Environmental Issues for Real

By J Mark Dangerfield

Environmental Issues for Real by Dr J. Mark Dangerfield looks at some of the obvious, and some of the not so obvious, challenges for a growing human populations living as we do in a finite world. Only this time it's not about the impending disasters or the guilt or the blame. This time, it’s 10 brief essays that are about the bigger picture. In less than an hour you could glimpse something different, a view that we can only see when we take a fresh look.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J Mark Dangerfield
• Release date: Mar 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476211749

J Mark Dangerfield

Dr J. Mark Dangerfield is an ecologist, environmental scientist, registered AFOLU expert and author. He specializes in the understanding of ecological, climate change adaptation, biodiversity and natural resource management issues. Mark has over 30 years experience in the measurement and evaluation of ecological processes, carbon dynamics and natural resource management in agricultural, rangeland and forest ecosystems in Europe, Africa and Australia gained through faculty positions at the University of Botswana, Macquarie University and as Director, Centre Expertise for Environment, University of Technology Sydney. In 1999 he received an outstanding teacher award from Macquarie University and has designed and delivered tertiary level courses in biodiversity, ecology (including ecosystem process and carbon budget analyses), biostatistics, soil biology and wildlife management. He was also co-founder and CEO of Biotrack Australia. He was a founding member of the NSW Natural Resources Advisory Council and serves on the Australian governments Domestic Offsets Integrity Committee. Since early 2008 he has worked as an environmental consultant in both private and public sector and is currently Principal at alloporus environmental. He writes to help create awareness of the environment.

Book preview

Environmental issues for real

J. Mark Dangerfield, PhD

Published by alloporus environmental at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Dr J Mark Dangerfield

All rights reserved.

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Environmental issues for real

Chapter 1 – Problems for the environment

Chapter 2 – Population growth

Chapter 3 – Urbanization

Chapter 4 – Land management

Chapter 5 – Food security

Chapter 6 – Biodiversity loss

Chapter 7 – Greenwash

Chapter 8 – Carbon neutral

Chapter 9 – Climate Change Policy

Chapter 10 – Environmentalism

Chapter 11 – It’s not my fault

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Chapter 1

Environmental Issues For Real

Problems for the environment

Here is an interesting thing. At some time in the past, any given place on the earth has been really hot, freezing cold, wet, dry, flooded, parched, ravaged by fire, hit by tsunami or earthquake, bathed in toxic gases from volcanic activity and seen the effects of meteorite strikes large enough to send gigatons of dust into the jet stream.

It has all happened and the only thing needed for all of these events to occur in any one place is a very, very long period of time. And if we believe the geological evidence then there has been time a plenty. Over the millennia, each and every corner of the planet has experienced just about every extreme of environmental condition.

As each new extreme happens there is a change to the way the environment works. Ecological processes may speed up, slow or shut down for a while and many species may be lost until others arrive more suited to the new conditions.  But over time a new pattern emerges and life continues. No matter the severity or extent of change, disturbance or impact, planet earth has absorbed it and kicked on.

Even when the disturbance is extreme, such as a volcanic eruption sufficient to put the landscape under two feet of caustic ash wiping out all life, there is a period of apparent sterility until rain and the arrival of microbes start to turn the ash layer into something tolerable for bigger organisms. In a few hundred years, a little longer if the climate is cold, the process of succession will return a green mantle to the landscape.

So for the environment, there is no such thing as a problem, only change. And even though it can be extreme, disruptive and painful to the organisms that must survive it, change is normal.

Enter Homo sapiens, humans, us.

Initially we were