Habitat Destruction

 Agriculture is the primary driver of biodiversity loss, with 70% due to agricultural expansion.

What to do: We can all attempt to change our diets and methods to verticle farming or hydroponics. Farming methods that would increase efficiancy but reduce land use and pollution.

 Globally, we deforest around ten million hectares of forest every year. That’s an area the size of Portugal every year. 

What to do: Plant trees and vegetation

Buy products made from sustainable materials such as bamboo

Wood/timber is not a sustainable resource 

 The process of extracting useful materials from the surface and under the Earth, including bodies of water such as oceans.   

Mining is very harmful because it causes unrecoverable loss of biodiversity, habitat destruction, erosion, water, air, and soil pollution. Mining can also trigger the creation of sinkholes. Mining is hazardous for humans due to collapses, explosions, toxic fumes temperatures, and pressure. What to do: Educate workers in industries, such as clean energy that are more sustainable and safer. Invest in clean energy. Rehabilitate mining sites. Reduce waste. Pass laws to restrict mining.

Over 90% of wells drilled currently use hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a method that aids in the oil and natural gas extraction from sedimentary rock, and coal. Fracking flushes water mixed with sand and chemicals through pipes with holes that are buried sometimes thousands of feet underground. The flushing creates fractures that push trapped fossil fuels out and rise to the surface. The negative environmental concerns include water consumption, water pollution, air pollution, and earthquakes. What can we do: Educate and bring awareness to local communities to try to prevent. Work with the government to try to eliminate or reduce fracking. Invest in education and installation of renewable energy.

Urban development's rapid and uncontrolled expansion includes commercial, single-use zoning and a heavy reliance on private automobiles.  Major environmental issues associated with sprawl are habitat loss,  pollution, and a big decline in biodiversity. What to do:  Preserving natural resources such as parks, open spaces, and unused land.

Rehabilitate run-down or polluted cities. Reforming government programs and policies to discourage sprawl.

Trawling involves dragging heavy tools or machinery along the ocean floor at various depths. These methods destroy all in their path, including non-target species of flora and fauna. What to do: We can all work on changing our diet to rely less on trawled food sources and products. There are more environmentally friendly methods that will produce less waste and destruction such as well-managed aquaculture.

Natural disasters have a devastating impact on our planet and all its inhabitants. What to do? We can anticipate and try to alter our way of living to prepare for known disasters in our areas. Tornado sirens and weather monitoring are examples of proactive measures but we can also make further attempts to adjust our way of living to ever changing surroundings.

Courses:

   Wildfire Awareness and Risk Assessment