Extractive Industries Mining and oil and gas developments are highly profitable, but if managed poorly, they cause devastating damage to the environment and public health. Those communities nearby extraction sites suffer from erosion, soil and water contamination, and loss of biodiversity. Industrial waste harms the health of workers and local populations. A large percentage of …
Environmental Refugees People whose homes and communities are destroyed by environmental disasters, either natural or man-made, are called environmental refugees. The world is experiencing more refugees from environmental damage than armed conflict. Decades of deforestation and poor soil management, and increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather events impact the ability of people to feed …
Electronic Waste Millions of tons of e-waste, including computers, printers, mobile phones and TVs are shipped to China, India and Africa for disassembling and disposing. Why? Economic efficiency trumps responsibility! it is cheaper to export e-waste than to follow stricter environmental and safety rules at home. Many discarded electronics are nearly new or have fixable …
Culture Loss While many of us are aware of accelerating plant and animal extinctions, few realize that human cultures are disappearing at an even faster pace. Anthropologists predict that half of the world’s spoken languages will disappear within our lifetime; that means one language lost every two weeks! Gone with the languages are stories, songs …
Climate Change Climate change refers to a change in global or regional climate patterns over time. It includes changes in temperature, wind and ocean patterns and precipitation. While the Earth’s climate always has been changing, the recent century has seen the fastest increase of global temperature. According to U.S. National Centers for Environmental Information, 2011–2020 …
Child Labour A chocolate bar often owes its existence to punishing hours of child labour. In Côte d’Ivoire and West Africa, the leading producers of cocoa, as many as 12,000 children are exploited for cocoa farming. Most of them don’t even go to school let alone know the taste of chocolate. All of us should …
Chemicals in Cosmetics In 2016, the cosmetics giant Johnson & Johnson was fined US$72 million to settle with the family of Jacqueline Fox, who died from ovarian cancer, which the family claimed was caused by daily use of Johnson’s talcum-based Baby Power and Shower to Shower products for over 35 years. In the same year, …
Biodiversity “The term biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth at all its levels, from genes to ecosystems, and can encompass the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural processes that sustain life” (American Museum of Natural History). The biodiversity of ecosystems, species and their genetic makeup are vital components of a healthy planet. They provide …
Oceans Oceans cover about two-thirds of the Earth’s surface. They influence our weather and climate and by producing oxygen and consuming carbon dioxide they create the atmosphere in which plants, humans and animals can live. Pollution and mismanagement are quickly changing that. Dramatic increases from burning fossil fuels are affecting ocean currents and temperatures and …
Amphibians Amphibians are a class of cold-blooded vertebrates, including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians. They spend their lives partly in water and partly on land. They must inhabit a moist environment to survive. Amphibians’ bodies are much more sensitive to the environment due to their porous eggs and semipermeable skin, making them extremely susceptible …