Abstract
Environmental threats are harmful after-effects of the human activities to the physical environment plaguing the planet with pollution, deforestation, climate change, ozone depletion, and water scarcity. This chapter addresses the three vital parameters such as water, air and climate, to enhance the consciousness among the people. Water scarcity is a severe environmental issue and needs potentially sustainable methods to address the threat. This study emphasizes the techniques to overcome the water crisis, such as wastewater reclamation methods, desalination, and conservation techniques. The work highlights the toxic mixture of particles and gases resulting in air pollution and its effect on humans, animals, and plants. The study focuses the global climate change, another potential future concern and must be defined at our time for our future generations due to rising sea level and catastrophic flooding, shifting weather pattern, and deadly heatwaves. Finally, the work discusses intelligent actions to enhance climate resilience, such as adaptation and mitigation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Abbreviations
- CCS:
-
Carbon capture and storage
- CDPR:
-
California Department of Pesticide Regulation
- CFC:
-
Chlorofluorocarbons
- EU:
-
European Union
- IEA:
-
International Energy Agency
- IPCC:
-
Intergovernmental panel on climate change
- KCAC:
-
Kern County Agriculture Commissioner
- NASA:
-
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- NGO:
-
Nongovernmental organization
- UN:
-
United Nations
- UNU-INWEH:
-
United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health
- WHO:
-
World Health Organization
Abbreviations
- %:
-
Percentage
- °C:
-
Degree centigrade
- μg/m3:
-
Microgram per cubic meter
- As:
-
Arsenic
- CO:
-
Carbon monoxide
- CO2:
-
Carbon dioxide
- H2S:
-
Hydrogen sulfide
- H2SO4 :
-
Sulfuric acid
- HCl:
-
Hydrogen chloride
- HF:
-
Hydrofluoric acid
- Hg:
-
Mercury
- HNO3:
-
Nitric acid
- km:
-
Kilometer
- kWh/m3:
-
Kilo watt-hour per cubic meter
- NH3:
-
Ammonia
- NO:
-
Nitric oxide
- NO2:
-
Nitrogen dioxide
- O3:
-
Ozone
- Pb:
-
Lead
- pH:
-
Potential Hydrogen
- PM10:
-
Particulate matter with diameter 10 micrometers
- PM2.5:
-
Particulate matter with diameter 2.5 micrometers
- ppm:
-
Parts per million
- SO2:
-
Sulfur dioxide
- SO3:
-
Sulfur trioxide
References
70% of global forests at risk of degradation: UNCCD report – Down to Earth|DailyHunt (n.d.) https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/down+to+earth-epaper-dearth/70+of+global+forests+at+risk+of+degradation+unccd+report-newsid-134568798. Accessed 19 Sept 2019
Abdulla FA, Al-Shareef AW (2009) Roof rainwater harvesting systems for household water supply in Jordan. Desalination 243:195–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2008.05.013
Air Pollution, Climate and Health (n.d.)
Brook RD (2007) Why physicians who treat hypertension should know more about air pollution. J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich) 9:629–635. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1524-6175.2007.07187.x
Burning of leaves caused by hydrogen fluoride: OSPCB (2018), 1–2
Cipollina A, Micale G (2010) Coupling sustainable energy with membrane distillation processes for seawater desalination. In: 2010 1st International nuclear and renewable energy conference INREC’10, IEEE, pp 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1109/INREC.2010.5462593
CITIGROUP (2017) Solutions for a global water crisis
Climate Change and Land (2019) https://doi.org/10.4337/9781784710644
Crini G, Lichtfouse E (2019) Advantages and disadvantages of techniques used for wastewater treatment. Environ Chem Lett 17:145–155. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-018-0785-9
Crouse DL, Goldberg MS, Ross NA, Chen H, Labrèche F (2010) Postmenopausal breast cancer is associated with exposure to traffic-related air pollution in Montreal, Canada: a case-control study. Environ Health Perspect 118:1578–1583. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1002221
Delfino RJ (2002) Epidemiologic evidence for asthma and exposure to air toxics: linkages between occupational, indoor, and community air pollution research. Environ Health Perspect 110(Suppl):573–589
Department of Energy and Climate Change (2012). CCS roadmap. Supporting deployment of carbon capture and storage in the UK. p 50. URN 12D/016
Durand M, Grattan J (2001) Effects of volcanic air pollution on health. Lancet 357:164
El-Dessouky HT, Ettouney HM (2002) Fundamentals of salt water desalination. Elsevier B.V
Energy Requirements of Desalination Processes (2019) 4–6. http://www.desware.net/Energy-Requirements-Desalination-Processes.aspx
Espinoza L (2015) NASA finds good news on forests and carbon dioxide
FAO (2018) The state of agricultural commodity markets: agricultural trade, climate change and food security. Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome
Gold DR, Litonjua A, Schwartz J, Lovett E, Larson A, Nearing B et al (2000) Ambient pollution and heart rate variability. Circulation 101:1267–1273. https://doi.org/10.1161/01.CIR.101.11.1267
Guppy L, Kelsey A (2017) Global water crisis: the facts
Hamra GB, Laden F, Cohen AJ, Raaschou-Nielsen O, Brauer M, Loomis D (2015) Lung cancer and exposure to nitrogen dioxide and traffic: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Environ Health Perspect 123:1107–1112. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408882
Hoover GM, Chislock MF, Tornabene BJ, Guffey SC, Choi YJ, De Perre C et al (2017) Uptake and depuration of four per/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASS) in Northern leopard frog Rana pipiens tadpoles. Environ Sci Technol Lett 4:399–403. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.7b00339
How air pollution is destroying our health (n.d.) https://www.who.int/air-pollution/news-and-events/how-air-pollution-is-destroying-our-health. Accessed 18 Sept 2019
Joshi PC, Swami A (2009) Air pollution induced changes in the photosynthetic pigments of selected plant species. J Environ Biol 30:295–298
Korényi-Both AL, Korényi-Both AL, Juncer DJ (1997) Al Eskan disease: Persian Gulf syndrome. Mil Med 162:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/162.1.1
Kummu M, Guillaume JHA, De Moel H, Eisner S, Flörke M, Porkka M et al (2016) The world’s road to water scarcity: shortage and stress in the 20th century and pathways towards sustainability. Sci Rep 6:1–16. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep38495
Low RB, Bielory L, Qureshi AI, Dunn V, Stuhlmiller DFE, Dickey DA (2006) The relation of stroke admissions to recent weather, airborne allergens, air pollution, seasons, upper respiratory infections, and asthma incidence, September 11, 2001, and day of the week. Stroke 37:951–957. https://doi.org/10.1161/01.STR.0000214681.94680.66
Manju S, Sagar N (2017) Renewable energy integrated desalination: a sustainable solution to overcome future fresh-water scarcity in India. Renew Sust Energ Rev 73:594–609. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.01.164
Morris RD (2001) Airborne particulates and hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease: a quantitative review of the evidence. Environ Health Perspect 109:495–500
Ocean Plastics Pollution (n.d.) https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/. Accessed 18 Sept 2019
Parent MÉ, Goldberg MS, Crouse DL, Ross NA, Chen H, Valois MF et al (2013) Traffic-related air pollution and prostate cancer risk: a case-control study in Montreal Canada. Occup Environ Med 70:511–518. https://doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2012-101211
Rain Forest Threats Information and Facts|National Geographic (n.d.) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/rainforest-threats/. Accessed 19 Sept 2019
Regulation P, County K, Commissioner A, County K, October O, County K (2004) Illness associated with drift of chloropicrin soil fumigant into a residential area – Kern County, California, 2003. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 53:740–742
Schiermeier Q (2019) Eat less meat: UN climate-change panel tackles diets Report, vol 572
Springmann M, Clark M, Mason-D’Croz D, Wiebe K, Bodirsky BL, Lassaletta L et al (2018) Options for keeping the food system within environmental limits. Nature 562:519–525. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0594-0
UNEP (2009) Buildings and climate change status, challenges and opportunities. United Nations Environ Program, p 59
Wada Y, Flörke M, Hanasaki N, Eisner S, Fischer G, Tramberend S et al (2016) Modeling global water use for the 21st century: the water futures and solutions (WFaS) initiative and its approaches. Geosci Model Dev 9:175–222. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-175-2016
World Health Organization (2018) Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. IHME, Seattle
Yargeau V (2012) Water and wastewater treatment: chemical processes. Metrop Sustain Underst Improv Urban Environ 1854:390–405. https://doi.org/10.1533/9780857096463.3.390
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank the Director, CSIR-NGRI (Dr VM Tiwari) for permitting to publish this book chapter (NGRI/Lib/2019/Pub-90). The authors thank Dr EVSSK Babu for his encouragement and support and also thank him for providing the necessary facilities to complete the book chapter from institutional projects: MLP-6406-28 (EVB) and GEOMET (MLP-0002-FBR-2-EVSSK).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Santhakumari, M., Sagar, N. (2020). The Environmental Threats Our World Is Facing Today. In: Hussain, C. (eds) Handbook of Environmental Materials Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58538-3_180-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58538-3_180-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-58538-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-58538-3
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Chemistry and Mat. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics