Climate Changes Effects on the Ecosystem

            As global warming becomes more of a concern, the climate change’s effect on marine ecosystems is further studied. 

• Warm water can cause a stress response in coral that bleaches the coral and can lead to coral’s death. 
• Coral provides home to about 25% of marine life making it vital to the marine habitat
• Fish have an ideal water temperature in which they thrive.  The location of this temperature may shift in accordance to global warming and climate change.
•  As the water warms and the ice melts, the oceans will experience an increase in sea level also causing organisms to relocate.
• Deeper water makes photosynthesis difficult for algae and offshore plants that are dependent on sunlight for survival. 
• Organisms can lose certain marine plants as a food source.
• Temperature is a biological cue for organisms to reproduce. A change in temperature can cause an imbalance in population growth and survival. 
• The oceans are absorbing the excess carbon dioxide released by human activities and making the water acidic. Acidity makes it difficult for marine species to separate dissolved oxygen from the water making “breathing” for these animals harder.

Research on Climate change

            Climate change is a natural occurrence within the environment, but over the past few decades, the earth’s climate has changed at an abnormal pace. The most widely discussed cause of global warming is the depletion of the atmosphere’s ozone layer. 

• Ozone depletion allows harmful UV rays to reach the surface of the earth increasing the Earth’s temperature. 
• Methane gas, which is released by landfills, waste treatment, and biomass burning, is an additional cause of global warming.
• Man-made emissions of methane are 20 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide.
• Greenhouse gases, which are the biggest cause of global warming, include nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and most notably carbon dioxide.
• According to GlobalWarming.com, 8 billion tons of carbon dioxide emission entered the atmosphere last year.  A portion of this emission is due to volcanic activity and people exhaling, but the Earth is equipped to absorb this small level of carbon dioxide.  The excess carbon dioxide caused by power plants, engines, etc. cannot be absorbed thus negatively affecting the climate. 

Research on Radioactive Waste

Radioactive waste is an ongoing environmental issue that has been discussed by environmentalists since the invention if nuclear power plants. The radioactive waste contains radioactive material that is harmful to the environment and all surrounding inhabitants. The danger of the waste depends on the type of material within the waste. The waste is categorized into multiple categories.

            The most basic of forms is categorized as uranium tailings. This waste is the leftover of processed uranium ore. The content is not always radioactive, but contains harmful materials such as arsenic. The radioactive pieces are not very dangerous, and are usually left out and become safe to handle within a few hours.

            The next category is low-leveled waste. This waste is risky to handle after it is produced. The source of this waste is mainly produced from operations taking place at a factory. After a few hours, days, or weeks, the waste can be handled and dealt with.

            The level not commonly seen is the intermediate-leveled waste. This is not a category seen in the United States. It describes the waste found in a chemical sludge. Some of the waste is more dangerous than the low-leveled waste, but the larger risk is that the waste can stay at a dangerous level for a few years.

            The most dangerous, and sadly the most common form, is the high-leveled waste. This is found in the nuclear reactors. This waste is highly dangerous and can cause radiation poisoning. The waste must be stored away for thousands of years before it will be safe to handle. The waste is usually placed within a mountain, using a complex tunnel system. The mountain will prevent the waste from reaching the inhabitants of the earth.

            The problem is that nuclear power is hard to replace. The power produced from the reactors is very difficult to match with other sources of energy. The waste is harmful, but the power produced is viewed currently to outweigh the dangers. The advantages that nuclear power brings to the world cannot be ignored.

            There are two widely accepted solutions to fix this problem of waste. The first would be to find uses for this "waste". The waste is categorized as waste because we have no use for it. If a use is found, we will finally have some uses of the waste beneficial to humanity. The only other solution would be to slowly move away from nuclear power. Wind and solar power sources are becoming more and more popular. The power they produce can never reach the levels of a nuclear power plant, but it is unsure what kind of power can harnessed if these natural sources of energy are mass-produced.

Research on Thermal Pollution

            Thermal pollution is the change in the temperature of water due to the addition of warmer water into a source of cooler water. This is often the result of industrial plants and factories, typically plans the generate electricity, pumping the water used to cool down their machinery into a near by body of water. Increases in the temperature of the water also occur in streams where shading vegetation along the banks has been removed or where turned up sediments have made the water cloudier. Both the addition of the hot water, lack of shading vegetation, and turned up bottom sediments, makes the water absorb more sunlight, also heating the water.

            The most thermally efficient machines are the one where their input water temperature and the output water temperature vary drastically. To do this cool water from a surrounding area is pumped into a factory or plant. Half the water is left at the normal temperature and the other half is heated so the two temperatures vary greatly. When the water is done being used it is all pumped back into the original water source. Over time, the heated water will change the temperature of the body of water.

            Effects of thermal pollution are thermal shock, changes in dissolved oxygen, and the redistribution of organisms in the body of water being used. Stenothermic organisms adapt to the water temperature and even small changes can ruin the metabolic processes, as well as their reproductive systems, and kill them.

            One of the ways to avoid this is gradually adding the warmer water to a water source. This give the organisms time to either adapt of move away from the source of the heat.

Research on the water crisis

The term Water Crisis refers to the lack of clean water for human use. This problem is persistent in many developing countries. This problem affects the poor who live in slums. Many diseases and many hardships are had due to the bad condition of water systems. Many lack not only water to drink but also plumbing or outhouses compounding the problem.

Causes of the water crisis:

• ·      Overpopulation causes greater demand for water
• ·      Pollution from direct (traceable) sources
• ·      Pollution from indirect (not traceable) sources
• ·      Lack of funding for water filtration plants

Who is affected:

• ·      1/6th of the worlds populations
• ·      2.2 Million die in developing countries
• ·      ½ of people in all hospitals are there for water related issues
• ·      80% of diseases in the developing world are caused by dirty water
• ·      Areas mostly in Africa and Asia are effected

Effects of crisis:

• ·      Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related illness
• ·      People walk for hours a day to get water
• ·      in Africa, an estimated 5% of GDP is lost to illnesses and deaths caused by dirty water
• Many diseases are spread by water