Geography and Environmental Science: Sustainability and Climate Change

This geography assignment explores key concepts in sustainability and environmental science. It defines global warming and climate change, explaining the greenhouse effect and greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and ozone. The assignment covers fossil fuels, renewable energy sources (solar, wind, hydroelectricity), and different types of pollution. It also discusses carbon footprints, carbon-neutral activities, and ecotourism. Furthermore, the assignment examines deforestation, water resources, and the roles of NGOs and UNWTO. It lists the top polluting countries and countries utilizing solar and wind energy. The assignment also provides definitions of ecosystems and highlights major environmental agreements, including the Geneva Convention, Kyoto Protocol, Paris Agreement, and UNECE Protocol. Finally, it mentions countries setting fossil-free energy targets and the role of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in regulating greenhouse gases. The assignment concludes with a list of references for further study.

Running Head: GEOGRAPHY 0
SUSTAINABILITY

GEOGRAPHY 1
1) In global warming, there is an increase in global temperature because of aggregating
concentrations of greenhouse gases in the environment. On other hand, climate
change can be termed as rising alterations in measures of climate comprising wind
patterns, temperature and precipitation over a long period of time.
2) In upper atmosphere of the Earth, there is a natural layer of gas protecting all living
beings from destructive ultraviolet radiations from the sun. This natural layer is called
as ozone layer. Moreover, the phasing out from ozone-depleting substances (ODS)
benefit the environment with fighting various aspects of climate change
(Ravishankara, Daniel & Portmann,2009).
3) The interchange of incoming and outgoing radiation by which the Earth is warmed
and often termed to as the greenhouse effect as it functions in much the similar
approach. When the Sun’s energy extents Earth’s environment, some of its imitated
back to universe and the rest is absorbed and re-radiated by greenhouse gases.
4) Infrared heat energy is trapped by greenhouse gases in the environment. In this
procedure, they increase the temperature of the lower atmosphere and the Earth's
surface in relation to it. The three common greenhouse gases are – Carbon dioxide,
Methane and Ozone. In atmosphere, the most destructive gases considered to be as
Carbon Dioxide.
5) Fossil fuels are developed over centuries from the fossils or residues of dead animals
and plants that were submerged under dirt and rock (Shafiee & Topal, 2009). Oil,
Coal and natural gases are the three major forms of fossil fuels. All they developed
over centuries during the phase of dinosaurs.
6) In natural way, renewable energy sources are continuously replenished. They are also
beneficial as they have a limited negative environmental impact in comparison with
fossil fuels. The three most common renewable sources are – Solar energy, wind
power and hydroelectricity.
7) Pollution is the process of making water, land, air and other natural aspects of
environment dirty, unsafe and not suitable to use. The four sorts of pollution are –
water pollution, land pollution, water pollution and soil pollution.
8) A carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases primarily CO2 that is released to
environment by a specific human activity (Wiedmann et al, 2010). For measuring of
carbon footprints, it is needed to be calculated as tons of CO2 emitted annually, a
number that can be supplemented by tons of CO2 – equivalent gases, including nitrous
oxide, methane and other greenhouse gases.

GEOGRAPHY 2
9) Carbon neutral activity includes zero carbon footprint. Some actions that generate
more greenhouse gases are often connected with others reduces the level of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere like changing land, overgrowing trees. This also
implies carbon offsetting, an activity or products that can be offered as ‘carbon
neutral’.
10) Ecotourism, a movement that began to take shape back in 1980s, is defined by a
variety of travel practices and a part of environmental conservation. Ecotourism is
also related with gaining and grabbing more information about cities history and
conserving ancient landmarks.
11) The countries that have largest forest/tree coverage in the world are – Russia (45.40%
per cent of country land), Brazil, Canada, United States, China, Australia, Congo and
India.
12) Deforestation is the large-scale removal of trees in forest. The cause of such removal
includes agriculture, roads and urban development. Deforestation negatively harms
the atmosphere and environment causing land and soil damages and also leads to
displacing of animals and plants rely on ecosystem created by forests (Malhi et al,
2008). Moreover, it also leads to more greenhouses gases to be released in
atmosphere, as they constitute major parts in the carbon cycle.
13) Around 71 per cent of earth surface is covered with water.97 per cent of water is salty
and found in oceans whereas 3 per cent constitutes as fresh water. Brazil has the
highest volume of renewable freshwater resources.
14) NGO stands for non-government organisation, a citizen-based group that functions
independently of government. The profits they earned from economic activities are
reinvested again in non-profit activities. On the other hand, UNWTO stands for The
World Tourism Organisation. This organisation is responsible for the embracement of
sustainable, responsible, and commonly accessible tourism. They also constitute a
concrete basis of tourism knowledge.
15) The list of top five most polluting countries includes – China (30%), United States
(15%). India (7%), Russia (5%) and Japan (4%) (Rong, 2010). (Bhattacharya et al,
2016)
16) The top five countries use solar energy are – China, Japan, Germany, USA and Italy.
The top five countries use wind energy are – China, United States, Germany, Spain
and India.

GEOGRAPHY 3
17) An ecosystem is often a term used in biology, includes set of species in given area
that interact among themselves with the help of various processes such as
competition, parasitism, predation and with various other cycles. In terms of other
definition, it also includes all of the living things (animals, plants and organism) in a
given area that interacts with each other including non-living environment that
surrounds the living things.
18) The four most commonly cited Environmental Agreements signed by the majority of
countries are –
 1979 Geneva Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution
 Kyoto Protocol (1997)
 Paris Agreement (2016)
 UNECE Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment (Protocol on SEA,
2003 (Byrne, 2015).
The most prominent point in each of the agreement is related to greenhouse gases, carbon
footprints, causes of global warming and pollution.
19) Germany, Spain, Brazil and United States are the four countries set most aggressive
targets for being fossil-free energy with help of some innovative ideas for the next
few years (Oroschakoff, 2018).
20) The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began regulating
greenhouse gases (GHGs) under the Clean Air Act like carbon dioxide (CO2),
methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and hydrofluorocarbons.

GEOGRAPHY 4
References
Bhattacharya, M., Paramati, S. R., Ozturk, I., & Bhattacharya, S. (2016). The effect of
renewable energy consumption on economic growth: Evidence from top 38
countries. Applied Energy, 162(1), 733-741.
Byrne, A. (2015). The 1979 convention on long-range transboundary air pollution: assessing
its effectiveness as a multilateral environmental regime after 35 years. Transnational
Environmental Law, 4(1), 37-67.
Malhi, Y., Roberts, J. T., Betts, R. A., Killeen, T. J., Li, W., & Nobre, C. A. (2008). Climate
change, deforestation, and the fate of the Amazon. science, 319(5860), 169-172.
Oroschakoff, k. (2018). Paris is burning. Retrieved from:
https://www.politico.eu/article/cop24-paris-climate-deal-is-burning-cop24-summit-
global-warming/
Ravishankara, A. R., Daniel, J. S., & Portmann, R. W. (2009). Nitrous oxide (N2O): the
dominant ozone-depleting substance emitted in the 21st century. science, 326(5949),
123-125.
Rong, F. (2010). Understanding developing country stances on post-2012 climate change
negotiations: Comparative analysis of Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South
Africa. Energy policy, 38(8), 4582-4591.
Shafiee, S., & Topal, E. (2009). When will fossil fuel reserves be diminished?. Energy
policy, 37(1), 181-189.
Wiedmann, T., Wood, R., Minx, J. C., Lenzen, M., Guan, D., & Harris, R. (2010). A carbon
footprint time series of the UK–results from a multi-region input–output
model. Economic systems research, 22(1), 19-42.