Introducing the environment: Ecology and ecosystems
What is ecology and why is it important to our understanding of the world around us? This free course, Introducing the environment: Ecology and ecosystems, looks at how we can study ecosystems to explore the effect that humans are having on the environment.
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Introduction This course provides an introduction to global warming. We will be considering the history of global warming by looking at the pattern of ice ages and analysis of recorded temperatures. We will aim to gather meaningful information from this data. We will briefly assess the impact and influence of humans on global warming and, finally, we will examine climate models and how to predict future changes. This OpenLearn course provides a sample of postgraduate study in Author(s):
Earth's physical resources: petroleum
The discovery of the world's first major underground oil field in Pennsylvania, USA in 1859 sparked the continuing era of the world's reliance on cheap energy from oil and gas. This free course, Earth's physical resources: petroleum, begins by examining the geological characteristics of petroleum and the key ingredients necessary to form oil and gas accumulations. Then there is a brief description of industrial operations during the life cycle of an oil field, starting with subsurface analysis a
Effects of pollutants on the aquatic environment
Effects of pollutants on the aquatic environment is a free course. It begins with an introduction to water and goes on to briefly outline the major sources of water pollution (these being sewage works, manufacturing and industrial plants, the farming and animal husbandry sectors, landfill sites and urban surface water run-off). It considers the major water pollutants and describes the effects they have on water.
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2.7 Summary Reconstructions based on direct temperature measurements (back to 1860) and proxy data (Box 7) reveal that the Earth's GMST varies naturally on many different time-scales: from year-to-year, over periods of several decades and, in the longer term, according to the roughly 100 000-year rhythm of glacial/interglacial cycles. The past 10 000 years has been marked by the relatively stable global climate of the present interglacial (the Holocene).
2.6.2 The role of modelling studies State-of-the-art models are designed to simulate the workings of the climate system (in so far as this is currently understood), and include the 'internal' interactions that generate short-term natural variability in the real world. They provide modellers with a means of carrying out 'virtual' experiments on the climate system. In the present context, an important aim of these experiments is to identify the 'signal' of a human influence on climate, so studies typically involve 'feeding' into
2.2 Records of the Earth's temperature To put the temperature records reported by the IPCC in context, we start with a longer-term geological perspective on the Earth's GMST.
2.1 Preamble Here are some quotes from the 'Summary for Policymakers' (SPM) included in the report from the scientific working group in the IPCC TAR (IPCC, 2001a): The Earth's climate system has demonstrably changed on both global and regional scales since the pre-industrial era, with some of these changes attributable to human activities. Globally, it is very likely that the 1990s was the warmest decade and 1998 the warmest year in the instrumental
1.8 End of section questions Information on the different albedos of various types of surface was given in Author(s): 1.1 Introduction At the beginning of the 21st century, terms such as the 'greenhouse effect', 'greenhouse gases' and 'greenhouse warming' are printed or spoken thousands of times a week in the context of climate change caused by human activities. This section is designed to consolidate your understanding of the basic science behind these terms, and then to review what is known about the human impact on the composition of the atmosphere since the dawn of the industrial age, commonly put (in this context) at ar 2.2 Environmental pragmatism: positioning expert support I believe that the principal task for an environmental pragmatism is not to reengage the … debates in environmental ethics but rather to impress upon environmental philosophers the need to take up the largely empirical question of what morally motivates humans to change their attitudes, behaviours, and policy preferences toward those more supportive of long-term environmental sustainability. (Light, 2002, p. 446) 1.1 Framing nature using language tools By framing, I mean the structures and pre-assumptions that we consciously or unconsciously apply to a situation in order to make sense of it. So are there any differences between the way in which we frame nature in caring for environment and the way in which we frame it to provide accountability? What significance might this have, and what tools might be used to bridge the responsibilities of caring and accountability? Caring for environment makes manifest the informal aspects of 1.3.8 Summary of section During the 1970s and 1980s, countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan benefited from their low-cost advantages in the new global division of labour. Now, however, the gap between rich and poor nations is wider and competition in the world economy greater, prompting campaigning groups to argue that contemporary low-wage economies do not have the options for economic development that their predecessors had. In the face of market fragment 1.3.6 Activity 4 Nike drew up its code of conduct, as I have indicated, to meet its own concerns. Cast your eye down the checklist in Extract 2 and give yourself time to consider what issues might have been added if the code 1.3.3 Bringing remote sweatshops within reach continued There are, to my knowledge, at least two ways in which this challenge has been mounted. The first, which I have already touched upon, gathered momentum in the 1990s when, to great effect, different elements within the growing antisweatshop movement sidestepped the tangled arrangements of the market by targeting the most visible icons of global trade, the big retail ‘brands’: Adidas, Nike, Gap, Umbro, Puma, Reebok, Fila, French Connection, Mattel, Disney, and so on. The antisweatsho 1.2.3 Activity 2 Before you read on, I would like you to dwell for just a moment on the significance of this shift from direct investment by Western firms to the establishment of subcontracting ties with overseas partners. Aside from outside firms being able to pa Conclusion This free course provided an introduction to studying Environment & Development. It took you through a series of exercises designed to develop your approach to study and learning at a distance, and helped to improve your confidence as an independent learner. Keep on learning There are more than 800 courses on OpenLearn for you to choose f Conclusion Perhaps it is a truism to say that all life is full of risk. We encounter many uncalculated outcomes, some beneficial and others adverse. It can be difficult to know which adverse events will prove permanently disadvantageous, since some may lead to innovation and opportunities for the future. Businesses, especially in the financial context, often consider risk in terms of opportunities for gain. Risk in our context is a way of describing the probability and consequences of harm, or at worst 3.1 Types of incident Now we can progress to an examination of some incidents by studying selected reports and publications. Returning to the word ‘accident’, we can cite another definition: An accident is an undesired event which results in physical harm and/or property damage. It usually results from a contact with a source of energy above the threshold limit of the body or structure. (Kuhlman, 1977, p. 5)
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Activity 4
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