollution and global warming. Because of global warming our ice caps in turn are also melting. This adds to the rising ocean sea levels which in turn forces those living on the coasts to move more inland. In Arctic area, the permafrost is also melting due to global warming. This leads to release of methane and other hydrocarbons which further speed up the rate of global warming.

The rate of global warming continues to get quicker and quicker. Animals are migrating to different locations, and the geography of places is also changing. It is solely up to us to change this vicious cycle. *Please note that many times global warming and climate change are mixed up interchangeably. However, climate change technically refers to changing climatic conditions in general while global warming focuses on one aspect: the warming of the planet.

The recorded information session from the Zoom Webinars on this topic is below:

Information courtesy of NRDC

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 infrastructural development

Although many of us have heard of common environmental issues such as climate change, deforestation, and loss of biodiversity there are many major issues within these branches that are equally important. One of these important sub-topics is infrastructural development. This involves building roads, rail, metal building structures, transmission lines, and even dams. Infrastructural development has many environmental consequences related to it. Infrastructural development can lead to deforestation as a result of the clearing up of lands. It can also contribute to biodiversity loss by disrupting the native ecosystems. Infrastructural developments also encompasses the production of metals and steels. These productions have numerous consequences including the emission 31 percent of the 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases each year (Bill Gates, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster). So by now you can probably see the numerous consequences as a result of extensive infrastructural development which is why we need to either industrialize less (not feasible) or development more sustainable infrastructural developments. These are just some of the problems related to infrastructural development but please feel free to continue to explore this topic if you are interested by it and think you can impact this issue. HERE is one of the many source available to learn about infrastructure's impacts on the environment.

Deforestation: We Need our trees

Trees are essential to our planet and us in many ways.

Here are some examples:

• Trees give us the oxygen we need to breathe
• They reduce the amount of storm water runoff which helps reduce erosion 
• Many species of wildlife have their habitats in trees
• Trees improve our air quality and filters harmful chemicals

Trees also have many other benefits not just environmentally but economically, socially, communally. 

Deforestation happens as a result of the human greed. The want of agricultural expansion, wood extraction, and infrastructure expansion has led to acres upon acres of trees that have been cut down. Deforestation is also a very large carbon emitter. This is an issue that although we have started it, we can end it. 

                                                The recorded information session from the Zoom Webinars on this topic is below:
                                                                                                                                                             Information courtesy of TreePeople and Canopy. 

Courtesy of National Geographic

The ozone layer destruction

Our use of chloroflorocarbons and halons, the substances found in aerosols and refrigerants, is the main cause of the destruction of the ozone layer. You might be wondering about what the purpose of the ozone layer is and why it is so crucial to us. The ozone layer sits in the atmosphere and absorbs ultraviolet radiation, a type of radiation that comes from the sun which is harmful to not only humans but also animals and plants. Ultraviolet, or more commonly known as, UV radiation cannot be seen or felt but they still are very powerful and potential of causing genetic mutations in organisms. This is the main reason why ozone destruction is concerning, it will play a major factor on our health and well-being. The ozone layer continues to deplete and has now even formed an ozone hole in the atmosphere. Chloroflorocarbons and halons can remain in the atmosphere anywhere from ten to one hundred years. This ozone layer problem is another issue that is only up to us to change. If we stop the release of cholorflorocarbons and halons, the ozone layer will eventually be able to recover. 

The recorded information session from the Zoom Webinars on this topic is below:

Information courtesy of Union of Concerned Scientists

The plastic Problem

Plastic, is the most common manufactured item on this planet. Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year. 8 million of these tons are dumped into oceans every year. 50% of this is for single-use purposes. Used just for a few moments, plastic can last on the planet for a minimum of several hundred years. Plastic is not just staying on the environment but it is also harming much of the wildlife on the planet. Many animals such as sea turtles think that the plastic is food, which they eat and as a result can kill them. Microplastics are also a major concern for our environment as a lot of the time we cannot see the impacts it has on our environment. The image on the bottom right shows what microplastics look like. There is already an immense amount of plastic in our oceans, on the side of the road, and almost anywhere you can imagine. We cannot clean up all the plastic but going into the future we can be more eco-friendly and conscious of how much plastic we use on a daily basis. Stop Ocean Plastics is a great link to learn about what people are already doing to stop this problem. 

Information courtesy of Environmental Health News and condor Ferries

​population Growth
and urban sprawl

        Many of you may be thinking that what harm is there in population growth? The rapidly increasing population growth globally has numerous benefits including scarcity of resources, less space of land, less space for other wildlife to live, and a continuous increase of other global concerns such as global warming and ocean acidification. Basically, what I am trying to say is that with over-controlled population growth not only will life become harder for us and other species but it will also worsen the other global concerns already mentioned on this page. The only way to control this problem is to lessen or put a limit on the amount of offspring that parents can have. Still, although this is a major problem it has major ethical concerns. Is it ethical to put a limit on offspring? Is it ethical to take away the freedom from parents for the amount of kids that they can have? This opinion may differ from family to family. India and China are the top two leading countries in population. Both of them are in the billions and there are numerous problems that have been caused by this unbelievably high number. 

      Urban sprawl is the widespread development outside cities onto undeveloped land. It basically is the continuous increase of city size and is a process that does not stop. You may be wondering, what is the environmental harm in urban sprawl. Urban sprawling leads to increased need of automobiles, high energy, and water use. In many instances homes and workplaces are moderately spread out which creates a lot of traffic throughout the cities and suburbs. Urban sprawls can also worsen air, be a threat to groundwater supplies, lead to a high pollution runoff, and lead to increase flooding. For native species, urban sprawl can also lead to loss of biodiversity (another concern listed on this page) and loss of habitat for native species. This is a problem that will take a lot of community effort and time to stop, but if you live and work in a suburban area be sure to also know urban sprawl health risks.

                                                                   Want to learn more about urban sprawls: Click here

Information courtesy of Tox Town, NIH, and U.S. National Library of Medicine

Ocean Acidification: Another

problem ​Involving co2

In the reading on climate change we have already seen CO2's impact on climate change. CO2 also plays an infamous role in ocean acidification. Still, we are, similarly to the other issues, the root cause for ocean acidification. As mentioned in the climate change reading, as we continue to industrialize and innovate, more and more CO2 continues to be released into the atmosphere. Oceans come to be impacted by this because as the atmosphere CO2 increases so does the CO2 of oceans around the world. When hydrogen ions form from the chemical reaction of CO2 and seawater, the pH of the ocean starts to decrease, which ultimately means the ocean becomes more acidic. This is the nutshell of ocean acidification. If we reduce our carbon emissions, this is also a problem we can potentially stop. 

This here is the exact process of ocean acidification when CO2 enters the ocean provided by the National Park Service: 
When CO2 enters the ocean it reacts with sea water and forms carbonic acid (H2Co3). Carbonic acid is a weak acid which separates or dissociates into a hydrogen ion (H+) and a bicarbonate ion (HCO3-). Scientists use the pH scale to measure the amount of hydrogen ions in a substance because hydrogen ions determine the acidity of a substance. When there are more hydrogen ions in a substance, then it is acidic and has a lower pH (1-6 on pH scale). When there are less hydrogen ions in a substance, then it is basic and has a higher pH (8-14 on pH scale). A pH of 7 is neutral, neither acidic nor basic.
Information courtesy of the National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior.

Food Production: A global problem?

 As human population and serving sizes continue to increase so does the production of food. Food production is crucial to our survival and to ensure that food supply never runs out techniques such as genetic modification and hormones (for animals) are used. On techniques such as these not only are there major ethical problems but there are major environmental impacts. These means of food production contribute to issues such as climate change, quick eutrophication, acid rain, and also the depletion of diversity. Food production leads to much waste and piling in the landfill as 30-40% of all food in the United States ends up in waste. Problems such as these are not heavily focused topics because many people do not know about the behind-the-scenes issues of food production.
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Want to learn more about Food Production Issues? Click here
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billion tons of food is produced each year in the United States
Information courtesy of LukeFi,

                                          The recorded information session from the Zoom Webinars on this topic is below:

Household and industrial waste

You may be wondering how is household and industrial waste different from other types of wastes. You may also be wondering why are these types of wastes so important for us to learn about and realize the harmful effects. Firstly, household and industrial waste is the leading waste type compared to all other wastes. For your house think about how often your throwing stuff away, discarding items you don't need, and other such activities. After all the average American person throws away 4.40 tons of trash each year; just think about how many people there are and how quickly that can add up. On top of this some items such as paints, cleaners, oils, and batteries need to be disposed properly otherwise they can create problems that are hazardous and potentially fatal. Industrial waste is no better; United States industries on average product 236 million tons of waste annually. 10 million of these tons are toxic chemicals that are seriously taking a toll on our environment. Want to learn more about industrial waste? Click here.

Information courtesy of the Environmental Protection Agency.

INVASIVE SPECIES

You have probably heard of invasive species before and are wondering why they are such a problem. Just like their name invasive species are "invasive" and can disrupt the habitat of the native species that are vital to the ecosystem.  Invasive species are also considered "invasive" due to their excessively high overabundance. A lot of the invasive species today are spread by human activities both intentionally and unintentionally. Many invasive species  are also brought overseas by boat.

 There are way too many invasive species but some of the most invasive ones according to Earth Rangers include:
1. Asian Carp
2. Zebra Mussel
3. Cane Toad
4. European Starling
5. The European/Common Rabit
6. Kudzu
7. Asian Long-Horned Beetle
8. Small Indian Mongoose
9. Northern Pacific Seastar
10. Water Hyacinth
You can learn more about these specific invasive species by clicking HERE
Who knows, there may be some invasive species in your backyard. Do a little research to learn more about them and check out the "Action for the Environment" tab to learn more about preventive measure you can take to stop the spread of invasive species. 

Noise Pollution

Have you heard of the term noise pollution before? If you haven't, it is basically just pollution created by noise. You may be thinking, noise is definitely annoying but how is it harmful for the environment? Well the truth is that noise is that noise levels over 70 dB are harmful both for us and other animals in the environment. This is because excessive exposure to loud nose can cause stress, high blood pressure, heart disease, and sleep disturbances. These side-effects are the same for animals too. In areas where noise pollution is high, noise pollution can mask communication amongst certain animal species. Every corner you turn it is probable that you can find some source of noise pollution whether it be your car or an industrial factory in the distance. Hopefully, by now, I have convinced you that noise pollution is a direct problem both for us and other animal species. It is also very likely that noise pollution will become more of a problem in the future due to continued population growth and increasing technology.

There are many ways we can do our part to decrease noise pollution. Check the "Action for the Environment" tab to learn what you can do.

    The recorded information session from the Zoom Webinars on this topic is below:

Email me at sheelpatelnc@gmail.com if you have ideas for more global concerns to write about.

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