Environmental Awareness - Naturalist Intelligence

Environment is the global ecosystem were all life exists and lives. The thin layer of air that surrounds our planet that supports life. The area in which we live and share. Human Life - Our Universe - Conservation (restoration).



If we did not have our environment we could not exist. This environmental space in which we share with other life forms is a complex system. Though our environment can be an incredibly beautiful experience, the environment can also kill. Evidence of mass extinctions in our past reveals the vulnerabilities of our environment. And today we have millions of people and other living species dying every year from pollution and other pollution related problems. Humans have irresponsibly infected the only living space in our solar system. But we can recover, because science has taught us about the laws of nature and how everything is cause and effect. So we have a lot of work to do, and we have a lot to learn. Our lives depend on it. We will have to work together locally and globally in order to solve these problems that we are faced with, like with the problem of increased amounts of CO2 in the Air. We have been given a beautiful gift. So let us preserve this gift for future generations and the trillions of people who will need to depend on this environment to live. Just like us and millions of other life forms do today.

Sustainable - Earth Protectors - Restoration - Monitoring - Schools - Connected - Coexist

Ecosystem Services is when Humankind benefits in a multitude of ways from ecosystems by providing clean drinking water production of food, decomposition of wastes, regulating the control of climate and disease; supporting nutrient cycles and crop pollination; and cultural, spiritual and recreational benefits, and economic values.

Trees - Plants - Insects - Animals - Geography - Geology - Air

Affordance is what the environment offers to the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill. This includes all transactions that are possible between an individual and their environment. Affordances are clues about how an object should be used, typically provided by the object itself or its context.

Natural Resource are resources that exist without actions of humankind. This includes all valued characteristics such as magnetic, gravitational, and electrical properties and forces. On Earth it includes: sunlight, atmosphere, water, land (includes all minerals) along with all vegetation and animal life that naturally subsists upon or within the heretofore identified characteristics and substances.

Hotspots (habitat loss) - Divesting - Mining - Public Lands - Destruction

Physical System is a portion of the physical universe chosen for analysis. Everything outside the system is known as the environment. The environment is ignored except for its effects on the system. The split between system and environment is the analyst's choice, generally made to simplify the analysis. For example, the water in a lake, the water in half of a lake, or an individual molecule of water in the lake can each be considered a physical system. An isolated system is one that has negligible interaction with its environment. Often a system in this sense is chosen to correspond to the more usual meaning of system, such as a particular machine. In the study of quantum coherence, the "system" may refer to the microscopic properties of an object (e.g. the mean of a pendulum bob), while the relevant "environment" may be the internal degrees of freedom, described classically by the pendulum's thermal vibrations.

Environment in Biophysical is the biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development and evolution marine environment, the atmospheric environment and the terrestrial environment. All life that has survived must have adapted to conditions of its environment. Temperature, light, humidity, soil nutrients, etc. Biosphere.

"There is no such thing as Free, nothing is free, so please don't steal, especially from the future". Environmental Sayings.

Managing Our Surroundings is everyone’s responsibility, and those responsibilities must be defined and understood if we are ever going to succeed. And now that the world is flat again, means that our surroundings are not just local, they're also global. Every life form on planet earth has a particular responsibility to maintain life and maintain the environment including all plant life. All humans have responsibilities to maintain life and maintain the environment including all plant life. But not every human is utilized and not every human is fulfilling their responsibilities, thus some people are doing more harm than good.

Nature Smart enables human beings to recognize, categorize and draw upon certain features of the environment.

"The environment speaks in numbers and math is the universal language that gives us the ability to have some form of communication with everything around us."

Cause and Effect

Causality is when one process or state, a cause, contributes to the production of another process or state, an effect, where the cause is partly responsible for the effect, and the effect is partly dependent on the cause. In general, a process has many causes, which are also said to be causal factors for it, and all lie in its past. An effect can in turn be a cause of, or causal factor for, many other effects, which all lie in its future. Causality connects one process (the cause) with another process or state (the effect), where the first is understood to be partly responsible for the second, and the second is dependent on the first. PDF.

Principle of Cause and Effect explains that there is a cause for every effect, and an effect for every cause. It also states that there is no such thing as chance, that chance is merely a term indicating extant causes not recognized or perceived. Develop.

Cause is the source of a process, where some action originates from. Root-Cause.

Natural Cause or Man Made Cause? Causes of Death that are not Natural are Man Made. And there is hardly anything in life that is Natural. Just because something was here before you got here, that does not prove that it's natural. Anthropocene.

Conducive is tending to bring about or being partly responsible for.

Predictions - Cycles - Patterns - Feed Back Loops

Factor is anything that contributes as a cause to a result. Something to consider as relevant when making a decision.

Cofactor is a contributory cause of a disease. Cofactor in biochemistry is a substance other than the substrate, whose presence is essential for the activity of an enzyme. Extenuating Circumstances - Mitigating Factor. Reaction.

Environmental Factor is any factor, abiotic or biotic, that influences living organisms. Abiotic factors include ambient temperature, amount of sunlight, and pH of the water and soil in which an organism lives. Biotic factors would include the availability of food organisms and the presence of conspecifics, competitors, predators, and parasites.

Attribution is assigning or giving some quality or character to a person or thing. Assigning to a cause or source.

Implement is to apply an action in a manner that is consistent with its purpose or design, and in the observance of laws and rules, that pursues a conclusion or brings something to an end. An instrumentation or a piece of equipment or tool that is used to effect an end or a result.

Effect is the result of an action and what happens because of the cause, which can be good or bad. Side-Effect.

Efficacy is the ability to produce a desired effect under ideal testing conditions. Degree of ability to produce a desired effect.

Influence is the effect of one thing or person on another. To induce something or someone into action or cause something without any direct or apparent effort. Social Influence - Triggers.

Causative is a valency-increasing operation that indicates that a subject causes someone or something else to do or be something, or causes a change in state of a non-volitional event. Prototypically, it brings in a new argument (the causer), A, into a transitive clause, with the original S becoming the O. False Flag Attack.

Result is a phenomenon that follows some event that was caused by some previous phenomenon. An outcome is something that follows as a consequence of a particular action. Result is the final consequence of a sequence of actions or events expressed qualitatively or quantitatively. Possible results include advantage, disadvantage, gain, injury, loss, value and victory. There may be a range of possible outcomes associated with an event depending on the point of view, historical distance or relevance. Reaching no result can mean that actions are inefficient, ineffective, meaningless or flawed. Response.

Contingency is a possible event or occurrence or result and the conditions or circumstances that follow.

Affect is to have an effect on someone or something or to impact or influence something. Planning.

Event is something that happens at a given place and time. A special set of circumstances.

Circumstance is the set of facts that surround a situation or an event. A condition that accompanies or influences some event or activity. Information that should be kept in mind when making a decision. Context. Mitigating Circumstances - Relative.

Situation is the general state of things and the combination of circumstances at a given time. A condition or position in which you find yourself in. A complex problem and a critical moment or unusual difficulty that has happened that you must deal with and learn to solve. Your physical position in relation to the surroundings. Relative.

Phenomenon is a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, especially one whose cause or explanation is in question. Phenomenon is any state or process known through the senses rather than by intuition. The object of a person's perception and what the senses or the mind notice. A remarkable development that you can see happen. Random.

Epiphenomena is a secondary phenomenon that occurs alongside or in parallel to a primary phenomenon.

Newtown's Third Law - Thermo Dynamics - Entropy - Particle Physics - Time

Causal Model is an abstract model that describes the causal mechanisms of a system. The model must express more than correlation because correlation does not imply causation. Problem Solving.

Cause–Effect Graph is a directed graph that maps a set of causes to a set of effects. The causes may be thought of as the input to the program, and the effects may be thought of as the output. Usually the graph shows the nodes representing the causes on the left side and the nodes representing the effects on the right side. There may be intermediate nodes in between that combine inputs using logical operators such as AND and OR. Constraints may be added to the causes and effects. These are represented as edges labeled with the constraint symbol using a dashed line. For causes, valid constraint symbols are E (exclusive), O (one and only one), I (at least one), and R (Requires). The exclusive constraint states that at most one of the causes 1 and 2 can be true, i.e. both cannot be true simultaneously. The Inclusive (at least one) constraint states that at least one of the causes 1, 2 or 3 must be true, i.e. all cannot be false simultaneously. The one and only one (OaOO or simply O) constraint states that only one of the causes 1, 2 or 3 must be true. The Requires constraint states that if cause 1 is true, then cause 2 must be true, and it is impossible for 1 to be true and 2 to be false. For effects, valid constraint symbol is M (Mask). The mask constraint states that if effect 1 is true then effect 2 is false. Note that the mask constraint relates to the effects and not the causes like the other constraints.

Causal Invariance means that no matter which evolution is chosen for a system, the history is the same in the sense that the same events occur and they have the same causal relationships.

Efficacious is marked by qualities giving the power to produce an intended effect. Producing or capable of producing an intended result or having a striking effect.

Interaction is a mutual or reciprocal action. Interaction in physics is the transfer of energy between elementary particles or between an elementary particle and a field or between fields; mediated by gauge bosons.

If you never become aware of an effect or understand that there is an effect, you will never look for the cause. If you believe that this is the way things are, then you will never know what things can be or will be. Shutting yourself off from reality is a vulnerability and a dangerous game to play. Your ability to learn should never be ignored, after all, learning is the main reason why you exist. Your parents and grandparents had to learn many things from previous generations in order to make it possible for you to be alive. Not everything is planned, but everything is still cause and effect.

Synchronized - Simultaneously at the Same Time

Synchronicity is the relation that exists when things occur at the same time.

Synchronous is something existing or occurring at the same time.

Synchronous Communication - Asynchronous Communication - Simultaneous - Choreography - Coordination

Synchronicity states that events are meaningful coincidences if they occur with no causal relationship yet seem to be meaningfully related.

Reconciliation is getting two things to correspond or be compatible, similar or consistent. To coincide in their characteristics and be equivalent or parallel. To happen simultaneously.

Consistency - Constant - Repeatable

Consistent is capable of being reproduced reliably. Marked by an orderly, logical, and aesthetically consistent relation of parts. The same throughout in structure or composition.

Repeatable - Planned - ID - Resilient - Agreement - Continuum

Consistency is logical coherence and accordance with the facts. A harmonious uniformity or agreement among things or parts.

Continuity is an uninterrupted connection or union. The property of a continuous and connected period of time.

Constancy is the quality of being enduring and free from change or variation. Stable. Constancy in psychology is the tendency for perceived objects to give rise to very similar perceptual experiences in spite of wide variations in the conditions of observation.

Constant in mathematics means non-varying. It may also refer to a fixed and well-defined number or other mathematical object.

Physical Constant is a physical quantity that is generally believed to be both universal in nature and have constant value in time. It is contrasted with a mathematical constant, which has a fixed numerical value, but does not directly involve any physical measurement. There are many physical constants in science, some of the most widely recognized being the speed of light in vacuum c, the gravitational constant G, Planck's constant h, the electric constant ε0, and the elementary charge e. Physical constants can take many dimensional forms: the speed of light signifies a maximum speed limit of the Universe and is expressed dimensionally as length divided by time; while the fine-structure constant α, which characterizes the strength of the electromagnetic interaction, is dimensionless. The term fundamental physical constant is sometimes used to refer to universal but dimensioned physical constants such as those mentioned above. Increasingly, however, physicists reserve the use of the term fundamental physical constant for dimensionless physical constants, such as the fine-structure constant α.

List of Physical Constants (wiki)

Coherence is the quality of being logical and consistent. Logical, orderly, and consistent relation of parts. the quality of forming a unified whole. The state of cohering or sticking together.

Cohering is to come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation. Cause to form a united, orderly, and aesthetically consistent whole. Have internal elements or parts logically connected so that aesthetic consistency results.

Adhering is to be compatible or in accordance with. Follow through or carry out a plan without deviation. Come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation.

Uniform is always the same; showing a single form or character in all occurrences. The same throughout in structure or composition. Evenly spaced. Conformity vs. Diversity.

Order is a logical or comprehensible arrangement of separate elements. System.

Symmetry (Mathematics - Life) - Ingredients - Laws of Physics - Chaos

Homeostasis is the property of a system in which a variable is actively regulated to remain very nearly constant. (for example, the concentration of a substance in solution, or its temperature). Good.

Self-Organization is a process where some form of overall order arises from local interactions between parts of an initially disordered system. The process is spontaneous, not needing control by any external agent. It is often triggered by random fluctuations, amplified by positive feedback. The resulting organization is wholly decentralized, distributed over all the components of the system. As such, the organization is typically robust and able to survive or self-repair substantial perturbation. Chaos theory discusses self-organization in terms of islands of predictability in a sea of chaotic unpredictability. Self-organization occurs in many physical, chemical, biological, robotic, and cognitive systems. Examples can be found in crystallization, thermal convection of fluids, chemical oscillation, animal swarming, and artificial and biological neural networks. (self-organization is also called spontaneous order in the social sciences).

Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

Symbiosis - Coexist - Stewardship - Monitoring

Immutable is something that is not subject or susceptible to change or variation in form or quality or nature.

Kantianism states all actions are performed in accordance with some underlying maxim or principle, which are deeply different from each other; it is according to this that the moral worth of any action is judged. Destiny - Determinism.

Coincidences - Randomness

Coincidence is a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances which have no apparent causal connection with each other.

Anomaly is a deviation from the normal or common order or form or rule. Anomaly in natural sciences is the deviation in a quantity from its expected value. The difference between a measurement and a mean or a model prediction. Similarly, a standardized anomaly equals an anomaly divided by a standard deviation. A group of anomalies can be analyzed spatially, as a map, or temporally, as a time series. There are examples in atmospheric sciences and in geophysics.

Mutations - Abiogenesis - Uncertainty Principle - Odds - Risk - Statistics.

Stochastic is being or having a random variable.

Maybe is when you are not sure that something will happen because you lack information and knowledge, or when you don't want to commit to some action. Having a perceived possibility or chance of happening.

Exception to the Rule. A case may appear at first sight to be an exception to the rule. However, sometimes when the situation is examined more closely, it is observed that the rule does not apply to this case, and thus the rule may be shown to be valid after all. Counterexample - Contradiction.

Randomness is something lacking any predictable order or plan. Haphazardness.

Random is a perceived lack of pattern or predictability in events. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps has no order and does not follow an intelligible pattern or combination. Individual random events are by definition unpredictable, but in many cases the frequency of different outcomes over a large number of events (or "trials") is predictable. For example, when throwing two dice, the outcome of any particular roll is unpredictable, but a sum of 7 will occur twice as often as 4. In this view, randomness is a measure of uncertainty of an outcome, rather than haphazardness, and applies to concepts of chance, probability, and information entropy. Transient State.

Accident is anything that happens suddenly or by chance without an apparent cause. An unfortunate mishap; especially one causing damage or injury.

Freak Accident is an incident, especially one that is harmful, occurring under highly unusual and unlikely circumstances.

Luck is an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that leads to a favorable outcome. Fate.

Lucky Break is a fortunate event that created an opportunity for success, or an event that saved you from failure or disaster. I got my first big break.

Stroke of Luck is something good that happens to you by chance. A fortunate occurrence that could not have been predicted or expected.

Serendipity is the unexpected and fortunate discoveries, usually happening when looking for something unrelated. Finding something nice while looking for something else.

Miracle is an event not explicable by natural or scientific laws. Such an event may be attributed to a supernatural being or deity, or a miracle worker, or a saint or a religious leader. Magic.

Surprise is a sudden unexpected event. Ponzi Scheme - Mutations - Break Through.

Twist of Fate or just fate. When we expect things to happen, we will not be ready for the unexpected. And life is full of unexpected moments. Destiny.

Fate is an event or a course of events that are believed to inevitably happen in the future. The ultimate agency regarded as predetermining the course of events.

Chance is a possibility due to a favorable combination of circumstances. An unknown and sometimes unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another.

Incidental is something happening as a chance consequence.

Fortuitous is something happening by accident or chance rather than by design. Not Planned.

Arbitrariness is the quality of being determined by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity, reason, or principle.

Arbitrary is something based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system. Arbitrariness is the quality of being determined by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity, reason, or principle. It is also used to refer to a choice made without any specific criterion or restraint.

Black Swan Theory is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalised after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. The term is based on an ancient saying that presumed black swans did not exist – a saying that became reinterpreted to teach a different lesson after black swans were discovered in the wild. The theory was developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb to explain: The disproportionate role of high-profile, hard-to-predict, and rare events that are beyond the realm of normal expectations in history, science, finance, and technology. The non-computability of the probability of the consequential rare events using scientific methods (owing to the very nature of small probabilities). The psychological biases that blind people, both individually and collectively, to uncertainty and to a rare event's massive role in historical affairs.

Rare Events are events that occur with low frequency, and often refers to infrequent events that have widespread impact and which might destabilize systems (for example, stock markets, ocean wave intensity or optical fibers or society). Rare events encompass natural phenomena (major earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, asteroid impacts, solar flares, etc.), anthropogenic hazards (warfare and related forms of violent conflict, acts of terrorism, industrial accidents, financial and commodity market crashes, etc.), as well as phenomena for which natural and anthropogenic factors interact in complex ways (epidemic disease spread, global warming-related changes in climate and weather, etc.).

Random Number Generator is a device that generates random numbers from a physical process, rather than a computer program. Such devices are often based on microscopic phenomena that generate low-level, statistically random "noise" signals, such as thermal noise, the photoelectric effect, involving a beam splitter, and other quantum phenomena. These stochastic processes are, in theory, completely unpredictable, and the theory's assertions of unpredictability are subject to experimental test. A hardware random number generator typically consists of a transducer to convert some aspect of the physical phenomena to an electrical signal, an amplifier and other electronic circuitry to increase the amplitude of the random fluctuations to a measurable level, and some type of analog to digital converter to convert the output into a digital number, often a simple binary digit 0 or 1. By repeatedly sampling the randomly varying signal, a series of random numbers is attained. The main application for electronic hardware random number generators is in cryptography, where they are used to generate random cryptographic keys to transmit data securely. They are widely used in Internet encryption protocols such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Random number generators can also be built from "random" macroscopic processes, using devices such as coin flipping, dice, roulette wheels and lottery machines. The presence of unpredictability in these phenomena can be justified by the theory of unstable dynamical systems and chaos theory. Even though macroscopic processes are deterministic under Newtonian mechanics, the output of a well-designed device like a roulette wheel cannot be predicted in practice, because it depends on the sensitive, micro-details of the initial conditions of each use.

Random Gene Pulsing generates Patterns of Life. Scientists working on the intersection between biology and computation have found that random gene activity helps patterns form during development of a model multicellular system.

Biochemical Random Number. Scientists have generated a huge true random number using DNA synthesis. It is the first time that a number of this magnitude has been created by biochemical means. True random numbers are required in fields as diverse as slot machines and data encryption. These numbers need to be truly random, such that they cannot even be predicted by people with detailed knowledge of the method used to generate them.

Quick Decisions on the Go - Abiogenesis - Creativity - Ideas

Spontaneous is something happening or arising without apparent external cause.

Sporadic is something recurring in scattered and irregular or unpredictable instances.

Intermittent is something that stops and starts at irregular intervals.

Exact Process by which Chaotic Systems Synchronize.

Coincidence helps with quantum measurements. Through randomly selected measurements, physicists can determine the quantum entanglement of many-particle systems.

Nonlinear System is a system in which the output is not directly proportional to the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, physicists and mathematicians and many other scientists because most systems are inherently nonlinear in nature. Nonlinear systems may appear chaotic, unpredictable or counterintuitive, contrasting with the much simpler linear systems.

Nonlinear Regression is a form of regression analysis in which observational data are modeled by a function which is a nonlinear combination of the model parameters and depends on one or more independent variables. The data are fitted by a method of successive approximations. Research.

Indeterminism is the concept that certain events are not caused, or not caused deterministically or are caused by prior events. It is the opposite of determinism and related to chance. It is highly relevant to the philosophical problem of free will, particularly in the form of metaphysical libertarianism.

Reason for Everything - Truth is Debatable - It's All Relative - Planning

Uncertainty refers to epistemic situations involving imperfect or unknown information. It applies to predictions of future events, to physical measurements that are already made, or to the unknown. Uncertainty arises in partially observable and/or stochastic environments, as well as due to ignorance, indolence, or both.

Correlations

Correlation is a reciprocal or feedback relation between two or more things. A statistical relation between two or more variables such that systematic changes in the value of one variable are accompanied by systematic changes in the other.

Correlated is when things are mutually related and have a reciprocal relation that is complementary.

Coordinated - Association - Patterns - Synchronicity - Bias in Research - Observation Flaws

Correlation and Dependence is any statistical relationship, whether causal or not, between two random variables or bivariate data. In the broadest sense correlation is any statistical association, though in common usage it most often refers to how close two variables are to having a linear relationship with each other. Familiar examples of dependent phenomena include the correlation between the physical statures of parents and their offspring, and the correlation between the demand for a limited supply product and its price. Correlations are useful because they can indicate a predictive relationship that can be exploited in practice. For example, an electrical utility may produce less power on a mild day based on the correlation between electricity demand and weather. In this example, there is a causal relationship, because extreme weather causes people to use more electricity for heating or cooling. However, in general, the presence of a correlation is not sufficient to infer the presence of a causal relationship. Deductive Reasoning.

Third Cause Fallacy is giving a deceiving false reason for a cause in order to try to discredit or ignore other logical causes.

Correlation does not necessarily prove Causation because when two variables are found to be correlated, it is tempting to assume that this shows that one variable causes the other. Saying that "correlation proves causation," is considered a questionable cause or fallacy. All because two events occur together, you can not automatically assume to have established a cause-and-effect relationship. Sometimes occam's razor can apply, but not always.

Coincidence - Association Fallacy - Assumptions

The more possible scenarios that you have that would give a reason why something happened, the less chance you will have at being 100 percent accurate. Some events could have happened for a number of reasons, but you need to have the most likely answer, with the understanding that other possible answers exist. There are several reasons that could explain why an event happened, and none of those reasons stand alone because there can be several reasons that contributed to the event, with some of those reasons being unknown to you.

Patterns - Levels of Thinking - False Flag

Sometimes the best way for something not to get noticed is to be visible and not hidden. When people get use to seeing something most of the time, they seem to notice less and less about that something. And when something happens, people sometimes look for things that are hidden or unknown to them, when in fact, the thing that they're looking for is right in front of them. Seeing a pattern is one thing, not being able to see something because you lack the knowledge and information that's needed to see it, is another thing. Just because you can see something, this doesn't mean that you understand it, and just because you don't see something, this doesn't mean that you can't understand it. The trick is not to jump to conclusions, because there is no end to learning. When people stop learning, then idle minds becomes the devils workshop.

Chain Reactions

Chain Reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events. Chemical Reactions - Nuclear Reaction.

Chain of Events is a number of actions and their effects that are contiguous and linked together that results in a particular outcome. Something's that happen are a combination of different things happening at the same time or near the same time simultaneously that are all contributing to a cause or a failure. So you can't just blame one thing or point your finger at a single cause. Accessory. In the physical sciences, chain reactions are a primary example.

Domino Effect is the cumulative effect produced when one event sets off a chain of similar events. The environment is kind of like Jenga, it's all fun and games until that one crucial mistake brings the whole system crashing down. The term is best known as a mechanical effect and is used as an analogy to a falling row of dominoes. It typically refers to a linked sequence of events where the time between successive events is relatively small. It can be used literally (an observed series of actual collisions) or metaphorically (causal linkages within systems such as global finance or politics). The term domino effect is used both to imply that an event is inevitable or highly likely (as it has already started to happen), and conversely to imply that an event is impossible or highly unlikely (the one domino left standing). Domino Theory (wiki).

Snowball Effect is a process that starts from an initial state of small significance and builds upon itself, becoming larger, graver, more serious, and also perhaps potentially dangerous or disastrous. Tipping Point.

Ripple Effect is a situation in which, like ripples expanding across the water when an object is dropped into it, an effect from an initial state can be followed outwards incrementally. The ripple effect is often used colloquially to mean a multiplier in macroeconomics.

Butterfly Effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.

Cascading Failure is a failure in a system of interconnected parts in which the failure of a part can trigger the failure of successive parts. Chaos.

Cascade Effect is an inevitable and sometimes unforeseen chain of events due to an act affecting a system. If there is a possibility that the cascade effect will have a negative impact on the system, it is possible to analyze the effects with a consequence/impact analysis. Cascade effects are commonly visualized in tree structures, also called event trees, which is a top down, deductive failure analysis in which an undesired state of a system is analyzed using Boolean logic to combine a series of lower-level events. This analysis method is mainly used in the fields of safety engineering and reliability engineering to understand how systems can fail, to identify the best ways to reduce risk or to determine (or get a feeling for) event rates of a safety accident or a particular system level (functional) failure. Mobile Sculpture (balance).

Repeat or Reoccur is something that will happen again and come into being and be a reality. Pattern.

Phase Shift (transient state) - Enlightenment.

Tipping Point in physics is an example of hysteresis in which the point at which an object is displaced from a state of stable equilibrium into a new equilibrium state that is qualitatively dissimilar from the first.

Tipping Point is the value of the parameter in which the set of equilibria abruptly change in catastrophe theory.

Tipping Point in climatology is when global climate changes from one stable state to another possible stable or unstable state.

Thermal Runaway occurs in situations where an increase in temperature changes the conditions in a way that causes a further increase in temperature, often leading to a destructive result. It is a kind of uncontrolled positive feedback. Climate Change.

Critical Point in mathematics of a differentiable function of a real or complex variable, is any value in its domain where its derivative is 0. Some authors include in the critical points the limit points where the function may be prolongated by continuity and where the derivative is not defined. For a differentiable function of several real variables, a critical point is a value in its domain where all partial derivatives are zero. The value of the function at a critical point is a critical value.

Inflection Point is a point of a curve at which a change in the direction of curvature occurs. A point on a curve at which the curve changes from being concave (concave downward) to convex (concave upward), or vice versa. A point where the curvature vanishes but does not change sign is sometimes called a point of undulation or undulation point. Inflection point in business is a time of significant change in a situation or a turning point.

Adverse Effect is an undesired harmful effect resulting from pollution or harmful chemicals which result in morbidity or particular disease or unhealthy state of mind, mortality, alteration in body weight, levels of enzymes, loss of function, or as a pathological change detected at the microscopic, macroscopic or physiological level. Adverse effects may cause a reversible or irreversible change, including an increase or decrease in the susceptibility of the individual to other chemicals, foods, or procedures, such as drug interactions. Food Safety.

List of Effects (PDF)

Side Effect is an effect that is secondary to the one intended, which can be Good or Bad.

Activation in (bio-)chemical sciences generally refers to the process whereby something is prepared or excited for a subsequent reaction.

Effect System is a formal system which describes the computational effects of computer programs, such as side effects. An effect system can be used to provide a compile-time check of the possible effects of the program.

Viruses - Cancers - Symmetry Breaking (Chaos)

Straw that Broke the Camel's Back describes the seemingly minor or routine action that causes an unpredictably large and sudden reaction, because of the cumulative effect of small actions. This gives rise to the phrase "the last straw", or "the final straw", meaning that the last one in a line of unacceptable occurrences causes a seemingly sudden, strong reaction.

Power Law is a functional relationship between two quantities, where a relative change in one quantity results in a proportional relative change in the other quantity, independent of the initial size of those quantities: one quantity varies as a power of another. For instance, considering the area of a square in terms of the length of its side, if the length is doubled, the area is multiplied by a factor of four. Rate of Change.

Feedback - Loops

Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause and effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to feed back into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled carefully when applied to feedback systems. The causes of a reaction will have an effect on the next causes of the reaction, which will then change the reaction again, so that the next output will change again, which will then change the input again, which will then change the output again, so on and so on. A kind of chain reaction that can cause exponential growth or perpetual decay.

Feedback Loop is a circuit that feeds back some of the output to the input of a system.

Positive Feedback accelerates a temperature rise, whereas a negative feedback slows it down.

Positive Feedback is a process that occurs in a feedback loop in which the effects of a small disturbance on a system include an increase in the magnitude of the disturbance. The enhancement or amplification of an effect by its own influence on the process that gives rise to it. The return of part of an output signal to the input, which is in phase with it, so that the amplifier gain is increased and the output is often distorted.

Mirroring - Conformity - Agent - Filter

Negative Feedback occurs when some function of the output of a system, process, or mechanism is fed back in a manner that tends to reduce the fluctuations in the output, whether caused by changes in the input or by other disturbances. Noise.

Loop in computing is a single execution of a set of instructions that are to be repeated. A computer program that performs a series of instructions repeatedly until some specified condition is satisfied. The topology of a network whose components are serially connected in such a way that the last component is connected to the first component. Going in Circles.

Bi-Directional is allowing movement in two opposite directions, reactive or functioning.

Reciprocate - Coexist - Everything is Connected - Two-Way Duplex - Methane and Ice Loss

The Mind makes a bad decision that effects the Body, and then the body will feedback to the mind that something is wrong, but if the mind misinterprets this information, then the mind may react and feedback the same decisions that caused the problem, thus the person is stuck in a continues loop of decline. I eat bad food that makes me feel good temporally, but later my body feels bad, so I eat bad food again to feel better temporally, but later my body feels bad again, so I eat the bad food again to feel better temporally, and then I gradually die from disease. I don't exercise because I'm tired, I'm tired because I don't exercise. Negativity (pessimism).

Social Feedback (surveys) - Critics - Comments - Peer Review - Acceptance

Causal Loop Diagram visualizing how different variables in a system are interrelated.

Causal Loop is a sequence of events (actions, information, objects, people) in which an event is among the causes of another event, which in turn is among the causes of the first-mentioned event. Such causally-looped events then exist in spacetime, but their origin cannot be determined. Time Loop.

Open-Loop Controller is when the control action from the controller is independent of the "process output", which is the process variable that is being controlled. It does not use feedback to determine if its output has achieved the desired goal of the input or process "set point". An open-loop system cannot engage in machine learning and also cannot correct any errors that it could make. It will not compensate for disturbances in the process being controlled.

Closed-Loop Ecological System are ecosystems that do not rely on matter exchange with any part outside the system. The term is most often used to describe small manmade ecosystems. Such systems are scientifically interesting and can potentially serve as a life support system during space flights, in space stations or space habitats. In a closed ecological system, any waste products produced by one species must be used by at least one other species. If the purpose is to maintain a life form, such as a mouse or a human, waste products such as carbon dioxide, feces and urine must eventually be converted into oxygen, food, and water. A closed ecological system must contain at least one autotrophic organism. While both chemotrophic and phototrophic organisms are plausible, almost all closed ecological systems to date are based on a phototroph such as green algae.

Chaos - Disorder

Chaos is a state of extreme confusion and disorder. FUBAR.

Disorder is a physical condition in which there is a disturbance of normal functioning. A condition in which things are not in their expected places. A disturbance of the peace or of public order.

Clutter is a confused multitude of things or a space filled in a disorderly way. Unwanted echoes that interfere with the observation of signals on a radar screen. Fragmented.

Mess is a state of confusion and disorderliness. Informal term for a difficult situation.

Symmetry Breaking is a phenomenon in which (infinitesimally) small fluctuations acting on a system crossing a critical point decide the system's fate, by determining which branch of a bifurcation is taken. To an outside observer unaware of the fluctuations (or "noise"), the choice will appear arbitrary. This process is called symmetry "breaking", because such transitions usually bring the system from a symmetric but disorderly state into one or more definite states. Symmetry breaking is thought to play a major role in pattern formation.

Error Correction (Noise) - Mistakes - Chain Reactions - Butterfly Effect

Habitat Destruction - Crisis

Human Impact on the Environment includes impacts on biophysical environments, biodiversity, and other resources. PDF.

Chaos Theory is a branch of mathematics focused on the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions—a response popularly referred to as the butterfly effect. Small differences in initial conditions (such as those due to rounding errors in numerical computation) yield widely diverging outcomes for such dynamical systems, rendering long-term prediction of their behavior impossible in general. This happens even though these systems are deterministic, meaning that their future behavior is fully determined by their initial conditions, with no random elements involved. In other words, the deterministic nature of these systems does not make them predictable. This behavior is known as deterministic chaos, or simply chaos.

Regression Fallacy ascribes cause where none exists. The flaw is failing to account for natural fluctuations. It is frequently a special kind of the post hoc fallacy. Since event Y followed event X, event Y must have been caused by event X. Fallacies.

Game Theory is the study of mathematical models of conflict and cooperation between intelligent rational decision-makers.

Zero-Sum Game is a mathematical representation of a situation in which each participant's gain or loss of utility is exactly balanced by the losses or gains of the utility of the other participants. If the total gains of the participants are added up and the total losses are subtracted, they will sum to zero. Thus, cutting a cake, where taking a larger piece reduces the amount of cake available for others, is a zero-sum game if all participants value each unit of cake equally. Marginal utility.

Non Zero Sum Game is a situation where one decision maker's gain (or loss) does not necessarily result in the other decision makers' loss (or gain). In other words, where the winnings and losses of all players do not add up to zero and everyone can gain: a win-win game.

Precautionary Principle states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public, or to the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus (that the action or policy is not harmful), the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those taking an action that may or may not be a Risk.

Everyone needs to see the whole picture. We need to see things from the beginning, and we need to see to the very end, or years from now. We need to understand all the different things that influence our actions and our decisions. And we need to see all the effects that are the result of our actions, even if the results from our actions happen years later. These are just some of the responsibilities that every human shares on this beautiful planet earth. You cannot ignore these responsibilities, and you cannot transfer these responsibilities to someone else, unless, there is an agreement or a contract that explains that this cooperation that you have with other people, states that this is the most logical, the most efficient, and the most effective way to fulfill these responsibilities that we all share to live. Everyone needs to be accountable for their actions, and accountable for all the results that come from their actions. Everyone also needs to be open and honest. It doesn't seem like a lot to ask, but it means a lot, it means a lot to everyone, and to every single thing that we hold dear.

You should always know the answers to these two questions, What would Earth do? What natural processes have been working for millions of years? What would Life do? How has life adapted to change in order to survive over the last 500 million years?

Dilemmas - State of Uncertainty

Pandora's Box means to perform an action that may seem small or innocent, but that turns out to have severely detrimental and far-reaching negative consequences. The action cannot be reversed, only repaired.

Progress Trap - Social Trap - Crisis - Two Sides to a Story

Catch-22 is a perceived dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions that interfere with Logical Decision Making. But one choice is always going to be better than the other choice, so don't make up excuses. "Dammed if you do and dammed if you don't, but only if you can prove it." "What goes around comes around." Karma.

False Dilemma is a type of informal fallacy in which something is falsely claimed to be an "either / or" situation, when in fact there is at least one additional option. Pessimism.

Choose Your Poison is used to say that someone has to make a choice between two unpleasant choices, like with a Two Party System where you have only two choices that were chosen by someone else.

Dilemma is a state of uncertainty or perplexity, especially on requiring a choice between two or more equally unfavorable options. What's the Catch?

Between a Rock and a Hard Place is when you have to make a choice between two unpleasant choices, or when you're faced with a situation offering at least two unacceptable possibilities. The origin of the idiom can be found in ancient Greek mythology.

Tough is something that is very difficult that severely tests your stamina or resolution, an event that makes great mental demands that are hard to comprehend or solve or believe. Something unfortunate or hard to bear.

Explore-Exploit Tradeoff is a dilemma you may face when choosing between options. Should you choose what you know and get something close to what you expect (‘exploit’) or choose something you aren’t sure about and possibly learn more (‘explore’)? Variables.

Setting up to Fail is a phrase denoting a no-win situation designed in such a way that the person in the situation cannot succeed at the task which they have been assigned. Planned obsolescence.

Emergence is a process whereby larger entities arise through interactions among smaller or simpler entities such that the larger entities exhibit properties the smaller/simpler entities do not exhibit. Develop.

Downward Causation is a causal relationship from higher levels of a system to lower-level parts of that system.

Pareto Principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. (80–20 rule).

Thucydides is strict standards of evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and effect . (c. 460 – c. 400 BC).

Ecocide is the extensive damage and destruction of ecosystems of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other, to such an extent that healthy enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been or will be severely diminished.

You Don't Know What You Got Till It's Gone - Cinderella (youtube)

Virtuous Circle and Vicious Circle refers to complex chains of events that reinforce themselves through a feedback loop. A virtuous circle has favorable results, while a vicious circle has detrimental results. Both circles are complex chains of events with no tendency toward equilibrium (social, economic, ecological, etc.) - at least in the short run. Both systems of events have feedback loops in which each iteration of the cycle reinforces the previous one (positive feedback). These cycles will continue in the direction of their momentum until an external factor intervenes and breaks the cycle. Ruminating.

Input - Output is the communication between an information processing system, such as a computer, and the outside world, possibly a human or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals or data received by the system and outputs are the signals or data sent from it. The term can also be used as part of an action; to "perform I/O" is to perform an input or output operation. I/O devices are used by a human (or other system) to communicate with a computer. For instance, a keyboard or mouse is an input device for a computer, while monitors and printers are output devices. Devices for communication between computers, such as modems and network cards, typically perform both input and output operations.

Race Condition is the behavior of an electronic, software, or other system where the output is dependent on the sequence or timing of other uncontrollable events. It becomes a bug when events do not happen in the order the programmer intended. The term originates with the idea of two signals racing each other to influence the output first. Race conditions can occur in electronics systems, especially logic circuits, and in computer software, especially multithreaded or distributed programs.

System Archetype are patterns of behavior of a system. Systems expressed by circles of causality have therefore similar structure.

Open System or Paradigm Shift is a fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline.

Enactivism is when cognition arises through a dynamic interaction between an acting organism and its environment.

The Fixx - One Thing Leads To Another (youtube)

You Reap what you Sow, Give and Receive, or what goes around comes around, is only accurate when you measure the value of the input and the output. Just the facts, and not the perceived facts or assumed facts.

Consequences - Outcomes

Consequence is the outcome of an event that is relative to an individual or group of people. Having important effects or influence.

Consequentialism is the class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct. Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right act (or omission from acting) is one that will produce a good outcome, or consequence.

Deterministic is an inevitable consequence of a preceding occurrence or cause or event.

Unintended Consequences are outcomes that are not the ones foreseen and intended by a purposeful action. Mistake.

Ramification is a consequence of an action or event, especially when complex or unwelcome.

Repercussions is a remote or indirect consequence of some action. Collateral Damage.

Backlash is an adverse reaction to some social occurrence. Come back to the originator of an action with an undesired effect.

Backfire is something that comes back to the originator of an action with an undesired effect. Blowback.

Unintended Consequences are outcomes that are not the ones foreseen and intended by a purposeful action. Possible causes of unintended consequences include the world's inherent complexity (parts of a system responding to changes in the environment), perverse incentives, human stupidity, self-deception, failure to account for human nature, or other cognitive or emotional biases. As a sub-component of complexity (in the scientific sense), the chaotic nature of the universe—and especially its quality of having small, apparently insignificant changes with far-reaching effects (e.g., the butterfly effect)—applies. Robert K. Merton listed five possible causes of unanticipated consequences in 1936: Ignorance, making it impossible to anticipate everything, thereby leading to incomplete analysis. Errors in analysis of the problem or following habits that worked in the past but may not apply to the current situation. Immediate interests overriding long-term interests. Basic values which may require or prohibit certain actions even if the long-term result might be unfavourable (these long-term consequences may eventually cause changes in basic values). Self-defeating prophecy, or, the fear of some consequence which drives people to find solutions before the problem occurs, thus the non-occurrence of the problem is not anticipated. In addition to Merton's causes, psychologist Stuart Vyse has noted that groupthink, described by Irving Janis, has been blamed for some decisions that result in unintended consequences. Two Sides to a Coin.

Ramification Problem is concerned with the indirect consequences of an action. It might also be posed as how to represent what happens implicitly due to an action or how to control the secondary and tertiary effects of an action. It is strongly connected to, and is opposite the qualification side of, the frame problem, describes an issue with using first-order logic (FOL) to express facts about a robot in the world.

We should Remake these game shows to be more reality based - Truth or Consequences (wiki) and Truth or Dare? (wiki)

Outcome Bias is our preference to judge decisions based on the outcome, rather than how we made the decision. We weigh a one-time result more heavily than the decision-making process itself. Bias.

Hindsight Bias is our tendency to see past events as much more predictable than they actually were. While it’s often hard or impossible to actually predict certain things, after the fact we get an “I knew it all along” feeling. This leads to us misjudging our own and others’ abilities. Hindsight is 20/20 describes the fact that it is easy for one to be knowledgeable about an event after it has happened.

Entailment is a deduction or implication, that is, something that follows logically from or is implied by something else. In logic, an entailment is the relationship between sentences whereby one sentence will be true if all the others are also true. Something involved as a necessary part or consequence of something. An entailment can also mean a situation where the owner of property has limited power over his own property.

Environment Knowledge

Natural Environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species. Climate, weather, and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity. The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished by components: Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive civilized human intervention, including all vegetation, microorganisms, soil, rocks, atmosphere, and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries and their nature. Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from civilized human activity. Naturalist Education - Biodiversity Loss.

Nature is the natural, physical, or material world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena. Parks.

Ecology is the scientific analysis and study of interactions among organisms and their environment. It is an interdisciplinary field that includes biology, geography, and Earth science.

Ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment, things like air, water and mineral soil, interacting as a system. These biotic and abiotic components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. As ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions among organisms, and between organisms and their environment, they can be of any size but usually encompass specific, limited spaces (although some scientists say that the entire planet is an ecosystem). Landscaping.

Habitat is the kind of natural environment in which a particular species of organism lives. It is characterized by both physical and biological features. A species' habitat is those places where it can find food, shelter, protection and mates for reproduction. The physical factors are for example soil, moisture, range of temperature, and light intensity as well as biotic factors such as the availability of food and the presence or absence of predators. Every organism has certain habitat needs for the conditions in which it will thrive, but some are tolerant of wide variations while others are very specific in their requirements. A habitat is not necessarily a geographical area, it can be the interior of a stem, a rotten log, a rock or a clump of moss, and for a parasitic organism it is the body of its host, part of the host's body such as the digestive tract, or a single cell within the host's body. Habitat types include polar, temperate, subtropical and tropical. The terrestrial vegetation type may be forest, steppe, grassland, semi-arid or desert. Fresh water habitats include marshes, streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and estuaries, and marine habitats include salt marshes, the coast, the intertidal zone, reefs, bays, the open sea, the sea bed, deep water and submarine vents. Habitats change over time. This may be due to a violent event such as the eruption of a volcano, an earthquake, a tsunami, a wildfire or a change in oceanic currents; or the change may be more gradual over millennia with alterations in the climate, as ice sheets and glaciers advance and retreat, and as different weather patterns bring changes of precipitation and solar radiation. Other changes come as a direct result of human activities; deforestation, the ploughing of ancient grasslands, the diversion and damming of rivers, the draining of marshland and the dredging of the seabed. The introduction of alien species can have a devastating effect on native wildlife, through increased predation, through competition for resources or through the introduction of pests and diseases to which the native species have no immunity.

Biomass is the total mass of organisms in a given area or volume. All weights are measured in carbon mass and are independent of water mass. Biomass is also a term for getting energy by burning wood, and other organic matter. 1 gigatonne of carbon = 10^15 grams of carbon. Gigatonne is 1,000,000,000 tonnes or 1 Billion tonnes. Gigatonne is also a unit of explosive force equal to one billion (109) tons of trinitrotoluene (TNT).

Biomass Distribution on Earth: Wild birds: 0.002 gigatonne. Wild mammals: 0.007 gigatonnes. Nematodes (roundworms): 0.02 gigatonnes. Humans: 0.06 gigatonnes. Livestock: 0.1 gigatonnes. Cnidarians (jellyfish, anemones, etc.): 0.1 gigatonnes.
Annelids (segmented worms): 0.2 gigatonnes. Molluscs (snails, squid, etc.): 0.2 gigatonnes. Arthropods, terrestrial (insects, spiders, etc): 0.2 gigatonnes. Fish: 0.7 gigatonnes. Arthropods, marine (crabs, lobsters, etc.): 1 gigatonne. Protists (amoebas, single-celled algae, etc.): 4 gigatonnes. Archaea (bacteria-like organisms): 7 gigatonnes. Fungi: 12 gigatonnes. Bacteria: 70 gigatonnes. Plants: 450 gigatonnes.

Biosphere is the regions of the surface and atmosphere of the Earth where living organisms exist. Biosphere is also known as the ecosphere, which is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems.

Earth is Biosphere 1 - Biosphere 2 is a controlled environment that tries to mimic biosphere 1 on a smaller scale.

Terraforming - Sensory Deprivation - Space Travel - Air

Physical Environment includes land, air, water, plants and animals, buildings and other infrastructure, and all of the natural resources that provide our basic needs and opportunities for social and economic development. A clean, healthy environment is important for people's physical and emotional wellbeing.

The Mass of Human-Made Materials Now Equals the Planet’s Biomass. Earth circa 2020: The mass of all human-produced materials – concrete, steel, asphalt, etc. – has grown to equal the mass of all life on the planet, its biomass. According to a new study at the Weizmann Institute of Science, we are right at this tipping point, and humans are currently adding new buildings, roads, vehicles and products at a rate that is doubling every 20 years, leading to a “concrete jungle” that is predicted to reach over two teratonnes (i.e. two million million) – or more than double the mass of living things, by 2040.

Ecosphere is a planetary closed ecological system. In this global ecosystem, the various forms of energy and matter that constitute a given planet interact on a continual basis. The forces of the four fundamental interactions cause the various forms of matter to settle into identifiable layers. These layers are referred to as component spheres with the type and extent of each component sphere varying significantly from one particular ecosphere to another. Component spheres that represent a significant portion of an ecosphere are referred to as a primary component spheres. For instance, Earth's ecosphere consists of five primary component spheres which are the geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and magnetosphere.

Geosphere the collective name for the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, and the atmosphere.

Cryosphere is those portions of Earth's surface where water is in solid form, including sea ice, lake ice, river ice, snow cover, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, and frozen ground (which includes permafrost).

Lithosphere is the rigid, outermost shell of a terrestrial-type planet or natural satellite that is defined by its rigid mechanical properties.

Hydrosphere is the combined mass of water found on, under, and above the surface of a planet, minor planet or natural satellite. It's estimated that there are 1386 million cubic kilometers of water on Earth. Deserts.

Biome is a community of plants and animals that have common characteristics for the environment they exist in. They can be found over a range of continents. Biomes are distinct biological communities that have formed in response to a shared physical climate. "Biome" is a broader term than "habitat"; any biome can comprise a variety of habitats.

Health Benefits from being Outdoors in a Natural Environment

Nature is good for you. Exposure to biodiversity improves health. A diverse ecosystem supports a varied and beneficial microbial community living around us and inside us. Taking in beneficial substances when we breathe in forest air can have many positive factors. like beneficial bacteria, plant-derived essential oils and negatively-charged ions or ionized air. We also know that exposure to green space, even within urban environments, can increase our physical and mental well-being. Being in a park or a forest, or visiting the ocean beach, can improve our mood. Nature simply makes us happy, so spending time outside can help increase our happiness, as well as, inspire creativity. There are many other benefits from spending time in the great outdoors. Spending time in green spaces can boost your immunity. It can lower your blood pressure and reduce stress and reduce the stress-related hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline, which may also relieve anxiety and depression. Being outside soaking up the sun can also elevate vitamin D levels. Outdoor time can help reduce inflammation. Being outside is good for your eyesight. Outdoor time can help improve your sleep. Being outdoors can help burn more calories. Outdoor time can sometimes even help relieve pain naturally. Spending time outdoors can also help us increase our social interactions. So I guess you can say that we were born to be outdoors in nature.

Shinrin-Yoku - Shinrin in Japanese means “forest,” and yoku means “bath.” So shinrin-yoku means bathing in the forest atmosphere, or taking in the forest through our senses.  It is simply being in nature, connecting with it through our senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Shinrin-yoku is like a bridge. Grounded.

Biophilia hypothesis suggests that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life and the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.

Environmental Psychology is an interdisciplinary field that focused on the interplay between individuals and their surroundings.

Eco-Psychology studies the relationship between human beings and the natural world through ecological and psychological principles. The field seeks to develop and understand ways of expanding the emotional connection between individuals and the natural world, thereby assisting individuals with developing sustainable lifestyles and remedying alienation from nature.

Naturalist Intelligence - Degradation - Habitat Loss

Wilderness Therapy is an adventure-based therapy treatment modality for behavior modification and interpersonal self-improvement, combining experiential education, individual and group therapy in a wilderness setting. The success of the Outward Bound outdoor education program in the 1940s inspired the approach taken by many current-day wilderness therapy programs, though some adopted a survivalist methodology. Ecological Psychology (wiki).

Nature Deficit Disorder is the idea that human beings, especially children, are spending less time outdoors, and the belief that this change results in a wide range of behavioral problems. Play Grounds.

Mutual Reliance - Coexistence - Symbiosis

Mutualism is the way two organisms of different species exist in a relationship in which each individual benefits from the activity of the other. Similar interactions within a species are known as co-operation. Mutualism can be contrasted with interspecific competition, in which each species experiences reduced fitness, and exploitation, or parasitism, in which one species benefits at the "expense" of the other. Symbiosis involves two species living in close proximity and includes relationships that are mutualistic, parasitic, and commensal. Mutualistic is the relation between two different species of organisms that are interdependent; each gains benefits from the other.

Balance - Dualism - Working Together - Mimic - Harmony

Co-operation in evolution is the process where groups of organisms work or act together for common or mutual benefits. It is commonly defined as any adaptation that has evolved, at least in part, to increase the reproductive success of the actor’s social partners.

Unity of Opposites defines a situation in which the existence or identity of a thing (or situation) depends on the co-existence of at least two conditions which are opposite to each other, yet dependent on each other and presupposing each other, within a field of tension.

Coexistence the state of two or more things existing together, usually in a temporal or spatial sense, with or without mutual interaction.

Compatible is something that is able to exist and perform in harmonious or agreeable combination with other things. Something that is capable of being used with or connected to other devices or components without modification. Harmonies (music).

Parasites - Microbes and Humans - Connected - Interactions - Bio-mimicry

Interrelated is reciprocally connected. A mutual relationship. A back-and-forth interaction, doing something in return.

Interspecies Friendship is a bond that is formed between animals of different species.

Interdependence is the mutual reliance between two or more groups. This concept differs from the reliance in a dependent relationship, where some members are dependent and some are not. There can be various degrees of interdependence. Intercropping.

Symbiotic is when organisms mutually benefit from each other when living together. A relationship that reciprocates.

Symbiosis is a close and often long-term interaction between two different biological species. "if you help me to stay alive then I will help you to stay alive, for if one of us dies, we may both die."

Symbiotic Relationships List (wiki) - List of Symbiotic Organisms (wiki)

Transcriptome analysis illuminates the nature of the intracellular interaction in a vertebrate-algal symbiosis

Symbiogenesis holds that the organelles distinguishing eukaryote cells evolved through symbiosis of individual single-celled prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea).

Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which one group of organisms assumes a significant degree of influence over the reproduction and care of another group to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that second group. Heredity (human nature)

System Integration is defined as the process of bringing together the component subsystems into one system and ensuring that the subsystems function together as a system.

Sharing - Sociology (social intelligence)

Non-Linear is a system in which the output is not directly proportional to the input.

Sigmoid Function is a mathematical function having an "S" shaped curve (sigmoid curve).

Green Economy (sustainability)

Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (wiki) - Convention on Biological Diversity

Biodiversity Hotspot - Aichi 

International Union for Conservation of Nature

The Limits to Growth - Energy

Restoration Ecology - Geotechnical Engineering

National Ecological Observatories Network - National Ecological Observatory Network (wiki)

STReam Experimental Observatory Network (STREON)

Awareness - Problem Solving

The Goldman Environmental Prize honors grassroots environmental activists. "There is no Planet B".

Synergetics is the empirical study of systems in transformation, with an emphasis on total system behavior unpredicted by the behavior of any isolated components, including humanity's role as both participant and observer.

Restoration - Conservation

Environmental Remediation deals with the removal of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment, or surface water. This would mean that once requested by the government or a land remediation authority, immediate action should be taken as this can impact negatively on human health and the environment. Nano-Remediation.

Damages - Maintenance

Environmental Epidemiology is the branches of epidemiology concerned with the discovery of the environmental exposures that contribute to or protect against injuries, illnesses, developmental conditions, disabilities, and deaths; and identification of public health and health care actions to manage the risks associated with harmful exposures.

Environmental Health is the branch of public health that is concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment that may affect human health. Other terms referring to or concerning environmental health are environmental public health, and public health protection / environmental health protection.

Public Lands (mix use)

Environmental Quality is a set of properties and characteristics of the environment, either generalized or local, as they impinge on human beings and other organisms. It is a measure of the condition of an environment relative to the requirements of one or more species and or to any human need or purpose.

Environmental Protection is a practice of protecting the natural environment on individual, organizational or governmental levels, for the benefit of both the environment and humans. Due to the pressures of overconsumption, population and technology, the biophysical environment is being degraded, sometimes permanently. Consent to Operate.

Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world, its fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation, including non-renewable resources such as metals, minerals and fossil fuels, and energy conservation, which is important to protect the natural world. Those who follow the conservation ethic and, especially, those who advocate or work toward conservation goals are termed conservationists.

Activism - Overconsumption - Divesting

Conservationist is a person who advocates or acts for the protection and preservation of the environment and wildlife. (not to be confused with a political conservative.) - List of Conservationists (wiki).

Conservation Movement is a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal and plant species as well as their habitat for the future. Evidence-based conservation seeks to use high quality scientific evidence to make conservation efforts more effective. Cultural Conservation.

Conservation Biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on natural and social sciences, and the practice of natural resource management. The conservation ethic is based on the findings of conservation biology.

Environmentalist is a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities". An environmentalist is engaged in or believes in the philosophy of environmentalism, which is the concern for environmental protection and the improvement of the health of the environment.

Natural Law - Earth Savers - Eco-Initiatives - Restoring

Reductionism - Interconnectivity - Sustainable Development

Ecological Design is any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes." Ecological design is an integrative ecologically responsible design discipline.

Land Improvement refers to altering the landscape in any number of ways such as: Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing. Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpose of building homes. Real estate development or changing its purpose, for example by converting an unused factory complex into condominia.

Nature Reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research.

Exponential Growth - Scalability - Scale

Open Source Ecology is a network of farmers, engineers, architects and supporters, whose main goal is the eventual manufacturing of the Global Village Con-struction Set (GVCS).

Ephemeralization is to do more and more with less and less until eventually you can do everything with nothing.

Ephemeral is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly.

Soil Knowledge

Land Use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. It also has been defined as "the total of arrangements, activities, and inputs that people undertake in a certain land cover type.

Environmental Psychology

Built Environment refers to the manmade surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from buildings and parks or green space to neighborhoods and cities that can often include their supporting infrastructure, such as water supply or energy networks. The built environment is a material, spatial and cultural product of human labor that combines physical elements and energy in forms for living, working and playing. It has been defined as "the humanitarian-made space in which people live, work, and recreate on a day-to-day basis.

City Development - Sustainability - Green Building - Activism

Environmental Movement is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues.

Environmental Policy refers to the commitment of an organization to the laws, regulations, and other policy mechanisms concerning environmental issues. These issues generally include air and water pollution, solid waste management, ecosystem management, maintenance of biodiversity, the protection of natural resources, wildlife and endangered species. Policies concerning energy or regulation of toxic substances including pesticides and many types of industrial waste are part of the topic of environmental policy. This policy can be deliberately taken to direct and oversee human activities and thereby prevent harmful effects on the biophysical environment and natural resources, as well as to make sure that changes in the environment do not have harmful effects on humans.

Antiquities Act is a law that gives the President of the United States the authority to, by presidential proclamation, create national monuments from public lands to protect significant natural, cultural, or scientific features. The Act has been used over a hundred times since its passage. Its use occasionally creates significant controversy. Act passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906.

Social Environment refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educated or lives in, and the people and institutions with whom they interact.

Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical, biological and information sciences (including ecology, biology, physics, chemistry, zoology, mineralogy, oceanology, limnology, soil science, geology, atmospheric science, and geodesy) to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems.

Environment in systems is the part of the universe that is being studied, while the environment is the remainder of the universe that lies outside the boundaries of the system. It is also known as the surroundings or neighborhood, and in thermodynamics, as the reservoir. Depending on the type of system, it may interact with the environment by exchanging mass, energy (including heat and work), linear momentum, angular momentum, electric charge, or other conserved properties. In some disciplines, such as information theory, information may also be exchanged. The environment is ignored in analysis of the system, except in regard to these interactions.

Environmental Education refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably.

Environmental Impact Assessment assessment of the environmental consequences (positive and negative) of a plan, policy, program, or concrete projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action.

Environmental Indicator measures that tell us what is happening in the environment.

Environmental Engineering - Trees

Environmental Performance Index is a method of quantifying and numerically marking the environmental performance of a state's policies.

Maryland Environmental Trust serves as the statewide land trust that holds over 1,070 conservation easements permanently protecting over 132,000 acres in Maryland. Its programs include Land Conservation, Monitoring and Stewardship, Local Land Trust Assistance and the Keep Maryland Beautiful Grants Program. The Land Conservation Program assists landowners with permanently protecting the natural, scenic and/or historic resources of their land primarily with conservation easements. The mission of the Maryland Environmental Trust is to provide landowners with information and tools to permanently protect natural, historic and scenic resources in the state and to conserve, improve, stimulate, and perpetuate the aesthetic, natural, health and welfare, scenic, and cultural qualities of the environment, including, but not limited to land, water, air, wildlife, scenic qualities, open spaces, buildings or any interest therein, and other appurtenances pertaining in any way to the State. Through educational and other means, the Trust shall encourage and motivate the populace of the State and others to do so and shall promote continuing interest in and the study of these matters. The purpose of the Trust is of general benefit to the citizens of the State, and it is charitable in nature. The Maryland Environmental Trust is governed by a 19-member Board of Trustees with 15 trustees as volunteer citizens representing diverse areas of the state.

Conservation Management System is a procedure for maintaining a species or habitat in a particular state.

IU scientists discover 'supramolecule' that could help reduce nuclear, agricultural waste (Sodium Bisulfate).

First evidence for new molecular structure could open doors to chemical solutions for environmental problems.

People enhanced the environment, not degraded it, over past 13,000 years.

Restoration is the process of restoring something to its former good condition. The Power of "RE".

Regenerative Design is a process-oriented systems theory based approach to design. The term "regenerative" describes processes that restore, renew or revitalize their own sources of energy and materials, creating sustainable systems that integrate the needs of society with the integrity of nature.

Biomimicry - Geo-Engineering - Divest

Regenerative Agriculture is a sub-sector practice of organic farming designed to build soil health or to regenerate unhealthy soils. The practices associated with regenerative agriculture are those identified with other approaches to organic farming, including maintaining a high percentage of organic matter in soils, minimum tillage, biodiversity, composting, mulching, crop rotation, cover crops, and green manures. Sustainable.

Regeneration in ecology states that not only are single organisms capable of regeneration but Ecosystems are regenerative as well, although not on a cellular level but rather - as a complex system composed of myriads of organisms and their habitat - on the level of interactions of whole populations and their environment. Resilience to minor disturbances is one characteristic feature of healthy ecosystems. Following major (lethal) disturbances, such as a fire or pest outbreak in a forest, an immediate return to the previous dynamic equilibrium will not be possible. Instead, pioneering species will occupy, compete for space, and establish themselves in the newly opened habitat. The new growth of seedlings and community assembly process is known as regeneration in ecology. As ecological succession sets in, a forest will slowly regenerate towards its former state within the succession (climax or any intermediate stage), provided that all outer parameters (climate, soil fertility availability of nutrients, animal migration paths, air pollution or the absence thereof, etc.) remain unchanged.

Restoration Ecology the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human intervention and action. Self-Healing.

Centre for Justice Governance and Environmental Action.

Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction.

Rewilding in conservation biology is large-scale conservation aimed at restoring and protecting natural processes and core wilderness areas, providing connectivity between such areas, and protecting or reintroducing apex predators and keystone species.

Habitat Destruction

Re-Wilding in Anarchism means to return to a more wild or natural state; it is the process of undoing domestication.

Rewilding - Animals - Plants

World's Largest Reforestation Program Overlooks Wildlife Seeing the Forest for the Trees: After years of environmental destruction, China has spent billions of dollars on the world's largest reforestation program, converting a combined area nearly the size of New York and Pennsylvania back to forest. (69.2 million acres) Must avoid Monoculture.

Grain for Green program in 1999 as an ambitious conservation program designed to mitigate and prevent soil erosion. It is an example of Payment for ecosystem services which is helping to solve Environmental issues in China. The program is designed to retire farmland that is susceptible to soil erosion, although some farmers may go back to farming the land after the program ends.

Payment for Ecosystem Services are incentives offered to farmers or landowners in exchange for managing their land to provide some sort of ecological service. They have been defined as "a transparent system for the additional provision of environmental services through conditional payments to voluntary providers." These programmes promote the conservation of natural resources in the marketplace. Consent to Operate -Consent to Establish.

Habitat Conservation is a management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore habitat areas for wild plants and animals, especially conservation reliant species, and prevent their extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range.

Habitat Conservation - Geo-Engineering.

Conservation Reliant Species are animal or plant species that require continuing species-specific wildlife management intervention such as predator control, habitat management and parasite control to survive, even when a self-sustainable recovery in population is achieved.

Recognizing the Rights of Nature
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
Creating and Restoring Wildlife Habitat
Alert Conservation
The Ecology Global Network

Environmental Personhood. Bangladesh became the first country to grant all of its rivers the same legal status as humans. From now on, its rivers will be treated as living entities in a court of law. The landmark ruling by the Bangladeshi Supreme Court is meant to protect the world's largest delta from further degradation from pollution, illegal dredging and human intrusion. Following the ruling, anyone accused of harming the rivers can be taken to court by the new, government-appointed National River Conservation Commission. They may be tried and delivered a verdict as if they had harmed their own mother. The river is now considered by law, by code, a living entity, so you'll have to face the consequence by law if you do anything that kills the river. In 2008, Ecuador became the first country to enshrine the legal rights of nature in its constitution. Bolivia passed a similar law in 2011.

Damage - Destruction - Degradation

Environmental Degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil. The destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. Pollution - Climate Change.

Ecocide is criminalized human activity that violates the principles of environmental justice, as by substantially damaging or destroying ecosystems or by harming the health and well-being of a species (including humans). Ecocide has not yet been accepted as an internationally punishable crime by the United Nations.

Damage is to cause injury or harm that reduces value or usefulness of someone or something. To break something, sometimes beyond repair and not able to perform its normal function. Render something ineffective or ruin something completely. Cause something to separate into pieces or fragments. Stop something from operating or functioning. Damage can also mean any harm or injury resulting from a violation of a legal right. Act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises.

Deterioration is a symptom that reduces the quality or strength of something or someone. The process of changing something to an inferior state.

Degradation is changing something to a lower state that is more vulnerable to death or damage.

Degrade is to reduce in worth or the character of something or someone. Chaos - Crisis - Consequences. 

Ruin is a state of devastation and destruction that is irrecoverable or incapable of being recovered or regained. The process of becoming dilapidated. An event that results in destruction. Destruction achieved by causing something to be wrecked. Damage beyond use or repair. Destroy or cause to fail.

Destruction is the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists.

Devastation is the state of being decayed or destroyed. An event that results in total destruction. Plundering with excessive damage and destruction.

Destroy is to physically or morally damage something beyond use or repair. The undoing of something or to do away with something.

Ecological Crisis occurs when changes to the environment of a species or population destabilizes its continued survival. A few possible causes include: Degradation of an abiotic ecological factor (for example, increase of temperature, less significant rainfalls). Increased pressures from predation. Rise in the number of individuals (overpopulation). The evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium sees infrequent ecological crises as a potential driver of rapid evolution.

Ecological Collapse refers to a situation where an ecosystem suffers a drastic, possibly permanent, reduction in carrying capacity for all organisms, often resulting in mass extinction. Usually, an ecological collapse is precipitated by a disastrous event occurring on a short time scale. Ecological collapse can be considered as a consequence of ecosystem collapse on the biotic elements that depended on the original ecosystem. Ecosystems have the ability to rebound from a disruptive agent. The difference between collapse or a gentle rebound is determined by two factors—the toxicity of the introduced element and the resiliency of the original ecosystem. Through natural selection the planet's species have continuously adapted to change through variation in their biological composition and distribution. Mathematically it can be demonstrated that greater numbers of different biological factors tend to dampen fluctuations in each of the individual factors. Scientists can predict tipping points for ecological collapse. The most frequently used model for predicting food web collapse is called R50, which is a reliable measurement model for food web robustness. Why Past Civilizations Failed.

Ecosystem Collapse happens when its unique biotic or characteristic biota or abiotic features are lost from all previous occurrences. Ecosystem collapse could be reversible and is thus not completely equivalent to species extinction. Ecosystem collapse can lead to catastrophic declines of carrying capacity and mass extinction (known as ecological collapse), and can also pose existential risk to human populations. Despite the strong empirical evidence, anticipating collapse is a complex problem. The collapse can happen when the ecosystem's distribution decreases below a minimal sustainable size, or when key biotic processes and features disappear due to environmental degradation or disruption of biotic interactions. These different pathways to collapse can be used as criteria for estimating the risk of ecosystem collapse. Although states of ecosystem collapse are often defined quantitatively, few studies adequately describe transitions from pristine or original state towards collapse.

Disturbance in ecology is a disturbance is a temporary change in environmental conditions that causes a pronounced change in an ecosystem. Disturbances often act quickly and with great effect, to alter the physical structure or arrangement of biotic and abiotic elements. Disturbance can also occur over a long period of time and can impact the biodiversity within an ecosystem. Major ecological disturbances may include fires, flooding, storms, insect outbreaks and trampling. Earthquakes, various types of volcanic eruptions, tsunami, firestorms, impact events, climate change, and the devastating effects of human impact on the environment (anthropogenic disturbances) such as clearcutting, forest clearing and the introduction of invasive species can be considered major disturbances. Not only invasive species can have a profound effect on an ecosystem, but also naturally occurring species can cause disturbance by their behavior. Disturbance forces can have profound immediate effects on ecosystems and can, accordingly, greatly alter the natural community. Because of these and the impacts on populations, disturbance determines the future shifts in dominance, various species successively becoming dominant as their life history characteristics, and associated life-forms, are exhibited over time.

Global Catastrophic Risk is a hypothetical future event that has the potential to damage human well-being on a global scale. Some events could cripple or destroy modern civilization. Any event that could cause human extinction or permanently and drastically curtail humanity's potential is known as an existential risk.

Ecological Footprint is a measure of human impact on Earth's ecosystems. It's typically measured in area of wilderness or amount of natural capital consumed each year. A common way of estimating footprint is, the area of wilderness of both land and sea needed to supply resources to a human population; This includes the area of wilderness needed to assimilate human waste.

Nature Deficit Disorder is when human beings, especially children, are spending less time outdoors resulting in a wide range of behavioral problems. Learning Outside the Classroom.

Natural Capital is the world's stock of natural resources, which includes geology, soils, air, water and all living organisms. Natural capital assets provide people with a wide range of free goods and services, often called ecosystem services, which underpin our economy and society and some of which even make human life possible.

Carrying Capacity is the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water, and other necessities available in the environment.

Overshoot in population occurs when a population temporarily exceeds the long term carrying capacity of its environment. The consequence of overshoot is called a collapse, a crash or a die-off in which there is a decline in population density. The entire sequence or trajectory undergone by the population and its environment is often termed 'overshoot-and-collapse'.

Quorum Sensing is a system of stimuli and response correlated to population density.

Anthropocene is a proposed epoch that begins when human activities started to have a significant global impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems.

Keystone Species is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance.

Environmental Policy - Pollution

Geo-Energy - Green Products

Gap Minder Trends and Stats - Resource Efficiency Experts - Footprint Network

Environmental Migrant are people who are forced to leave their home region due to sudden or long-term changes to their local environment which compromise their well being or secure livelihood, such changes are held to include increased droughts, desertification, sea level rise, and disruption of seasonal weather patterns such as monsoons.

Monitoring - Observing - Eyes in the Sky

Environmental Monitoring describes the processes and activities that need to take place to monitor the quality of the environment. Environmental monitoring is used in the preparation of environmental impact assessments, as well as in many circumstances in which human activities carry a risk of harmful effects on the natural environment.

Monitoring is the act of observing something and keeping a record of any changes. To keep an eye on something important and keep track of any changes.

Custodian is someone responsible for maintaining buildings or grounds or animals. Oversight.

Steward is someone who manages property or other affairs for someone else. Stewardship is a theological belief that humans are responsible for taking care of the world. Stewardship is being responsible for the world by maintaining it and taking care of it. Green Schools (environmental education).

Risk Management - Home Monitors - Real-Time Computing - Trees - Fires - Telemetry - Sensors

Participatory Monitoring is the regular collection of measurements or other kinds of data monitoring, usually of natural resources and biodiversity, undertaken by local people who live in the area being monitored, who rely on local natural resources, and consequently have great local knowledge of those resources. The people involved usually live in communities with considerable social cohesion where they regularly work together on shared projects. (also known as collaborative monitoring, community-based monitoring, locally based monitoring or volunteer monitoring). Global Warming.

Energy Monitoring - Pollution Monitoring - Corruption Monitoring - Supply Chain Traceability

Machine Learning to aid Environmental Monitoring - Artificial Intelligent Machine Learning

Planet Labs, Inc is an American private Earth imaging company that has the largest fleet of Earth-imaging satellites that takes daily images of the Earth to monitor changes and pinpoint trends. Continuously scans Earth capturing around 1.4 million images per day and feeding it back to 30 ground stations. This provides a complete image of Earth once per day at 3–5 m optical resolution through a technique called a line scan, which allows for continuous, high resolution imagery due to the fact that this type of camera is not restricted to specific vertical resolution. The company set up across the world. By September 2018 the company had launched nearly 300 satellites, 150 of which are active. They launch new satellites into orbit every three or four months. The mission to create a searchable database of Earth's surface: Will Marshall (video and text) - Planet Labs (wiki) - Transform daily satellite imagery into intelligent analytic feeds to index objects and change.

Scientists are using declassified military intelligence photographs to analyse historical ecological change. Researchers are using Cold War spy satellite images to explore changes in the environment, including deforestation in Romania, marmot decline in Kazakhstan and ecological damage from bombs in Vietnam. 

Environmental Analysis - Research and Monitoring - R&M
Environmental analysis is a strategic tool. It is a process to identify all the external and internal elements, which can affect performance. The analysis entails assessing the level of threat or opportunity the factors might present. Scanning: Identifying early signals of environmental changes and trends. Monitoring: Detecting meaning through ongoing observations of environmental changes and trends. Sound Monitoring. Forecasting: Developing projections of anticipated outcomes based on monitored changes and trends. Assessing: Determining the timing and importance of environmental changes and trends for strategies and their management.

We have Radar, Motion Sensors, High Resolution Cameras and Thermal Imaging Systems to see at night. Se we can monitor almost everything, even Poachers.

Forward-Looking Infrared thermographic camera senses infrared radiation. The sensors installed in forward-looking infrared cameras, as well as those of other thermal imaging cameras, use detection of infrared radiation, typically emitted from a heat source (thermal radiation), to create an image assembled for video output. They can be used to help pilots and drivers steer their vehicles at night and in fog, or to detect warm objects against a cooler background. The wavelength of infrared that thermal imaging cameras detect is 3 to 12 μm and differs significantly from that of night vision, which operates in the visible light and near-infrared ranges (0.4 to 1.0 μm). Cameras are typically used on military and civilian aircraft. Flir Night Vision Systems - Surveillance.

Gas Detector is a device that detects the presence of gases in an area, often as part of a safety system. This type of equipment is used to detect a gas leak or other emissions and can interface with a control system so a process can be automatically shut down. A gas detector can sound an alarm to operators in the area where the leak is occurring, giving them the opportunity to leave. This type of device is important because there are many gases that can be harmful to organic life, such as humans or animals. Gas detectors can be used to detect combustible, flammable and toxic gases, and oxygen depletion. This type of device is used widely in industry and can be found in locations, such as on oil rigs, to monitor manufacture processes and emerging technologies such as photovoltaic. They may be used in firefighting. Gas leak detection is the process of identifying potentially hazardous gas leaks by sensors. Additionally a visual identification can be done using a thermal camera These sensors usually employ an audible alarm to alert people when a dangerous gas has been detected. Exposure to toxic gases can also occur in operations such as painting, fumigation, fuel filling, construction, excavation of contaminated soils, landfill operations, entering confined spaces, etc. Common sensors include combustible gas sensors, photoionization detectors, infrared point sensors, ultrasonic sensors, electrochemical gas sensors, and semiconductor sensors. More recently, infrared imaging sensors have come into use. All of these sensors are used for a wide range of applications and can be found in industrial plants, refineries, pharmaceutical manufacturing, fumigation facilities, paper pulp mills, aircraft and shipbuilding facilities, hazmat operations, waste-water treatment facilities, vehicles, indoor air quality testing and homes.

Ultra-Fast Bomb Detection method to detect materials that could be used to build explosives. The new detection method is able to analyze a wider range of materials than current thermal based detection systems used in today's airports, while reducing false positive reports.

Biomarker is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated to examine normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacologic responses to a therapeutic intervention. Biomarkers are used in many scientific fields.

Bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. Bioindicators can tell us about the cumulative effects of different pollutants in the ecosystem and about how long a problem may have been present, which physical and chemical testing cannot. A biological monitor or biomonitor is an organism that provides quantitative information on the quality of the environment around it. Therefore, a good biomonitor will indicate the presence of the pollutant and also attempt to provide additional information about the amount and intensity of the exposure. A biological indicator is also the name given to a process for assessing the sterility of an environment through the use of resistant microorganism strains (eg. Bacillus or Geobacillus). Biological indicators can be described as the introduction of a highly resistant microorganisms to a given environment before sterilization, tests are conducted to measure the effectiveness of the sterilization processes. As biological indicators use highly resistant microorganisms, you can be assured that any sterilization process that renders them inactive will have also killed off more common, weaker pathogens.

Biosignature is any substance – such as an element, isotope, or molecule – or phenomenon that provides scientific evidence of past or present life. Measurable attributes of life include its complex physical and chemical structures and also its utilization of free energy and the production of biomass and wastes. Due to its unique characteristics, a biosignature can be interpreted as having been produced by living organisms; however, it is important that they not be considered definitive because there is no way of knowing in advance which ones are universal to life and which ones are unique to the peculiar circumstances of life on Earth. Nonetheless, life forms are known to shed unique chemicals, including DNA, into the environment as evidence of their presence in a particular location.

Ecological Indicator are used to communicate information about ecosystems and the impact human activity has on ecosystems to groups such as the public or government policy makers. Ecosystems are complex and ecological indicators can help describe them in simpler terms that can be understood and used by non-scientists to make management decisions. For example, the number of different beetle taxa found in a field can be used as an indicator of biodiversity.

Environmental Indicator are simple measures that tell us what is happening in the environment. Since the environment is very complex, indicators provide a more practical and economical way to track the state of the environment than if we attempted to record every possible variable in the environment. For example, concentrations of ozone depleting substances (ODS) in the atmosphere, tracked over time, is a good indicator with respect to the environmental issue of stratospheric ozone depletion.

How we're saving one of Earth's last wild places: Steve Boyes (video and text)

Remote Sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object and thus in contrast to on-site observation. Remote sensing is used in numerous fields, including geography, land surveying and most Earth Science disciplines. Telepresence.

Curiosity Mars Rover Snaps 1.8 Billion-Pixel Panorama (youtube)

Argo is a global array of 3,800 free-drifting profiling floats that measures the temperature and salinity of the upper 2000 m of the ocean. This allows, for the first time, continuous monitoring of the temperature, salinity, and velocity of the upper ocean, with all data being relayed and made publicly available

Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System assists in monitoring the effectiveness of enforcement and compliance of wildlife law at a national level.

Carnegie Airborne Observatory 3-D spectral and laser imaging technology.

Graphene and Quantum Dots put in motion a CMOS-integrated camera that can see the invisible capable of imaging visible and infrared light at the same time.

Drones Monitoring

Using Drones to tackle Climate Change.
Conservation Drones - Blade 720 Drone
Radio Controlled Drones (remote control)
Drone Knowledge - UAV- Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.
Tiny Jedi drone (youtube)

Global Hawk is an unmanned (UAV) surveillance aircraft. Provides a broad overview and systematic surveillance using high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and long-range electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensors with long loiter times over target areas. It can survey as much as 40,000 square miles (100,000 km2) of terrain a day.

Zip Line lifesaving deliveries by drone. More than two billion people lack adequate access to essential medical products, such as blood and vaccines, due to challenging terrain and gaps in infrastructure. Zipline improves access to these supplies by flying over impassable mountains and washed-out roads, delivering directly to clinics. All on its own.

Photos of Africa, taken from a flying lawn chair: George Steinmetz 2017 (video and text) - Powered Parachutes

Robots - Robotics

GPS Trackers - GPS Collars - Wireless Trackers - Supply Chain Traceability

Monitoring Birds by Drone - Sky Truth

Cultural Protection Using Satellites and Citizen Scientists - Satellite Images

Human Flying Drone is Powerful enough to Lift a Human (youtube)

Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Environmental Audit
Ecological Deficit

Virunga Official Trailer 1 (2014) - Netflix Documentary HD (youtube)

Soundscape Ecology
Detection of Deforestation (DETER)

Commercial airliners monitoring CO2 emissions from cities worldwide. Monitoring greenhouse gas emissions from cities is important in order to support climate mitigation activities in response to the Paris Agreement. An international research team examined carbon dioxide (CO2) data collected over 34 global cities by Japan's commercial airliners. Their study revealed a relationship between urban atmospheric CO2 signals and emissions from cities for the first time. The relationship suggests that global observations by commercial airlines could provide an opportunity for urban CO2 emissions monitoring. Cities are responsible for more than 70% of the global total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Ability to monitor GHG emissions from cities is an important capability to develop in order to support climate mitigation activities in response to the Paris Agreement. The science community has examined the data collected from different platforms, such as ground-based, aircraft and satellites, to establish a science-based monitoring capability. A study by an international team, published in Scientific Reports, examined the data collected by commercial airliners and showed the potential of the aircraft data to contribute to the global GHG emission monitoring. The CONTRAIL (Comprehensive Observation Network for TRace gases by AIrLiners) program is Japan's unique aircraft observation project. Air Quality.

Ocean Monitoring

Unmanned Port Security Vessel autonomously surveys the seabed and is a sensor platform for other optical, chemical and environmental sensors, including real-time video.

Sailing Drones provide High Resolution Ocean Data - Oceans

Animals could help humans monitor oceans. Sharks, penguins, turtles and other seagoing species could help humans monitor the oceans by transmitting oceanographic information from electronic tags. We have processed more than 1.5 million measurements from floating sensors to identify poorly sampled areas, 18.6% of the global ocean surface.By comparing this with gaps in current observations by drifting profiling sensors (known as Argo floats) we identified poorly sampled areas where data from animal sensors would help fill gaps.

Schmidt Ocean Institute - Ocean Protection - Eyes on the Seas

Satellite data identifies companies fishing in high seas. Analysis points to commercial activity beyond reach of national jurisdiction. The team's analysis showed 1,120 corporations owned nearly 2,500 high seas fishing vessels in 2018 -- or approximately two-thirds of the total detected fishing effort in these waters.

Pingers' could save Porpoises from Fishing Nets. Underwater sound devices called 'pingers' could be an effective, long-term way to prevent porpoises getting caught in fishing nets with no negative behavioral effects.

Gladius Submersible Underwater Drone is the most affordable, easy to use underwater photography drone w 4k camera, 100m depth & 500m range.

RangerBot underwater Drone helps protect the Great Barrier Reef.

New Underwater Drone Flies AND Swims (youtube)

Inner Space Science facilitates the use of privately owned submersibles by scientists and educators on a non-commercial basis.

MantaDroid is a Manta Ray Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Robot that swims 0.7m per second and operates up to 10
hours underwater surveillance turbulent seas.

PowerRay underwater robot combines fishfinder, mobile app, and VR goggle which provides real-time visualization of finding and catching fish. SoFi Soft Robotic Fish.

Engineers combine light and sound to see underwater. An airborne method for imaging underwater objects by combining light and sound to break through the seemingly impassable barrier at the interface of air and water. A hybrid optical-acoustic system or Photoacoustic Airborne Sonar System.

Kayaks with Underwater Environmental Sensors and Speakers. Researchers have rigged kayaks with underwater environmental sensors and speakers to create an environmental monitoring tool suitable for citizen scientists. Instructions for the hardware and open-source software for making the 'Sonic Kayak' are available.

Rotating microscope could provide a new window into secrets of microscopic life. Insights from innovative device could provide a new window into secrets of microscopic ocean life and their effects on crucial planetary processes, such as carbon fixation.

Ocean microbes could interact with pollution to influence climate. Little is known about how gases and aerosols made by ocean microbes affect weather and climate, or how pollution could influence this process. Today, scientists report they've used an 'ocean-in-a-lab' to show that air pollution can change the makeup of gases and aerosols that sea spray releases into the atmosphere, potentially altering weather patterns.

Automated Data Collection Technology

Telemetry is an automated communications process by which measurements and other data are collected at remote or inaccessible points and transmitted to receiving equipment for monitoring. The word is derived from Greek roots: tele = remote, and metron = measure. Systems that need external instructions and data to operate require the counterpart of telemetry, telecommand. Although the term commonly refers to wireless data transfer mechanisms (e.g., using radio, ultrasonic, or infrared systems), it also encompasses data transferred over other media such as a telephone or computer network, optical link or other wired communications like power line carriers. Many modern telemetry systems take advantage of the low cost and ubiquity of GSM networks by using SMS to receive and transmit telemetry data. A telemeter is a device used to remotely measure any quantity. It consists of a sensor, a transmission path, and a display, recording, or control device. Telemeters are the physical devices used in telemetry. Electronic devices are widely used in telemetry and can be wireless or hard-wired, analog or digital. Other technologies are also possible, such as mechanical, hydraulic and optical. Telemetry may be commutated to allow the transmission of multiple data streams in a fixed frame. Telemetry is the automatic transmission and measurement of data from remote sources by wire or radio or other means.

Tele-Robotics - Tele-Medicine - Remote Services - Supply Chain Traceability

Transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a portmanteau of transmitter and responder. It is variously abbreviated as XPDR, XPNDR, TPDR or TP. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight transponder is an automated transceiver in an aircraft that emits a coded identifying signal in response to an interrogating received signal. In a communications satellite, a satellite transponder receives signals over a range of uplink frequencies, usually from a satellite ground station. The transponder amplifies them, and re-transmits them on a different set of downlink frequencies to receivers on Earth, often without changing the content of the received signal or signals.

Real-Time Data is information that is delivered immediately after collection. There is no delay in the timeliness of the information provided. Real-time data is often used for navigation or tracking. Such data is usually processed using real-time computing although it can also be stored for later or off-line data analysis. Some uses of the term "real-time data" confuse it with the term dynamic data. The presence of real-time data is actually irrelevant to whether it is dynamic or static.

Data Logger is an electronic device that records data over time or in relation to location either with a built in instrument or sensor or via external instruments and sensors. Increasingly, but not entirely, they are based on a digital processor (or computer). They generally are small, battery powered, portable, and equipped with a microprocessor, internal memory for data storage, and sensors. Some data loggers interface with a personal computer, and use software to activate the data logger and view and analyze the collected data, while others have a local interface device (keypad, LCD) and can be used as a stand-alone device.

Want more efficient simulators? Store time in a quantum superposition. Approach could cut resources required for simulations of processes such as traffic flow and neuron firing.

Real-Time Web is a network web using technologies and practices that enable users to receive information as soon as it is published by its authors, rather than requiring that they or their software check a source periodically for updates.

Live Streaming refers to online streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real time to the viewer. It is often simply referred to as streaming.

Real-Time Locating System are used to automatically identify and track the location of objects or people in real time, usually within a building or other contained area. Wireless RTLS tags are attached to objects or worn by people, and in most RTLS, fixed reference points receive wireless signals from tags to determine their location. Examples of real-time locating systems include tracking automobiles through an assembly line, locating pallets of merchandise in a warehouse, or finding medical equipment in a hospital. The physical layer of RTLS technology is usually some form of radio frequency (RF) communication, but some systems use optical (usually infrared) or acoustic (usually ultrasound) technology instead of or in addition to RF. Tags and fixed reference points can be transmitters, receivers, or both, resulting in numerous possible technology combinations. RTLS are a form of local positioning system, and do not usually refer to GPS or to mobile phone tracking. Location information usually does not include speed, direction, or spatial orientation.

Real Time Kinematic positioning is a satellite navigation technique used to enhance the precision of position data derived from satellite-based positioning systems (global navigation satellite systems, GNSS) such as GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou. It uses measurements of the phase of the signal's carrier wave in addition to the information content of the signal, and relies on a single reference station or interpolated virtual station to provide real-time corrections, providing up to centimetre-level accuracy. With reference to GPS in particular, the system is commonly referred to as Carrier-Phase Enhancement, or CPGPS. It has applications in land survey, hydrographic survey, and in consumer unmanned aerial vehicle navigation.

Real-Time Computing describes hardware and software systems subject to a "real-time constraint", for example from event to system response. Real-time programs must guarantee response within specified time constraints, often referred to as "deadlines". The correctness of these types of systems depends on their temporal aspects as well as their functional aspects. Real-time responses are often understood to be in the order of milliseconds, and sometimes microseconds. A system not specified as operating in real time cannot usually guarantee a response within any timeframe, although typical or expected response times may be given. A real-time system has been described as one which "controls an environment by receiving data, processing them, and returning the results sufficiently quickly to affect the environment at that time". The term "real-time" is also used in simulation to mean that the simulation's clock runs at the same speed as a real clock, and in process control and enterprise systems to mean "without significant delay". Real-time software may use one or more of the following: synchronous programming languages, real-time operating systems, and real-time networks, each of which provide essential frameworks on which to build a real-time software application. Systems used for many mission critical applications must be real-time, such as for control of fly-by-wire aircraft, or anti-lock brakes on a vehicle, which must produce maximum deceleration but intermittently stop braking to prevent skidding. Real-time processing fails if not completed within a specified deadline relative to an event; deadlines must always be met, regardless of system load.

Geographic Information Science is the scientific discipline that studies data structures and computational techniques to capture, represent, process, and analyze geographic information. It can be contrasted with geographic information systems, which are software tools. Geography

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is both a combat support agency, under the United States Department of Defense, and an intelligence agency of the United States Intelligence Community, with the primary mission of collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of national security. NGA was known as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) until 2003.

Geospatial Intelligence is intelligence about the human activity on earth derived from the exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information that describes, assesses, and visually depicts physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth. GEOINT, as defined in US Code, consists of imagery, imagery intelligence (IMINT) and geospatial information.

Geospatial Analysis is an approach to applying statistical analysis and other analytic techniques to data which has a geographical or spatial aspect. Such analysis would typically employ software capable of rendering maps processing spatial data, and applying analytical methods to terrestrial or geographic datasets, including the use of geographic information systems and geomatics.

Geographic Information System is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present spatial or geographic data. The acronym GIS is sometimes used for geographic information science (GIScience) to refer to the academic discipline that studies geographic information systems and is a large domain within the broader academic discipline of geoinformatics. What goes beyond a GIS is a spatial data infrastructure, a concept that has no such restrictive boundaries.

Geoinformatics is the science and the technology which develops and uses information science infrastructure to address the problems of geography, cartography, geosciences locations and related branches of science and engineering.

Science to quickly and accurately identify fish species in streams using new environmental DNA (eDNA).

Environmental DNA is collected from a variety of environmental samples such as soil, seawater, or even air rather than directly sampled from an individual organism. As various organisms interact with the environment, DNA is expelled and accumulates in their surroundings. Example sources of eDNA include, but are not limited to, feces, mucus, gametes, shed skin, carcasses and hair. Such samples can be analyzed by high-throughput DNA Sequencing methods, known as metagenomics, for rapid measurement and monitoring of biodiversity. In order to better differentiate between organisms within a sample, DNA metabarcoding is used in which the sample is analyzed and uses previously studied DNA libraries to determine what organisms are present (e.g. BLAST. The analysis of eDNA has great potential, not only for monitoring common species, but to genetically detect and identify other extant species that could influence conservation efforts. This method allows for Biomonitoring without requiring collection of the living organism, creating the ability to study organisms that are invasive, elusive, or endangered without introducing anthropogenic stress on the organism. Access to this genetic information makes a critical contribution to the understanding of population size, species distribution, and population dynamics for species not well documented. The integrity of eDNA samples is dependent upon its preservation within the environment. Soil, permafrost, freshwater and seawater are well-studied macro environments from which eDNA samples have been extracted, each of which include many more conditioned subenvironments. Because of its versatility, eDNA is applied in many subenvironments such as freshwater sampling, seawater sampling, terrestrial soil sampling (tundra permafrost), aquatic soil sampling (river, lake, pond, and ocean sediment), or other environments where normal sampling procedures can become problematic.

Metagenomics is the study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental samples. The broad field may also be referred to as environmental genomics, ecogenomics or community genomics. While traditional microbiology and microbial genome sequencing and genomics rely upon cultivated clonal cultures, early environmental gene sequencing cloned specific genes (often the 16S rRNA gene) to produce a profile of diversity in a natural sample. Such work revealed that the vast majority of microbial biodiversity had been missed by cultivation-based methods. Recent studies use either "shotgun" or PCR directed sequencing to get largely unbiased samples of all genes from all the members of the sampled communities. Because of its ability to reveal the previously hidden diversity of microscopic life, metagenomics offers a powerful lens for viewing the microbial world that has the potential to revolutionize understanding of the entire living world. As the price of DNA sequencing continues to fall, metagenomics now allows microbial ecology to be investigated at a much greater scale and detail than before.

Optical Mapping is a technique for constructing ordered, genome-wide, high-resolution restriction maps from single, stained molecules of DNA, called "optical maps". By mapping the location of restriction enzyme sites along the unknown DNA of an organism, the spectrum of resulting DNA fragments collectively serves as a unique "fingerprint" or "barcode" for that sequence.

Ultra-Thin Camera Creates Images Without Lenses. New design substitutes an array of light receivers for a lens, making cameras thin, light, cheap, and flexible.

Spatial Intelligence

Phased-Array Optics is the technology of controlling the phase of light waves transmitting or reflecting from a two-dimensional surface by means of adjustable surface elements. It is the optical analogue of phased array radar. By dynamically controlling the optical properties of a surface on a microscopic scale, it is possible to steer the direction of light beams, or the view direction of sensors, without any moving parts. Hardware associated with beam steering applications is commonly called an optical phased array (OPA). Phased array beam steering is used for optical switching and multiplexing in optoelectronic devices, and for aiming laser beams on a macroscopic scale. Complicated patterns of phase variation can be used to produce diffractive optical elements, such as dynamic virtual lenses, for beam focusing or splitting in addition to aiming. Dynamic phase variation can also produce real-time holograms. Devices permitting detailed addressable phase control over two dimensions are a type of spatial light modulator (SLM). In nanotechnology, phased array optics refers to arrays of lasers or SLMs with addressable phase and amplitude elements smaller than a wavelength of light. While still theoretical, such high resolution arrays would permit extremely realistic three-dimensional image display by dynamic holography with no unwanted orders of diffraction. Applications for weapons, space communications, and invisibility by optical camouflage have also been suggested.

Silicon Photonics is the study and application of photonic systems which use silicon as an optical medium. The silicon is usually patterned with sub-micrometre precision, into microphotonic components. These operate in the infrared, most commonly at the 1.55 micrometre wavelength used by most fiber optic telecommunication systems. The silicon typically lies on top of a layer of silica in what (by analogy with a similar construction in microelectronics) is known as silicon on insulator (SOI).

Magnetic Survey in archaeology is one of a number of methods used in archaeological geophysics that makes it possible to see formations underground by measuring fluctuations in earth's magnetic field. Magnetic surveys record spatial variation in the Earth's magnetic field. In archaeology, magnetic surveys are used to detect and map archaeological artefacts and features. Magnetic surveys are used in both terrestrial and marine archaeology. Magnetometers used in geophysical survey may use a single sensor to measure the total magnetic field strength, or may use two (sometimes more) spatially separated sensors to measure the gradient of the magnetic field (the difference between the sensors).

Metal Detector is an electronic instrument which detects the presence of metal nearby. Metal detectors are useful for finding metal inclusions hidden within objects, or metal objects buried underground. They often consist of a handheld unit with a sensor probe which can be swept over the ground or other objects.

Weather - Atmosphere - Air Monitors - Air

Photogrammetry is the science of making measurements from photographs, especially for recovering the exact positions of surface points. Photogrammetry is as old as modern photography, dating to the mid-19th century and in the simplest example, the distance between two points that lie on a plane parallel to the photographic image plane, can be determined by measuring their distance on the image, if the scale (s) of the image is known. Photogrammetric analysis may be applied to one photograph, or may use high-speed photography and remote sensing to detect, measure and record complex 2-D and 3-D motion fields by feeding measurements and imagery analysis into computational models in an attempt to successively estimate, with increasing accuracy, the actual, 3-D relative motions. From its beginning with the stereoplotters used to plot contour lines on topographic maps, it now has a very wide range of uses.See also sonar, radar, lidar.

Mining - Resource Extraction

Mining is extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, which are Non-renewable resources that do not renew and are there for unsustainable. But if theses extractions were to be used effectively and efficiently our resources would benefit mankind, instead of poisoning the environment and killing people and other life forms.

Mineral Policy Institute specializes in preventing environmentally and socially destructive mining, minerals and energy projects in Australia, Asia and the Pacific.

Progress Trap - Social Trap - Purpose - Destructive Mining (Consent to Operate) - Habitats.

Overconsumption is a situation where resource use has outpaced the sustainable capacity of the ecosystem. A prolonged pattern of overconsumption leads to environmental degradation and the eventual loss of resource bases. Consumerism.

Raping the land and leaving toxic poisonous waste for tax payers to clean up. This is what republican criminals and their corporate sponsors like to do to your children and grand children. 161,000 abandoned mining sites in America. 94,000 abandoned Oil and Gas sites. It would cost 50 Billion dollars for tax payers to clean up. We are not against mining resources, we are against corporate greed that murders people and destroys American soil. Public Lands.

Non-Renewable Resource is a resource that does not renew itself at a sufficient rate for sustainable economic extraction in meaningful human time-frames. An example is carbon-based, organically-derived fuel. The original organic material, with the aid of heat and pressure, becomes a fuel such as oil or gas. Earth minerals and metal ores, fossil fuels (coal, petroleum, natural gas) and groundwater in certain aquifers are all considered non-renewable resources, though individual elements are almost always conserved.

Conservation - Preservation - Rare Earth Metals - Geology - Phytomining

If something in the environment is beneficial to humans, then we should not waste it or abuse it because the loses would exceed the gains, so the benefit will only be temporary, and this valuable resource will do more harm than good.

Resource Management is the efficient and effective development of an organization's resources when they are needed. Such resources may include the financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or information technology (IT) and natural resources.

Subterranean is below ground or underground or beneath the surface of the earth.

Source International works with communities facing environmental pollution issues and health problems. who suffer Human Rights violations, especially linked to extractive industries. Any processes that involve the extraction of raw materials from the earth to be used by consumers. The extractive industry consists of any operations that remove metals, mineral and aggregates from the earth. Examples of extractive processes include oil and gas extraction, mining, dredging and quarrying.

Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative is a global standard to promote the open and accountable management of extractive resources. It seeks to address the key governance issues in the oil, gas and mining sectors. EITI promots public awareness about how countries manage their oil, gas and mineral resources.

Destructive Mining - Earthworks

Vandalism is an action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property.

Environmental Crime is an illegal act which directly harms the environment.

Lawsuit (suing) - Toxins - Pollution

Tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are distinct from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overlies an ore or mineral body and is displaced during mining without being processed.

Groundwater Contamination

Toxics Release Inventory is a publicly available database containing information on toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities in the United States. Toxics Release Inventory Tri-Program (epa)

Waste Materials from Mines - Waste Types

Toxic Mine Waste Threatens Worlds Waters - Toxins

The Shocking Danger of Mountaintop Removal — and why it Must End: Michael Hendryx (video and text)
Mountaintop Removal Mining is a form of Surface Mining at the summit or summit ridge of a mountain.

Conflict Mineral are natural resources extracted in a conflict zone and sold to perpetuate the fighting. Conflict Free does not mean free from other problems. Congo Conflict Minerals (PDF)

Indigenous People are Left Poor as Tech World takes Lithium from under their Feet - Atacama People (wiki) - Atacama Desert (wiki)

Mineral Resource Classification is the classification of mineral resources based on an increasing level of geological knowledge and confidence. Mineral deposits can be classified as: Mineral resources that are potentially valuable, and for which reasonable prospects exist for eventual economic extraction. Mineral reserves or Ore reserves that are valuable and legally and economically and technically feasible to extract. Resource Shortages - Actual Cost.

Mineral Processing is the process of separating commercially valuable minerals from their ores. Before the advent of heavy machinery the raw ore was broken up using hammers wielded by hand, a process called "spalling". Before long, mechanical means were found to achieve this. For instance, stamp mills were used in Samarkand as early as 973. They were also in use in medieval Persia. By the 11th century, stamp mills were in widespread use throughout the medieval Islamic world, from Islamic Spain and North Africa in the west to Central Asia in the east. A later example was the Cornish stamps, consisting of a series of iron hammers mounted in a vertical frame, raised by cams on the shaft of a waterwheel and falling onto the ore under gravity. The simplest method of separating ore from gangue consists of picking out the individual crystals of each. This is a very tedious process, particularly when the individual particles are small. Another comparatively simple method relies on the various minerals having different densities, causing them to collect in different places: metallic minerals (being heavier) will drop out of suspension more quickly than lighter ones, which will be carried further by a stream of water. The process of panning and sifting for gold uses both of these methods. Various devices known as 'buddles' were used to take advantage of this property. Later, more advanced machines were used such as the Frue vanner, invented in 1874. Other equipment used historically includes the hutch, a trough used with some ore-dressing machines and the keeve or kieve, a large tub used for differential settlement. Mineral processing begins with beneficiation, consisting of initially breaking down the ore to required sizes depending on the concentration process to be followed, by crushing, grinding, sieving etc. Thereafter, the ore is physically separated from any unwanted impurity, depending on the form of occurrence and or further process involved. Separation processes take advantage of physical properties of the materials. These physical properties can include density, particle size and shape, electrical and magnetic properties, and surface properties. Major physical and chemical methods include magnetic separation, froth flotation, leaching etc., whereby the impurities and unwanted materials are removed from the ore and the base ore of the metal is concentrated, meaning the percentage of metal in the ore is increased. This concentrate is then either processed to remove moisture or else used as is for extraction of the metal or made into shapes and forms that can undergo further processing, with ease of handling. Ore bodies often contain more than one valuable metal. Tailings of a previous process may be used as a feed in another process to extract a secondary product from the original ore. Additionally, a concentrate may contain more than one valuable metal. That concentrate would then be processed to separate the valuable metals into individual constituents. Mineral processing can involve four general types of unit operation: comminution – particle size reduction; sizing – separation of particle sizes by screening or classification; concentration by taking advantage of physical and surface chemical properties; and dewatering – solid/liquid separation. In all of these processes, the most important considerations are the economics of the processes and this is dictated by the grade and recovery of the final product. To do this, the mineralogy of the ore needs to be considered as this dictates the amount of liberation required and the processes that can occur. The smaller the particles processes, the greater the theoretical grade and recovery of the final product, but this however is difficult to do with fine particles as they prevent certain concentration processes from occurring. Metallurgy.

Brine Mining is the extraction of useful materials (elements or compounds) which are naturally dissolved in brine. The brine may be seawater, other surface water, or groundwater. It differs from solution mining or in-situ leaching in that those methods inject water or chemicals to dissolve materials which are in a solid state; in brine mining, the materials are already dissolved. Brines are important sources of salt, iodine, lithium, magnesium, potassium, bromine, and other materials, and potentially important sources of a number of others.

Huge supply of Rare-Earth Elements from Mining Waste. Researchers have examined a method to extract rare-earth elements from mining waste that could provide the world with a reliable supply of the valuable materials.

Investigating BHP's $5bn Mining Disaster In Brazil (youtube)

Damian Palin: Mining Minerals from Seawater (video) - BioMine - Biomine

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH)

The Hidden Cost of Fossil Fuels 

Hambach Surface Mine (wiki)

Mining Technology

Metals used in high-tech products face future supply risks.

Abandoned Mines

Bunker Hill Mine in North Idaho deposited 75 million tons of toxic sludge in Lake Coeur d’Alene, and the lead and zinc are still flowing. Children in the Silver Valley in the 1970s registered some of the highest levels of lead in their bloodstreams recorded anywhere. Today, after 35 years and almost $900 million in cleanup costs, Bunker Hill’s tailings heap still oozes 400 pounds of toxic metals a day into the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River. The pollution is a ticking time bomb. Bunker Hill closed in 1981 because it couldn’t comply with U.S. clean air and water laws.

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Progressive Massive Fibrosis is the disease arises firstly through the deposition of silica or coal dust (or other dust) within the lung, and then through the body's immunological reactions to the dust.

Coal worker's Pneumoconiosis is also known as black lung disease or black lung, is caused by long exposure to coal dust. Similar to both silicosis from inhaling silica dust and to the long-term effects of tobacco smoking. Inhaled coal dust progressively builds up in the lungs and cannot be removed by the body; this leads to inflammation, fibrosis, and in worse cases, necrosis.

Silicosis is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust, and is marked by inflammation and scarring in the form of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs. It is a type of pneumoconiosis. Silicosis resulted in 46,000 deaths globally in 2013 down from 55,000 deaths in 1990.

Exploitation of Natural Resources is the use of natural resources for economic growth, sometimes with a negative connotation of accompanying environmental degradation.

Tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through the surrounding soil/earth/rock and enclosed except for entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube construction techniques rather than traditional tunnel boring methods.

Why Tunnels Don't Collapse. Rock bolts are a type of reinforcement for stabilizing rock excavations, usually made from steel bars or bolts.

Overburden is the material that lies above an area such as the rock, soil, and ecosystem.

Rare Earth Elements - Precious Metals - Geology

Edward Burtynsky Photographs of Mines

Convenience should never be a reason to commit murder or as a reason to destroy resources.

"Mountains Don't Grow Back, besides that, you have nothing to show for the energy you used except for millions of acres of poison ground and water that will last 10's of thousands of years. This is a horrific crime and a total waste of resources, land and people."

Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property.

Could you be Evil and not even know it, of course, that is why improving education is a must, but just in case, here's the prayer; "We're taking back Gabriel, Lucifer, Satan and all the other Fallen Angels, the people you refer to as your so called friends, and we will let them know that you are truly the enemy and that it would be in their best interest if they would return to heaven to help us end your insanity instead of fueling it, because everyone knows that this will ultimately end badly for everyone, and everything."

Divest - Stop Supporting

Divest is to rid oneself of something that one no longer wants or requires, like stopping a bad habit. You're Fired!

Divestment is getting rid of stocks, bonds, or investment funds that are unethically unjustifiable and measurably harmful.

Disinvestment is the withdrawal of capital from a country or corporation. Activism.

Energy Returned on Energy Invested is the ratio of the amount of usable energy delivered from a particular energy resource to the amount of energy used to obtain that energy resource. It is a distinct measure from energy efficiency as it does not measure the primary energy inputs to the system, only usable energy.

Divesting from companies related to fossil fuel abuses. We just don't want to Pool Resources, we need to correctly measure the resources the world has so that we can then use them effectively and fairly without waste and abuse. Resources belong to the people of the earth, and not to individuals, governments or corporations. End corporate welfare.

Investors should be More Ethical and Align their Portfolios with their Personal Values. Urge financial institutions to divest from companies implicated in everything from climate change and gun violence to worker exploitation. This year, 85% of individual investors surveyed indicated interest in ensuring that their money backs companies with sustainable practices.

Demonetize to divest or deprive of payment. To stop using a monetary standard.

Youtube Demonetization is when content creators are denied paid advertisements in their video, thus denying them revenue and reducing their income from the video-hosting platform. Censorship.

Boycott - Carbon Bubble - Stop Being An Enabler

Resource Depletion is the consumption of a resource faster than it can be replenished. Natural resources are commonly divided between renewable resources and non-renewable resources (see also mineral resource classification). Use of either of these forms of resources beyond their rate of replacement is considered to be resource depletion. Damage.

Tradable Energy Quotas is a proposal for a national emissions and energy trading scheme that includes personal carbon trading as a central element. It is the subject of significant interest from the UK Government, and is explicitly designed to address both climate change and peak oil.

Habitat Destruction
Go Fossil Free: Divestment Day February 13 and 14:
Divest from fossil fuels.

In the valuation of companies dependent on fossil-fuel-based energy production, because the true costs of carbon dioxide in intensifying global warming are not yet taken into account in a company's stock market valuation. Currently the price of fossil fuels companies' shares is calculated under the assumption that all fossil fuel reserves will be consumed. An estimate made by Kepler Chevreux puts the loss in value of the fossil fuel companies due to the impact of the growing renewables industry at $ 28 trillion over the next two decades-long. A more recent analysis made by Citi puts that figure at $100 trillion. Analysts in both the petroleum and financial industries are concluding that the "age of oil" has already reached a new stage where the excess supply that appeared in late 2014 may continue to prevail in the future. A consensus appears to be emerging that an international agreement will be reached to introduce measures to constrain the combustion of hydrocarbons in an effort to limit global temperature rise to the nominal 2 °C that is consensually predicted to limit environmental harm to tolerable levels.

Investors managing $32 trillion in assets call for action on climate change. A total of 415 investors from across the world including UBS Asset Management and Aberdeen Standard Investments signed the 2018 Global Investor Statement to Governments on Climate Change demanding urgent action.

Films about Sustainable Resource Management

Ray Anderson: The Business Logic of Sustainability (youtube)
Ecology of Commerce (amazon)
Amory Lovins: We Must Win the Oil Endgame (youtube)
Oil End Game 
Johan Rockstrom let the Environment Guide our Development (video)
James Hansen: Why I must Speak Out about Climate Change (video)
Steve Howard: Lets Go All in on Selling Sustainability (video)
Aluna (2014) 1:29.01
Kogi People (wiki)
MOMENTA  38:20 (proposed coal exports)
Paul Gilding: The Earth is Full (video)
Pavan Sukhdev: What is the Price of Nature (video) - PS
E. O. Wilson on Saving life on Earth (video)
Encyclopedia of Life 
Garth Lenz: The True Cost of Oil (video)
Witness : To the Last Drop - Part 1 (youtube)

Keystone Pipeline (wiki) - Stop Keystone XL 

Oil Sands - Dirty Oil Sands - Murder by Oil

Above All Else (09/20/2014 - 1:35)  This movie shows the criminals, the murderers, the liars, the polluters, and the thieves of the Keystone Pipeline. All who work for the Keystone Pipeline are Accessories to these crimes.
List Of Corporate Crimes being Committed - Reasons

Idle no More - Idle No More (wiki)

First Nations - Sacred Spirit Of Water (youtube)

Environmental Films - Environmental News

Environmental Journalism - Guerra

Green Building - Green Fuels - Alternate Fuels - Electric Cars - Green Products

Land Conservation Websites - Ocean Protection Websites - River Protection Websites

Norman Borlaug - Green Revolution

Nature Sound Map Sounds of Nature around the world

Problem Solving - Math - Engineering - Science

Biomimicry - Ideas - Eco-Initiatives - Water

Laws of Nature are recurring facts or events in nature. Reality

Order is a logical or comprehensible arrangement of separate elements. A condition of regular or proper arrangement.

Interdependence is a reciprocal relation between interdependent entities.

"Whatever we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves." Environment Quotes

"It's not just our actions that do damage, it's also our inactions that do damage."

inactive is not progressing, or progressing to slowly. Not exerting influence or change. Lacking activity. Lacking in energy or will. Lying idle or unused. Not active physically or mentally.

Earth Biology

Plants (botany) - Insects - Animals

Biology - Biomimcry - Naturalist Intelligence

Evolution - Earth Timeline - Geography - Oceans

Geology - Rocks - Dirt

Geology is the study of Rocks and Solid Earth. A science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks.

Earth Science is the study of geology, the lithosphere, and the large-scale structure of the Earth's interior, as well as the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Typically, Earth scientists use tools from geography, physics, chemistry, biology, chronology, and mathematics to build a quantitative understanding of how the Earth system works and evolves.

Geochemical Analysis is the process through which scientists determine the chemical compounds that constitute Earth, its atmosphere, and its seas. To a lesser degree, geochemical analysis can also be used to understand extraterrestrial materials such as moon rocks or Martian soil samples.

Geochemistry is the science that uses the tools and principles of chemistry to explain the mechanisms behind major geological systems such as the Earth's crust and its oceans. The realm of geochemistry extends beyond the Earth, encompassing the entire Solar System, and has made important contributions to the understanding of a number of processes including mantle convection, the formation of planets and the origins of granite and basalt.

Mineral is a naturally occurring chemical compound, usually of crystalline form and abiogenic in origin. A mineral has one specific chemical composition, whereas a rock can be an aggregate of different minerals or mineraloids. The study of minerals is called mineralogy.

Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.

Soil - Metal Working - Elements - Rare Earth Metals - Time Dating

208 species of minerals exist today solely due to human Mining in locations around the world. These minerals represent nearly 4 percent of the 5,200 mineral species recognized by the International Mineralogical Association, which is an international group of 38 national societies. The goal is to promote the science of mineralogy and to standardize the nomenclature of the 4000 plus known mineral species. The IMA is affiliated with the International Union of Geological Sciences, which is devoted to international cooperation in the field of geology.

There are around 5,200 Minerals

Zircon is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates. Its chemical name is zirconium silicate and its corresponding chemical formula is ZrSiO4. Carbon Dating

Guide to Rocks, Minerals, & Gemstones - Crystals
List of U.S. State Minerals, Rocks, Stones and Gemstones (wiki)
Congo Tourmaline Gemstone that is cut to look Pixelated.

Silicate Minerals are rock-forming minerals made up of silicate groups. They are the largest and most important class of rock-forming minerals and make up approximately 90 percent of the Earth's crust. They are classified based on the structure of their silicate groups, which contain different ratios of silicon and oxygen.

Rock is a natural substance, a solid aggregate of one or more minerals or mineraloids. For example, granite, a common rock, is a combination of the minerals quartz, feldspar and biotite. The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. Three major groups of rocks are defined: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. The scientific study of rocks is called petrology, which is an essential component of geology. Earth’s rocks contain more than 4,000 different minerals (the crystalline molecules that make up rocks).

Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains desirable minerals, typically metals, that can be extracted from it. Ore is extracted from the earth through mining and refined, often via smelting, to extract the valuable element or elements. The grade of ore refers to the concentration of the desired material it contains. The value of the metal an ore contains must be weighed against the cost of extraction to determine whether it is of sufficiently high grade to be worth mining. Metal ores are generally oxides, sulfides, silicates, native metals such as copper, or noble metals such as gold. Ores must be processed to extract the elements of interest from the waste rock. Ore bodies are formed by a variety of geological processes generally referred to as ore genesis.

Alloy is a combination of a metal and one or more other elements.

Igneous Rock or magmatic rock, is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial melts of existing rocks in either a planet's mantle or crust. Typically, the melting is caused by one or more of three processes: an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition. Solidification into rock occurs either below the surface as intrusive rocks or on the surface as extrusive rocks. Igneous rock may form with crystallization to form granular, crystalline rocks, or without crystallization to form natural glasses.

Volcanic Rock is a rock formed from magma erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic rock is artificial, and in nature volcanic rocks grade into hypabyssal and metamorphic rocks and constitute an important element of some sediments and sedimentary rocks. For these reasons, in geology, volcanics and shallow hypabyssal rocks are not always treated as distinct. In the context of Precambrian shield geology, the term "volcanic" is often applied to what are strictly metavolcanic rocks. Volcanic rocks are among the most common rock types on Earth's surface, particularly in the oceans. On land, they are very common at plate boundaries and in flood basalt provinces. It has been estimated that volcanic rocks cover about 8% of the Earth's current land surface.

Metamorphic Rock arises from the transformation of existing rock types, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form". The original rock (protolith) is subjected to heat (temperatures greater than 150 to 200 °C) and pressure (1500 bars), causing profound physical and/or chemical change. The protolith may be a sedimentary rock, an igneous rock or another older metamorphic rock. Metamorphism is the change of minerals or geologic texture (distinct arrangement of minerals) in pre-existing rocks (protoliths), without the protolith melting into liquid magma (a solid-state change). The change occurs primarily due to heat, pressure, and the introduction of chemically active fluids. The chemical components and crystal structures of the minerals making up the rock may change even though the rock remains a solid. Changes at or just beneath Earth's surface due to weathering and/or diagenesis are not classified as metamorphism. Metamorphism typically occurs between diagenesis (max. 200°C), and melting (~850°C). Three types of metamorphism exist: contact, dynamic, and regional. Metamorphism produced with increasing pressure and temperature conditions is known as prograde metamorphism. Conversely, decreasing temperatures and pressure characterize retrograde metamorphism.

Sedimentary Rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition and subsequent cementation of that material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles (detritus) to settle in place. The particles that form a sedimentary rock by accumulating are called sediment. Before being deposited, the sediment was formed by weathering and erosion from the source area, and then transported to the place of deposition by water, wind, ice, mass movement or glaciers, which are called agents of denudation. Sedimentation may also occur as minerals precipitate from water solution or shells of aquatic creatures settle out of suspension.

Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel is classified by particle size range and includes size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. In the Udden-Wentworth scale gravel is categorized into granular gravel (2mm to 4 mm or 0.079" to 0.157 in) and pebble gravel (4mm to 64 mm or 0.2" to 2.5 in). ISO 14688 grades gravels as fine, medium, and coarse with ranges 2 mm to 6.3 mm to 20 mm to 63 mm. One cubic metre of gravel typically weighs about 1,800 kg (or a cubic yard weighs about 3,000 pounds). Gravel is an important commercial product, with a number of applications. Many roadways are surfaced with gravel, especially in rural areas where there is little traffic. Globally, far more roads are surfaced with gravel than with concrete or tarmac; Russia alone has over 400,000 km (250,000 mi) of gravel roads. Both sand and small gravel are also important for the manufacture of concrete.

Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash). Where present, it becomes more noticeable when the land is ploughed or worked.

Aggregate in geology is a mass of mineral crystals, mineraloid particles or rock particles. Cement.

Sand - Silt - Soil Science - Soil - Water Filters

Silicon is a tetravalent nonmetallic element. Next to oxygen, Silicon is the most abundant element in the earth's crust that occurs in clay and feldspar, rocks and granite, and quartz and Sand. Silicon used as a semiconductor in transistors. Si and atomic number 14. A hard and brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre. The vast majority of computing devices today are made from silicon. And while it is not the best semiconducting material that exists on the planet, it is by far the most readily available. As such, silicon is the dominant material used in most electronic devices, including sensors, solar cells, and the integrated circuits within our computers and smartphones.

Diamonds are hard and strong because Diamonds carbon shares electrons with four other carbon atoms - forming four single bonds operating in 3-dimensions making a structure. Diamonds don't conduct electricity. All the electrons are held tightly between the atoms, and aren't free to move. Graphite has layers that leaves out the fourth electron in the bonding level, making it soft and brittle.

Stratigraphy is a branch of geology which studies rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has two related subfields: lithologic stratigraphy or lithostratigraphy, and biologic stratigraphy or biostratigraphy.

Ecology - Ecosystem - Geophysiology - Farming

Geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that have shaped it.

Water - Aquatic Ecosystems - Oceans

Hydrosphere is the combined mass of water found on, under, and above the surface of a planet, minor planet or natural satellite.

Hydrogeology is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rocks of the Earth's crust (commonly in aquifers). The term geohydrology is often used interchangeably. Some make the minor distinction between a hydrologist or engineer applying themselves to geology (geohydrology), and a geologist applying themselves to hydrology or hydrogeology.

Oceanography is the study of physical conditions and physical processes within the ocean, especially the motions and physical properties of ocean waters.

Aquatic Ecosystem is an ecosystem in a body of water. Communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment live in aquatic ecosystems. The two main types of aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems.

Marine Ecosystem are the largest of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and are distinguished by waters that have a high salt content. These systems contrast with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content. Marine waters cover more than 70% of the surface of the Earth and account for more than 97% of Earth's water supply and 90% of habitable space on Earth. Marine ecosystems include nearshore systems, such as the salt marshes, mudflats, seagrass meadows, mangroves, rocky intertidal systems and coral reefs. They also extend outwards from the coast to include offshore systems, such as the surface ocean, pelagic ocean waters, the deep sea, oceanic hydrothermal vents, and the sea floor. Marine ecosystems are characterized by the biological community of organisms that they are associated with and their physical environment.

Freshwater Ecosystem are a subset of Earth's aquatic ecosystems. They include lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, springs, bogs, and wetlands. They can be contrasted with marine ecosystems, which have a larger salt content. Freshwater habitats can be classified by different factors, including temperature, light penetration, nutrients, and vegetation. Freshwater ecosystems have undergone substantial transformations over time, which has impacted various characteristics of the ecosystems. Freshwater ecosystems can be divided into lentic ecosystems (still water) and lotic ecosystems (flowing water). Limnology (and its branch freshwater biology) is a study about freshwater ecosystems. It is a part of hydrobiology. Original attempts to understand and monitor freshwater ecosystems were spurred on by threats to human health (ex. Cholera outbreaks due to sewage contamination). Early monitoring focused on chemical indicators, then bacteria, and finally algae, fungi and protozoa. A new type of monitoring involves quantifying differing groups of organisms (macroinvertebrates, macrophytes and fish) and measuring the stream conditions associated with them.

Marine Biology is the scientific study of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather than on taxonomy. A large proportion of all life on Earth lives in the ocean. The exact size of this large proportion is unknown, since many ocean species are still to be discovered. The ocean is a complex three-dimensional world covering approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The habitats studied in marine biology include everything from the tiny layers of surface water in which organisms and abiotic items may be trapped in surface tension between the ocean and atmosphere, to the depths of the oceanic trenches, sometimes 10,000 meters or more beneath the surface of the ocean. Specific habitats include coral reefs, kelp forests, seagrass meadows, the surrounds of seamounts and thermal vents, tidepools, muddy, sandy and rocky bottoms, and the open ocean (pelagic) zone, where solid objects are rare and the surface of the water is the only visible boundary. The organisms studied range from microscopic phytoplankton and zooplankton to huge cetaceans (whales) 25–32 meters (82–105 feet) in length. Marine ecology is the study of how marine organisms interact with each other and the environment. Marine life is a vast resource, providing food, medicine, and raw materials, in addition to helping to support recreation and tourism all over the world. At a fundamental level, marine life helps determine the very nature of our planet. Marine organisms contribute significantly to the oxygen cycle, and are involved in the regulation of the Earth's climate. Shorelines are in part shaped and protected by marine life, and some marine organisms even help create new land. Many species are economically important to humans, including both finfish and shellfish. It is also becoming understood that the well-being of marine organisms and other organisms are linked in fundamental ways. The human body of knowledge regarding the relationship between life in the sea and important cycles is rapidly growing, with new discoveries being made nearly every day. These cycles include those of matter (such as the carbon cycle) and of air (such as Earth's respiration, and movement of energy through ecosystems including the ocean). Large areas beneath the ocean surface still remain effectively unexplored.

The term marine comes from the Latin mare, meaning sea or ocean.

Marine Life or sea life or ocean life, is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of the sea or ocean, or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. Marine organisms produce oxygen and sequester carbon. Shorelines are in part shaped and protected by marine life, and some marine organisms even help create new land. The term marine comes from the Latin mare, meaning sea or ocean.

Marine Habitats are habitats that support marine life. Marine life depends in some way on the saltwater that is in the sea. A habitat is an ecological or environmental area inhabited by one or more living species. The marine environment supports many kinds of these habitats. Marine habitats can be divided into coastal and open ocean habitats. Coastal habitats are found in the area that extends from as far as the tide comes in on the shoreline out to the edge of the continental shelf. Most marine life is found in coastal habitats, even though the shelf area occupies only seven percent of the total ocean area. Open ocean habitats are found in the deep ocean beyond the edge of the continental shelf. Alternatively, marine habitats can be divided into pelagic and demersal zones. Pelagic habitats are found near the surface or in the open water column, away from the bottom of the ocean. Demersal habitats are near or on the bottom of the ocean. An organism living in a pelagic habitat is said to be a pelagic organism, as in pelagic fish. Similarly, an organism living in a demersal habitat is said to be a demersal organism, as in demersal fish. Pelagic habitats are intrinsically shifting and ephemeral, depending on what ocean currents are doing. Marine habitats can be modified by their inhabitants. Some marine organisms, like corals, kelp, mangroves and seagrasses, are ecosystem engineers which reshape the marine environment to the point where they create further habitat for other organisms. By volume the ocean provides most of the habitable space on the planet.

Living Shorelines are a relatively new approach for addressing shoreline erosion and protecting marsh areas. Unlike traditional structures such as bulkheads or seawalls that worsen erosion, living shorelines incorporate as many natural elements as possible which create more effective buffers in absorbing wave energy and protecting against shoreline erosion. The process of creating a living shoreline is referred to as soft engineering, which utilizes techniques that incorporate ecological principles in shoreline stabilization. The natural materials used in the construction of living shorelines create and maintain valuable habitats. Structural and organic materials commonly used in the construction of living shorelines include sand, wetland plants, sand fill, oyster reefs, submerged aquatic vegetation, stones and coir fiber logs. Monitoring.

Artificial Reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing. Many reefs are built using objects that were built for other purposes, for example by sinking oil rigs (through the Rigs-to-Reefs program), scuttling ships, or by deploying rubble or construction debris. Other artificial reefs are purpose built (e.g. the reef balls) from PVC or concrete. Shipwrecks may become artificial reefs when preserved on the sea floor. Regardless of construction method, artificial reefs generally provide hard surfaces where algae and invertebrates such as barnacles, corals, and oysters attach; the accumulation of attached marine life in turn provides intricate structure and food for assemblages of fish.

Reef Ball is an artificial reef technology, combined with coral propagation, transplant technology, public education and community training to build, restore and protect coral reefs. The foundation has established "Reef Ball reefs" in 59 countries, and ongoing projects increase the number to more than 70. Over 550,000 Reef Balls have been deployed in more than 4,000 projects. Monitoring.

Geography

Geography is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, the features, the inhabitants, and the phenomena of Earth.

Topography (earth surface) - Maps - Tools - Navigation - Hiking and Climbing

U.S. Geological Survey - "Geology Rocks but Geography is where it's at."

Geographic Information System is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present spatial or geographic data. The acronym GIS is sometimes used for geographic information science (GIScience) to refer to the academic discipline that studies geographic information systems and is a large domain within the broader academic discipline of geoinformatics. What goes beyond a GIS is a spatial data infrastructure, a concept that has no such restrictive boundaries.

Earth (planet) - Continents - Countries - States - Cities

Geochemistry is the science that uses the tools and principles of chemistry to explain the mechanisms behind major geological systems such as the Earth's crust and its oceans. The realm of geochemistry extends beyond the Earth, encompassing the entire Solar System and has made important contributions to the understanding of a number of processes including mantle convection, the formation of planets and the origins of granite and basalt

Geomorphology is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or near the Earth's surface.

Geotechnical Engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials.

Geological Engineering is a hybrid discipline that comprises elements of civil engineering, mining engineering, petroleum engineering, and earth sciences.

Geophysical Engineering is the application of geophysics to the engineering design of facilities including roads, tunnels, and mines.

Global Environment Facility was established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to help tackle our planet’s most pressing environmental problems. Since then, the GEF has provided over $17 billion in grants and mobilized an additional $88 billion in financing for more than 4000 projects in 170 countries. Today, the GEF is an international partnership of 183 countries, international institutions, civil society organizations and the private sector that addresses global environmental issues.

Engineering Geology is the application of the geological sciences to engineering study.

We are already doing Geo-Engineering, we polluted the air, land and water, we over fish, we cut down too many trees, we raise too many farm animals just for meat, and we added lots of CO2 into the air. Climate Change

Restoration - Environmental Engineering

Core Sample is a cylindrical section of (usually) a naturally occurring substance. Most core samples are obtained by drilling with special drills into the substance, for example sediment or rock, with a hollow steel tube called a core drill. The hole made for the core sample is called the "core bowling". A variety of core samplers exist to sample different media under different conditions. More continue to be invented on a regular basis. In the coring process, the sample is pushed more or less intact into the tube. Removed from the tube in the laboratory, it is inspected and analyzed by different techniques and equipment depending on the type of data desired. Core samples can be taken to test the properties of manmade materials, such as concrete, ceramics, some metals and alloys, especially the softer ones. Core samples can also be taken of living things, including human beings, especially of a person's bones for microscopic examination to help diagnose diseases.

Measuring How Old Something Is (dating time)

The Encyclopedia of Earth - Chemistry - Biology

Land Development - Sustainable Landscapes - Spatial Awareness

Eratosthenes invented the discipline of geography, including the terminology used today. A Greek mathematician and astronomer who estimated the circumference of the earth and the distances to the Moon and sun (276-194 BC)

Animals

Zoology is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems.

Ethology is the scientific and objective study of animal behavior, usually with a focus on behavior under natural conditions, and viewing behavior as an evolutionarily adaptive trait. Ethology is the branch of zoology that studies the behavior of animals in their natural habitats.

Ethnozoology is the study of the past and present interrelationships between human cultures and the animals in their environment. It includes classification and naming of zoological forms, cultural knowledge and use of wild and domestic animals. It is one of the main sub-disciplines of ethnobiology and shares many methodologies and theoretical frameworks with ethnobotany.

Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia (also called Metazoa). The animal kingdom emerged as a basal clade within Apoikozoa as a sister of the choanoflagellates. Sponges are the most basal clade of animals. Animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently at some point in their lives. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their lives. All animals are heterotrophs: they must ingest other organisms or their products for sustenance.

Animal Photos (images) - Zoos - Aquariums - Oceans

Some of the Sounds that you will Hear on Earth.

Fauna is all the animal life in a particular region or period. All the animal life in a particular region or period

Megafauna are large or giant animals. - Eggs (image)

Mammals are any vertebrates within the class Mammalia distinguished from reptiles and birds by the possession of a neocortex (a region of the brain), hair, three middle ear bones and mammary glands.

Catacean Hearing and Augmented Telemetry is an underwater computer that receives sounds via two hydrophones, and produces a few basic artificial sounds through an underwater speaker, specifically whistles outside of the dolphins natural repertoire.

Wildlife Corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures (such as roads, development, or logging). This allows an exchange of individuals between populations, which may help prevent the negative effects of inbreeding and reduced genetic diversity (via genetic drift) that often occur within isolated populations. Corridors may also help facilitate the re-establishment of populations that have been reduced or eliminated due to random events (such as fires or disease). This may potentially moderate some of the worst effects of habitat fragmentation, wherein urbanization can split up habitat areas, causing animals to lose both their natural habitat and the ability to move between regions to use all of the resources they need to survive. Habitat fragmentation due to human development is an ever-increasing threat to biodiversity, and habitat corridors are a possible mitigation. Wild Smart.

Biophony refers to the collective sound that vocalizing animals create in each given environment.

Ways to Save some of the Worlds Rarest Species

Cuckoo Bird lays their eggs in the nests of other species, but the majority of species raise their own young.

Cuckoo is a man who is a stupid incompetent fool.

Seahorse males give birth and are impregnated by female Seahorses.

Hyena females are larger and stronger then male Hyenas.

Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see (crypsis), or by disguising them as something else (mimesis). Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier, and the leaf-mimic katydid's wings. A third approach, motion dazzle, confuses the observer with a conspicuous pattern, making the object visible but momentarily harder to locate. The majority of camouflage methods aim for crypsis, often through a general resemblance to the background, high contrast disruptive coloration, eliminating shadow, and countershading. In the open ocean, where there is no background, the principal methods of camouflage are transparency, silvering, and countershading, while the ability to produce light is among other things used for counter-illumination on the undersides of cephalopods such as squid. Some animals, such as chameleons and octopuses, are capable of actively changing their skin pattern and colours, whether for camouflage or for signaling. It is possible that some plants use camouflage to evade being eaten by herbivores. Masquerade is to pretend to be someone or something that you are not. Making a false outward show. Bees - Pesticides

Over the past half-century, North America has lost more than a quarter of its entire bird population, or around 3 billion birds died. Extinction. Incredibly simple tip to prevent birds flying into window by drawing White Vertical Lines on window glass. (youtube).

Humans - Evolution - Paleoecology (ancient cultures)

Avifauna are the birds of a particular region, habitat, or geological period.

Wild Cooperative - Selective Fishery respectful and responsible harvesting of wild salmon. Reef Netting.

Adam Walker was protected from a great white shark by a pod of dolphins while swimming to raise money for dolphin conservation. About 10 dolphins surrounded him for about 1 hr in Cook Strait, 6th leg of the Oceans Seven: a marathon of 7 long-distance open water channel swims around the world.

New theory predicts movement of different animals using sensing to search. A research team has developed a new theory that can predict the movement of an animal's sensory organs -- such as eyes, ears and nose -- while searching for something vital to its life. The new theory, called energy-constrained proportional betting provides a unifying explanation for many enigmatic motions of sensory organs that have been previously measured. The algorithm that follows from the theory generates simulated sensory organ movements that show good agreement to actual sensory organ movements from fish, mammals and insects.

Insects

Insects are a class of invertebrates within the arthropod phylum that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and one pair of antennae. Insects are the most diverse group of animals on the planet, including more than a million described species and representing more than half of all known living organisms. The number of extant species is estimated at between six and ten million, and potentially represent over 90% of the differing animal life forms on Earth. Insects may be found in nearly all environments, although only a small number of species reside in the oceans, a habitat dominated by another arthropod group, crustaceans. Dangerous Spiders (image chart).

Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology.

Egg is the organic vessel containing the zygote in which an animal embryo develops until it can survive on its own; at which point the animal hatches. An egg results from fertilization of an ovum. Most arthropods, vertebrates, and mollusks lay eggs, although some, such as scorpions and most mammals, do not.

Larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.

Pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, with four life stages: egg, larva, pupa and imago. The processes of entering and completing the pupal stage are controlled by the insect's hormones, especially juvenile hormone, prothoracicotropic hormone, and ecdysone.

Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Metamorphosis is iodothyronine-induced and an ancestral feature of all chordates. Some insects, fishes, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, cnidarians, echinoderms, and tunicates undergo metamorphosis, which is often accompanied by a change of nutrition source or behavior. Animals that go through metamorphosis are called metamorphoses. Animals can be divided into species that undergo complete metamorphosis ("holometaboly"), incomplete metamorphosis ("hemimetaboly"), or no metamorphosis ("ametaboly"). Mimicry.

Imago is the last stage an insect attains during its metamorphosis, its process of growth and development; it also is called the imaginal stage, the stage in which the insect attains maturity. It follows the final ecdysis of the immature instars.

How Celibate Animals Evolved for 50 million years without ever having Sex.

Parthenogenesis is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization. In animals, parthenogenesis means development of an embryo from an unfertilized egg cell. In plants parthenogenesis is a component process of apomixis. Parthenogenesis occurs naturally in some plants, some invertebrate animal species (including nematodes, water fleas, some scorpions, aphids, some mites, some bees, some Phasmida and parasitic wasps) and a few vertebrates (such as some fish, amphibians, reptiles and very rarely birds). This type of reproduction has been induced artificially in a few species including fish and amphibians. Aphid (wiki) - Komodo Dragon (wiki).

Asexual Reproduction is a type of reproduction by which offspring arise from a single organism, and inherit the genes of that parent only; it does not involve the fusion of gametes, and almost never changes the number of chromosomes. Asexual reproduction is the primary form of reproduction for single-celled organisms such as archaea and bacteria. Many plants and fungi sometimes reproduce asexually.

Hermaphrodite is an organism (plant or animal) having both male and female reproductive organs. (2) An organism having both male and female organs. Therefore, is capable of producing both male and female gametes. Sometimes the cannabis plant will produce male organs on a female plant. Hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs and produces gametes normally associated with both male and female sexes.

Plant Reproductive Morphology is the study of the physical form and structure (the morphology) of those parts of plants directly or indirectly concerned with sexual reproduction.

Cloning is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects, plants or animals reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments (molecular cloning), cells (cell cloning), or organisms (organism cloning).

Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genetic disorders and other consequences that may arise from incestuous sexual relationships and consanguinity, which is the property of being from the same kinship as another person. In that aspect, consanguinity is the quality of being descended from the same ancestor as another person.

Incest is sexual activity between family members or close relatives.

Phylogeny of insects is based on genome sequencing data, it is estimated that the class of insects originated on Earth about 480 million years ago, in the Ordovician, at about the same time terrestrial plants appeared.

Insect Agriculture is a specialized form of Symbiosis

Insect Photos (images) - Bees - Pesticides

Reversing Insect Declines. If you have a lawn, mowing less can give insect populations a boost. Kawahara suggests reserving 10% of a landscape for insects, either actively replacing a monoculture of grass with native plants or simply leaving the space unmown. These miniature nature preserves provide crucial habitat and food reservoirs for insects. In the U.S. alone, wild insects contribute an estimated $70 billion to the economy every year through free services such as pollination and waste disposal. That's incredible, and most people have no idea. Artificial lights are powerful attractants to nocturnal insects, which can exhaust themselves to death by circling bulbs or fall prey to predators that spot an easy target. Chemical pollutants in soaps for washing cars and building exteriors and in coal-tar-based driveway sealants can harm a variety of insect life.

Insect Recovery International Road Map - Biodiversity

Moth is a group of insects related to butterflies, belonging to the order Lepidoptera. Most lepidopterans are moths, and there are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of which have yet to be described. Most species of moth are nocturnal, but there are also crepuscular and diurnal species.

Butterfly are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. Butterflies are classified in three superfamilies: Papilionoidea or ‘true butterflies’. Hesperioidea, consisting of the ‘skippers’. Hedyloidea, consisting of the ‘moth-butterflies’. The five families of true butterflies usually recognized in the family Papilionoidea are: Family Papilionidae, the Swallowtails, Apollos and Birdwings. Family Pieridae, the Whites and Yellows. Family Lycaenidae, the Blues and Coppers, also called the Gossamer-Winged Butterflies. Family Riodinidae, the Metalmark butterflies. Family Nymphalidae, the Brush-footed butterflies including the Monarch Butterfly.

Lepidopterology is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies. Someone that studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian.

Lepidoptera is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 per cent of the total described species of living organisms. It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world. The Lepidoptera show many variations of the basic body structure that have evolved to gain advantages in lifestyle and distribution. Recent estimates suggest the order may have more species than earlier thought, and is among the four most speciose orders, along with the Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera.

Papilionoidea contains all the butterflies except for the moth-like Hedylidae, which may be distinguished by the following combination of characters: The body is smaller and less moth-like. The wings are larger. The antennae are straight and clubbed or hooked as in the skippers. The caterpillars do not spin cocoons in which to pupate. The pupae are angular rather than rounded. Recent phylogenetic analyses suggest the traditionally circumscribed Papilionoidea are a paraphyletic group, and that skippers and hedylids are true butterflies that should be included within the Papilionoidea superfamily to reflect cladistic relationships.

4,000-Year-Old Termite Mounds found in Brazil are visible from space. There are around 200 million cone-shaped mounds, each about 2.5 meters tall and 9 meters across.

Physiology is the scientific study of the normal function in living systems.

Biodiversity Crisis: Insect numbers collapse by 25 per cent around the world since 1990. Decline in insect populations include bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, dragonflies and damselflies. Anecdotal evidence has been offered of much greater apparent abundance of insects in the 20th century; recollections of the windscreen phenomenon are an example. Possible causes of the decline have been identified as habitat destruction, including intensive agriculture, the use of pesticides (particularly insecticides), urbanization, and industralization; introduced species; and climate change. Not all insect orders are affected in the same way; many groups are the subject of limited research, and comparative figures from earlier decades are often not available. The decline of the scientific field of entomology may also be contributing to errors in data analysis and overgeneralization from limited findings, resulting in exaggeration of the decline in insect populations. In response to the reported declines, increased insect related conservation measures have been launched. In 2018 the German government initiated an "Action Programme for Insect Protection", and in 2019 a group of 27 British entomologists and ecologists wrote an open letter calling on the research establishment in the UK "to enable intensive investigation of the real threat of ecological disruption caused by insect declines without delay". Most commonly, the declines involve reductions in abundance, though in some cases entire species are going extinct. The declines are far from uniform. In some localities, there have been reports of increases in overall insect population, and some types of insects appear to be increasing in abundance across the world. A 2020 meta study published in the journal Science found that globally, terrestrial insects appear to declining in abundance at a rate of about 9% per decade, while the abundance of freshwater insects has increased. The authors note that the 9% figure may not accurately reflect the pace of decline in all parts of the world. Compared to Europe, much less historical data on insect decline is available for regions such as Asia or Africa. Habitat Loss.

Plants

Botany is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. All the plant life in a particular region or period. Earth System Science (biosphere).

Plants are mainly multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. The term is today generally limited to the green plants, which form an unranked clade Viridiplantae (Latin for "green plants"). This includes the flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, Grass, clubmosses, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae, and excludes the red and brown algae. Historically, plants formed one of two kingdoms covering all living things that were not animals, and both Algae and Fungi were treated as plants; however all current definitions of "plant" exclude the fungi and some algae, as well as the prokaryotes (the archaea and bacteria). Green plants have cell walls with cellulose and obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts, derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria. Their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic and have lost the ability to produce normal amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize. Plants are characterized by sexual reproduction and alternation of generations, although asexual reproduction is also common. There are about 300–315 thousand species of plants, of which the great majority, some 260–290 thousand, are seed plants. Green plants provide most of the world's molecular oxygen and are the basis of most of Earth's ecologies, especially on land. Plants that produce grains, fruits and vegetables form humankind's basic foodstuffs, and have been domesticated for millennia. Plants play many roles in culture. They are used as ornaments and, until recently and in great variety, they have served as the source of most medicines and drugs. The scientific study of plants is known as botany, a branch of biology. Plants dominate every terrestrial environment, composing ninety-nine per cent of the biomass on earth. By comparison, humans and all the other animals are, in the words of one plant neurobiologist, “just traces.” Plants are able to sense and optimally respond to so many environmental variables—light, water, gravity, temperature, soil structure, nutrients, toxins, microbes, herbivores, chemical signals from other plants—that there may exist some brainlike information-processing system to integrate the data and coordinate a plant’s behavioral response. Hibernation.

There are over 500,000 plant species in the world today. They all evolved from a common ancestor. How this leap in biodiversity happened is still unclear. Using genetic data from 1,147 species the team created the most comprehensive evolutionary tree for green plants to date.

Flora is all the plant life in a particular region or period. Flora in botany is a living organism lacking the power of locomotion.

Aquatic Plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments like saltwater or freshwater. Phytoplankton.

Indoor Plants - Flowers - Herbs - Gardening (city farming) - Plant Maintenance - Biodiversity

Terrarium is usually a sealable glass container containing soil and plants, and can be opened for maintenance to access the plants inside. However, terraria can also be open to the atmosphere rather than being sealed. The sealed container combined with the heat entering the terrarium allows for the creation of a small scale water cycle. This happens because moisture from both the soil and plants evaporates in the elevated temperatures inside the terrarium. This water vapour then condenses on the walls of the container, and eventually falls back to the plants and soil below. This contributes to creating an ideal environment for growing plants due to the constant supply of water, thereby preventing the plants from becoming over dry. In addition to this, the light that passes through the transparent material of the terrarium allows for the plants within to photosynthesize, a very important aspect of plant growth.

Life in Jars? (youtube) - The Pond On My Window Sill - Ecosphere Week 1 (youtube)

12 Year Old Terrarium - Life Inside a closed jar, Over a decade in isolation (youtube)

Aquascaping is the craft of arranging aquatic plants, as well as rocks, stones, cavework, or driftwood, in an aesthetically pleasing manner within an aquarium—in effect, gardening under water. Aquascape designs include a number of distinct styles, including the garden-like Dutch style and the Japanese-inspired nature style. Typically, an aquascape houses fish as well as plants, although it is possible to create an aquascape with plants only, or with rockwork or other hardscape and no plants.

Plant Blindness or Green Blindness is the inability to see or notice the plants in one's own environment—leading to the inability to recognize the importance of plants in the biosphere, and in human affairs, and the inability to appreciate the aesthetic and unique biological features of the life forms.

The Mid-Atlantic Megalopolis (MAM) Project begins this study by looking at vascular plants, with the digitization of nearly one million herbarium specimens from thirteen institutions in the urban corridor from New York City to Washington.

Intermountain Regional Herbarium Network

Plant Physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology (structure of plants), plant ecology (interactions with the environment), phytochemistry (biochemistry of plants), cell biology, genetics, biophysics and molecular biology. Plant Physiology - Plant Genomics - Developmental Biology - Plant Biologists.

Plant Intelligence

Plant Intelligence are the reactions within signalling pathways may provide a biochemical basis for learning and memory in addition to computation and problem solving. Controversially, the brain is used as a metaphor in plant intelligence to provide an integrated view of signaling.

Study Shows Plants Talk through the Roots.

Plant Neurobiology is the sensory adaptive behaviour of plants and plant electrophysiology. A plant's sensory and response system has been compared to the neurobiological processes of animals. Electricity in Nature.

Ecoation - Measuring Plant Defensive Signals.

Hormonal Sentience describes the information processing rate in plants, which are mostly based on hormones instead of neurons like in all major animals (except sponges). Plants can to some degree communicate with each other and there are even examples of one-way-communication with animals.

Plants reveal Decision-Making Abilities under Competition. Plants can choose between alternative competitive responses according to the stature and densities of their opponents, biologists have discovered. A new study reveals that plants can evaluate the competitive ability of their neighbors and optimally match their responses to them.

Parasitic plants use stolen genes to make them better parasites. Some parasitic plants steal genetic material from their host plants and use the stolen genes to more effectively siphon off the host's nutrients. A new study reveals that the parasitic plant dodder has stolen a large amount of genetic material from its hosts, including over 100 functional genes, through a process called horizontal gene transfer, which is the movement of genetic material between unicellular and/or multicellular organisms other than by the ("vertical") transmission of DNA from parent to offspring (reproduction). HGT is an important factor in the evolution of many organisms.

Videos about Plants - The Intelligence of Plants.
Mind of Plants : Documentary on The Intelligence of Plants (youtube) Season 1 Episode 3 | Aired on 07/02/2010 | TV-G | 52:16.
Jonathan Drori: The Beautiful Tricks of Flowers (video)
Stefano Mancuso: The Roots of Plant Intelligence, root brain theory (video)
Ameenah Gurib Fakim: Humble Plants that hide Surprising Secrets
The Secret Life Of Plants with Music by Stevie Wonder (youtube)
The Private Life of Plants (video)
Roger Roger - Rhapsody In Green I - Effluves Plant Music Sound Track (youtube)
The Private Life of Plants with David Attenborough (vimeo)
The Beauty of Pollination - Moving Art (youtube)
How trees talk to each other: Suzanne Simard (video and text)
Electrical Experiments with Plants that Count and Communicate (video and text)

Thigmomorphogenesis is the response by plants to mechanical sensation (touch) by altering their growth patterns. In the wild, these patterns can be evinced by wind, raindrops, and rubbing by passing animals.

Evinced is to give expression to. (communication).

Plant Behavior (neuro) - International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology

Plant Molecular Biology - Plant Cell

Cereals use chemical defenses in a multifunctional manner against different herbivores. Plants rely on their toxins not only to fend off caterpillars but also to regulate defense mechanisms against aphids. Scientists have characterized multiple functions of benzoxazinoids in wheat: The toxic form of the substances makes the plant directly resistant to lepidopteran larvae, whereas a less toxic form regulates indirect defense mechanisms against aphids. The researchers identified the 'switch' between these different functions as a methyltransferase enzyme, which is activated by caterpillar feeding. This switch enables wheat plants to adapt their defense response to different herbivores.

Heliotropism is the diurnal motion or seasonal motion of plant parts (flowers or leaves) in response to the direction of the sun. Why sunflowers follow the sun (youtube).

Tropism indicating growth or turning movement of a biological organism, usually a plant, in response to an environmental stimulus.

Plant Genetics is different from that of animals in a few ways. Like mitochondria, chloroplasts have their own DNA, complicating pedigrees somewhat. Like animals, plants have somatic mutations regularly, but these mutations can contribute to the germ line with ease, since flowers develop at the ends of branches composed of somatic cells. People have known of this for centuries, and mutant branches are called "sports". If the fruit on the sport is economically desirable, a new cultivar may be obtained.

Plant Genomes - Bioinformatics for Plant Biotechnology

Reproduction (insects)

Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for many aspects of life, such as plants as medicines, foods, and clothing. Richard Evans Schultes, often referred to as the "father of ethnobotany", explained the discipline in this way: Ethnobotany simply means [...] investigating plants used by primitive societies in various parts of the world.

Photosynthesis (solar energy) - Mushrooms (the fungus among us)

How a plant regulates its growth. Molecular mechanisms of polar growth in plants. Plants grow in two directions: the shoots of plants grow toward the light to make the best use of it, and the roots grow toward the center of the earth into the soil. These growth processes are controlled by a hormone called "auxin," which plays a key role in the formation of polarity in plants. Naptalam (NPA) is an important tool to elucidate the structure of the transporters. Naptalam is the registered name of Napthylphphthalic acid. It inhibits the directional flow of auxin, thus severely inhibiting plant growth.

Theory suggests Root Efficiency, independence drove Global Spread of Flora. Researchers suggest that plants spread worldwide thanks to root adaptations that allowed them to become more efficient and independent. As plant species spread, roots became thinner so they could more efficiently explore poor soils for nutrients, and they shed their reliance on symbiotic fungi. The researchers report that root diameter and reliance on fungi most consistently characterize the plant communities across entire biomes such as deserts, savannas and temperate forests.

Resurrection Plants - Plants Living Dormant under the soil for up to 20 years like Rip Van Winkle

Using eDNA sequencing to survey pondweed diversity. Researchers have developed a protocol using environmental DNA (eDNA) to identify aquatic plant diversity, making ecological biodiversity surveys of these plant communities faster and less expensive. Their study on pondweeds -- an important bioindicator of aquatic ecosystem health -- allows researchers to overcome difficulties in monitoring and identification, and draw conclusions regarding plant diversity and water quality. eDNA is a rapidly emerging technique, but its use in aquatic habitats has been understudied.

A warmer spring leads to less plant growth in summer.

Environmental DNA is DNA that is collected from a variety of environmental samples such as soil, seawater, or even air rather than directly sampled from an individual organism. As various organisms interact with the environment, DNA is expelled and accumulates in their surroundings. Example sources of eDNA include, but are not limited to, feces, mucus, gametes, shed skin, carcasses and hair. Such samples can be analyzed by high-throughput DNA sequencing methods, known as metagenomics, for rapid measurement and monitoring of biodiversity. In order to better differentiate between organisms within a sample, DNA metabarcoding is used in which the sample is analyzed and uses previously studied DNA libraries to determine what organisms are present (e.g. BLAST). The analysis of eDNA has great potential, not only for monitoring common species, but to genetically detect and identify other extant species that could influence conservation efforts. This method allows for biomonitoring without requiring collection of the living organism, creating the ability to study organisms that are invasive, elusive, or endangered without introducing anthropogenic stress on the organism. Access to this genetic information makes a critical contribution to the understanding of population size, species distribution, and population dynamics for species not well documented. The integrity of eDNA samples is dependent upon its preservation within the environment. Soil, permafrost, freshwater and seawater are well-studied macro environments from which eDNA samples have been extracted, each of which include many more conditioned subenvironments. Because of its versatility, eDNA is applied in many subenvironments such as freshwater sampling, seawater sampling, terrestrial soil sampling (tundra permafrost), aquatic soil sampling (river, lake, pond, and ocean sediment), or other environments where normal sampling procedures can become problematic.

Epicuticular Wax is a coating of wax covering the outer surface of the plant cuticle in land plants. It may form a whitish film or bloom on leaves, fruits and other plant organs. Chemically, it consists of hydrophobic organic compounds, mainly straight-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons with or without a variety of substituted functional groups. The main functions of the epicuticular wax are to decrease surface wetting and moisture loss. Other functions include reflection of ultraviolet light, assisting in the formation of an ultrahydrophobic and self-cleaning surface and acting as an anti-climb surface.

Wax is a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to give low viscosity liquids. Waxes are insoluble in water but soluble in organic, nonpolar solvents. Natural waxes of different types are produced by plants and animals and occur in petroleum. Bees Wax.

Flowers

Flower also known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flower plants, the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms. The flower structure contains the plant's organs, and its function is to produce seeds through reproduction. For the higher plants, seeds are the next generation, and serve as the primary means by which individuals of a species are dispersed across the landscape either by pollination from insects, birds, bats or the wind. After fertilization, portions of the flower develop into a fruit containing the seeds. The grouping of flowers on a plant is called the inflorescence. In addition to serving as the reproductive organs of flowering plants, flowers have long been admired and used by humans, mainly to beautify their environment but also as a source of food.  Many flowers in nature have evolved to attract animals to pollinate the flower, the movements of the pollinating agent contributing to the opportunity for genetic recombination within a dispersed plant population. Flowers that are insect-pollinated are called entomophilous (literally "insect-loving"). Flowers commonly have glands called nectaries on their various parts that attract these animals. Birds and bees are common pollinators: both having color vision, thus opting for "colorful" flowers. Some flowers have patterns, called nectar guides, that show pollinators where to look for nectar; they may be visible to us or only under ultraviolet light, which is visible to bees and some other insects. Flowers also attract pollinators by scent. Many of their scents are pleasant to our sense of smell, but not all. Some plants, such as Rafflesia, the titan arum, and the North American pawpaw (Asimina triloba), are pollinated by flies, so they produce a scent imitating rotting meat. Flowers pollinated by night visitors such as bats or moths are especially likely to concentrate on scent which can attract pollinators in the dark rather than color: Most such flowers are white. (French flo(u)r) (Latin florem flos).

How important are Flowers? Most of our Foods and Medicines are derived from Flowers. Flower Photos.

The first evidence of a flower was found in a fossil, named Archaefructus, believed to be 125 Million years old. Hengduan Mountain Region in southwest China is believed to be the birthplace of all flowers. Hengduan Mountain Region contains about 30,000 species of flowering plants and ferns, compared to about 20,000 for all of North America north of Mexico. Amborella trichopoda is believed to be the first flower based on DNA evidence. Flowering plants are the most abundant and ecologically successful group of plants on earth. And ever since then, flowers have been an essential part of our history, our spiritual growth and an inspiration for millions. They have found a way into our hearts, by sight and smell, giving enlightenment and self realization. So it is no surprise that flowers are National Symbols, State Symbols and symbolic to many beliefs and teachings around the world. Rafflesia arnoldii (titan arum) is the world's largest flower at 3 feet across. Found in the Sumatra and Borneo regions of Indonesia. Its odor has been described as similar to rotting flesh.

New flower from 100 million years ago from the mid-Cretaceous period frozen in time by Burmese amber. The male flower is tiny, about 2 millimeters across, but it has some 50 stamens arranged like a spiral, with anthers pointing toward the sky.

Another large flower is the rare and threatened Amorphophallus titanum plant that grows an incredible 6 to 7 inches a day & also emits a strong odor, thus the name 'corpse flower'. Wolffia flower is the worlds smallest flower which floats on the surface of quiet streams and ponds. The entire plant, flower and all, is less than a millimeter long. A bouquet of a dozen could fit on the head of a pin These are just some of the things that I have learned about flowers, and all because of that one day in the spring of 2004, I decided to take a super macro close up of a flower, and after viewing it on my computer screen I realized I have been over looking one of the most fascinating things this world has ever created, flowers. There are about 300,000 plant species on Earth. Plants are the only life forms that can produce their own food using energy from sunlight. Plants produce almost all of the oxygen in the air that humans and other animals breathe. Plants are also an important source of food, building materials, and other resources that make life possible for Earth’s animals.

Stoma is a pore, found in the epidermis of leaves, stems, and other organs, that is used to control gas exchange.

"Find the seed at the bottom of your heart and bring forth a flower." - (Shigenori Kameoka)
"All plants are our brothers and sisters. "
"They talk to us and if we listen, we can hear them." (Arapaho)
"If one really loves nature, one can find beauty everywhere." (Vincent van Gogh)
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched but are felt in the heart." (Helen Keller)

South Africa’s Cape Floral Region is home to the world's smallest floristic kingdom (there are six in total), which includes the unique Fynbos Biome, and supports nearly 9,000 species of plants, of which around 69% are endemic. Fires are becoming more frequent and intense since the 1990s, but requires a longer view to look for possible natural cycles and vegetation responses to these, and also at the evolution of scientific and popular understanding of fire.

Biological Systems is a significant task of systems biology and mathematical biology.[a] Computational systems biology[b] aims to develop and use efficient algorithms, data structures, visualization and communication tools with the goal of computer modelling of biological systems. It involves the use of computer simulations of biological systems, including cellular subsystems (such as the networks of metabolites and enzymes which comprise metabolism, signal transduction pathways and gene regulatory networks), to both analyze and visualize the complex connections of these cellular processes. Artificial life or virtual evolution attempts to understand evolutionary processes via the computer simulation of simple (artificial) life forms.

Trees (planting)

Plant Identifier Phone App - Wild Edible Plant Identifier App

Foraging - Edible Landscapes

Plant Pathology (diseases of plants)

Logarithmic Spiral is a self-similar spiral curve which often appears in nature. The logarithmic spiral was first described by Descartes and later extensively investigated by Jacob Bernoulli, who called it Spira mirabilis, "the marvelous spiral".

Self-Assembly - Self Organizing

Li is a concept found in Neo-Confucian Chinese philosophy. It refers to the underlying reason and order of nature as reflected in its organic forms.

Hydra is a genus of small, fresh-water animals of the phylum Cnidaria and class Hydrozoa. They are native to the temperate and tropical regions. Biologists are especially interested in Hydra because of their regenerative ability – they appear not to age or die of old age. Biology.

Information on Plant Protection Products
Thriving Bottle Garden Hasn't Been Watered in Over 40 Years (youtube)
Summer Rayne Oaks keeps over 500 plants with 150 Types alive inside of her Williamsburg 1,200 foot Apartment (youtube)
The Animal That Wouldn't Die (w/Robert Krulwich) (youtube)

Environmental Preservation Ideas (earth protectors)

Forest Garden - Permaculture - Indoor Plants

Environmental Awareness Books

Hardiness Zone is a geographically defined area in which a specific category of plant life is capable of growing, as defined by climatic conditions, including its ability to withstand the minimum temperatures of the zone (see the scale on the right or the table below). For example, a plant that is described as "hardy to zone 10" means that the plant can withstand a minimum temperature of -1°C (30.2°F) to 3.9°C (39.0°F). First developed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a rough guide to landscaping and gardening, the use of the zones has been adopted by other countries.

Royal Botanic Garden there are 391,000 vascular plant species known to science, with an average of 2,000 new ones being discovered and named each year. 21 percent of global plant species are currently threatened with extinction.

Air - Gas Molecules that Plants and Animals Breathe

Air in earths atmosphere is a mixture of 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen, and approximately 1% other trace gases, primarily argon, which is a noble gas and the third-most abundant gas in the earths atmosphere and more than twice as abundant as water vapor, which is lighter than air and triggers convection currents that can lead to clouds.

Meteorology is the study of the atmosphere.  Air Quality Report - Pollution.

Biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. Biosphere 2 - CO2.

Noosphere is the sphere of human thought.

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate is the term for the statistics of atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time. When used without qualification, "weather" is generally understood to mean the weather of Earth. Weather Forecasting.

Hydrochlorofluorocarbon is an organic compound that contains only carbon, chlorine, and fluorine, produced as volatile derivative of methane, ethane, and propane.

Climate - Climate Change - Monitors

This Website is Hosted on Servers that are Powered by 100% Wind Energy

Indoor Air Assessment

Physical Geography is one of the two major sub-fields of geography. Physical geography is that branch of natural science which deals with the study of processes and patterns in the natural environment like the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere, as opposed to the cultural or built environment, the domain of human geography.

Art made of the Air we Breathe: Emily Parsons-Lord (video and interactive text)

Air is the combination of the invisible gases that envelop the Earth, attracted by the Earth's gravitational pull. That air that you just exhaled, you enriched a hundred times in carbon dioxide. So roughly five liters of air per breath, 17 breaths per minute of the 525,600 minutes per year, comes to approximately 45 million liters of air, enriched 100 times in carbon dioxide, just for you. Now, that's equivalent to about 18 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Carboniferous air. It's from about 300 to 350 million years ago. It's an era known as the time of the giants. So for the first time in the history of life, lignin evolves. That's the hard stuff that trees are made of. So trees effectively invent their own trunks at this time, and they get really big, bigger and bigger, and pepper the Earth, releasing oxygen, releasing oxygen, releasing oxygen, such that the oxygen levels are about twice as high as what they are today. And this rich air supports massive insects -- huge spiders and dragonflies with a wingspan of about 65 centimeters. To breathe, this air is really clean and really fresh. It doesn't so much have a flavor, but it does give your body a really subtle kind of boost of energy. It's really good for hangovers.

The average adult, when resting, inhales and exhales about 7 or 8 liters of air per minute. That totals about 11,000 liters of air per day. Inhaled air is about 20-percent oxygen. Exhaled air is about 15-percent oxygen. 70% of the oxygen in the atmosphere is produced by marine plants.

When you blow a bubble, the air in the bubble has 4% to 5% by volume more carbon dioxide and 4% to 5% by volume less oxygen than was inhaled. Your exhaled air is typically composed of: 78.04% nitrogen. 13.6% – 16% oxygen.

Plants that Purify Indoor Air 

Breathing Gas is a mixture of gaseous chemical elements and compounds used for respiration. Air is the most common, and only natural, breathing gas - but a range of pure gases or mixtures of gases are used in breathing equipment and enclosed habitats such as scuba equipment, surface supplied diving equipment, recompression chambers, submarines, space suits, spacecraft, medical life support and first aid equipment, high-altitude mountaineering and anaesthetic machines. Oxygen is the essential component for any breathing gas, at a partial pressure of between roughly 0.16 and 1.60 bar at the ambient pressure. The oxygen is usually the only metabolically active component unless the gas is an anaesthetic mixture. Some of the oxygen in the breathing gas is consumed by the metabolic processes, and the inert components are unchanged, and serve mainly to dilute the oxygen to an appropriate concentration, and are therefore also known as diluent gases. Most breathing gases therefore are a mixture of oxygen and one or more inert gases. Other breathing gases have been developed to improve on the performance of ordinary air by reducing the risk of decompression sickness, reducing the duration of decompression stops, reducing nitrogen narcosis or allowing safer deep diving. A safe breathing gas for hyperbaric use has three essential features: it must contain sufficient oxygen to support life, consciousness and work rate of the breather. It must not contain harmful gases. Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are common poisons which may contaminate breathing gases. There are many other possibilities. It must not become toxic when being breathed at high pressure such as when underwater. Oxygen and nitrogen are examples of gases that become toxic under pressure. The techniques used to fill Diving Cylinders with gases other than air are called gas blending. Breathing gases for use at ambient pressures below normal atmospheric pressure are usually air enriched with oxygen to provide sufficient oxygen to maintain life and consciousness, or to allow higher levels of exertion than would be possible using air. It is common to provide the additional oxygen as a pure gas added to the breathing air at inhalation, or though a life-support system.

Choking - Not Breathing - Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus

Nitrox refers to any gas mixture composed (excepting trace gases) of nitrogen and oxygen. This includes atmospheric air, which is approximately 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases, primarily argon.

Rebreather is a breathing apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of a user's exhaled breath to permit the rebreathing (recycling) of the substantially unused oxygen content, and unused inert content when present, of each breath. Oxygen is added to replenish the amount metabolised by the user. This differs from an open-circuit breathing apparatus, where the exhaled gas is discharged directly into the environment. As a person breathes, the body consumes oxygen and produces carbon dioxide. Base metabolism requires about 0.25 L/min of oxygen from a breathing rate of about 6 L/min, and a fit person working hard may ventilate at a rate of 95 L/min but will only metabolise about 4 L/min of oxygen The oxygen metabolised is generally about 4% to 5% of the inspired volume at normal atmospheric pressure, or about 20% of the available oxygen in sea level air. Exhaled air at sea level still contains roughly 16% oxygen. Even a small buildup of CO2 in the inhaled gas quickly becomes intolerable; if a person tries to directly rebreathe their exhaled breathing gas, they will soon feel an acute sense of suffocation, therefore rebreathers must chemically remove the CO2 in a component known as a carbon dioxide scrubber.

Scuba Set is any breathing apparatus that is carried entirely by an underwater diver and provides the diver with breathing gas at the ambient pressure. Scuba is an anacronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. Although strictly speaking the scuba set is only the diving equipment which is required for providing breathing gas to the diver, general usage includes the harness by which it is carried, and those accessories which are integral parts of the harness and breathing apparatus assembly, such as a jacket or wing style buoyancy compensator and instruments mounted in a combined housing with the pressure gauge, and in the looser sense it has been used to refer to any diving equipment used by the scuba diver, though this would more commonly and accurately be termed scuba equipment or scuba gear. Scuba is overwhelmingly the most common underwater breathing system used by recreational divers and is also used in professional diving when it provides advantages, usually of mobility and range, over surface supplied diving systems, and is allowed by the relevant code of practice. Two basic functional systems of scuba are in general use: open-circuit-demand, and rebreather. In open-circuit demand scuba, the diver expels exhaled air to the environment, and requires each breath be delivered on demand by a diving regulator, which reduces the pressure from the storage cylinder. The breathing air is supplied through a demand valve when the diver reduces the pressure in the demand valve during inhalation. In rebreather scuba, the system recycles the exhaled gas, removes carbon dioxide, and compensates for the used oxygen before the diver is supplied with gas from the breathing circuit. The amount of gas lost from the circuit during each breathing cycle depends on the design of the rebreather and depth change during the breathing cycle. Gas in the breathing circuit is at ambient pressure, and stored gas is provided through regulators or injectors, depending on design. Within these systems, various mounting configurations may be used to carry the scuba set, depending on application and preference. These include back mount, which is generally used for recreational scuba and for bailout sets for surface supplied diving, side-mount, which is popular for tight cave penetrations, sling mount, used for stage-drop sets, decompression gas and bailout sets where the main gas supply is back mounted, and various non-standard carry systems for special circumstances. The most immediate risk associated with scuba diving is drowning due to a failure of the breathing gas supply. This may be managed by diligent monitoring of remaining gas, adequate planning and provision of an emergency gas supply carried by the diver in a bailout cylinder or supplied by the diver's buddy.

Naturalist Intelligence - Nature Smart

Nature Smart is to recognize, categorize and draw upon certain features of the environment in order to make accurate decisions and to be aware of any changes that might affect future decisions.

Naturalist is an advocate of realism and that the world can be best understood in scientific terms. A naturalist is also a biologist who is knowledgeable about natural history, especially botany and zoology.

Life Sciences comprise the fields of science that involve the scientific study of living organisms – such as microorganisms, plants, animals, and human beings – as well as related considerations like bioethics.

Environmental Science - Outdoor Learning - Restoration

Natural Science is a branch of science concerned with the description, prediction, and understanding of natural phenomena, based on observational and empirical evidence. Habitat Destruction.

Naturalism natural laws are the rules that govern the structure and behavior of the natural universe, that the changing universe at every stage is a product of these laws.

Brower Youth Awards recognizes the work of six young leaders who are making strides in the environmental movement.
Biology

Physical Science is a branch of natural Science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences". However, the term "physical" creates an unintended, somewhat arbitrary distinction, since many branches of physical science also study biological phenomena and branches of chemistry such as organic chemistry.

Outline of Earth Science (PDF) - Environmental Education

Naturalism Literature is a literary movement that emphasizes observation and the scientific method in the fictional portrayal of reality.

Life - Awareness - Purist - Health Benefits from being Outdoors in a Natural Environment.

Sustainability Science - Sustainable Development - Limits to Growth - Green Building - Is the Eco-System our Teacher? - Waste to Energy - Earth Protectors (organizations) - Recycling.

Bio-Based Economy refers to all economic activity derived from scientific and research activity focused on biotechnology. In other words, understanding mechanisms and processes at the genetic and molecular levels and applying this understanding to creating or improving industrial processes.

Emergence is a process whereby larger entities, patterns, and regularities arise through interactions among smaller or simpler entities that themselves do not exhibit such properties.

Natural Capital is the world's stock of natural resources, which includes geology, soils, air, water and all living organisms. Natural capital assets provide people with a wide range of free goods and services, often called ecosystem services, which underpin our economy and society and some of which even make human life possible. Natural Law.

Systems Science studies the nature of systems—from simple to complex—in nature, society, and science itself.

Physiology the scientific study of the normal function in living systems.

Outdoor Courses, Wilderness Schools, Experiential Education

Survival Books and Info

Foraging for Edible and Medicinal Wild Plants

Hunter Gatherer - Natural Medicine

Homogeneity relating to the uniformity in a substance or organism.

Alchemy to purify, mature, and perfect certain objects.

Biomechanics is the study of the structure and function of biological systems such as humans, animals, plants, organs, fungi, and cells by means of the methods of mechanics.

Anthropology (Humans) - Culture - Evolution

Physical Law is typically conclusions based on repeated scientific experiments and observations over many years and which have become accepted universally within the scientific community. The production of a summary description of our environment in the form of such laws is a fundamental aim of science. These terms are not used the same way by all authors.

Metamorphism is the change of minerals or geologic texture.

Instituto Terra - Global Green Carbon

Paleobotany is the branch of paleontology or paleobiology dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (paleogeography), and both the evolutionary history of plants, with a bearing upon the evolution of life in general.

Paleoethnobotany is the study of remains of plants cultivated or used by man in ancient times, which have survived in archaeological contexts. Paleoethnobotany is the archaeological sub-field that studies plant remains from archaeological sites. Basing on the recovery and identification of plant remains and the ecological and cultural information available for modern plants, the major research themes are the use of wild plants, the origins of agriculture and domestication, and the co-evolution of human-plant interactions.

Paleoclimatology is the study of changes in climate taken on the scale of the entire history of Earth. It uses a variety of proxy methods from the Earth and life sciences to obtain data previously preserved within things such as rocks, sediments, ice sheets, tree rings, corals, shells and microfossils. It then uses the records to determine the past states of the Earth's various climate regions and its atmospheric system. Studies of past changes in the environment and biodiversity often reflect on the current situation, specifically the impact of climate on mass extinctions and biotic recovery.

Environmental Monitoring

Systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time.

Cultural Knowledge

Environmental Stewardship refers to responsible use and protection of the natural environment through conservation and sustainable practices. Aldo Leopold (1887–1949) championed environmental stewardship based on a land ethic "dealing with man's relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it.

Environmental Knowledge

Study shows some Biodiversity Losses can be Reversed

Green Festivals

Farming - Agro Ecology is the study of ecological processes that operate in agricultural production systems.

Agriculture (Farming) - Everything about Farming - Forest Gardens - Organic Farmer - Sustainable Farming
Nutrition - Food Safety - Food Photos - Water - Fungi (mushrooms) - Bio-Mimicry - Biology

"It's not the strongest of species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most adaptable to change." Charles Darwin. 

About the quote above: Charles was assuming that there was intelligence and that it was not intelligent enough to adapt, then I guess it was not so intelligent after all? If you are not intelligent enough to adapt, then your not intelligent, just like we are now. So maybe Charles is just mocking our perceived intelligence, which doesn't really matter because the message still stands true, you have to adapt, if not, you die. Harmony.

"Don't shit where you eat, and Don't shit where you drink"..meaning, be extremely careful with sanitation, poor sanitation kills thousands everyday.

Green Schools - Environmental Education - Clean Technology Schools

Sustainability Studies Programs include instruction in sustainable development, geography, environmental policies, ethics, ecology, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, economics, natural resources, sociology, and anthropology.

Sustainability Management - Arborist (trees)

Resource Depletion is the consumption of a resource faster than it can be replenished. Natural resources are commonly divided between renewable resources and non-renewable resources (see also mineral resource classification). Use of either of these forms of resources beyond their rate of replacement is considered to be resource depletion. Exponential Decay.

Habitat Destruction - Geo-Engineering 

Environmental Engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of scientific and engineering principles for protection of human populations from the effects of adverse environmental factors; protection of environments, both local and global, from the potentially deleterious effects of natural and human activities; and improvement of environmental quality.

Ecological Engineering is an emerging study of integrating ecology and engineering, concerned with the design, monitoring, and construction of ecosystems. According to Mitsch (1996) "the design of sustainable ecosystems intends to integrate human society with its natural environment for the benefit of both".

Biological Engineering is the application of concepts and methods of biology (and secondarily of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science) to solve real-world problems related to life sciences or the application thereof, using engineering's own analytical and synthetic methodologies and also its traditional sensitivity to the cost and practicality of the solution(s) arrived at. In this context, while traditional engineering applies physical and mathematical sciences to analyze, design and manufacture inanimate tools, structures and processes, biological engineering uses primarily the rapidly developing body of knowledge known as molecular biology to study and advance applications of organisms and to create biotechnology.

Clean Technology includes recycling, renewable energy (wind power, solar power, biomass, hydropower, biofuels, etc.), information technology, green transportation, electric motors, green chemistry, lighting, Greywater, and many other appliances that are now more energy efficient. It is a means to create electricity and fuels, with a smaller environmental footprint and minimize pollution.

Ethnobotany the scientific study of the relationships that exist between peoples and plants.

Experiential Education is the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content. The term is not interchangeable with experiential learning; however experiential learning is a sub-field and operates under the methodologies of experiential education.

Environmental Education refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating disciplines such as biology, chemistry, physics, ecology, earth science, atmospheric science, mathematics, and geography.

Environmental Education - Environmental Education - Environmental Education

Teleology is the study of nature by attempting to describe things in terms of their apparent purpose, directive principle, or goal.

Outdoor Education refers to organized learning that takes place in the outdoors. Outdoor education programs sometimes involve residential or journey wilderness-based experiences in which students participate in a variety of adventurous challenges and outdoor activities such as hiking, climbing, canoeing, ropes courses and group games.

Progressive Education is the Emphasis on learning by doing – hands-on projects, expeditionary learning, experiential learning. Integrated curriculum focused on thematic units. Integration of entrepreneurship into education. Strong emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking. Group work and development of social skills. Understanding and action as the goals of learning as opposed to rote knowledge. Collaborative and cooperative learning projects. Education for social responsibility and democracy Highly personalized learning accounting for each individual's personal goals. Integration of community service and service learning projects into the daily curriculum. Selection of subject content by looking forward to ask what skills will be needed in future society. De-emphasis on textbooks in favor of varied learning resources. Emphasis on lifelong learning and social skills Assessment by evaluation of child's projects and productions.

Project Learning Tree
Eco-School
Greene School
Green Charter School
Green Education
The Holistic Life Foundation
Whole Earth
Tree People
Eco-Technics
Children of the Earth
Environmental Education
Eco-Trust
Eco Literacy
Good Clean Tech
Eco-Tech Institute
Earth Adventure
Environmental Outreach
Green Mountain College
Green Student
Eco-Schools
World Watch Institute 
College of Agricultural Engineering was opened in 1962. It was closed as a separate entity at the end of 2007 and the land sold for housing.
Environmental Integrity Project
Singularity University
Development Alternatives
Natural Step
The Green Workplace
Green Careers
Action Competence
Green Jobs
Bioneers
Conference
Global Community

Earth Protection Organizations

Environmental Crime - Cynicism virtue is the only good and that the essence of virtue is self-control.

Outdoor Schools - Adventurer Schools - Survival Books and Info - Foraging Wild Foods - Outdoor Gear Check List and Camping List - Recommended Gear - Backpacking Tips.

Learning Outside the Classroom

"Support wildlife, throw a party."  "Nature teaches beasts to know their friends". - (Act II, Scene I). Coriolanus 1607.

Environmental Destruction - Vulnerabilities of our Environment

Anthropocene is human impact on the Earth's geology and ecosystems. Extinctions.

Habitat Destruction is the process in which Natural Habitat is rendered unable to support the species present. In this process, the organisms that previously used the site are displaced or destroyed, reducing biodiversity.

Environmental Crime is an illegal act which directly harms the environment.

Photos of Environmental Destruction - Edward Burtynsky Anthropocene Project shows photos of mining, urbanization, industrialization and agriculture; the proliferation of dams and diverting of waterways; CO2 and acidification of oceans due to climate change; the pervasive presence around the globe of plastics, concrete, and other technofossils; unprecedented rates of deforestation and extinction: these human incursions, they argue, are so massive in scope that they have already entered, and will endure in, geological time.

The Anthropocene - Quaternary Stratigraphy - Nairobi's Waste Management Disaster.

Disturbance in ecology is a temporary change in environmental conditions that causes a pronounced change in an ecosystem. Disturbances often act quickly and with great effect, to alter the physical structure or arrangement of biotic and abiotic elements. Disturbance can also occur over a long period of time and can impact the biodiversity within an ecosystem. Major ecological disturbances may include fires, flooding, windstorms, insect outbreaks and trampling. Earthquakes, various types of volcanic eruptions, tsunami, firestorms, impact events, climate change, and the devastating effects of human impact on the environment (anthropogenic disturbances) such as clearcutting, forest clearing and the introduction of invasive species can be considered major disturbances. Disturbance forces can have profound immediate effects on ecosystems and can, accordingly, greatly alter the natural community. Because of these and the impacts on populations, disturbance determines the future shifts in dominance, various species successively becoming dominant as their life history characteristics, and associated life-forms, are exhibited over time.

Deep Ecology is an ecological and environmental philosophy promoting the inherent worth of living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, plus a radical restructuring of modern human societies in accordance with such ideas. Deep ecology argues that the natural world is a subtle balance of complex inter-relationships in which the existence of organisms is dependent on the existence of others within ecosystems. Human interference with or destruction of the natural world poses a threat therefore not only to humans but to all organisms constituting the natural order.

Biodiversity Falls Below ‘Safe Levels’ Globally.

Biodiversity refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth. One of the most widely used definitions defines it in terms of the variability within species, between species and between ecosystems. It is a measure of the variety of organisms present in different ecosystems. This can refer to genetic variation, ecosystem variation, or species variation (number of species) within an area, biome, or planet. Terrestrial biodiversity tends to be greater near the equator, which seems to be the result of the warm climate and high primary productivity. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth. It is richest in the tropics. Marine biodiversity tends to be highest along coasts in the Western Pacific, where sea surface temperature is highest and in the mid-latitudinal band in all oceans. There are latitudinal gradients in species diversity. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots, and has been increasing through time, but will be likely to slow in the future. The number and variety of plants, animals and other organisms that exist is known as biodiversity. It is an essential component of nature and it ensures the survival of human species by providing food, fuel, shelter, medicines and other resources to mankind. The richness of biodiversity depends on the climatic conditions and area of the region. All species of plants taken together are known as flora and about 300,000 species of plants are known to date. All species of animals taken together are known as fauna which includes birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, insects, crustaceans, molluscs, etc..

Living Planet Index is an indicator of the state of global biological diversity, based on trends in vertebrate populations of species from around the world. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) manages the index in cooperation with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) a.k.a. the World Wildlife Federation. As of 2018, the index is statistically created from journal studies, online databases and government reports for 16,704 populations of 4,005 species of mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian and fish, or approximately six percent of the world's vertebrate species. American Society of Plant Biologists.

Biology - Balance - Risk Assessments

Biodiversity Hotspot is a biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is under threat from humans.

Wildlife in tropics hardest hit by forests being broken up. Tropical species are six times more sensitive to forests being broken up for logging or farming than temperate species, says new research.

Hotspot Maps - Extinctions

Loss of Species Destroys Ecosystems. Better ecosystem services through biodiversity. High-diversity areas achieved better carbon storage. The number of insects and other species was significantly higher. Reciprocal interactions between species such as pollination took place more frequently. Higher-diversity meadows transported surface water into the soil better. High-diversity ecosystems were more stable in the case of disruptions such as droughts or floods than low-diversity ecosystems.

Ecological Threshold is the point at which a relatively small change or disturbance in external conditions causes a rapid change in an ecosystem. When an ecological threshold has been passed, the ecosystem may no longer be able to return to its state by means of its inherent resilience. Crossing an ecological threshold often leads to rapid change of ecosystem health. Ecological threshold represent a non-linearity of the responses in ecological or biological systems to pressures caused by human activities or natural processes. Critical load, tipping point and regime shift are examples of other closely related terms. Tipping Point.

Environmental Gradient is a gradual change in abiotic factors through space (or time). Environmental gradients can be related to factors such as altitude, temperature, depth, ocean proximity and soil humidity. Species abundances usually change along environmental gradients in a more or less predictive way. However, the species abundance along an environmental gradient is not only determined by the abiotic factor but, also by the change in the biotic interactions, like competition, along the environmental gradient. At an ecotone, species abundances change relatively quickly compared to the environmental gradient. The species distribution along environmental gradients has been studied intensively due to large databases of species presence data (e.g. GBIF). Environmental Gradients are linked to Connectivity and natural disturbance when considering river systems. A river restoration scheme must consider all of these factors before undertaking a program as these three factors are what leads to a larger biodiversity. Each species are not found in every type of habitat or in every part of the world. Within the environment there are multiple factors which affects organisms. The organisms in the polar region can not survive the climate at the equator.

Nature is Everywhere we just need to Learn to see it: Emma Marris (video and interactive text)

Regime Shift are large, abrupt, persistent changes in the structure and function of a system. A regime is a characteristic behaviour of a system which is maintained by mutually reinforced processes or feedbacks. Regimes are considered persistent relative to the time period over which the shift occurs. The change of regimes, or the shift, usually occurs when a smooth change in an internal process (feedback) or a single disturbance (external shocks) triggers a completely different system behavior. Although such non-linear changes have been widely studied in different disciplines ranging from atoms to climate dynamics, regime shifts have gained importance in ecology because they can substantially affect the flow of ecosystem services that societies rely upon, such as provision of food, clean water or climate regulation. Moreover, regime shift occurrence is expected to increase as human influence on the planet increases – the Anthropocene – including current trends on human induced climate change and biodiversity loss.

Dynamical System is a system in which a function describes the time dependence of a point in a geometrical space. Examples include the mathematical models that describe the swinging of a clock pendulum, the flow of water in a pipe, and the number of fish each springtime in a lake. At any given time, a dynamical system has a state given by a tuple of real numbers (a vector) that can be represented by a point in an appropriate state space (a geometrical manifold). The evolution rule of the dynamical system is a function that describes what future states follow from the current state. Often the function is deterministic, that is, for a given time interval only one future state follows from the current state. However, some systems are stochastic, in that random events also affect the evolution of the state variables. In physics, a dynamical system is described as a "particle or ensemble of particles whose state varies over time and thus obeys differential equations involving time derivatives." In order to make a prediction about the system’s future behavior, an analytical solution of such equations or their integration over time through computer simulation is realized. The study of dynamical systems is the focus of dynamical systems theory, which has applications to a wide variety of fields such as mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, engineering, economics, and medicine. Dynamical systems are a fundamental part of chaos theory, logistic map dynamics, bifurcation theory, the self-assembly process, and the edge of chaos concept.

Novel Ecosystem are human-built, modified, or engineered niches of the Anthropocene. They exist in places that have been altered in structure and function by human agency. Novel ecosystems are part of the human environment and niche (including urban, suburban, and rural), they lack natural analogs, and they have extended an influence that has converted more than three-quarters of wild Earth. These anthropogenic biomes include technoecosystems that are fuelled by powerful energy sources (fossil and nuclear) including ecosystems populated with technodiversity, such as roads and unique combinations of soils called technosols. Vegetation associations on old buildings or along field boundary stone walls in old agricultural landscapes are examples of sites where research into novel ecosystem ecology is developing.

Biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals. Biotope is almost synonymous with the term habitat, which is more commonly used in English-speaking countries. However, in some countries these two terms are distinguished: the subject of a habitat is a population, the subject of a biotope is a biocoenosis or biological community.

Ecotope are the smallest ecologically distinct landscape features in a landscape mapping and classification system. As such, they represent relatively homogeneous, spatially explicit landscape functional units that are useful for stratifying landscapes into ecologically distinct features for the measurement and mapping of landscape structure, function and change. Like ecosystems, ecotopes are identified using flexible criteria, in the case of ecotopes, by criteria defined within a specific ecological mapping and classification system. Just as ecosystems are defined by the interaction of biotic and abiotic components, ecotope classification should stratify landscapes based on a combination of both biotic and abiotic factors, including vegetation, soils, hydrology, and other factors. Other parameters that must be considered in the classification of ecotopes include their period of stability (such as the number of years that a feature might persist), and their spatial scale (minimum mapping unit).

Invisible Web of the Rainforest. If we change the interactions inside this one species of plant, that it would effect plant diversity in the rainforest. There's these little caterpillars that can actually kill the plant. And then there are these ants that live inside the plant that kill the caterpillars. And then there's a beetle that kills the ants. The experiments that we did, for the most part involved adding beetles to patches of plants where these beetles didn't exist. When we did that what happened is they suppressed populations of ants, which normally suppress the caterpillars. So with the ants gone, caterpillar populations exploded and the leaf biomass declined really quickly of this plant. And what happened in this case is that other caterpillars were also released from control by the ants and they ate other species of plants, including plants that were destined to be big trees. They were seedlings of these plants that are normally these huge 40-meter tall trees that extend out from the canopy of the rainforest. The end result was that several years of just barely increasing the population of these beetles changed the diversity of plants in the understory." Cohabitation (coexist, symbiosis).

Investing in Conservation Pays Off. The study by an international team of researchers found that the $14.4 billion that countries spent on conservation from 1992 to 2003 reduced expected declines in global biodiversity by 29 percent.

Top 10 Dangers Facing Our Planet (video)

Restoration

Genetic Variation is a fact that a biological system – individual and population – is different over space. It is the base of the Genetic variability of different biological systems in space.

Transient State is when a process variable or variables has been changed and the system has not yet reached a steady state. A transient process is a process in which process variables change over time. Transient analysis is a study of transient processes.

Transient Response is the response of a system to a change from an equilibrium or a steady state. The transient response is not necessarily tied to "on/off" events but to any event that affects the equilibrium of the system. The impulse response and step response are transient responses to a specific input (an impulse and a step, respectively).

Steady State is when the variables (called state variables) which define the behavior of the system or the process are unchanging in time. Sustainable - Cause and Effects.

Alternative Stable State predicts that ecosystems can exist under multiple "states" (sets of unique biotic and abiotic conditions). These alternative states are non-transitory and therefore considered stable over ecologically-relevant timescales. Ecosystems may transition from one stable state to another, in what is known as a state shift (sometimes termed a phase shift or regime shift), when perturbed. Due to ecological feedbacks, ecosystems display resistance to state shifts and therefore tend to remain in one state unless perturbations are large enough. Multiple states may persist under equal environmental conditions, a phenomenon known as hysteresis. Alternative stable state theory suggests that discrete states are separated by ecological thresholds, in contrast to ecosystems which change smoothly and continuously along an environmental gradient.

Biological Interaction are the effects that the organisms in a community have on one another. In the natural world no organism exists in absolute isolation, and thus every organism must interact with the environment and other organisms. An organism's interactions with its environment are fundamental to the survival of that organism and the functioning of the ecosystem as a whole.

Biological Network is any network that applies to biological systems. A network is any system with sub-units that are linked into a whole, such as species units linked into a whole food web. Biological networks provide a mathematical representation of connections found in ecological, evolutionary, and physiological studies, such as neural networks. The analysis of biological networks with respect to human diseases has led to the field of network medicine. Soil.

Helping prevent eco-interventions from backfiring. Drastic ecosystem interventions like eradicating an unwanted species can sometimes backfire, but new modelling may help to avoid these ecological hiccups. Despite all good intentions, ecological interventions can have devastating consequences.

Carbon Dioxide CO2 Concentrations - Carbon Capture

"Every child must know that we are still learning and that we still have much to learn. Our future depends on you learning what people have still not learned."

"Remember, it's our responsibility to maintain our natural environment and preserve what we have left. The reason why we have parks and open land is because we learned how extremely valuable our  natural world is to us. But too many people do not fully understand the value of our natural world. So we have to find ways to spread this message and offer free information and knowledge so that people can educate themselves and learn what ever they need to learn. This way, people can make good choices that would continually improve their lives, as well as learn more and more about all the other possibilities that life offers us."

Permaculture - Forest Gardens

"The only resource that this world is short of is intelligence, and intelligence is one resource that we have the power to create ourselves."

Caring about People and the Planet can be Dangerous sometimes

116 environmental activists were murdered in 2014 - that's almost double the number of journalists killed in the same period.

185 Environmental activists across 16 countries were murdered last year in 2015 trying to protect their communities and protecting forest, water, and land rights from illegal mining, logging, palm oil agriculture and industrial development projects.

200 killings in 2016 of people defending their land, forests and rivers against destructive industries.

Killings of Environmental Activists are Increasing

Activism - Journalism Hero's

Earth Defenders - Earth Protectors

Everyone person on this planet has benefited from people who were activists. All the freedoms we have came from activists, yet we still have ignorant criminals who are blinded by money, so much so, they can no longer see the truth.

Ocean Protectors

Wildlife biologists can now cover vastly more territory with the help of listening devices, camera traps, drones, satellites, remote DNA testing, and other technological timesavers.

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."- United Nations.

"If there's a more efficient way of doing something then you should do it. We should be thriving from our use of energy, and not waste our energy and poison ourselves because of it."

"I'm seeing a lot of advancements but not a lot of improvements. Why?" - Environmental Quotes.

"Working with the land is a lot easier then working against it" - Maintenance.

"When things are are used by many people in many places all over the world continuously, they can have an incredible impact on the earth and it's inhabitants. So we must make sure that the things we use a lot of have Positive effects, because if they have negative effects the results will be catastrophic, as clearly seen."

Trees - Tall Perennial Woody Plants

Trees help clean the air and help clean the water. Trees improve water quality by slowing and filtering rainwater, as well as protecting aquifers and watersheds. Tress help save water by slowing evaporation. Trees help prevent soil erosion. Tress help conserve energy by providing shade. Trees provide vital wildlife habitat. Trees help provide food and water. One tree produces somewhere between 500-600 liters of oxygen a day. A person needs around 550 liters of pure oxygen each day. One hundred trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. Mature leafy trees, such as redwoods, aspens and oaks, are the best producers of oxygen. Tree produces higher volumes when growing than when mature, because converting air and soil into wood causes the tree to produce more oxygen. Trees release oxygen when they use energy from sunlight to make glucose from carbon dioxide and water. It takes six molecules of CO2 to produce one molecule of glucose by photosynthesis, and six molecules of oxygen are released as a by-product. During daylight hours, plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen through photosynthesis, and at night only about half that carbon is then released through respiration. However, Plants still remain a net carbon sink, meaning they absorb more than they emit. A tree can absorb as much as 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year and can sequester 1 ton of carbon dioxide by the time it reaches 40 years old. Trees reach their most productive stage of carbon storage at about 10 years at which point they are estimated to absorb 48 pounds of CO2 per year. Mother Trees are the largest trees in forests that act as central hubs for vast below ground mycorrhizal networks. They support young trees or seedlings by infecting them with fungi and ferrying them the nutrients they need to grow. Forest Management.

By adding the value of the various services that Forests perform, such as providing clean water and absorbing Carbon dioxide, an EU-commissioned study estimates that the annual cost of forest loss is between $2 trillion and $5 trillion, which is not including the loss of humans or animal life. Air pollution now kills around seven million people every year globally. Trees help people live longer, healthier, happier lives. Trees and forests help remove 17 tonnes of air pollution, physically intercepting particulate matter and absorbing gasses through their leaves. Tree-based ecosystem benefits had a median annual value of $505 million. Ecological Modelling - Increasing ecosystem services and urban wellbeing.

Land and Forest Conservation Websites - Food Forests

Just because wood is labeled Sustainable Forest Certified, this does not mean that all the wood was not from illegal tree logging. Greenwashing global logging | DW Documentary (youtube) - Does the FSC really prevent illegal deforestation?

Environmental Crime - Greenwashing - Forest Legality - Sustainable Forestry - Illegal Logging - Legality

We Forest - Global Forest Watch - Green Belt Movement - Amazon Forest

15.3 billion trees are cut down each year, 45% of all trees on planet earth have been cut down. Trees create oxygen, sequester carbon, purify the air of pollutants, and help keep temperatures cooler. Each year, Americans cut down about 15 million Christmas trees in the name of festive cheer. Those of you who follow dining trends may have an idea of new-Nordic developments in pine and spruce as seasonings, but how should the naive tree-eater approach arboreal edibility? Fires.

Charcoal -10 tons of trees to make 1 ton of charcoal. 1/2 the trees are cut for charcoal (410,000 hectors). (Charcoal is a 12 billion industry) - Bio-Char Carbon Reduction.

DNA Database of Trees to Stop Illegal Logging - Animals

How Trees Talk to Each Other: Suzanne Simard (video and interactive text)
Treeline (2019) Patagonia Films (youtube)

Afforestt creating natural, wild, maintenance free, native forests. 

Arboriculture is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants. The science of arboriculture studies how these Plants grow and respond to cultural practices and to their environment. The practice of arboriculture includes cultural techniques such as selection, planting, training, fertilization, pest and pathogen control, pruning, shaping, and removal. A person who practices or studies arboriculture can be termed an 'arborist' or an 'arboriculturist'. A 'tree surgeon' is more typically someone who is trained in the physical maintenance and manipulation of trees and therefore more a part of the arboriculture process rather than an arborist. Risk management, legal issues, and aesthetic considerations have come to play prominent roles in the practice of arboriculture. Businesses often need to hire arboriculturists to complete "tree hazard surveys" and generally manage the trees on-site to fulfill occupational safety and health obligations. Arboriculture is primarily focused on individual woody plants and trees maintained for permanent landscape and amenity purposes, usually in gardens, parks or other populated settings, by arborists, for the enjoyment, protection, and benefit of people. Wood Working and Carpentry.

Arborist is a professional in the practice of arboriculture, which is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody Plants in dendrology and Horticulture. Arborists generally focus on the health and safety of individual plants and trees, rather than managing forests (the domains of forestry and silviculture) or harvesting wood. An arborist's scope of work is therefore distinct from that of either a forester or a logger, though the professions share much in common. Environmental Studies - Seed Bank.

There are 60,065 species of trees in the world, according to a comprehensive study of the world's plants. The data revealed that Brazil was the nation with the greatest number of tree species, home to 8,715 varieties. Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) compiled the tree list by using data gathered from its network of 500 member organizations.

Plant for the Planet - Arbor Day Gift Trees

Plant a Billion Trees - Plant for the Planet Billion Tree Campaign

Plant Trees while you Search the Web. Ecosia search engine has helped plant almost 18 million trees. It takes around 45 searches to plant a tree.

Around 0.9 billion hectares of land worldwide would be suitable for reforestation, which could ultimately capture two thirds of human-made carbon emissions.

Kokota Island On the Brink of Collapse Makes a Huge Comeback | Short Film Showcase (youtube)
Forests International connects people and their communities to the forests that sustain them.

David Milarch's Mission to Revive the Last Redwood Forests (youtube) - Moving the Giants.

Sequoia Sempervirens is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood and California redwood. It is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1,200–1,800 years or more. The oldest known coast redwood is about 2,200 years old. This species includes the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to 379 feet (115.5 m) in height (without the roots) and up to 29.2 feet (8.9 m) in diameter at breast height (dbh). These trees are also among the oldest living things on Earth. Coast redwoods are resistant to insect attack, fungal infection, and rot. These properties are conferred by concentrations of terpenoids and tannic acid in redwood leaves, roots, bark, and wood. Despite these chemical defenses, redwoods are still subject to insect infestations; none, however, are capable of killing a healthy tree. Redwoods also face predation from mammals: black bears are reported to consume the inner bark of small redwoods, and black-tailed deer are known to eat redwood sprouts. Burl is a woody material full of unsprouted bud tissue. It serves as a storage compartment for the genetic code of the parent tree. If the redwood falls or is damaged, the burl may sprout another redwood tree known as a clone.

Forests International - Ancient Tree Archive - Propagation

Trees for a Change is a tree or a group of trees is planted in an area of a U.S. Forest that's been damaged by fire. Information about where the tree is located and photos of it are posted online. The recipient of your gift can go online and learn about the tree. They can even use a map to find it and plan a trip to visit it!

Norway commits to Zero Deforestation and has become the first country in the world to commit to zero deforestation.

Iceland Is Growing New Forests for the First Time in 1,000 Years | Short Film (youtube) - Within a few centuries, almost all of the island’s trees were slashed and burned to make room for farming. This rapid deforestation has resulted in massive soil erosion that puts the island at risk for desertification. Today, the Icelandic Forest Service has taken on the mammoth task of bringing back the woodlands. With the help of forestry societies and forest farmers, Iceland’s trees are slowly beginning to make a comeback. Watch this short film by Euforgen to learn more about how their efforts are working to benefit Iceland's economy and ecology through forestry.

How one man created a Forest in a Cold Desert (youtube)

i Tree Tools for Assessing and Managing Community Forests.

The African Baobab Tree (Adansonia digitata) is called the tree of life. Baobab trees can live for more than a thousand years and provide food, livestock fodder, medicinal compounds, and raw materials. Scientists counted the significant tree's 168 chromosomes -- information critical for conservation, agricultural improvement, and further genetic work.

Want Your City to Thrive? Look to Its Trees

Alliance for Community Trees

Adding Symbiotic Mycorrhiza Fungi to the Roots of newly planted trees. Benefits to the fungal partner. The fungus within a mycorrhiza receives sugars from its plant host. Since fungi do not photosynthesise (produce their own energy from the sun) and most plants do, the plant becomes a vital source of energy for the fungus. Certain mycorrhizas will actually live inside the plant's root, so the plant can also help isolate them from competitors. Mycorrhiza are symbiotic relationships between fungi and plant roots (the term means literally 'fungus root'). Perhaps more than 80% of the species of higher plants have these relationships, and so do many pteridophytes (ferns and their allies) and some mosses (especially liverworts).

"We trust the United States Forest Service to 'speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.'" The court concluded that the Forest Service's decisions violated both the National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, and found the Forest Service lacked the authority to grant the pipeline a right of way across the Appalachian Trail.

We Forest restoring forests for Climate, People, Planet.

Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass 193 million acres (780,000 km2). Major divisions of the agency include the National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, Business Operations, and the Research and Development branch. Managing approximately 25% of federal lands, it is the only major national land agency that is outside the U.S. Department of the Interior. Forest Fires.

National Forest Management Act of 1976 is a United States federal law that is the primary statute governing the administration of national forests and was an amendment to the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, which called for the management of renewable resources on national forest lands. The law was a response to lawsuits involving various practices in the national forest, including timber harvesting.

World's most important Forests
Scandinavian and Russian Taiga (wiki)
Congo Basin Forest (wiki)
Mexico (wiki)
Borneo (wiki)
New Guinea (wiki)
Bulgaria and Romania (wiki)
Amazon Rainforest

Lists of Forests (wiki) - List of Countries by Forest Area (wiki)

National Environmental Policy Act is a United States environmental law that promotes the enhancement of the environment and established the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The law was enacted on January 1, 1970. To date, more than 100 nations around the world have enacted national environmental policies modeled after NEPA. NEPA's most significant outcome was the requirement that all executive federal agencies prepare environmental assessments (EAs) and environmental impact statements (EISs). These reports state the potential environmental effects of proposed federal agency actions. NEPA does not apply to the President, Congress, or the federal courts.

Who Bombed Judi Bari? (2012) Aired: 03/02/2012 | 1 hr. 32 min. who bombed judi bari.com - Trees Foundation.

Over 64,000 trees were planted in 15 minutes, breaking the world record for the most trees planted simultaneously. 7,000 people helped to plant Saplings in the Philippines province of Camarines Sur. Forests in the Philippines are considered to be one of the ten most threatened forests in the world. Conservation International reports that these threatened forests store over 25 gigatons of Carbon. Meanwhile, 15% of the world's Greenhouse Gas emissions are due to Deforestation. China has reportedly increased its forests by an unprecedented three million Hectares per year. But many conservationists are concerned that Old-Growth Forests are still disappearing as new forests are deliberately planted. As Conservation International's Olivier Langrand explains, "Forests must be seen as more than just a group of trees."

1000s in Ecuador pitch in to plant nearly 650,000 trees in One Day

India plans to plant 2 billion trees along the nation’s highway. India plants 66 million trees in 12 hours as part of record-breaking environmental campaign. More than 1.5 million volunteers were involved in the huge operation.

Drone That’s On A Mission To Plant One Billion Trees using biodgradble seed pods (youtube) - Drones

The Great Green Wall an African-led project with an epic ambition: to grow an 8,000 km natural wonder of the world across the entire width of Africa. Its goal is to provide food, jobs and a future for the millions of people who live in a region on the frontline of climate change. Once completed, the Great Green Wall will be the largest living structure on Earth and a new Wonder of the World. Great Green Wall initiative to combat the effects of climate change and desertification.

Why is Africa building a Great Green Wall? BBC News (youtube)

"The great green wall will defend us from the desert and The Great Wall of Intelligence that will defend us from ignorance".

Reforestation is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands (forestation) that have been depleted, usually through deforestation, which is clearcutting or clearing is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land which is then converted to a non-forest use.

Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no previous tree cover.

Terraforming (intelligent design)

Two Become ONE: Blind Man and friend with No Arms plant 10.000 trees in 10 years in China (youtube)

Newly grown tropical forests can capture harmful carbon from the atmosphere at a rate up to 11 times faster than older forests. We need to actively promote protection of old-growth forests as well as to promote natural forest regeneration.

Mangroves can help countries mitigate their carbon emissions. Coastal environments are highly effective at capturing carbon.

Nature can provide services on par with traditional infrastructure. On average, forests make up just 40 percent of urban watersheds, with 30 percent of the area being used for crops and 20 percent for pasture. Replanting forests, restoring rivers, and changing farming practices to limit runoff.

Tropical forests covering an area nearly the size of India are set to be destroyed in the next 35 years. Center for Global Development.

China is Building a Belt of Trees that will stretch some 2,800 miles across north and northwest China in an attempt to stop the advance of the Gobi Desert. Overall, the country has planted 13 million hectares (32 million acres) of new forest since 2008, according to the State Forestry Administration. Global Forest Watch, China has been suffering a net loss of about 523,248 hectares (1.29 million acres) of tree cover a year since 2011. Since 2008, that yearly amount appears to be dropping.

Saihanba National Forest Park is a national forest park located in Weichang Manchu and Mongol Autonomous County, Chengde, Hebei, China, with Inner Mongolian Plateau standing in the northwest, covering an area of 200.29-square-kilometre (77.33 sq mi). Established in 1962, this is a multifunctional botanical park integrating scientific research, plant species collection and display as well as tourism. Saihanba is often called "the Green Lung of north China". There are more than 618 species and 312 genera vascular plants cultivated in the park, including Eleutherococcus gracilistylus, Astragalus propinquus, Glycine, and Agropyron. Within the boundaries of the park, the following number of species are known to live: 261 species of mammals, 39 species of birds, 32 species of fish, and about 660 species of insects.

How pervasive is biotic homogenization in human-modified tropical forest landscapes. The paper suggests that creating a network of forest reserves nestled inside agricultural areas would be the most beneficial way to preserve biodiversity. These would include a mix of undisturbed and partially degraded forests.  National Forest Management Act of 1976.

How Many Trees can be Grown in One Acre depends on the space between each tree, and the type of tree. (1'x1' foot spacing can have 43,560 trees - 10'x10' 436 trees - 30'x30' 48 trees - 250'x250' 1 tree).

Seedlings - Farming Knowledge - Food Forest

How to Save Forests
Growing the Wood Raw Material
Flourishing faster: How to make Trees Grow Bigger and Quicker

In fast-warming Minnesota, scientists are trying to plant the forests of the future. Across hundreds of acres, the Forest Service has planted about 275,000 seedlings as part of the massive experiment that Palik oversees. The project involves several approaches. Some plots are left virtually untouched. In other areas, workers have thinned trees and managed the forest to shield the native pines from heat stress and drought. But the boldest part of the experiment is known as “assisted migration” — planting of trees that once would not have been found here, but that are expected to flourish in the future that scientists foresee in Minnesota’s North Woods. The climate is changing “at a rate that’s unprecedented in geologic history,” he said. “And plants, including trees, don’t migrate at that same rate.” There are also obstacles — roads, parking lots, agricultural fields — that make the trees’ slow migration north more difficult. So we’re helping things move.

Tree Planting is the process of transplanting tree seedlings, generally for forestry, land reclamation, or landscaping purpose. It differs from the transplantation of larger trees in arboriculture, and from the lower cost but slower and less reliable distribution of tree seeds.

Tree Planting Tips - Tree Planting

Native Forest Council is an American environmental organization "dedicated to the preservation and protection of all publicly owned natural resources from destructive practices, sales, and all resource extraction. Commercial timber sales, grazing, mining, and oil and gas extraction all contribute to the destruction and degradation of air quality, wildlife habitat, and of our wilderness areas. We believe a sound economy and a sound environment need not be incompatible, and that current land management practices are devastating to both.

Native Forest Action was set up protect the publicly owned native forests of the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand from logging.

Friends of Trees - Arbor Day - Tree People - Plant Trees

Health in Harmony

Tree Relocation Machine (youtube)
Tree Relocation University of Michigan (youtube)
Enhanced Tree Removal - Enhanced Tree Trimming by Electric Companies
40 Metre Tree Removal (youtube)

Fall Photos - Autumn Facts

Living near Trees can make you feel Healthier.
Neighborhood greenspace and health in a large urban center
Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation
Brodmann area 25 (brain cortex)
Rumination (worrying instead of problem solving)
11 scientifically proven reasons you should be spending less time in the office.

Plant a Tree in Someone's Memory: Seeds of Life - Plant a Memory - New Growth - Green Burials.

"There is something special when the tree leaves finally come out, it's like a breath of fresh air and a burst of energy."

Trees Dying

Chestnut Blight is a devastating disease of the American chestnut tree that in the early 1900s caused a rapid, widespread die-off of the once plentiful tree from its historic range, in the Eastern United States.

American Chestnut for Restoration - Transgenic American Chestnuts show enhanced Blight Resistance and transmit the trait to T1 progeny.

Recognizing Hazardous Defects In Trees

Rapid Ohi'a Death | Ceratocystis Wilt of Ohi'a Native Hawaiian Trees

Sudden Oak Death Pathogen

Bioengineering Trees to be more Resilient.

Blight - Plant Diseases - Saving the Ash Tree

Fraxinus is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The genus is widespread across much of Europe, Asia and North America.






Potential effect of Anoplophora glabripennis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) on urban trees in the United States. Beetle could have killed a third of the trees in cities nationwide, at a loss of up to $669 billion.

Asian Long-Horned Beetle species has now been accidentally introduced into the United States.

Emerald Ash Borer is a green buprestid or jewel beetle native to north-eastern Asia that feeds on ash species.

Parasitoid Wasp are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causing the death
of these hosts. Different species specialise in hosts from different insect orders, most often Lepidoptera, though some select beetles, flies, or bugs; the spider wasps (Pompilidae) exclusively attack spiders.

New Aerial Survey Identifies More Than 100 Million Dead Trees in California.

There used to be 4 billion American chestnut trees, but they all disappeared.

Phytophthora ramorum is the oomycete plant pathogen known to cause the disease sudden oak death (SOD). The disease kills oak and other species of trees and has had devastating effects on the oak populations in California and Oregon, as well as being present in Europe. Symptoms include bleeding cankers on the tree's trunk and dieback of the foliage, in many cases eventually leading to the death of the tree.

Chemicals from wood waste: Vitamins, medication, solvents, crop protection products and polymers cost-effective, environmentally friendly and safe manner -- using bacteria to create Succinic Acid.

Amazon Rain Forest - The Largest Rain Forest in the World

1.5 million square miles (1.7 billion-acre jungle), covering about 40 percent of South America. Makes up more than half of the Rainforest remaining on the planet, producing over 20 percent of the world’s oxygen and home to more than one-third of all living species in the world. It is the source of one-fifth of the Earth’s river water. The Amazon is situated in nine countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States.

Amazonas Images - Sebastiao Salgado

Global Forest Watch 2.0 - Global Forest Watch - Guardians of the Amazon

A teaspoon of soil from the Amazon contains as many as 1,800 microscopic life forms, of which 400 are fungi. The vast majority of the estimated 3.8 million fungi in the world have yet to be formally classified. Pandemics.

DETERring Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon - Guardians of the Amazon (Full Documentary) (youtube)

There have been 74,155 fires in Brazil so far this year in 2019 — most of which erupted in the Amazon. That represents an astonishing leap of more than 80% over last year and by far the most that the agency has recorded since it began compiling this data in 2013. About half those fires, or nearly 36,000 of them, have ignited in just the past month. That's nearly as many as in all of 2018. Smoke from the fires has darkened the skies over major Brazilian cities, such as São Paulo. HUGE Amazon Rainforest Fires, São Paulo in Brazil SMOTHERED in Smoke! - Aug. 2019 (youtube).

Estimated 390 billion individual trees divided into 16,000 species. Trees in the Amazon make their own rain. Trees are often considered the lungs of the Earth, inhaling the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2), and exhaling harmless chemicals like water vapor and oxygen (O2). Trees give off other particles, aerosol-forming chemicals are from trees, or biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), In a process called transpiration, plants release water vapor from small pores on the underside of their leaves. Moisture that evaporates from the ocean tends to be lighter than water vapor released into the atmosphere by plants. That’s because during evaporation, water molecules containing deuterium, a heavy isotope of hydrogen made of one proton and one neutron, get left behind in the ocean. By contrast, in transpiration, plants simply suck water out of the soil and push it into the air without changing its isotopic composition. Plants help seed the atmosphere for rain by releasing tiny salt particles. But the new study strongly supports the idea that plants play an important role in triggering the rainy season.

Deuterium is a stable isotope of hydrogen, found in extremely small amounts in nature. The nucleus of deuterium, called a deuteron, contains one proton and one neutron, whereas the far more common hydrogen nucleus contains just one proton and no neutrons. Consequently, each atom of deuterium (chemical symbol D or ²H) has roughly twice the mass of an ordinary hydrogen atom, and deuterium is also called heavy hydrogen. Water in which ordinary hydrogen atoms are replaced by deuterium atoms is known as heavy water.

Old-Growth Forest also termed primary forest, virgin forest, primeval forest, late seral forest, or (in Great Britain) ancient woodland — is a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance and thereby exhibits unique ecological features and might be classified as a climax community. Old-growth features include diverse tree-related structures that provide diverse wildlife habitat that increases the biodiversity of the forested ecosystem. The concept of diverse tree structure includes multi-layered canopies and canopy gaps, greatly varying tree heights and diameters, and diverse tree species and classes and sizes of woody debris. Old-growth forests are valuable for economic reasons and for the ecosystem services they provide. This can be a point of contention when some in the logging industry may desire to cut down the forests to obtain valuable timber, while environmentalists seek to preserve the forests for benefits such as maintenance of biodiversity, water regulation, and nutrient cycling. American Forests.

Environmental Monitoring and Law Enforcement. (eyes in the sky) - Forest Gardens

Detection of Deforestation or DETER is a satellite-based system that enables frequent and quick identification of deforestation hot spots, greatly enhanced monitoring and targeting capacity, making it easier for law enforcers to act upon areas with illegal deforestation activity.

Paying People Not to Cut Down their Trees could be cost-effective way to reduce carbon emissions.

Cash for carbon: A cost-effective way to reduce deforestation.

Payments For Ecosystem Services are incentives offered to farmers or landowners in exchange for managing their land to provide some sort of ecological service. They have been defined as "a transparent system for the additional provision of environmental services through conditional payments to voluntary providers." These programmes promote the conservation of natural resources in the marketplace. Alone in the Wild.

Chevron vs. the Amazon - Full Documentary // Empire Files (youtube - 1 hour) Abby launches a deep investigation into Chevron Texaco's intentional spilling of 19 billion gallons of oil and waste in Ecuador's pristine Amazon.

Antonio donato Nobre: The Magic of the Amazon (video and text) 
Mark Plotkin: what the people of the Amazon know that you don't (video and text)
Akuntsu (youtube)

Amazônia Eterna The Amazon rainforest is a vast laboratory for experiments that are unveiling new relationships among human beings, corporations and natural heritage that is crucial for life on the planet. (12/05/2012 | 1 hr. 23 min.)

With more than 80 percent of Earth's forests already destroyed, The United Nations Environment Program recently released an alarming report indicating organized crime is responsible for 50 to 90 percent of illegal Logging in tropical countries in the Amazon basin, Central Africa and South East Asia.

illegal Logging info - Palm-Oil Products

Willie Smits: How to Restore a Rainforest (youtube) - TED Video 

Borneo is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia

Masarang Foundation

Burning Wood

Land use change has warmed the Earth's surface. Activities like cutting down evergreen forests for agricultural expansion in the tropics create energy imbalances that lead to higher local surface temperatures and contribute to global warming.

Success in the Amazon: Reducing deforestation. A unique public-private initiative has reduced deforestation in the Amazon for soy farming, highlighting opportunities for similar efforts across the tropics. In 2006, Greenpeace launched a campaign exposing deforestation caused by soy production in the Brazilian Amazon. In the previous year, soy farming expanded into more than 1,600 square kilometers of recently cleared forests. The destruction, they said, had to stop.

Almost 19 million Hectares of Forests are destroyed every year due to Deforestation and illegal Logging? This is a direct result of people being forced to do horrible things by way of Economic Slavery and also a result of peoples ignorance and lack of education about Land Management. Land does not need to be cleared for our survival, it's the other way around. On top of that the planet is losing almost 20 million hectares of existing Arable Land due to degradation and bad Land Management and Bad Farming practices? So you see the the main problem still exists, economic slavery and peoples lack of education and information about Land Management.

Sustainable Land Management

Earth Policy - CO2

Scientists estimate that humans burn an average of 175 million acres of forest and grassland every year, often to make room for agriculture and living space.

Deep In The Amazon, An Unseen Battle Over The Most Valuable Trees Rubber Tappers.

Rubber Tapping is the process by which latex is collected from a rubber tree. The latex is harvested by slicing a groove into the bark of the tree at a depth of a quarter inch with a hooked knife and peeling back the bark. Trees must be approximately six years old and six inches in diameter in order to be tapped for latex.

Help Save Ecuador's Indigenous Peoples Ancestral Lands that includes Rain Forests from Destructive Oil Drilling

World in tree density: dark green represents a million or more trees per square kilometer. There are fewer trees in the lighter shades of green. The buff color has very few trees and darkest brown represents areas with no trees.

A team of 38 scientists finds that the planet is home to 3.04 trillion trees, blowing away the previously estimate of 400 billion. That means, the researchers say, that there are 422 trees for every person on Earth. More Earth Info.

Conifers

Conifers evolved before the broadleaf trees. Conifers produce their seeds in woody cones. Broadleaf's produce their seeds in more fleshy fruits. Tropical and Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests (wiki).

Coniferous means bearing pinecones, most coniferous are evergreen.
Needle is a thin, long modified leaf typical of conifers.
Evergreen means retaining leaves year round, therefore remaining “forever green”.
Softwood usually refers to coniferous trees. Wood Working.
Broadleaf is a thin, broad leaf structure with a good deal of surface area.
Deciduous is the dropping of a part that is no longer needed, in this case leaves.
Hardwood is another commonly used word for deciduous, broadleaf trees.

Agathis or Kuri tree is a genus of 22 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, a group once widespread during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but now largely restricted to the Southern Hemisphere except for a number of extant Malesian Agathis.

Conifers can be green because of a photosynthetic short-cut. In winter, light energy is absorbed by the green chlorophyll molecules but cannot be utilized by the downstream reactions in the photosynthetic machinery as freezing temperatures stop most biochemical reactions. This is especially a problem in the early spring when temperatures can still be very low, but sunlight is already strong, and the excess light energy can damage the proteins of the photosynthetic machinery. The researchers showed that the photosynthetic apparatus is wired in a special way which allows pine needles to stay green all year long. Under normal conditions, the two photosystems, the two functional units where light energy is absorbed and converted into chemical energy, are kept apart from each other to prevent a short-cut and allow efficient photosynthesis. In winter, the structure of the thylakoid membrane, where the two photosystems are located, is reorganized which brings the two photosystems in physical contact. The researchers showed that photosystem II donates energy directly to photosystem I and this short-cut mode protects the green chlorophyll and the needles when conditions become harsh.

Christmas trees like cypress, cedars and yews are poisonous if eaten. And be sure that your tree wasn't sprayed with pesticides and other chemicals. Fir, which is a really popular choice of Christmas trees, is quite zesty. Pine is a little bit more floral and a little bit more delicate. Spruce is quite almost like vanilla in a way, you can use the needles like a herb.

Cedar is the common name for cedar wood, used for several different trees that grow in different parts of the world. Calocedrus decurrens is the primary type of wood used for making pencils, and  is a species of conifer native to western North America.

Tree Resin is where amber comes from, which is fossilized tree resin.

Resin is a "solid or highly viscous substance" of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. They are often mixtures of organic compounds, principally terpenes. Many plants, particularly woody plants, produce resin in response to injury. The resin acts as a bandage protecting the plant from invading insects and pathogens.

North Atlantic Oscillation and synchronized tree reproduction across Europe plays a greater role in large scale masting, the process whereby forest trees produce large numbers of seeds in the same year.

Pine is any conifer in the genus pinus of the family pinaceae, which are trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as cedars, firs, hemlocks, larches, pines and spruces.

Beetle Kill Pine is the result of blue stain fungus that spreads from bark beetles to Lodgepole Pine, Douglas Fir, and Whitebark Pine trees. The blue stain pine fungus works symbiotically with the beetles by turning the tree wood into nutrients.

Pinus Lambertiana is the tallest and most massive pine tree, and has the longest cones of any conifer. Commonly growing to 40–60 meters (130–195 ft) tall with a trunk diameter of 1.5–2.5 m (4 ft 11 in–8 ft 2 in). The massive 31 Gigabase mega-genome of sugar pine has been sequenced in 2016 by the large PineRefSeq consortium. Descended from trees that survived California's historic drought.

Norfolk Island Pine

Mast Years occur in five-to-seven-year cycles. That is when Oak trees produce a huge amount of acorns.

Wollemia is a genus of coniferous tree in the family Araucariaceae. Wollemia was known only through fossil records until the Australian species Wollemia nobilis was discovered in 1994 in a temperate rainforest wilderness area of the Wollemi National Park in New South Wales, in a remote series of narrow, steep-sided sandstone gorges 150 km (93 mi) north-west of Sydney. The genus is named after the National Park. The oldest fossil of the Wollemi tree has been dated to 200 million years ago. Wollemia nobilis is an evergreen tree reaching 25–40 m (82–131 ft) tall. The bark is very distinctive, dark brown and knobbly, quoted as resembling Coco Pops breakfast cereal. The leaves are flat linear, 3–8 cm (1.2–3.1 in) long and 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) broad. They are arranged spirally on the shoot but twisted at the base to appear in two or four flattened ranks. As the leaves mature, they develop from bright lime-green to a more yellowish-green. The seed cones are green, 6–12 cm (2.4–4.7 in) long and 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) in diameter, and mature about 18–20 months after wind pollination. They disintegrate at maturity to release the seeds which are small and brown, thin and papery with a wing around the edge to aid wind-dispersal. The male (pollen) cones are slender conic, 5–11 cm (2.0–4.3 in) long and 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) broad and reddish-brown in colour and are lower on the tree than the seed cones. Seedlings appear to be slow-growing and mature trees are extremely long-lived; some of the older individuals today are estimated to be between 500 and 1,000 years old.

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Pollution - Dirty Bombs

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light. Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants. Pollution is often classed as point source or nonpoint source pollution. In 2015, pollution killed 9 million people in the world. Major forms of pollution include: Air pollution, light pollution, littering, noise pollution, plastic pollution, soil contamination, radioactive contamination, thermal pollution, visual pollution, water pollution. The major forms of pollution are listed below along with the particular contaminant relevant to each of them: Air pollution: the release of chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere. Common gaseous pollutants include carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and nitrogen oxides produced by industry and motor vehicles. Photochemical ozone and smog are created as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons react to sunlight. Particulate matter, or fine dust is characterized by their micrometre size PM10 to PM2.5. Electromagnetic Pollution: the overabundance of electromagnetic radiation in their non-ionizing form, like radio waves, etc, that people are constantly exposed at, especially in large cities. It's still unknown whether or not those types of radiation have any effects on human health, though. Light pollution: includes light trespass, over-illumination and astronomical interference. Littering: the criminal throwing of inappropriate man-made objects, unremoved, onto public and private properties. Noise Pollution: which encompasses roadway noise, aircraft noise, industrial noise as well as high-intensity sonar. Plastic Pollution: involves the accumulation of plastic products and microplastics in the environment that adversely affects wildlife, wildlife habitat, or humans. Soil contamination occurs when chemicals are released by spill or underground leakage. Among the most significant soil contaminants are hydrocarbons, heavy metals, MTBE, herbicides, pesticides and chlorinated hydrocarbons. Radioactive Contamination, resulting from 20th century activities in atomic physics, such as nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons research, manufacture and deployment. (See alpha emitters and actinides in the environment.) Thermal Pollution, is a temperature change in natural water bodies caused by human influence, such as use of water as coolant in a power plant. Visual Pollution, which can refer to the presence of overhead power lines, motorway billboards, scarred landforms (as from strip mining), open storage of trash, municipal solid waste or space debris. Water Pollution, by the discharge of wastewater from commercial and industrial waste (intentionally or through spills) into surface waters; discharges of untreated domestic sewage, and chemical contaminants, such as chlorine, from treated sewage; release of waste and contaminants into surface runoff flowing to surface waters (including urban runoff and agricultural runoff, which may contain chemical fertilizers and pesticides; also including human feces from open defecation – still a major problem in many developing countries); groundwater pollution from waste disposal and leaching into the ground, including from pit latrines and septic tanks; eutrophication and littering. Pollution has a cost. Manufacturing activities that cause air pollution impose health and clean-up costs on the whole of society, whereas the neighbors of an individual who chooses to fire-proof his home may benefit from a reduced risk of a fire spreading to their own homes. A manufacturing activity that causes air pollution is an example of a negative externality in production. A negative externality in production occurs “when a firm’s production reduces the well-being of others who are not compensated by the firm." For example, if a laundry firm exists near a polluting steel manufacturing firm, there will be increased costs for the laundry firm because of the dirt and smoke produced by the steel manufacturing firm. If external costs exist, such as those created by pollution, the manufacturer will choose to produce more of the product than would be produced if the manufacturer were required to pay all associated environmental costs. Because responsibility or consequence for self-directed action lies partly outside the self, an element of externalization is involved. If there are external benefits, such as in public safety, less of the good may be produced than would be the case if the producer were to receive payment for the external benefits to others. However, goods and services that involve negative externalities in production, such as those that produce pollution, tend to be over-produced and underpriced since the externality is not being priced into the market. Pollution has been found to be present widely in the environment. There are a number of effects of this: Biomagnification describes situations where toxins (such as heavy metals) may pass through trophic levels, becoming exponentially more concentrated in the process. Carbon dioxide emissions cause ocean acidification, the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans as CO2 becomes dissolved. The emission of greenhouse gases leads to global warming which affects ecosystems in many ways. Invasive species can outcompete native species and reduce biodiversity. Invasive plants can contribute debris and biomolecules (allelopathy) that can alter soil and chemical compositions of an environment, often reducing native species competitiveness. Nitrogen oxides are removed from the air by rain and fertilise land which can change the species composition of ecosystems. Smog and haze can reduce the amount of sunlight received by plants to carry out photosynthesis and leads to the production of tropospheric ozone which damages plants. Soil can become infertile and unsuitable for plants. This will affect other organisms in the food web. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can cause acid rain which lowers the pH value of soil. Organic pollution of watercourses can deplete oxygen levels and reduce species diversity.

Pollute is to make something impure in a bad way. To make something harmful, especially by the addition of some unwanted substance. Garbage in the Sky.

Defile is to make something dirty or polluted, as by exposure to air. To make foul, dirty, or unclean. Taint or debase. Stain or Spoil Spot. To violate the chastity of someone or to sully, as a person's reputation. To make impure for ceremonial use; desecrate.

The Devil is in the Details is a saying that refers to the realization of elements that are hidden in the details. Meaning that something might seem simple at a first look, but after a further and more deeper examination, a truth emerges that paints a different picture. The saying derives from the earlier phrase, "God is in the Detail" expressing the idea that whatever one does should be done thoroughly and thoughtfully; the details are important. Carbon Capture.

Oil Spills and Leaks Happen Daily across U.S. Each year there are more than 10,000 spills of oil and hazardous substances, according to federal estimates, many that get into water supplies. A six month CBS News investigation found that spills of crude oil and Toxic Chemicals last year alone were three times the amount of the Exxon Valdez spill. CBS News collected reported incidents for 2010 at wells and pipelines from three federal agencies and 23 of 33 oil and gas producing states. Not counting the BP disaster, we found at least 6,500 spills, leaks, fires or explosions nationwide - that's 18 a day. Overall, at least 34 million gallons of crude oil and other potentially toxic chemicals were spilled. That's triple the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. Poisoned Drinking Water. Dead wildlife, destroyed land, illness, injury, and people being forced from their homes. Pollution contributed to the deaths of some 9.9 million people in 2015 by causing diseases such cancer, heart disease and respiratory illnesses. That's three times more deaths than the death toll from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.

CO2 Poisoning - Global Warming - Air Pollution (Consent to Operate) - Second Hand Smoke

Environmental Crime is an illegal act which directly harms the environment. Lawsuit.

High Air Pollution Exposure in 1-year-olds Linked to Structural Brain Changes at age 12.

Chemical Warfare (pesticides) - Nuclear Waste - Drugs in Drinking Water

Texas coal companies are leaving behind contaminated land. The state is letting them.

Children Exposed to Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Suffered Physical and Mental Health Effects.

Thousands of oil and gas operations, government facilities and other sites have won permission to stop monitoring for hazardous emissions or otherwise bypass rules intended to protect health and the environment because of the coronavirus outbreak, The Associated Press has found. Trump administration paved the way for the reduced monitoring March 26 AP’s two-month review found that waivers were granted in more than 3,000 cases.

Connecticut has 2,267 lakes and ponds that measure more than 10 acres, but a state water monitoring program is only able to sample around 20 annually for the overall health of the water body, according to the Department of Energy & Environmental protection.

Defiled is to be morally blemished, stained, polluted or impure.

Disregard is a willful lack of care and attention.

Demerit Good is a good or service whose consumption is considered unhealthy, degrading, or otherwise socially undesirable due to the perceived negative effects on the consumers themselves.

Polluted Air exposure could compromised a persons ability to fight off an illness because pollution stifles the immune response to infections.

Superfund Sites List in America (wiki) - Hazardous Waste - Passing the Buck.

Can Poor Air Quality make you Gain Weight? Breathing dirty air takes a heavy toll. A new study links air pollution to changes in the human gut microbiome which could fuel diabetes, obesity and inflammatory bowel diseases like colitis and Crohn's disease. The researchers looked at data from air-monitoring stations near the subjects' addresses to calculate their previous-year exposure to ozone (which forms when emissions from vehicles are exposed to sunlight), particulate matter (hazardous particles suspended in the air), and nitrous oxide (a toxic byproduct of burning fossil fuel). Of all the pollutants measured, ozone had the greatest impact on the gut by far, accounting for about 11% of the variation seen between study subjects -- more of an impact than gender, ethnicity or even diet. Those with higher exposure to ozone also had less variety of bacteria living in their gut. Subjects with higher exposure to ozone also had a greater abundance of a specific species called Bacteroides caecimuris. In all, the researchers identified 128 bacterial species influenced by increased ozone exposure. Some may impact the release of insulin, the hormone responsible for ushering sugar into the muscles for energy. Other species can produce metabolites, including fatty acids, which help maintain gut barrier integrity and ward off inflammation.

Saying people are addicted to oil is a lie. People only have limited choices that have been forced on them by ignorant criminals. People are addicted to wanting more is also a lie. People don't want more, people want better. People only want more because they have been programed to want more by continually being bombarded by advertisements that influence their thinking and warp their understanding of themselves and the world around them. People are not addicted to anything, they're just manipulated.

Pollution kills 9 million a year and costs $4.6 trillion. The number of people killed by pollution is undoubtedly higher. Premature deaths, 16 percent of all deaths worldwide, most often the world's poorest who suffer. Offsets.

Polluters are like Suicide Bombers who mass murder people everyday in the name of money. It's time to change the meaning of the phrase "Trophy Hunting", it will now mean shutting down polluting businesses who poison the environment and mass murder people for money. Decorate your wall with that.

Suburban Ponds are a Septic Buffet. A new study by Yale shows that human waste accounts for a high percentage of nutrients consumed by some animals and plants in suburban ponds.

Pipeline Spills, 1986-2016 in the last 30 years, there have been over 8,700 liquid pipeline spills, averaging nearly one every day. 4.2 million barrels (176 million gallons) that have spilled in the last 30 years.

Dakota Access Pipeline Project - Bakken Pipeline Map

The Longest Continuous Oil Spill in American History is the MC20 Oil Platform operated by Taylor Energy, which leaks about 96 barrels a day. The Oil Sheen is visible for miles and you can even see it from space.

Neil Young's New Anti-Pipeline Protest Song Dakota Access Pipeline supports the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
Indian Givers...Young, Neil (youtube)

Voice Of Baceprot - The Enemy of Earth is You (youtube)

Severn Suzuki at Rio Summit 1992 with Eng Subtitle. Severn Suzuki, a 12 year old girl who silenced the world for 5 minutes, making her speech on UN Conference at Rio earth summit.

Contaminates - Toxins

Rocket Fuel that's Cleaner, Safer and still full of energy. Research shows that it may be possible to create rocket fuel that is much cleaner and safer than the hypergolic fuels that are commonly used today. And still just as effective. The new fuels use simple chemical 'triggers' to unlock the energy of one of the hottest new materials, a class of porous solids known as metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs.

There are about 18,000 contaminated sites in Connecticut with 516 designated as brownfields. There are more than 800 contaminated sites in Stamford, nearly 600 contaminated sites in Bridgeport, more than 620 in Norwalk, 450 in Danbury, 400 in Greenwich, 400 in New Haven, almost 200 in Middletown and almost 150 in Torrington. Contaminated or potentially contaminated sites include gas stations, colleges, hospitals, car dealerships and auto body shops, and manufacturing and storage facilities. The worst are considered brownfields, typically abandoned factories, mills and warehouses that still have excessive traces of nitrogen, calcium, petroleum hydrocarbons arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury or other harmful substances. There are currently 516 brownfields on the DEEP List, 45 of them in Bridgeport, 35 in Stamford, 20 in Middletown, 17 in Norwalk, 16 in New Haven, 10 in Torrington, 3 in Danbury and 2 in Greenwich. The DEEP maintains a list of contaminated or potentially contaminated sites in every town, and includes whatever remediation may or may not have been attempted. List of Superfund sites in Connecticut (wiki).

Brownfield Land describes land previously used for industrial or commercial purposes with known or suspected pollution including soil contamination due to hazardous waste.

Residual is remaining after the greater part or quantity has gone. Relating to or indicating a remainder. Something left after other parts have been taken away.

The Big Fix - BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Cover up (youtube) 06/19/2012 | 02:07.  On April 22, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig sank into the Gulf of Mexico creating the worst oil spill in history. 205 million gallons of crude oil and over 1.8 millions gallons of chemical dispersant Corexit went into the sea. *Criminals*

OIL & WATER (full documentary HD) oil industry Cajun Deepwater Horizon Feature Film 
(youtube Published 8/3/2015  =  1:14:10) - Cajun (wiki) - Acadia (wiki)

Chevron vs. the Amazon - Full Documentary // Empire Files (youtube - 1 hour) Abby launches a deep investigation into Chevron Texaco's intentional spilling of 19 billion gallons of oil and waste in Ecuador's pristine Amazon.

The Empire Files: The Tyranny of Big Oil (youtube 28:25 mins.)  Son of a Snake Oil Salesman. 

How Big Oil Conquered the World (youtube, 1:11 mins.)

Documentaries Page

NASA CSI: On the Trail of a Hazy Global Killer Map shows concentrations of nitrogen dioxide in the lower atmosphere as detected by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument aboard the Aura satellite. OMI instrument.

Oil and Water Don't Mix Aging oil pipelines threaten the pristine waters of the Straits of Mackinac in the Great lakes.

Development of ultrathin durable membrane for efficient oil and water separation. The development of technology to separate oil from water is crucial for dealing with oil spills and water pollution generated by various industries. By 2025, it is predicted that two thirds of the world's population won't have sufficient access to clean water. Therefore the development of technologies to filter oily emulsions and thus increase the amount of available clean water is gaining increasing attention.

Tiny shrimplike amphipods living in the Mariana Trench were contaminated at levels similar to those found in crabs living in waters fed by one of China's most polluted rivers. The amphipods were contaminated with PCBs — polychlorinated biphenyls — toxic chemicals used for decades in industry, as well as other industrial pollutants known as persistent organic pollutants.

MAGELLO User-friendly, high-resolution atmospheric and ocean data to identify movement of spills or toxic releases in rivers, ocean and air.

Oil demand in 2012 was 89.17 million barrels per day worldwide, an increase of 1.07 million barrels per day over 2011. Demand is projected to increase to 90.11 million barrels per day in 2013 and 91.46 million barrels per day in 2014. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration - Statistics.

Energy Alternatives

Oil Spill Cleanup Equipment

Polymer Sponge capable of soaking up oil spills it can be squeezed to recover the oil and then reused. The highly buoyant polymer is made of waste cooking oils and sulphur, by-products of the food and petroleum industries, and has the ability to clean up crude oil and diesel spills. CBS News Video

Toxic - Toxins in Products - Hazardous Waste

What BP Doesn't want you to know about the 2010 Gulf Spill. Corexit is a product line of oil dispersants used during oil spill response operations. Warnings from the Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet for 2-butoxyethanol include: "Cancer Hazard: 2-Butoxy Ethanol may be a carcinogen in humans since it has been shown to cause liver cancer in animals. Many scientists believe there is no safe level of exposure to a carcinogen...Nalco.

Acid Rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids. Some governments have made efforts since the 1970s to reduce the release of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere with positive results. Nitrogen oxides can also be produced naturally by lightning strikes, and sulfur dioxide is produced by volcanic eruptions. Acid rain has been shown to have adverse impacts on forests, freshwaters and soils, killing insect and aquatic life-forms, causing paint to peel, corrosion of steel structures such as bridges, and weathering of stone buildings and statues as well as having impacts on human health.

What Ever Happened To Acid Rain? (youtube)

Toxin - Poison - Terrorism

8 Fossil Fuel Companies Responsible for 15% of Global Carbon Emissions Since 1850's: Chevron. ExxonMobil. BP. Royal Dutch Shell. ConocoPhillips. Peabody Energy. Consol Energy. Arch Coal.

Climate Accountability Scorecard Ranking - Article

The Sleepy Texan Town Suffering In The Shadow Of Big Oil (youtube) - Petroleum Statistics

Fuel Oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid fuel that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash point of approximately 42 °C (108 °F) and oils burned in cotton or wool-wick burners. In this sense, diesel is a type of fuel oil. Fuel oil is made of long hydrocarbon chains, particularly alkanes, cycloalkanes and aromatics. The term fuel oil is also used in a stricter sense to refer only to the heaviest commercial fuel that can be obtained from crude oil, i.e., heavier than gasoline and naphtha.

Pesticides

Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (a) global warming is occurring and (b) it is extremely likely that human-made CO2 emissions have predominantly caused it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on December 11, 1997 and entered into force on February 16, 2005. There are currently 192 parties (Canada withdrew effective December 2012) to the Protocol. Key Documents.

Global Alliance on Health and Pollution

Factsheets - Pollution Facts 

Exposures to polluted soil, water and air (both household and ambient) killed 8.4 million people in these countries in 2012.

World Health Organization statistics show that 56 million people died in 2012 — that’s every person who passed away on the planet, whether from car accidents, suicides, old age, cancer, hospital errors, lightning strike, infectious diseases, parachute failures, war or any number of other reasons. So, pollution killed nearly one in seven of them.

Other things that Kill Humans

It cost a "staggering" $76.6 billion to cover the health expenses of American children who were sick because of exposure to Toxic Chemicals and Air Pollutants in 2008, according to new research by senior scientists at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. 

Warning: Mafia May Cause Cancer (youtube)

90% of all Cancers are caused by some form of Pollution.

California could save $7.2 billion in healthcare costs -- and prevent more than 400 premature deaths -annually if the state adopts a 64 miles- per-gallon equivalent fuel economy standard, according to a report released Tuesday by the American Lung Assn. in California. 

Higher Levels of Airborne Organic Hydroperoxides.

Environmental Damage is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; and pollution. It is defined as any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable. As indicated by the I=PAT equation, environmental impact (I) or degradation is caused by the combination of an already very large and increasing human population (P), continually increasing economic growth or per capita affluence (A), and the application of resource depleting and polluting technology (T). Environmental degradation is one of the ten threats officially cautioned by the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change of the United Nations. The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction defines environmental degradation as "The reduction of the capacity of the environment to meet social and ecological objectives, and needs". Environmental degradation is of many types. When natural habitats are destroyed or natural resources are depleted, the environment is degraded. Efforts to counteract this problem include environmental protection and environmental resources management.

Superfund Sites (wiki) - Flooding Dangers

Destructive Mining

The Hidden Cost of Fossil Fuels

The Secret of the Seven Sisters - Special series - Al Jazeera (youtube) - Seven Sisters Oil Companies (wiki)

The Biggest and Most Damaging Disasters in Human History

Boom: North America's Explosive Oil-By-Rail Problem (youtube)

Counter Spill Lists Pollution Disasters around the World.

Clean air research converts toxic air pollutant into industrial chemical.

Just because people use products that are made from oil does not mean we don't have other choices and options. Just because some criminal takes away our choices and options does not mean that options don't exist anymore. When they are people living a life that you believe doesn't exist, that means that there is choices. People say that we are dependent on oil, but that is clearly a lie. That is like saying that the drug addict needs drugs, or that the soldier needs people to kill. To say that we need oil for jobs is a lie, that's like saying that we need war to live, or that we need to poison the environment, and that we need to kill people and destroy peoples health just because it creates jobs. Ignorance is killing us.

Air Pollution - Dirty Air

Air Pollution occurs when harmful or excessive quantities of substances including the gases (CO2, CO, SO2, NO, CH4, CFC, Radon, etc.), particles (both organic and inorganic), and biological molecules are introduced into Earth's atmosphere. It may cause diseases, allergies and even death to humans; it may also cause harm to other living organisms such as animals and food crops, and may damage the natural or built environment. Both human activity and natural processes can generate air pollution.

Indoor Air Pollution (Cancer Flavored Air) - Pollution Types

Air pollution kills an estimated 7 million people worldwide every year. 4.3 million deaths in 2012 caused by indoor air pollution, mostly people cooking inside using wood and coal stoves in Asia. WHO said there were about 3.7 million deaths from outdoor air pollution in 2012, of which nearly 90 percent were in developing countries. More than 95% of world's population breathe dangerous air.

Those most affected by air pollution are children whose immune systems and lungs are not fully developed. Fine particulate matter — PM 2.5 — increases the risk of respiratory infection in children. In Ulaanbaatar PM 2.5 is usually six to seven times the World Health Organization allowance, but can be as much as 25 times higher. One of the leading causes of death for children under 5 here is acute lower respiratory infection, accounting for 15 percent of under 5 childhood mortality cases under age 5.

First evidence that air pollution particles and metals are reaching the placenta. Inhaled particulate matter from air pollution can move from the lungs to distant organs, and that it is taken up by certain cells in the human placenta, and potentially the fetus. Black particles that closely resembled particulate matter from pollution were found in placental cells from all fifteen women and these appeared in an average of 1 per cent of the cells which were analysed.

Potential Inhaled Dose - City Cyclists: Here's How Much Pollution You're Actually Inhaling (HBO) (youtube) - 86,000 bicycle commuters in NYC - How much Pollution you're actually inhaling - air pollution.

Exposure Inhalation Assessment Tools. Inhalation exposure can result from breathing air that is contaminated with particulate matter (e.g., dust), vapors (e.g., volatile or semivolatile contaminants), or aerosols. Individuals can be exposed via the inhalation route during a variety of activities outdoors and indoors. Indoor receptors could also be exposed to outdoor air contaminants that infiltrate the indoor environment. CO2.

Scientists find evidence of link between diesel exhaust, risk of Parkinson's.

Human-Made Ozone is a result of air pollution from internal combustion engines and power plants. Automobile exhaust and industrial emissions release a family of nitrogen oxide gases (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC), by-products of burning gasoline and coal. Tropospheric or ground-level ozone – what we breathe – is formed primarily from photochemical reactions between two major classes of air pollutants, volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Human-made ozone at ground-level inhibits plant photosynthesis by directly damaging some of the plant cells responsible for it. reducing unhealthy pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). A 50% reduction in ozone pollution from just the transportation and energy sectors resulted in an increase in photosynthesis equivalent to the amount of carbon lost by fire each year.

Clean Air Act is a United States Federal Law designed to control air pollution on a national level. It is one of the United States' first and most influential modern environmental laws, and one of the most comprehensive air quality laws in the world. The 1955 Air Pollution Control Act was the first U.S federal legislation that pertained to air pollution; it also provided funds for federal government research of air pollution.

Environmental Crime is an illegal act which directly harms the environment. International bodies such as the G8, Interpol, European Union, United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute have recognised the following environmental crimes: Illegal wildlife trade in endangered species in contravention to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES); Smuggling of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) in contravention to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer; Dumping and illicit trade in hazardous waste in contravention of the 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Other Wastes and their Disposal; Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in contravention to controls imposed by various regional fisheries management organisations; Illegal logging and the associated trade in stolen timber in violation of national laws. These crimes are liable for prosecution. Interpol facilitates international police cooperation and assists its member countries in the effective enforcement of national and international environmental laws and treaties. Interpol began fighting environmental crime in 1992.

9 out of 10 or 92 Percent Of The World's Population Breathes Substandard Air. Nearly 600,000 Children under 5 Die From Breathing Toxic Air Every Year.

Children and teens exposed to high levels of traffic-related air pollution have evidence of a specific type of DNA damage called telomere shortening.

Researchers tap rare pristine air to reveal pollution's impact. Human-caused pollution spurs the production of climate-changing particles known as secondary organic aerosols much more than previously thought. Researchers made the finding by analyzing air samples that were captured aboard a research aircraft as it zigzagged between pristine air over the Amazon rainforest and polluted air over the nearby city of Manaus. It was like a trip back (and forth) through time, as scientists weaved between the two vastly different settings.

Secondary Organic Aerosol is a molecule produced via oxidation over several generations of a parent organic molecule. In contrast to primary organic aerosols, which are emitted directly from the biosphere, secondary organic aerosols are formed via homogeneous nucleation through the successive oxidation of gas-phase organic compounds. These gas-phase species exert high vapor pressures, meaning they are volatile and stable in the gas-phase, however, upon oxidation, the increased polarity of the molecules results in a reduction of vapor pressure. After sufficient oxidation, the vapor pressure is sufficiently low that the gas-phase compound partitions into the solid-phase, producing secondary organic matter. SOAs represent a significant proportion of aerosols contained in the troposphere. A common misconception is that the aerosol refers to the solid phase of the compound, where in reality, by definition, it is the combination of the gas- and solid-phases which constitute the aerosol.

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Research Facility

Air Pollution Exposure on Home-to-School Walking Routes Reduces the Growth of Working Memory in Children

People who live close to high-traffic roadways face a higher risk of developing dementia than those who live further away.

Air Quality Maps - Air Quality Alerts

Indoor Air Quality Monitors (air filters)

Household Air Pollution and Health

Outline of Air Pollution Dispersion is the distribution of air pollution into the atmosphere. Air pollution is the introduction of particulates, biological molecules, or other harmful materials into Earth's atmosphere, causing disease, death to humans, damage to other living organisms such as food crops, or the natural or built environment. Air pollution may come from anthropogenic or natural sources. Dispersion refers to what happens to the pollution during and after its introduction; understanding this may help in identifying and controlling it. Air pollution dispersion has become the focus of environmental conservationists and governmental environmental protection agencies (local, state, province and national) of many countries (which have adopted and used much of the terminology of this field in their laws and regulations) regarding air pollution control.

Rolling Coal is the practice of modifying a diesel engine to increase the amount of fuel entering the engine in order to emit large amounts of black or grey sooty exhaust fumes into the air. It also may include the intentional removal of the particulate filter. Practitioners often additionally modify their vehicles by installing smoke switches and smoke stacks. Modifications to a vehicle to enable rolling coal may cost from $200 to $5,000.

Study shows how Air Pollution fosters Heart Disease

Air Pollution Particles Linked To Alzheimer's Found In Human Brain: Nanoparticles, linked to neurodegenerative diseases, are found in the human brain - and appear to come from an outside source. Alzheimer's disease could be triggered by heavy air pollution, new research suggests - TomoNews (youtube).

American Lung Association 
Electric Cars - Alternate Fuel Cars
Clean Air Council
National Association of Clean Air Agencies

Infrared camera reveals 'invisible' air pollution (youtube)

More Causes of Death

Health Risks from Wildfires in U.S. climate change will expose tens of millions of Americans to high levels of air pollution in the coming decades. Air pollution from past and projected future wildfires in 561 western counties, and found that by mid-century more than 82 million people will experience “smoke waves,” or consecutive days with high air pollution related to Fires. Wood Stoves.

Particulate Matter

Particulates are microscopic solid or liquid matter suspended in the Earth's atmosphere. Also known as particulate matter or PM., Suspended particulate matter or SPM, Thoracic and respirable particles. Inhalable coarse particles are particles with a diameter between 2.5 and 10 micrometres (µm). Fine particles have a diameter of 2.5 µm or less. Ultrafine particles are even smaller. PM stands for particulate matter (also called particle pollution): the term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. Some particles, such as dust, dirt, soot, or smoke, are large or dark enough to be seen with the naked eye. Others are so small they can only be detected using an electron microscope. Particle pollution includes: PM10 : inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 10 micrometers and smaller; and PM2.5 : fine inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller. How small is 2.5 micrometers? Think about a single hair from your head. The average human hair is about 70 micrometers in diameter – making it 30 times larger than the largest fine particle. Particulate matter contains microscopic solids or liquid droplets that are so small that they can be inhaled and cause serious health problems. Some particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter can get deep into your lungs and some may even get into your bloodstream. Of these, particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, also known as fine particles or PM2.5, pose the greatest risk to health. Fine particles are also the main cause of reduced visibility (haze) in parts of the United States, including many of our treasured national parks and wilderness areas. EPA regulates inhalable particles. Particles of sand and large dust, which are larger than 10 micrometers, are not regulated by EPA. EPA’s national and regional rules to reduce emissions of pollutants that form PM will help state and local governments meet the Agency’s national air quality standards. Smoke.

More than 80% of the world’s urban population lives in areas where air quality does not meet standards set by the World Health Organization.

Association between neighborhood air pollution concentrations and dispensed medication for psychiatric disorders in a large longitudinal cohort of Swedish children and adolescents.

Nearly 138.5 million Americans, nearly 44 percent, are inhaling unhealthy air. Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 means microscopic particles about 25 times thinner than a human hair; they can be dust, dirt, soot, smoke or liquid droplets. Ground-level ozone can trigger asthma attacks. 

Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool.

NASA Satellite Maps Show Human Fingerprint on Global Air Quality
Global Air Quality: the Impact of People and Cities 
Air Quality Maps

India's Smog Destroyed Enough Crops In A Year To Feed 94 Million People, worth an estimated $1.3 billion. The top four the 20 worst polluted cities worldwide are in India. Delhi is now the most polluted major city. India has the highest rate of deaths caused by respiratory disease. Indian air quality standards would save 2.1 billion life-years. If India curbs the pollution and meets its air quality standards, those 660 million people would add some 3.2 years onto their lives.

MILAN - Bicyclists had free rein of Milan's streets Monday during a six-hour ban on private cars in a bid to alleviate persistent smog. Health officials say vehicle emissions account for half of the pollution in Milan and 70 percent in Rome, and that the high pollution levels have increased reports of acute cardiovascular disease in recent days. Pollution levels in Italy's business capital have exceeded levels considered healthy for more than 30 days straight, prompting officials to ban private cars from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Wednesday this week. Rome, which is also battling smog, has been enforcing alternate day driving based on odd and even numbers on license plates, while Florence has announced limits on automobile access to the historic center through New Year's Eve.

Ozone

Ozone is a gas composed of three atoms of oxygen (O3). Ozone occurs both in the Earth's upper atmosphere and at ground level. Ozone can be good or bad, depending on where it is found. Called stratospheric ozone, good ozone occurs naturally in the upper atmosphere, where it forms a protective layer that shields us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. This beneficial ozone has been partially destroyed by manmade chemicals, causing what is sometimes called a "hole in the ozone." The good news is, this hole is diminishing. Learn more about stratospheric, or "good" ozone. Ozone at ground level is a harmful air pollutant, because of its effects on people and the environment, and it is the main ingredient in “smog." Learn more about air emission sources. How does ground-level ozone form? Tropospheric, or ground level ozone, is not emitted directly into the air, but is created by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC). This happens when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources chemically react in the presence of sunlight. Ozone is most likely to reach unhealthy levels on hot sunny days in urban environments, but can still reach high levels during colder months. Ozone can also be transported long distances by wind, so even rural areas can experience high ozone levels. What are the health effects of ozone? Ozone in the air we breathe can harm our health. People most at risk from breathing air containing ozone include people with asthma, children, older adults, and people who are active outdoors, especially outdoor workers. In addition, people with certain genetic characteristics, and people with reduced intake of certain nutrients, such as vitamins C and E, are at greater risk from ozone exposure. Breathing ozone can trigger a variety of health problems including chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, and airway inflammation. It also can reduce lung function and harm lung tissue. Ozone can worsen bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma, leading to increased medical care. What are the environmental effects of ozone? Ozone affects sensitive vegetation and ecosystems, including forests, parks, wildlife refuges and wilderness areas. In particular, ozone harms sensitive vegetation during the growing season. Ozone is one of the six common air pollutants identified in the Clean Air Act. EPA calls these “criteria air pollutants” because their levels in outdoor air need to be limited based on health criteria. There are national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for each of the criteria pollutants. These standards apply to the concentration of a pollutant in outdoor air. After working with the states and tribes and considering the information from air quality monitors, EPA "designates" an area as attainment or nonattainment with national ambient air quality standards. If the air quality in a geographic area meets or does better than the national standard, it is called an attainment area; areas that don't meet the national standard are called nonattainment areas. In order to improve air quality, states must draft a plan known as a state implementation plan (SIP) to improve the air quality in nonattainment areas. The plan outlines the measures that the state will take in order to improve air quality. Once a nonattainment area meets the standards, EPA will designate the area as a "maintenance area." EPA’s national and regional rules to reduce emissions of pollutants that form ground level ozone will help state and local governments meet the Agency’s national air quality standards. Actions include vehicle and transportation standards, regional haze and visibility rules, and regular reviews of the NAAQS. Learn more about ozone standards.

Ozone Air Pollution are a group of pollutants, predominantly those emitted during the combustion of fossil fuels.

Ozone Pollution - Ozone-Pollution (EPA)

Ground-Level Ozone is a colorless and highly irritating gas that forms just above the earth's surface. It is called a "secondary" pollutant because it is produced when two primary pollutants react in sunlight and stagnant air. These two primary pollutants are nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Avgas is an aviation fuel used in spark-ignited internal-combustion engines to propel aircraft.

Leaded Gasoline used in piston-engine Airplanes - Once burned and emitted from the tail of a car or plane, lead from gasoline can contaminate not only the air but also waterways, livestock, crops and soil. What's more, the metal doesn't dissipate in the environment. The EPA reports increases in lead concentrations near airports that host piston-engine planes, including the Santa Monica Airport. The agency also echoes the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's warning that there is no safe level of lead exposure, and it estimates that 16 million people live, and more than 3 million children attend school, within a kilometer of airports where avgas is used.

Coal

Coal supplies over 40 percent of global electricity needs. 1,200 big new coal facilities in 59 countries are proposed for construction, 7,000 coal-fired power plants, including almost 600 in the US.. 7.6 billion tons of coal consumed worldwide last year in 2014.  2 pounds of carbon dioxide emitted for each kilowatt-hour of electricity generated via coal. 1 billion tons of coal used in global industrial steel production each year. At the moment there are Zero alternatives to coal in the industrial steel-making process. 44 degrees Fahrenheit is the potential average global temperature rise if all remaining coal were burned. That means we're all dead. U.S. Coal Production Peaked in 2008.

Coal: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) (youtube, 24 mins.)

Coal jobs have been declining since 1923, mostly because of automation and the fact that there are other energy sources.

China

China is the largest emitter of green house gases, more then Europe and north America combined. China already emits one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gases, more than any other country. 16 million tons of carbon every year. Outdoor air pollution annually contributes to about 1.2 million premature deaths in China. 70% of china's energy comes from coal. China consumes half of the worlds coal. China builds a new coal burning plant every week. Every second 100 tons of coal are burned. 3 billion tons a year. But china only uses 1 fifth of the electricity then the average American. More than three-quarters of China’s electricity comes from coal. China's energy demand has tripled in the last 20 years. China Produces 480 tons of garbage every minute. 1 in 5 people live in china. China sells 35,000 cars a day. China builds 1,800 new cars in one hour. China has 160 cities with a million people or more. Chongqing has over 30 million people. By 2025 will have 10 NYC size cities. Half of the worlds buildings that are built are built in China.

Bouts of acrid smog enveloping Beijing prompted authorities in the Chinese capital to declare two unprecedented "red alerts" in December 2015 — a warning to the city's 22 million inhabitants that heavy pollution is expected for more than three days.

China has done a ton of building in the developing world. Over the past two decades, it has financed and built bridges, hospitals, roads, railways, airports and seaports — many billions of dollars' worth and counting. "China has recently become a major financier of economic infrastructure," according to a new report from AidData, a development finance research lab based at the College of William & Mary.

A safe level of airborne particulate matter, air quality index, measures 25 micrograms per cubic meter. Beijing's index hit 608, that is more than 24 times the safe level estimated by the WHO. 

Air Quality Reports - Smoke - Climate Change

China, 4,400 people die from air pollution each day, according to an August 2015 study by the U.S. nonprofit Berkeley Earth.

Pure Science Specials - Green China Rising (youtube 05/13/2013 | 45 min.)

Renewable Clean Energy Progress Reports

Smog Free Project - Glowing Lines

More than 46.2 million people (14.7%) in the United States live in an area with unhealthful year-round levels of particle pollution.

Top 10 U.S. Cities Most Polluted by Short-Term Particle Pollution

1. Bakersfield, California.
2. Fresno-Madera, California.
3. Visalia-Porterville-Hanford, California.
4. Modesto-Merced, California.
5. Fairbanks, Alaska.
6. Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem, Utah.
7. Logan, Utah-Idaho.
8. San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California.
9. Los Angeles-Long Beach, California.
10. Missoula, Montana.

Top 10 U.S. Cities Most Polluted by Year-Round Particle Pollution

1. Bakersfield, California.
2. Visalia-Porterville-Hanford, California.
3. Fresno-Madera, California.
4. Los Angeles-Long Beach, California.
5. El Centro, California.
6. Modesto-Merced, California.
7. San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California.
8. Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, Pennsylvania-Ohio-West Virginia.
9. Harrisburg-York-Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
10. Louisville-Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Madison, Kentucky-Indiana.

Top 10 Most Ozone-Polluted Cities

1. Los Angeles-Long Beach, California.
2. Bakersfield, California.
3. Visalia-Porterville-Hanford, California.
4. Fresno-Madera, California.
5. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona.
6. Sacramento-Roseville, California.
7. Modesto-Merced, California.
8. Denver-Aurora, Colorado.
9. Las Vegas-Henderson, Nevada-Arizona.
10. Fort Collins, Colorado.

Carbon Capture - CO2 Storage - Make the Planet Cool Again

Carbon Dioxide or CO2, is a carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. A colorless and odorless gas that is vital to life on Earth. Carbon dioxide is a significant greenhouse gas. Since the Industrial Revolution, the burning of carbon-based fossil fuels and land use changes such as deforestation, have rapidly increased CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, leading to global warming. Carbon dioxide also causes ocean acidification because it dissolves in water to form carbonic acid. Ocean's worldwide oxygen content declined by more than 2% between 1960 and 2010.

As Carbon-Dioxide levels Rise, it could affect Human Cognition. 400-1,000ppm are concentrations typical of occupied indoor spaces with good air exchange. 1,000-2,000ppm is when complaints of drowsiness and poor air happens. 2,000-5,000 ppm is when headaches, sleepiness and stagnant, stale, stuffy air happens. Poor concentration, loss of attention, increased heart rate and slight nausea may also be present.

Carbon Monoxide or CO, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly less dense than Air. It is toxic to hemoglobic animals (both invertebrate and vertebrate, including humans) when encountered in concentrations above about 35 ppm, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal biological functions. In the atmosphere, it is spatially variable and short lived, having a role in the formation of ground-level ozone. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom, connected by a triple bond that consists of two covalent bonds as well as one dative covalent bond. It is the simplest oxocarbon and is isoelectronic with the cyanide anion, the nitrosonium cation and molecular nitrogen. In coordination complexes the carbon monoxide ligand is called carbonyl. Carbon monoxide is killing public housing residents, but HUD doesn’t require Carbon Monoxide Detectors. Carbon Monoxide Poisoning typically occurs from inhaling carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as "flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large exposures can result in loss of consciousness, arrhythmias, seizures, or death. The classically described "cherry red skin" rarely occurs. Long term complications may include feeling tired, trouble with memory, and movement problems. In those exposed to smoke, cyanide toxicity should also be considered. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include a pressure on your chest, auditory hallucinations — whoosh — and an unexplained feeling of dread. Air - Scuba Diving.

Carbon Capture and Storage is the process of capturing waste carbon dioxide or CO2 from large point sources, such as fossil fuel power plants, transporting it to a storage site, and depositing it where it will not enter the atmosphere, normally an underground geological formation. Methane - Warming.

Next-Gen Membranes for Carbon Capture. Carbon capture can be done using so-called "high-performance membranes," which are polymer filters that can specifically pick out CO2 from a mix of gases, such as those coming out of a factory's flue. These membranes are environmentally-friendly, they don't generate waste, they can intensify chemical processes, and can be used in a decentralized fashion. In fact, they are now considered as one of the most energy-efficient routes for reducing CO2 emissions. Current membranes are required to exceed 1000 gas permeation units (GPUs), and have a "CO2/N2 separation factor" above 20 -- a measure of their carbon-capturing specificity. The membranes that the EPFL scientists developed show six-fold higher CO2 permeance at 6,180 GPUs with a separation factor of 22.5. The GPUs shot up to 11,790 when the scientists combined optimized graphene porosity, pore size, and functional groups (the chemical groups that actually react with CO2), while other membranes they made showed separation factors up to 57.2. "Functionalizing CO2-selective polymeric chains on nanoporous graphene allows us to fabricate nanometer-thick yet CO2-selective membranes," says Agrawal. "This two-dimensional nature of the membrane drastically increases the CO2 permeance, making membranes even more attractive for carbon capture. The concept is highly generic, and a number of high-performance gas separations are possible in this way."

Engineers go microbial to store energy, sequester CO2. By borrowing nature's blueprints for photosynthesis, bioengineers have found a way to efficiently absorb and store large-scale, low-cost renewable energy from the sun - while sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide to use later as a biofuel.

A synthetic pathway for the fixation of carbon dioxide in vitro. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important carbon feedstock for a future green economy. This requires the development of efficient strategies for its conversion into multi-carbon compounds. Here, we describe a synthetic cycle for the continuous fixation of CO2 in vitro. The crotonyl-CoA/ethylmalonyl-CoA/hydroxybutyryl-CoA (CETCH) cycle is a reaction network of 17 enzymes that converts CO2 into organic molecules at a rate of 5 nmol CO2 min-1 mg-1 protein. The CETCH cycle was drafted by metabolic retrosynthesis, established with enzymes originating from nine different organisms of all three domains of life and optimized in several rounds by enzyme engineering and metabolic proofreading. The CETCH cycle expands the six naturally evolved CO2-fixation pathways by a seventh, synthetic alternative, opening the way for in vitro and in vivo-applications. Every year more than 350 gigatons CO2 are transformed by Nature in a sustainable process called autotrophic CO2-fixation. More than 90% of the carbon is fixed by the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle in plants, algae and microorganisms. The rest is converted through alternative autotrophic CO2-fixation pathways (1, 2). Despite this naturally existing diversity, the application of CO2-fixing enzymes and pathways for converting CO2 into multi-carbon, value-added products has been limited so far in chemistry (3, 4) and biotechnology (5). First, natural CO2-fixation delivers mainly biomass and not a dedicated product. Moreover, under optimal conditions biological CO2-fixation is often directly affected by the inefficiency of the CO2-fixing enzymes and pathways. The CBB cycle`s carboxylase ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxidase (RubisCO) for instance is a slow catalyst that shows a strong side reaction with oxygen, which leads to the loss of fixed carbon and thus photosynthetic energy by up to 30% in a process called photorespiration (6).

Artificial Chloroplasts. Nature shows us how to ditch petrochemicals! (youtube) - Just Have A Think.

Scientist maps CO2 emissions for entire US to improve environmental policymaking.

Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions Rise in 2018 even as coal wanes and Renewables Boom. Fossil fuel emissions have climbed for a second straight year, driven by growing energy use.

Capturing CO2 from Trucks and Reducing their Emissions by 90%. Researchers have patented a new concept that could cut trucks' CO2 emissions by almost 90%. It involves capturing CO2 within the exhaust system, converting it into a liquid and storing it on the vehicle. The liquid CO2 would then be delivered to a service station and where it will be turned back into fuel using renewable energy.

Netpower natural gas power plant with no carbon emissions or air pollution generates lower-cost electricity from fossil fuels than current power systems while producing zero air emissions.

Carbon Offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere. Carbon Offsets.

Carbon Bubble is when the true market value of oil is over exaggerated and criminally inflated because the true costs of carbon dioxide in intensifying global warming are not yet taken into account. Thus when the truth comes out, those company stocks who are vested in oil and coal will plummet unless switch their investments towards technologies that reduce Global Warming and Pollution.

Fuel From CO2

Carbon Dioxide Scrubber is a device which absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2). It is used to treat exhaust gases from industrial plants or from exhaled air in life support systems such as rebreathers or in spacecraft, submersible craft or airtight chambers. Carbon dioxide scrubbers are also used in controlled atmosphere (CA) storage. They have also been researched for carbon capture. MIT engineers develop a new way to remove carbon dioxide from air.

Direct Air Capture industrial plant can be placed in any country and in multiple climates, and can be built to capture one million tons of CO2 per year. Direct Air Capture (wiki).

Carbon Dioxide Removal refers to a number of technologies of which the objective is the large-scale removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Among such technologies are bio-energy with carbon capture and storage, biochar, ocean fertilization, enhanced weathering, and direct air capture when combined with storage. CDR is a different approach than removing CO2 from the stack emissions of large fossil fuel point sources, such as power stations. The latter reduces emission to the atmosphere but cannot reduce the amount of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere. As CDR removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, it 'creates' negative emissions that offset the emissions from small and dispersed point sources such as domestic heating systems, airplanes and vehicle exhausts. It is regarded by some as a form of climate engineering, while other commentators describe it as a form of carbon capture and storage or extreme mitigation. Whether CDR would satisfy common definitions of "climate engineering" or "geoengineering" usually depends upon the scale at which it would be undertaken.

A new strategy for the optimal electroreduction of Co2 to high-value products. Researchers suggest that modulation of local CO2 concentration improves the selectivity, conversion rate, and electrode stability, and shed a new light on the electrochemical CO2 reduction technology for controlling emissions at a low cost.

Climate Engineering or Geo-Engineering, is the deliberate and large-scale intervention in the Earth's climate system, usually with the aim of mitigating the adverse effects of global warming. Climate engineering is an umbrella term for measures that mainly fall into two categories: greenhouse gas removal and solar radiation management. Greenhouse gas removal approaches, of which carbon dioxide removal represents the most prominent subcategory addresses the cause of global warming by removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Solar radiation management attempts to offset effects of greenhouse gases by causing the Earth to absorb less solar radiation. Carbon Engineering.

Terraforming - Planetary Engineering

Humans are already geo-engineering planet earth. Humans are warming the planet by releasing CO2 into the air. So we need to do the opposite. Stop producing CO2 and remove the CO2 that we have added. We also need to do things that will help cool the planet if it gets to hot. Every passenger jet and vehicle should be electric. Jets should scrub CO2 and also reduce cirrus clouds. People should also be given incentives to reduce pollution and live a more sustainable lifestyle that is healthy and prosperous.

Cirrus Cloud Thinning is a proposed form of climate engineering. Cirrus clouds are high cold ice that, like other clouds, both reflect sunlight and absorb warming infrared radiation. However, they differ from other types of clouds in that, on average, infrared absorption outweighs sunlight reflection, resulting in a net warming effect on the climate. Therefore, thinning or removing these clouds would reduce their heat trapping capacity, resulting in a cooling effect on Earth's climate. This could be a potential tool to reduce anthropogenic global warming. Cirrus cloud thinning is an alternative category of climate engineering, in addition to solar radiation management and greenhouse gas removal. Contrail cirrus clouds have two competing effects on climate. They shade us by reflecting incoming sunlight back into space. But they also trap heat radiating from the earth's surface, so causing warming in the air below. During the day, cooling compensates part of the warming.

Climate Change Mitigation consists of actions to limit the magnitude or rate of long-term global warming and its related effects. Climate change mitigation generally involves reductions in human (anthropogenic) emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Mitigation may also be achieved by increasing the capacity of carbon sinks, e.g., through reforestation. Mitigation policies can substantially reduce the risks associated with human-induced global warming. Examples of mitigation include reducing energy demand by increasing energy efficiency, phasing out fossil fuels by switching to low-carbon energy sources, and removing carbon dioxide from Earth's atmosphere. for example, through improved building insulation. Another approach to climate change mitigation is climate engineering.

Farming Kelp to fight climate change. The Oil Industry In Reverse - Ocean Visions.

Remember that Ozone Problem that we had? We still have it. If we did not fix that we would all be dead. Looks like we have another problem to solve called climate change. Remember Leaded Gas and the Clean Air Act and the National Emissions Standards Act in 1963. 72% reduction for hydrocarbons, 56% reduction for carbon monoxide, and 100% reduction for crankcase hydrocarbons. Experts reveal major holes in international ozone treaty. Major holes in ozone hole treaty must be addressed to avert stronger climate change and serious risks to human health, experts warn.

Ozone Depletion consists of two related events observed since the late 1970s: a steady lowering of about four percent in the total amount of ozone in Earth's atmosphere (the ozone layer), and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone around Earth's polar regions. The latter phenomenon is referred to as the ozone hole. There are also springtime polar tropospheric ozone depletion events in addition to these stratospheric events. The main cause of ozone depletion and the ozone hole is manufactured chemicals, especially manufactured halocarbon refrigerants, solvents, propellants and foam-blowing agents (chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), HCFCs, halons), referred to as ozone-depleting substances (ODS). These compounds are transported into the stratosphere by turbulent mixing after being emitted from the surface, mixing much faster than the molecules can settle. Once in the stratosphere, they release halogen atoms through photodissociation, which catalyze the breakdown of ozone (O3) into oxygen (O2). Both types of ozone depletion were observed to increase as emissions of halocarbons increased. Ozone depletion and the ozone hole have generated worldwide concern over increased cancer risks and other negative effects. The ozone layer prevents most harmful UVB wavelengths of ultraviolet light (UV light) from passing through the Earth's atmosphere. These wavelengths cause skin cancer, sunburn and cataracts, which were projected to increase dramatically as a result of thinning ozone, as well as harming plants and animals. These concerns led to the adoption of the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which bans the production of CFCs, halons and other ozone-depleting chemicals. The ban came into effect in 1989. Ozone levels stabilized by the mid-1990s and began to recover in the 2000s. Recovery is projected to continue over the next century, and the ozone hole is expected to reach pre-1980 levels by around 2075. The Montreal Protocol is considered the most successful international environmental agreement to date. Damage to the ozone layer and climate change forming feedback loop.

Blowing Bubbles to Catch Carbon Dioxide using a bio-inspired liquid membrane that could make clean coal a reality.

Clime Works remove CO2 directly from the air.

Net Power lower-cost electricity from fossil fuels than current power systems while producing zero air emissions.

Global Thermostat - Warming Dangers (methane)

100 Solutions to Climate Change: Chad Frischmann (video and text)

More CO2 in the Air for Plants means a Decrease of Nutrition in Food. Though having more carbon dioxide in the air yields 10 percent more crops, when compared to plants in normal atmosphere, they have five to ten percent reductions in nutrients like iron, zinc, and protein. 2 billion people already are getting too little iron and zinc in their diets, and it's damaging their health. Fortification - Soil Damage - Vertical Farming.

Corn and other crops are not adapted to benefit from elevated carbon dioxide levels. Most plants like soybeans, rice, canola, and all trees, are C3 because they fix CO2 first into a carbohydrate containing three carbon atoms. Corn, sorghum, and sugarcane belong to a special group of plants known as C4, so-called because they first fix CO2 into a four-carbon carbohydrate during photosynthesis. On average, C4 crops are 60 percent more productive than C3 crops. When crops are grown in elevated CO2 that mimic future atmospheric conditions, research shows that C3 crops can become more productive while some experiments suggest that C4 crops would be no more productive in a higher CO2 world.

Land ecosystems are becoming less efficient at absorbing CO2. Land ecosystems currently play a key role in mitigating climate change. The more carbon dioxide plants and trees absorb during photosynthesis, the process they use to make food, the less CO2 remains trapped in the atmosphere where it can cause temperatures to rise. But scientists have identified an unsettling trend - as levels of CO2 in the atmosphere increase, 86 percent of land ecosystems globally are becoming progressively less efficient at absorbing it. Because CO2 is a main 'ingredient' that plants need to grow, elevated concentrations of it cause an increase in photosynthesis, and consequently, plant growth - a phenomenon aptly referred to as the CO2 fertilization effect, or CFE. CFE is considered a key factor in the response of vegetation to rising atmospheric CO2 as well as an important mechanism for removing this potent greenhouse gas from our atmosphere - but that may be changing. We have found that since 1982, the global average CFE has decreased steadily from 21 percent to 12 percent per 100 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere. Without this feedback between photosynthesis and elevated atmospheric CO2, we would have seen climate change occurring at a much more rapid rate. But scientists have been concerned about how long the CO2 Fertilization Effect could be sustained before other limitations on plant growth kick in. While an abundance of CO2 won't limit growth, a lack of water, nutrients, or sunlight - the other necessary components of photosynthesis -- will. Water Limitations in the Tropics Offset Carbon Uptake from Arctic Greening.

The Arctic melts when plants stop breathing. The vapor that plants emit when they breathe serves to lower the land surface temperature, much like watering the yard on a hot day. Until now, the greenhouse effect has been blamed for the rise in global temperature. But an interesting study has shown that the Artic temperature rises when the moisture released by plants is reduced due to the increase of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) in the atmosphere. Plants take in CO2 and emit oxygen through photosynthesis. During this process, the stomata of leaves open to absorb CO2 in the air and release moisture at the same time. However, when the CO2 concentration rises, plants can absorb enough CO2 without opening their stomata widely. If the stomata open narrowly, the amount of water vapor released also decreases. When this transpiration of plants declines, the land temperature rapidly rises under greenhouse warming. Recently, such a decrease in transpiration has been cited as one of the reasons for the surge in heat waves in the northern hemisphere. This response from the vegetation leads to the global climate change by controlling the exchange of energy between the surface and atmosphere, referred to as 'physiological forcing.' But so far, no study has confirmed the effects of physiological forcing on the Arctic climate system. The joint research team analyzed the EMS simulation and confirmed that the increase in CO2 leads to stomatal closure in land vegetation causing land warming, which in turn remotely speeds up Artic warming through an atmospheric circulation and positive feedback in Earth systems process. In addition, a quantitative estimate of the stomatal closure's effect on Arctic warming due to increased CO2 showed that about 10% of the greenhouse effect is caused by this physiological forcing.

How supercharged plants could slow climate change - Joanne Chory TED2019 (video) - Plants can be engineered to absorb more CO2 and sequester CO2 back into the soil where it can benefit nutrient depleted soil.

Suberin cutin and lignins are complex, higher plant epidermis and periderm cell-wall macromolecules, forming a protective barrier. Suberin, a complex polyester biopolymer, is lipophilic, and composed of long chain fatty acids called suberin acids, and glycerol. Suberins and lignins are considered covalently linked to lipids and carbohydrates, respectively, and lignin is covalently linked to suberin, and to a lesser extent, to cutin. Suberin is a major constituent of cork, and is named after the cork oak, ''Quercus suber''. Its main function is as a barrier to movement of water and solutes.

Free-Air Concentration Enrichment is a method used by ecologists and plant biologists that raises the concentration of CO2 in a specified area and allows the response of plant growth to be measured. Experiments using FACE are required because most studies looking at the effect of elevated CO2 concentrations have been conducted in labs and where there are many missing factors including plant competition. Measuring the effect of elevated CO2 using FACE is a more natural way of estimating how plant growth will change in the future as the CO2 concentration rises in the atmosphere. FACE also allows the effect of elevated CO2 on plants that cannot be grown in small spaces (trees for example) to be measured. However, FACE experiments carry significantly higher costs relative to greenhouse experiments. Risk Perception.

We can convert Atmospheric Carbon into Soil Carbon. More carbon resides in soil than in the atmosphere and all plant life combined; there are 2,500 billion tons of carbon in soil, compared with 800 billion tons in the atmosphere and 560 billion tons in plant and animal life. And compared to many proposed geoengineering fixes, storing carbon in soil is simple: It’s a matter of returning carbon where it belongs. Through Photosynthesis, a plant draws carbon out of the air to form carbon compounds. Bolstering soil microbiology by adding beneficial microbes to stimulate the soil cycles where they have been interrupted by use of insecticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. Indoor Air Monitors.

Soil Knowledge - Biochar

Carbon Fixation or carbon assimilation refers to the conversion process of inorganic carbon (carbon dioxide) to organic compounds by living organisms.

Carbon Sequestration is the process involved in carbon capture and the long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2).

Key to Speeding Up Carbon Sequestration Discovered by adding a common enzyme to the mix, the researchers have found, can make that rate-limiting part of the process go 500 times faster.

Scientists turn Carbon Dioxide back into Coal. New technique can efficiently convert CO2 from gas into solid particles of carbon.

Magnesite is a mineral which can capture the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, at room temperature. Magnesite is a mineral with the chemical formula MgCO3 (magnesium carbonate). Mixed crystals of iron(II) carbonate and magnesite (mixed crystals known as ankerite) possess a layered structure: monolayers of carbonate groups alternate with magnesium monolayers as well as iron(II) carbonate monolayers. Manganese, cobalt and nickel may also occur in small amounts.

Just 100 Companies Responsible for 71% of Global Emissions, study says

Climate Case 2015 Urgenda (Dutch Goverment Sued). Together with 900 citizens the Urgenda Foundation filed the Climate Case against the Dutch Government. On 24 June 2015, Urgenda won a lawsuit against the Dutch State, forcing it to take more measures against climate change.

Study finds increased Ocean Acidification due to Human Activities More anthropogenic carbon in the northeast Pacific means weaker shells for many marine species.

When you take your next breath, you'll be breathing in 42 percent more carbon dioxide than if you were breathing in 1750.

Tell me how I'm supposed to Breathe with No Air (youtube) 

The concentration of CO2 reached 400 ppm for the first time in recorded history in 2013. 400 parts per million is 400 out of one million molecules in the atmosphere are CO2.

Oxygen Levels Decreasing - Earth's Atmosphere

Carbon Dioxide Passes 400 PPM Threshold. never to return below it in our lifetime.

Air Knowledge (every breath you take)

CO2 concentrations of 7% to 10% or 70,000 to 100,000 ppm may cause suffocation, even in the presence of sufficient Oxygen. Manifesting as dizziness, headache, visual and hearing dysfunction, and unconsciousness within a few minutes to an hour. The physiological effects of acute carbon dioxide exposure are grouped together under the term hypercapnia, a subset of asphyxiation. Scuba Diving - CO or Carbon Monoxide Poisoning.

3 Molecules of Oxygen are Lost for every 1 CO2 Molecule Produced. Less oxygen in the atmosphere allows more sunlight to reach the earth, allowing more moisture to evaporate, which increases temperatures and the intensity of storms.

Calvin Cycle is the set of chemical reactions that take place in chloroplasts during photosynthesis. The cycle is light-independent because it takes place after the energy has been captured from sunlight. Khan Academy.

Earth may be 140 years away from reaching Carbon Levels not seen in 56 million years. Humans have emitted roughly 1,500 gigatons of carbon as of 2016. Total human carbon dioxide emissions could match those of Earth's last major greenhouse warming event in fewer than five generations.

Carbon Reactions of photosynthesis are chemical reactions that convert carbon dioxide and other compounds into glucose.

High CO2: Acid / Alkaline Balance and the Immune System: Carbon dioxide, through its conversion to carbonic acid, is a primary regulator of the acid/alkaline balance of the blood. The body (organs) has several needs for different levels of pH). Higher Levels of CO2 lead to an immediate drop in blood and extracellular fluid pH levels through the formation of carbonic acid, thus obliging the hemoglobin to more readily distribute its oxygen to meet local metabolic requirements. CO.

Lower levels of CO2, as a result of lower metabolism, lead to blood vessel constriction (e.g. reduction in the diameter of the coronaries) and to higher levels of blood and extracellular fluid pH (less carbonic acid), thus permitting oxygen and glucose to go elsewhere where metabolic requirements are greater. In the simplest of terms, this is the biochemistry of healthy respiration. A reduction in carbon dioxide shifts the body's pH toward alkalinity, which alters the rate of activity of other biochemical processes. Blood alkaline state weakens the immune system, thus making the body more susceptible to viruses and allergies.

Low CO2: Vessels: Carbon dioxide in the plasma helps to dilate smooth muscle tissue. Insufficient carbon dioxide can cause spasms throughout the body, including the brain, the bronchi, and other smooth muscle tissues. Good examples are the spasms that take place during asthma attacks and migraines. The Cardiovascular System: Carbon dioxide helps regulate the cardiovascular system. Too little carbon dioxide can result in many problems, including angina, high blood pressure, chest pain, myocardial infarcts, strokes, and so on. The Digestive System: A direct relationship exists between the level of carbon dioxide in the body and the functioning of the digestive glands—especially between the level of carbon dioxide and the intensity of gastric secretion. Too little carbon dioxide can eventually lead to poor digestion and eventually to ulcers.

Why does CO2 get most of the attention when there are so many other heat-trapping gases (greenhouse gases)?

Ice Cores reveal a slow decline in atmospheric Oxygen over the last 800,000 years.

Molecular signature shows plants are adapting to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide, but not humans.

Warming Planet

Paleoclimatology is the study of changes in climate taken on the scale of the entire history of Earth.

List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita (wiki)

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle is a technology that uses a high pressure gasifier to turn coal and other carbon based fuels into pressurized gas—synthesis gas (syngas). It can then remove impurities from the syngas prior to the power generation cycle. Some of these pollutants, such as sulfur, can be turned into re-usable byproducts through the Claus process. This results in lower emissions of sulfur dioxide, particulates, mercury, and in some cases carbon dioxide.

Carbon Cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. Along with the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle, the carbon cycle comprises a sequence of events that are key to making the Earth capable of sustaining life; it describes the movement of carbon as it is recycled and reused throughout the biosphere, including carbon sinks. Image (carbon cycle).

Deep Carbon Observatory is a global research program designed to transform understanding of carbon's role in Earth. DCO is a community of scientists, including biologists, physicists, geoscientists and chemists, whose work crosses several traditional disciplinary lines to develop the new, integrative field of deep carbon science. To complement this research, the DCO’s infrastructure includes public engagement and education, online and offline community support, innovative data management, and novel instrumentation development.

Scientists probe underground depths of Earth’s carbon cycle Carbon in the fluid of the Earth’s mantle is not in the form of carbon dioxide, but rather in carbonate and bicarbonate ions. Carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, CO2−3.

Carbon Sink is a natural or artificial reservoir that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period. The process by which carbon sinks remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere is known as carbon sequestration.

Earth's upper mantle may be up to 100 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide. There is 1.8 million square kilometers reservoir of melting carbon under Western United States.

Future Gen Alliance - FutureGen (wiki)

Gem Energy Greengem

CO2-eating Microalgae as a Biofuel Feedstock 

Engineering a More Efficient System for Harnessing Carbon Dioxide

Retrosynthetic Analysis is a technique for solving problems in the planning of organic syntheses. This is achieved by transforming a target molecule into simpler precursor structures without assumptions regarding starting materials. Each precursor material is examined using the same method. This procedure is repeated until simple or commercially available structures are reached.

RuBisCO is an enzyme involved in the first major step of carbon fixation, a process by which atmospheric carbon dioxide is converted by plants and other photosynthetic organisms to energy-rich molecules such as glucose.

Surveying Rubisco diversity and temperature response to improve crop photosynthetic efficiency
Discoveries in Rubisco (Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase): a historical perspective

Diamonds from the sky, approach turns CO2 into valuable products
Capturing Carbon Dioxide From Air (PDF)

Global CCS Institute - International Energy Agency

Carbamate is an organic compound derived from carbamic acid (NH2COOH). A carbamate group, carbamate ester (e.g., ethyl carbamate), and carbamic acids are functional groups that are inter-related structurally and often are interconverted chemically. Carbamate esters are also called urethanes.

Carbon Offsets - Biomimicry

A forgotten Space Age technology could change how we grow food: Lisa Dyson (video and interactive text).
Digital Food (youtube)

Hydrogenotroph are organisms that are able to metabolize molecular hydrogen as a source of energy. An example of hydrogenotrophy is performed by carbon dioxide reducing organisms. They utilize CO2 and H2 to produce methane, CH4, by the following reaction: CO2 + 4H2 → CH4 + 2H2O. Other hydrogenotrophic metabolic pathways include acetogenesis and sulfate reduction

Carbon Recycling to produce renewable methanol from carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and electricity for energy storage, fuel applications, and efficiency enhancement.

Single-Celled Organisms may be altering Earth's carbon cycle in ways scientists never expected. In the area 100 to 1,000 meters below the ocean's surface -- dubbed the twilight zone because of its largely impenetrable darkness -- scientists found that tiny organisms called phaeodarians are consuming sinking, carbon-rich particles before they settle on the seabed, where they would otherwise be stored and sequestered from the atmosphere for millennia.

Nanostructured Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Electrocatalysts for CO2 Reduction in Ionic Liquid.

Breakthrough Solar Cell captures Carbon Dioxide and Sunlight, produces Burnable Fuel: 1,000-fold improved chemistry leads to 'artificial leaf' that makes syngas. Solar cell that cheaply and efficiently converts atmospheric carbon dioxide directly into usable hydrocarbon fuel, using only sunlight for energy.

CO2 Conversion - Fuel from CO2

Cornell scientists convert carbon dioxide, create electricity

Splitting Carbon Dioxide using low-cost catalyst materials. EPFL scientists have built the first Earth-abundant and low-cost catalytic system for splitting CO2 into CO and oxygen, an important step towards achieving the conversion of renewable energy into hydrocarbon fuels

Recycling Carbon Dioxide: U of T researchers efficiently reduce climate-warming CO2 into building blocks for fuels.

A chemistry professor in Florida has just found a way to trigger the process of photosynthesis in a synthetic material, turning greenhouse gases into clean air and producing energy all at the same time.

Artificial Photosynthesis turns CO2 into Energy.

Transforming Carbon Dioxide into industrial fuels. The gases coming from power plants and heavy industry are instead captured and fed into catalytic reactors that chemically transform greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide into industrial fuels or chemicals and that emit only oxygen.

Reactor turns greenhouse gas into pure liquid fuel. An electrocatalysis reactor built at Rice University recycles carbon dioxide to produce pure liquid fuel solutions using electricity.

Artificial Photosynthesis turns CO2 into Energy - Geo-Thermal Energy - Waste to Energy

Metal-Organic Framework are compounds consisting of metal ions or clusters coordinated to organic ligands to form one-, two-, or three-dimensional structures. They are a subclass of coordination polymers, with the special feature that they are often porous. The organic ligands included are sometimes referred to as "struts", one example being 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (BDC)

Nano-spike catalysts convert carbon dioxide directly into ethanol.

High-Selectivity Electrochemical Conversion of CO2 to Ethanol using a Copper Nanoparticle/N-Doped Graphene Electrode.

Copper-indium oxide: A faster and cooler way to reduce our carbon footprint. Scientists set a record for the highest conversion rate of carbon dioxide at low temperatures with copper-modified indium oxide, signifying sustainable e-fuel. Emergent e-fuel technologies often employ the reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) reaction to convert atmospheric CO2 to CO. While efficient, this reaction requires high temperatures and complex gas separation for high performance. However scientists have now demonstrated record-high CO2 conversion rates at relatively low temperatures in a modified chemical-looping version of RWGS using a novel copper-indium oxide.

Chemists create Molecular 'Leaf' that collects and stores Solar Power without Solar Panels. Uses light or electricity to convert the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide -- a carbon-neutral fuel source -- more efficiently than any other method of "carbon reduction." quest to recycle carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere into carbon-neutral fuels and others materials.

Solar conversion of CO2 to CO using Earth-abundant electrocatalysts prepared by atomic layer modification of CuO. École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) describe a new catalyst for splitting carbon dioxide that, in their words, is the foundation for the first ever low-cost carbon-dioxide splitting system. It relies on two materials, tin oxide and copper oxide, both of which are readily abundant on Earth, and offers a CO2 to CO conversion efficiency of nearly 14 percent.

Well-Defined Nanographene–Rhenium Complex as an Efficient Electrocatalyst and Photocatalyst for Selective CO2 Reduction.

Measuring CO2 - Carbon Counter - Go Ever Green - Carbon Disclosure - 350 ppm - Post Carbon

Carbon War Room - Be Green Now

Potassium Carbonate is a white salt, soluble in water (insoluble in ethanol) which forms a strongly alkaline solution. It can be made as the product of potassium hydroxide's absorbent reaction with carbon dioxide. It is deliquescent, often appearing a damp or wet solid. Potassium carbonate is used in the production of soap and glass.

Carbon Offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for or to offset an emission made elsewhere.

Carbon Offsets - Carbon Fund

Terrapass - We fund projects that destroy greenhouse gases and produce renewable energy. Each project is made possible by your purchase of renewable energy credits and carbon offsets. Our projects are happening throughout the United States, supporting their local communities and offering great environmental benefits.

Media Distortion (youtube)

My Offsets - Sustainable Living - Low Impact Living - Green Building Ideas

What's the difference between Climate Change and Global Warming? 

Rankings Countries Carbon Dioxide Emissions - List of Countries by Carbon Dioxide Emissions (wiki)

Cap & Trade (youtube)

Carbon Tax is when Green House Gas emissions caused by the combustion of fossil fuels are closely related to the carbon content of the respective fuels, a tax on these emissions can be levied by taxing the carbon content of fossil fuels at any point in the product cycle of the fuel.

Carbon Price the method favored by many economists for reducing global-warming emissions — charges those who emit carbon dioxide (CO2) for their emissions. That charge, called a carbon price, is the amount that must be paid for the right to emit one tonne of CO2 into the atmosphere. Carbon pricing usually takes the form either of a carbon tax or a requirement to purchase permits to emit, generally known as cap-and-trade, but also called "allowances". Carbon Bubble.

Carbon Dioxide Equivalent are two related but distinct measures for describing how much global warming a given type and amount of greenhouse gas may cause, using the functionally equivalent amount or concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) as the reference.

20 Million XPRIZE for someone who develops breakthrough technologies to convert CO₂ emissions into usable products.

Carbon-Neutral Fuel is energy fuel or energy systems which have no net greenhouse gas emissions or carbon footprint. One class is synthetic fuel (including methane, gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel or ammonia) produced from renewable, sustainable or nuclear energy used to hydrogenate carbon dioxide directly captured from the air (DAC), recycled from power plant flue exhaust gas or derived from carbonic acid in seawater. Renewable energy sources include wind turbines, solar panels, and hydroelectric powerful power stations. Another type of renewable energy source is biofuel. Such fuels are potentially carbon-neutral because they do not result in a net increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases. To the extent that carbon-neutral fuels are subject to carbon capture at the flue or exhaust pipe, they result in negative carbon dioxide emission and net carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere, and thus constitute a form of greenhouse gas remediation. Power to gas carbon-neutral and carbon-negative fuels can be produced by the electrolysis of water to make hydrogen. Through the Sabatier reaction methane can then be produced which may then be stored to be burned later in power plants (as a synthetic natural gas), transported by pipeline, truck, or tanker ship, or be used in gas to liquids processes such as the Fischer–Tropsch process to make traditional fuels for transportation or heating. Other carbon-negative fuels include synthetic fuels made from CO2 extracted from the atmosphere. Carbon-neutral fuels are used in Germany and Iceland for distributed storage of renewable energy, minimizing problems of wind and solar intermittency, and enabling transmission of wind, water, and solar power through existing natural gas pipelines. Such renewable fuels could alleviate the costs and dependency issues of imported fossil fuels without requiring either electrification of the vehicle fleet or conversion to hydrogen or other fuels, enabling continued compatible and affordable vehicles. A 250 kilowatt synthetic methane plant has been built in Germany and it is being scaled up to 10 megawatts. Carbon credits can also play an important role for carbon-negative fuels.

Global Warming - Climate Change

Global Warming Potential is a relative measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere. It compares the amount of heat trapped by a certain mass of the gas in question to the amount of heat trapped by a similar mass of carbon dioxide. A GWP is calculated over a specific time interval, commonly 20, 100 or 500 years. Air Pollution - Risk Management.

Climate Change occurs when changes in Earth's climate system result in new weather patterns that last for at least a few decades, and maybe for millions of years. Climate Change Information and Resources.

Climate Change is a Fact of Life. Everyone knows that the climate changes. And depending on where you live, those changes to the climate can be easy to adapt to, or catastrophic, where you are forced to leave and you have to find a different place in the world to live. Mass Migration is also a fact of life. Ecological Crisis - Crisis of Denial - Collapse.

Climate Emergency Declaration is declaring a state of climate emergency, has been issued since 2016 by some countries and other administrations to set priority and take action about climate change.

Climate Crisis is a description of climate change and global warming used by scientists, governments and other organizations to describe how the anthropogenic effects of humans on the climate are proceeding so quickly that the world is facing a global crisis. A number of governments and local authorities around the world have made climate emergency declarations.

Do you believe in seasons like summer, fall, winter and spring? Do you believe in deserts and extended draughts? Do you believe in floods and too much rain? Do you believe that sea levels increased and decreased in the last few million years? Do you believe that volcanoes erupting can change the temperature of the planet? Do you believe there was an ice age? Do you believe that scientists can tell the difference between natural CO2 and man made CO2? Do you believe that the earth has experienced many changes in its climate throughout its history? Do you believe in axial precession? If you said yes to any of these questions then you believe in climate change. So the question is, will you adapt and make the necessary changes, or will you just suffer and die because you believe that you can do nothing to change your world? People ignorantly believe that they are immune to the problems that are happening in the world. People don't believe that these problems will not effect them because of where they live. People don't see these problems, so they think that these problems don't exist. Fallacy.

Europe’s 5 Hottest Summers in the past 500 years have all occurred in the last 15 years, not including this summer in 2019. All heat waves have been deadly. The 2003 heat wave was the worst, having led to the deaths of over 70,000 people; in 2010, 56,000 died in Russia alone. These extreme heat events are all connected to a slower jet stream that locks weather systems into place. The loss of sea ice in the Arctic is amplifying warming in the northernmost regions of our planet, and that is disrupting the natural jet stream patterns. In the United States between 1992 and 2001, excessive heat caused 2,190 deaths. The 1995 Chicago heat wave, one of the worst in US history, led to approximately 739 heat-related deaths over a period of five days. 65 Degrees In Antarctica In February 6th, 2020.

Climate Change Protests - Stop Business as Usual

You can say that our actions will not do any good and you could say that our efforts will be for nothing. Maybe we can't stop it. Or maybe we can stop it, or maybe something will change that helps us to avoid another mass extinction. We must do both. We must plan for a better future, and we must plan for a future that looks bleak. We might not have to go to Mars, Mars might come to us.

List of Highest Temperatures ever Recorded on Earth. Each of these records is understood to be the record value officially observed. According to the World Meteorological Organization, the highest temperature ever recorded was 56.7 °C (134.1 °F) on 10 July 1913 in Furnace Creek (Greenland Ranch), California, United States. China had a high temperature of 50.5 °C or 122.9 °F on the 10th of July 2017. Hong Kong was 39.0 °C  or 102.2 °F on the 22nd of August 2017. Macau was 39.0 °C or 102.2 °F on the 22nd of August 2017. India was 51.0 °C or 123.8 °F on the 19th of May 2016. Air Conditioning.

Greenhouse Gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Without greenhouse gases, the average temperature of Earth's surface would be about −18 °C (0 °F), rather than the present average of 15 °C (59 °F). In the Solar System, the atmospheres of Venus, Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect. Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (taken as the year 1750) have produced a 40% increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, from 280 ppm in 1750 to 400 ppm in 2015. This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural "sinks" involved in the carbon cycle. Anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (i.e., emissions produced by human activities) come from combustion of fossil fuels, coal, oil, and natural gas, along with deforestation, soil erosion and animal agriculture. It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate, Earth's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047, with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems, biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide. Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 °C global warming (3.5 °F) which the United Nations' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid "dangerous" global warming, by 2036. Human Impact on the Environment anthropogenic impact on the environment includes impacts on biophysical environments. Extinction. (anthropogenic emissions).

Specific Carbon Dioxide Emissions of Various Fuels: Wood, Oil and Gas
Planet at risk of heading towards “Hothouse Earth” state
Global Warming Activism
Humidity May Prove Breaking Point for Some Areas as Temperatures Rise
Earth System Models of Intermediate Complexity (feed back loop) - EMIC
General Circulation Models (GCMs).atmospheric Energy Balance Models (EBMs)

Study indicates US cities underestimate their GHG emissions by nearly 20%. Some cities' self-reported emissions are as much as 145% below standardized estimates. Cities have become critical players in reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are causing global climate change. Urban areas produce almost 70 percent of those emissions, and city governments are proposing a variety of policy actions aimed at reducing them. Many cities also produce inventories that detail their greenhouse gas emissions.

Earth's Energy Budget accounts for the balance between the energy that Earth receives from the Sun, and the energy the Earth radiates back into outer space after having been distributed throughout the five components of Earth's climate system and having thus powered Earth’s so-called heat engine. This system is made up of Earth's water, ice, atmosphere, rocky crust, and all living things. Quantifying changes in these amounts is required to accurately model the Earth's climate.

Earth's Heat Engine. Earth's atmosphere and hydrosphere—Earth’s heat engine—are coupled processes that constantly even out solar heating imbalances through evaporation of surface water, convection, rainfall, winds, and ocean circulation, when distributing heat around the globe. The Hadley system provides an example of a heat engine. Hadley circulation is identified with rising of warm and moist air in the equatorial region with descent of colder air in the subtropics corresponding to a thermally driven direct circulation, with consequent net production of kinetic energy.

Ocean Sink for Human-Made Carbon Dioxide Measured. Scientists have determined the amount of human-made carbon dioxide emissions taken up by the ocean between 1994 and 2007.

Marine Heat-waves are Human-Made. Heatwaves in the world's oceans have become over 20 times more frequent due to human influence. This is what researchers are now able to demonstrate. Marine heatwaves destroy ecosystems and damage fisheries.

School Strike for Climate is an international movement of school students who are deciding not to attend classes and instead take part in demonstrations to demand action to prevent further global warming and climate change. Publicity and widespread organising began when the climate activist Greta Thunberg staged an action in August of 2018 outside the Swedish Riksdag (parliament), holding a sign that read "Skolstrejk för klimatet" ("School strike for the climate"). An estimated 1.4 million young people in 123 countries skipped school March 15th, 2019 to demand stronger climate policies in what may be one of the largest environmental protests in history. Activism - Miles for Climate - Sunrise Movement.

Extinction Rebellion works to compel government action on climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and the risk of social and ecological collapse. Fire Drill Fridays - Countdown.

The National Climate Assessment assesses the science of climate change and variability and its impacts across the United States, now and throughout this century. (NCA).

As World Temperatures Rise a Billion People will be newly exposed to Diseases like Dengue Fever. As many as a billion people could be newly exposed to disease-carrying mosquitoes by the end of the century because of global warming.

Allow ocean protected zones to shift and be mobile as species move under climate change.

A blob of hot water in the Pacific Ocean killed a million seabirds, scientists say.

Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil (youtube) - How do we sleep while our beds are burning? The time has come to say fair's fair, To pay the rent, to pay our share, The time has come, a fact's a fact, It belongs to them, let's give it back.

Heat Stress may affect more than 1.2 billion people annually by 2100.

Occupational Heat Stress is the net load to which a worker is exposed from the combined contributions of metabolic heat, environmental factors, and clothing worn which results in an increase in heat storage in the body. Heat stress can result in heat-related illnesses, such as heat stroke, hyperthermia, heat exhaustion, heat cramps or heat rashes. Although heat exhaustion is less severe, hyperthermia is a medical emergency and requires emergency treatment, which if not provided can even lead to death. Heat stress causes illness but also may account for an increase in workplace accidents, and a decrease in worker productivity. Worker injuries attributable to heat include those caused by: sweaty palms, fogged-up safety glasses, and dizziness. Burns may also occur as a result of accidental contact with hot surfaces or steam. In United States, occupational heat stress in becoming more significant as the average temperatures increase but remains overlooked. There are few studies and regulations regarding heat exposure of workers.

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming 1st Edition by David Wallace-Wells.

Carbon-releasing 'zombie fires' in peatlands could be dampened by new findings. New simulations have provided clues on reducing uncontrolled peat fires, which hide underground and are notoriously bad for human health and the environment. Imperial College London researchers have simulated for the first time how soil moisture content affects the ignition and spread of smouldering peat fires, which can release up to 100 times more carbon into the atmosphere than flaming fires. They also simulated how several smaller peat fires can merge into one large blaze, and tracked the interplay between smouldering and flaming fires.

Greenland Melting Ice Sheet could lead to a sea level rise of 18 cm in 2100. A new study applying the latest climate models predicts a 60 percent greater melting of the Greenland ice sheet than previously predicted. Data that will be included in the next IPCC report. The Greenland ice sheet, the second largest after the Antarctic's, covers an area of 1.7 million square kilometres. Its total melting could lead to a significant rise in ocean levels, up to 7 metres. Although we are not there yet, the previous scenarios predicted by climate models have just been revised upwards, predicting a rise in sea levels of up to 18 cm by 2100 (compared to the 10 cm announced previously) just because of the increase in surface melting. Within the framework of the next IPCC report (AR6) which will appear in 2022, the University of Liège Laboratory of climatology has been led to apply, within the framework of the ISMIP6 project, the MAR climate model which it is developing to downscale the old and new IPCC scenarios. The results obtained showed that for the same evolution of greenhouse gas concentrations till 2100, these new scenarios predict a 60% greater surface melting of the Greenland ice cap than previously estimated for the previous IPCC report (AR5, 2013). Greenland Ice Sheet faces irreversible melting.

Methane

Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula CH4 with one atom of carbon and four atoms of hydrogen.

Sea Ice Loss - Methane waste reducing methods.

Many oil wells burn off Methane -- the largest component of natural gas -- in a process called flaring, which currently wastes 150 billion cubic meters of the gas each year and generates a staggering 400 million tons of carbon dioxide, making this process a significant contributor to global warming. Methane is captured and used to generate electrical power or produce chemicals. However, special equipment is needed to cool and pressurize methane gas, and special pressurized containers or pipelines are needed to transport it. Convert methane into derivatives of methanol, a liquid that can be made into automotive fuel or used as a precursor to a variety of chemical products. This new method may allow for lower-cost methane conversion at remote sites.

Arctic Methane Emissions is the release of methane from seas and soils in permafrost regions of the Arctic. While a long-term natural process, it is exacerbated by global warming. This results in a positive feedback effect, as methane is itself a powerful greenhouse gas. (5000 Gigatons or a Billion tons being released, 5 Gigatons in the atmosphere in 2017). Decays slowly.

Arctic Methane Emergency: Methane released by the Gigaton! (youtube Published on Oct 13, 2016). Methane traps up to 100 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Siberian Shelf (wiki).

Global methane emissions soar to record high levels. The powerful heat-trapping gas methane continue to climb, being driven primarily by growth of emissions from coal mining, oil and natural gas production, cattle and sheep ranching, and landfills. Climate models suggest will lead to 3-4 degrees Celsius of warming before the end of this century. scientists warn that natural disasters, including wildfires, droughts and floods, and social disruptions such as famines and mass migrations become almost commonplace. Earth's atmosphere absorbed nearly 600 million tons of the colorless, odorless gas that is 28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat over a 100-year span. More than half of all methane emissions now come from human activities. Annual methane emissions are up 9 percent, or 50 million tons per year, from the early 2000s, when methane concentrations in the atmosphere were relatively stable.

MIT scientists have determined the structure of an enzyme that is found in ocean microbes and can produce a precursor to methane. Industrial and agricultural activities produce large amounts of methane. Many bacteria also produce methane as a byproduct of their metabolism.

Bacteria may contribute more to climate change as planet heats up. As bacteria adapt to hotter temperatures, they speed up their respiration rate and release more carbon, potentially accelerating climate change. Prokaryotes that usually operate in a medium temperature range -- below 45°C -- show a strong response to changing temperature, increasing their respiration in both the short term (days to weeks) and long term (months to years).

Fire Ice or Methane Clathrate is a solid clathrate hydrate compound in which a large amount of methane is trapped within a crystal structure of water, forming a solid similar to ice. Originally thought to occur only in the outer regions of the Solar System, where temperatures are low and water ice is common, significant deposits of methane clathrate have been found under sediments on the ocean floors of the Earth. Methane clathrates are common constituents of the shallow marine geosphere and they occur in deep sedimentary structures and form outcrops on the ocean floor. Methane hydrates are believed to form by the precipitation or crystallisation of methane migrating from deep along geological faults. Precipitation occurs when the methane comes in contact with water within the sea bed subject to temperature and pressure. In 2008, research on Antarctic Vostok and EPICA Dome C ice cores revealed that methane clathrates were also present in deep Antarctic ice cores and record a history of atmospheric methane concentrations, dating to 800,000 years ago. The ice-core methane clathrate record is a primary source of data for global warming research, along with oxygen and carbon dioxide. (also called methane hydrate, hydromethane, methane ice, natural gas hydrate, or gas hydrate, CH4·5.75H2O or 4CH4·23H2O).

Exponential Growth (doubling time)

Nitrous Oxide or N2O emissions pose an increasing climate threat, study finds. Rising nitrous oxide emissions are jeopardizing the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, according to a major new study. The growing use of nitrogen fertilizers in the production of food worldwide is increasing atmospheric concentrations of nitrous oxide -- a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide that remains in the atmosphere for more than 100 years. Like CO2, N2O is a long-lived greenhouse gas and is also currently the most significant human-induced agent depleting the stratospheric ozone layer, which protects Earth from most of the Sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation. Agriculture releases about 30% of all greenhouse gases.
Major sources include deforestation and land clearing, fertilizer overuse and gassy livestock, all of which are increasing as the global population increases.

Between 65% and 80% of CO2 released into the air dissolves into the ocean over a period of 20–200 years. The rest is removed by slower processes that take up to several hundreds of thousands of years, including chemical weathering and rock formation. This means that once in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide can continue to affect climate for thousands of years. Methane is mostly removed from the atmosphere by chemical reaction, persisting for about 12 years. Thus although methane is a potent greenhouse gas, its effect is relatively short-lived. But what happens when methane increases every year for 12 years? Nitrous oxide is destroyed in the stratosphere and removed from the atmosphere more slowly than methane, persisting for around 114 years. Compounds containing chlorine and/or fluorine (CFCs, HCFCs, HFCs, PFCs) include a huge number of different chemical species, each of which can last in the atmosphere for a specific length of time – from less than a year to many thousands of years. The IPCC has published a comprehensive list of the atmospheric lifetime of the various CFCs and other greenhouse gases. Water vapour is a very effective absorber of heat energy in the air, but it does not accumulate in the atmosphere in the same way as the other greenhouse gases. This is down to it having a very short atmospheric lifetime, of the order of hours to days, because it is rapidly removed as rain and snow. The amount of water vapour that the atmosphere can hold increases as the atmosphere gets warmer, so the greenhouse properties of water vapour are usually considered to act as part of a feedback loop, rather than a direct cause of climate change.

Future Warming could Accelerate. The Early Eocene (roughly 48 million to 56 million years ago) was the warmest period of the past 66 million years. It began with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, which is known as the PETM, the most severe of several short, intensely warm events. The Early Eocene was a time of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and surface temperatures at least 14 degrees Celsius or 25 degrees Fahrenheit warmer, on average, than today. Also, the difference between temperatures at the equator and the poles was much smaller. Geological evidence suggests that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reached 1,000 parts per million in the Early Eocene, more than twice the present-day level of 412 ppm. If nothing is done to limit carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, CO2 levels could once again reach 1,000 ppm by the year 2100, according to climate scientists. Until now, climate models have been unable to simulate the extreme surface warmth of the Early Eocene -- including the sudden and dramatic temperature spikes of the PETM -- by relying solely on atmospheric CO2 levels. Unsubstantiated changes to the models were required to make the numbers work, said Poulsen, a professor in the U-M Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and associate dean for natural sciences.

Changes in Atmospheric Constituents and in Radiative Forcing

Radiative Forcing is the difference between insolation (sunlight) absorbed by the Earth and energy radiated back to space. The influences that cause changes to the Earth’s climate system altering Earth’s radiative equilibrium, forcing temperatures to rise or fall, are called climate forcings. Positive radiative forcing means Earth receives more incoming energy from sunlight than it radiates to space. This net gain of energy will cause warming. Conversely, negative radiative forcing means that Earth loses more energy to space than it receives from the sun, which produces cooling. Typically, radiative forcing is quantified at the tropopause or at the top of the atmosphere (often accounting for rapid adjustments in temperature) in units of watts per square meter of the Earth's surface. Positive forcing (incoming energy exceeding outgoing energy) warms the system, while negative forcing (outgoing energy exceeding incoming energy) cools it. Causes of radiative forcing include changes in insolation and the concentrations of radiatively active gases, commonly known as greenhouse gases, and aerosols. Radiative forcing is a measure of the influence a factor has in altering the balance of incoming and outgoing energy in the Earth-atmosphere system and is an index of the importance of the factor as a potential climate change mechanism. Radiative forcing values are for changes relative to preindustrial conditions defined at 1750 and are expressed in Watts per square meter (W/m2). Almost all of the energy that affects Earth's climate is received as radiant energy from the Sun. The planet and its atmosphere absorb and reflect some of the energy, while long-wave energy is radiated back into space. The balance between absorbed and radiated energy determines the average global temperature. Because the atmosphere absorbs some of the re-radiated long-wave energy, the planet is warmer than it would be in the absence of the atmosphere. Radiative forcing is a concept used for quantitative comparisons of the strength of different human and natural agents in causing climate change.

Global Dimming is the reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth's surface that has been observed since systematic measurements began in the 1950s. The effect varies by location, but worldwide it has been estimated to be of the order of a 4–20% reduction. However, after discounting an anomaly caused by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, a very slight reversal in the overall trend has been observed.

Sulfate Aerosol is used for a suspension of fine solid particles of a sulfate or tiny droplets of a solution of a sulfate or of sulfuric acid (hydrogen sulfate). They are produced by chemical reactions in the atmosphere from gaseous precursors (with the exception of sea salt sulfate and gypsum dust particles). The two main sulfuric acid precursors are sulfur dioxide (SO2) from anthropogenic sources and volcanoes, and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) from biogenic sources, especially marine plankton. These aerosols can cause a cooling effect on earth.

Solar Minimum is the period of least solar activity in the 11-year solar cycle of the Sun. During this time, sunspot and solar flare activity diminishes, and often does not occur for days at a time. The date of the minimum is described by a smoothed average over 12 months of sunspot activity, so identifying the date of the solar minimum usually can only happen 6 months after the minimum takes place. Solar minima is correlated with changes in climate.

A warming world increases Air Pollution. Climate change is warming the ocean, but it's warming land faster and that's really bad news for air quality.

Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. Assembly Bill AB32 is a California State Law that fights global warming by establishing a comprehensive program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all sources throughout the state.

How to Reduce Heat Extremes by 2-3 Degrees Celsius. How changing crops, moving to no till agriculture and lightening infrastructure can reduce extreme temperatures.

7,000 Underground Methane Permafrost Gas Bubbles in Siberia Are About to Burst.

Increased rainfall stimulates permafrost thaw across a variety of Interior Alaskan boreal ecosystems.

Arctic Report Card: Update for 2019. Arctic ecosystems and communities are increasingly at risk due to continued warming and declining sea ice.

Domes of Frozen Methane may be warning signs for new blow-outs. Several methane domes, some 500m wide, have been mapped on the Arctic Ocean floor. They may be signs of soon-to-happen methane expulsions that have previously created massive craters in a near-by area they are still more stable than the pingos found in sub- sea permafrost in Canadian and Russian Arctic. “The gas hydrate pingos in permafrost are formed because of the low temperatures. But the water-depth that supports gas hydrates in sub-sea permafrost is only 40 to 50 meters. There is no significant pressure there to keep them in check. Sub-seabed permafrost is deteriorating constantly and quickly” notes Serov. Even though they are more stable than the permafrost pingos, the Barents Sea domes are on the limit of their existence. “A relatively small change in the water temperature can destabilise these hydrates fairly quickly. We were actually very lucky to observe them at this point. And we will probably be able to observe significant changes to these domes during our lifetime.

Climate scientists increasingly ignore ecological role of indigenous peoples. The profound role that indigenous peoples played in fire and vegetation dynamics, not only in the eastern United States but worldwide, according to researchers.

More than 50 million years ago, when the Earth experienced a series of extreme global warming events, early mammals responded by shrinking in size. While this mammalian dwarfism has previously been linked to the largest of these events.

Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 was a transient period of global warming that occurred approximately 53.7 million years ago (Ma). It appears to be the second major hyperthermal that punctuated the long-term warming trend from the Late Paleocene through the early Eocene (58 to 50 Ma). The hyperthermals were geologically brief time intervals (<200,000 years) of global warming and massive carbon input. The most extreme and best-studied event, the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM or ETM-1), occurred about 1.8 million years before ETM-2, at approximately 55.5 Ma. Other hyperthermals likely followed ETM-2 at nominally 53.6 Ma (H-2), 53.3 (I-1), 53.2 (I-2) and 52.8 Ma (informally called K, X or ETM-3). The number, nomenclature, absolute ages and relative global impact of the Eocene hyperthermals are the source of much current research. In any case, the hyperthermals appear to have ushered in the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum, the warmest interval of the Cenozoic Era. They also definitely precede the Azolla event at about 49 Ma.

Rapid Climate Change in the Arctic. Diminishing sea ice near the Arctic coast leaves more open water near the coast for winds to create waves. The increased wave action reaches down and stirs up sediments on shallow continental shelves, releasing radium-228 and other chemicals that are carried up to the surface and swept away into the open ocean by currents such as the Transpolar Drift.

Undersea Gases could Superheat the Planet. Carbon reservoirs on ocean floor caused global warming before -- and could do it again.

The 2018 Arctic Report Card found the Arctic region had the second-lowest overall sea-ice coverage on record. Warming, sea-ice loss: Arctic Report Card tracks region's environmental changes. The Arctic region experienced the second-warmest air temperatures ever recorded; the second-lowest overall sea-ice coverage; lowest recorded winter ice in the Bering Sea; and earlier plankton blooms due to early melting of sea ice in the Bering Sea.

Declining numbers of soil fauna, nematodes and other animal species in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, one of the world's driest and coldest deserts.

Pollution

Coal Seam Fire refers to natural burning of an outcrop or underground coal seam. Most coal-seam fires exhibit smoldering combustion, particularly underground coal-seam fires, because of limited atmospheric oxygen availability. Coal-seam fire instances on Earth date back several million years.

Centralia | 100 Wonders | Atlas Obscura (youtube)
Rising of Global Coal Fires

Montreal Protocol is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. It was agreed on 26 August 1987, and entered into force on 26 August 1989, followed by a first meeting in Helsinki, May 1989. Since then, it has undergone eight revisions, in 1990 (London), 1991 (Nairobi), 1992 (Copenhagen), 1993 (Bangkok), 1995 (Vienna), 1997 (Montreal), 1998 (Australia), 1999 (Beijing) and 2016 (Kigali, adopted, but not in force). As a result of the international agreement, the ozone hole in Antarctica is slowly recovering. Climate projections indicate that the ozone layer will return to 1980 levels between 2050 and 2070. Due to its widespread adoption and implementation it has been hailed as an example of exceptional international co-operation, with Kofi Annan quoted as saying that "perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date has been the Montreal Protocol". In comparison, effective burden sharing and solution proposals mitigating regional conflicts of interest have been among the success factors for the ozone depletion challenge, where global regulation based on the Kyoto Protocol has failed to do so. In this case of the ozone depletion challenge, there was global regulation already being installed before a scientific consensus was established. Also, overall public opinion was convinced of possible imminent risks. The two ozone treaties have been ratified by 197 parties (196 states and the European Union), making them the first universally ratified treaties in United Nations history. These truly universal treaties have also been remarkable in the expedience of the policy-making process at the global scale, where only 14 years lapsed between a basic scientific research discovery (1973) and the international agreement signed (1985 & 1987).(a protocol to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer).

Risk Management - Green New Deal

Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (part one) global warming is occurring and (part two) it is extremely likely that human-made CO2 emissions have predominantly caused it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. There are currently 192 parties (Canada withdrew from the protocol, effective December 2012) to the Protocol.

Oxygen Depletion

Anoxic Waters are areas of sea water, fresh water, or groundwater that are depleted of dissolved oxygen and are a more severe condition of hypoxia. The US Geological Survey defines anoxic groundwater as those with dissolved oxygen concentration of less than 0.5 milligrams per litre. This condition is generally found in areas that have restricted water exchange. In most cases, oxygen is prevented from reaching the deeper levels by a physical barrier as well as by a pronounced density stratification, in which, for instance, heavier hypersaline waters rest at the bottom of a basin. Anoxic conditions will occur if the rate of oxidation of organic matter by bacteria is greater than the supply of dissolved oxygen.

Anoxic is a description of the environment without oxygen. Mostly microbes live here, and oxygen is actually toxic to most of them.

Anoxic Event in the Earth's past where portions of oceans become depleted in oxygen (O2) at depths over a large geographic area. During some of these events, euxinia, waters that contained H2S hydrogen sulfide, developed. Although anoxic events have not happened for millions of years, the geological record shows that they happened many times in the past. Anoxic events coincided with several mass extinctions and may have contributed to them. Many geologists believe oceanic anoxic events are strongly linked to slowing of ocean circulation, climatic warming, and elevated levels of greenhouse gases. Researchers have proposed enhanced volcanism and the release of CO2 as the central external trigger for Euxinia, which refers to the state of water when the water is depleted of oxygen and has a raised level of free hydrogen sulfide. The Black Sea is known to experience euxinia. When parts of an ocean are depleted of oxygen, hydrogen sulfide is formed.

Hypoxia refers to low oxygen conditions. Normally, 20.9% of the gas in the atmosphere is oxygen. The partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere is 20.9% of the total barometric pressure. In water however, oxygen levels are much lower, approximately 1%, and fluctuate locally depending on the presence of photosynthetic organisms and relative distance to the surface (if there is more oxygen in the air, it will diffuse across the partial pressure gradient).

Ocean Deoxygenation is the expansion of oxygen minimum zones in the world's oceans as a consequence of anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide. The change has been fairly rapid and poses a threat to fish and other types of marine life, as well as to people who depend on marine life for nutrition or livelihood.

Dead Zone are areas in the world's oceans and large lakes, caused by "excessive nutrient pollution from human activities coupled with other factors that deplete the oxygen required to support most marine life in bottom and near-bottom water.
(NOAA)". Ocean Protection.

Oxygen Minimum Zone is the zone in which oxygen saturation in seawater in the ocean is at its lowest. This zone occurs at depths of about 200 to 1,500 m (660–4,920 ft), depending on local circumstances. OMZs are found worldwide, typically along the western coast of continents, in areas where an interplay of physical and biological processes concurrently lower the oxygen concentration (biological processes) and restrict the water from mixing with surrounding waters (physical processes), creating a “pool” of water where oxygen concentrations fall from the normal range of 4–6 mg/l to below 2 mg/l.

Ocean Acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans, caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide or CO2 from the atmosphere. The main cause of ocean acidification is the burning of fossil fuels. Seawater is slightly basic (meaning pH > 7), and ocean acidification involves a shift towards pH-neutral conditions rather than a transition to acidic conditions (pH < 7). The issue of ocean acidification is the decreased production of the shells of shellfish and other aquatic life with calcium carbonate shells. The calcium carbonate shells can not reproduce under high saturated acidotic waters. An estimated 30–40% of the carbon dioxide from human activity released into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans, rivers and lakes. Some of it reacts with the water to form carbonic acid. Some of the resulting carbonic acid molecules dissociate into a bicarbonate ion and a hydrogen ion, thus increasing ocean acidity (H+ ion concentration). Between 1751 and 1996, surface ocean pH is estimated to have decreased from approximately 8.25 to 8.14, representing an increase of almost 30% in H+ ion concentration in the world's oceans. Earth System Models project that, by around 2008, ocean acidity exceeded historical analogues and, in combination with other ocean biogeochemical changes, could undermine the functioning of marine ecosystems and disrupt the provision of many goods and services associated with the ocean beginning as early.

Hazardous Waste

Biological Warfare, Bioterrorism and the release of Pathogens happens everyday, except we call it Pollution. Pollution has murdered more people and created more diseases then all wars combined. Billions of dollars are spent every year in healthcare to treat all these pollution related diseases. Think about all the time people and resources that are wasted treating this disease called pollution, and none for fixing the causes of pollution, you can't win a war if you are only treating the disease, you have to find a cure. And improving peoples access to important information and knowledge is the first step.

Witness : Invisible Threat (youtube)

Hazardous Waste is waste that has substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment. Characteristic hazardous wastes are materials that are known or tested to exhibit one or more of the following hazardous traits: Ignitability, Reactivity, Corrosivity and Toxicity. Listed hazardous wastes are materials specifically listed by regulatory authorities as hazardous wastes which are from non-specific sources, specific sources, or discarded chemical products. Hazardous wastes may be found in different physical states such as gaseous, liquids, or solids. A hazardous waste is a special type of waste because it cannot be disposed of by common means like other by-products of our everyday lives. Depending on the physical state of the waste, treatment and solidification processes might be required. EPA List of Hazardous Waste.

Hazardous Waste in the United States (wiki) - Radioactive Waste

Operation Whitecoat was a biodefense medical research program carried out by the United States Army at Fort Detrick, Maryland between 1954 and 1973. The program pursued medical research using volunteer enlisted personnel who were eventually nicknamed "Whitecoats". These volunteers, all conscientious objectors, including many members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, were informed of the purpose and goals of each project before providing consent to participate in any project. The stated purpose of the research was to defend troops and civilians against biological weapons and it was believed that the Soviet Union was engaged in similar activities. Although the program was discontinued in 1973, human use research for biodefense purposes is still conducted at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick and at other government and civilian research institutes. However, these post-Whitecoat studies are often, human use challenge studies, in which a person is inoculated with a known pathogen to determine how effective an investigational treatment will be.

Environmental Crime - Depleted Uranium - Toxins in Products

The real terrorists are the government agency's that allow big corporations to kill people and to poison the environment. They are responsible for more murders, more attacks on human rights, and poisoning more food, water, land and air then anything else. And since these criminals own the media you will never have enough knowledge and information that is needed to understand what is happening to you, or the world.

Coal Combustion Waste (PDF) According to the EPA, more than half of all toxic water pollution in the country comes from coal-fired power plants. 

EPA’s 1998 Chemical Hazard Data Availability Study revealed that although nearly 3,000 chemicals have High Production Volume status in the United States (defined by the EPA as imported or produced at one million pounds per year or more), complete basic toxicity profiles (covering acute, sub-chronic, chronic, developmental, and reproductive toxicity, as well as mutagenicity) were available for only 7% of these.

Confronting Toxic Chemical Management

Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 regulates the introduction of new or already existing chemicals. When the TSCA was put into place, all existing chemicals were considered to be safe for use and subsequently grandfathered in. Its three main objectives are to assess and regulate new commercial chemicals before they enter the market, to regulate chemicals already existing in 1976 that posed an "unreasonable risk to health or to the environment", as for example PCB's, lead, mercury and radon, and to regulate these chemicals' distribution and use.

Importing and Exporting Hazardous Chemicals

Pesticides - Neurotoxins

It's not what you believe. The question is do you understand knowledge and information? Do you understand research and historical evidence? Do you know the difference between a fact and an opinion? So it does not matter what you believe, what matters is what you know, and can you prove what you know? If you don't know enough, and if you know something but have no way of proving it, then what you believe is useless and irrelevant. You are simply ignorant. So the only logical answer that you can give is "I don't know enough to have an opinion on that matter,  but if it is true, I can make adjustments in my life that will guarantee that either way, I am safe. And these adjustments are good either way, so I can't lose even if I'm wrong.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus

Food Safety - Soil Testing - Recycling

Annenberg Foundation

Lipstick on a Pig 

"Exposure to pesticides and their residues causes farmworkers to suffer more chemical-related injuries and illnesses than any other workforce nationwide."

"There are many toxins in our foods, in our homes and in our environment. If you don't stand up for healthier products and a healthier environment, then you will have to get use to eating poison and getting diseases, like cancer."

"How can we be an accessory to the worlds largest mass murder in our history. People seem comfortable with knowing their life is ending, but they have no compassion for the millions of lives that they are responsible for killing. How did we become so disconnected?..So many people have blood on their hands, some people don't even know it and others know it but ignore it."

"Humans are killing the planet, but if we combine our efforts and make better decisions together, humans can save the plane and save the lives of millions of people. The Choice is ours."

"Money is just one of many tools that humans have. And when it comes to solving a problem you will need more then just money to solve it. Money doesn't solve problems, people solve problems."

Noise Pollution

Noise Pollution is the disturbing or excessive noise that may harm the activity or balance of human or animal life. The source of most outdoor noise worldwide is mainly caused by machines and transportation systems, motor vehicles engines, aircraft, and trains. Outdoor noise is summarized by the word environmental noise. Poor urban planning may give rise to noise pollution, since side-by-side industrial and residential buildings can result in noise pollution in the residential areas. Documented problems associated with urban noise go back as far as Ancient Rome. Outdoor noise can be caused by machines, construction activities, and music performances, especially in some workplaces. Noise-induced hearing loss can be caused by outside (e.g. trains) or inside (e.g. music) noise. High noise levels can contribute to cardiovascular effects in humans and an increased incidence of coronary artery disease. In animals, noise can increase the risk of death by altering predator or prey detection and avoidance, interfere with reproduction and navigation, and contribute to permanent hearing loss.

Underwater Noise Pollution - Sound - Microwaves - Noise Pollution (epa)

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The Eco-System is our Teacher

And this teacher is clearly showing us the way to survive and to sustain a Happy and Healthy Life Style. This knowledge is Priceless.

Insects, birds and other animals all play an important role in maintaining the environment. Humans also have an important role in maintaining the environment, except that humans have to learn what their role is because that knowledge is not instinctive, which means certain knowledge, information and skills have to be learned. This is why improving education and improving the media is so extremely important. When humans are more educated and more informed about themselves and the world around them, they can understand the choices and options they have more accurately, and then use human intelligence to make accurate choices and better decisions. We have already been doing this for hundreds of years, but all the other 7 billion people need a high quality education. If animals, plants and insects were not born with instincts or behavioral instructions, then life would not exist. And if humans don't understand the instructions we receive from the environment, and from our own bodies, then humans will go extinct like millions of other species have done in the last 700 million years.

The Natural Beauty of the Great Outdoors in Perfect Harmony National Parks are a beautiful reminder of what God was doing for hundreds of millions of years before humans were even created. Just think about it, hundreds of millions of years creating magnificent mountains, beautiful oceans, streams and rivers, in a perfect balanced Ecosystem that has built to sustain itself for millions of years, living in harmony with all kinds of amazing life forms, to roam her land, to fly through her skies and to swim in her seas. Biomimicry.

Evolution or Intelligent Design?

I couldn’t even begin to imagine a greater place then earth, and we can see hundreds millions of light years away. Even if there were another living planet, I doubt it would be as nice as earth.

Nature is more then just visual it’s a feeling of Serenity, Tranquility, Peacefulness, Harmony and Calm. If you lose this feeling it means that you are simply lost and out of touch. It's like the Six degrees of Separation, everybody in one way or another is related to Mother Earth.

It’s easy to describe how beautiful our earth is, especially now with photos and video, but when try to describe what you feel when you see a National Park, like Glacier National Park in Wyoming for instance, it’s really hard to find the words that do it justice, it’s like trying to describe life. It’s has to be the oldest living feeling in our human history. Knowing that millions of eyes before you have witnessed what you are seeing, it’s like being connected to all our ancestors, especially the American Indians, who have loved this land for thousands of years before America was even a country. When you read all the beautiful words that people have written about National Parks, it’s like you are reading a love story, and that’s what it truly is, a love story. I have always loved the outdoors and our natural environment, and when I see it being destroyed, it’s like someone destroying your home with your family still inside. Even amongst all the devastation, we are so fortunate that we had some great people who stood up and fought to protect our natural environments.

Documentary by Ken Burns: National Parks - America's Best Idea.

Humans are the caretakers of this earth, the only living planet around. So it is everyone’s responsibility to protect our earth and all its life forms, because believe it or not, our life actually depends on it.

Mass Extinction Number 6

Scientists estimate that 150-200 species of plant, insect, bird and mammal become extinct every 24 hours. This is nearly 1,000 times the "natural" or "background" rate and, say many biologists, is greater than anything the world has experienced since the vanishing of the dinosaurs nearly 65 Million years ago. Mathematics predicts a sixth mass extinction. By 2100, oceans may hold enough carbon to launch mass extermination of species in future millennia. Nearly 600 plant species have gone extinct since the 1750s. Habitat Destruction - Positive Feedback Loop.

Nature’s Dangerous Decline is Unprecedented and Species Extinction Rates are Accelerating (United Nations Report 2019) - We have just Minutes to act, and that is a fact. The World Lost Two-Thirds Of Its Wildlife In 50 Years. We Are to Blame. Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction.

Freshwater Mussels Dying. Freshwater mussels are bivalves – animals with two shells – that live on every continent except Antarctica. North America is home to more than a third of the world’s mussel species, but more than 70 percent of the continent’s 302 species are extinct or imperiled. A single freshwater mussel can filter more than 15 gallons of water in a day. Freshwater mussels, like pollinators and trees, are critical to their larger ecosystems and the world around them. They filter out sediment and agricultural runoff, limiting the size and impacts of dead zones. They reduce fecal bacteria from water, lowering the risk of E-coli. They sequester carbon, phosphorous and heavy metals. There's even evidence they can remove man-made contaminants from water, like pharmaceuticals, flame retardants and personal care products.

Population of Vertebrate Animals Fell 58% From 1970-2012. The largest drop was in freshwater species, which fell on average 81 percent in that time period. Largest King Penguin Colony has Shrunk Nearly 90%.

Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. An estimated 82 percent of wild mammal biomass has been lost, while 40 percent of amphibians, almost a third of reef-building corals, more than a third of marine mammals, and 10 percent of all insects are threatened with extinction. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (wiki).

Accelerated Modern Human–Induced Species Losses: Entering the Sixth Mass Extinction

Climate Change - The Sounds of Silence - Civilizations Collapsed.

Canary in a Coal Mine is something whose sensitivity to adverse conditions makes it a useful early indicator of such conditions; something which warns of the coming of greater danger or trouble by a deterioration in its health or welfare. Name originated from miners who use to carry down caged canaries (birds) into the mine tunnels with them. If dangerous gases such as carbon monoxide collected in the mine, the gases would kill the canary before killing the miners, thus providing a warning to exit the tunnels immediately. Except in our case we don't have a way out of our tunnel because we have only one planet.

Mammals cannot Adapt or Evolve fast enough to Escape current Extinction Crisis.

"We are destroying the book of life before we even had a chance to finish reading it."

"We can either be part of this miracle called the eco-system or just Go Extinct like 99.9% of other species have done before. We just happen to be the only species in the history of our planet who actually might have a choice."

Holocene Extinction, the Sixth Extinction or Anthropocene Extinction, is a name for the ongoing extinction event of species during the present Holocene epoch (11,700 years before AD 2000) mainly due to human activity.

Anthropocene is the significant human impact on the Earth's geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change. Societal Collapse (historical cities abandoned).

ANTHROPOCENE the New Geological Epoch (youtube) - ABC TV Catalyst (twitter)

Anthropic is relating to mankind or the period of mankind's existence.

Anthropocentric is human-centered. Global Warming - Planned Obsolescence - Adaptation.

Epoch in geology is a subdivision of the geologic timescale that is longer than an age and shorter than a period.

Geologic Time Scale is a system of chronological dating that relates geological strata (stratigraphy) to time, and is used by geologists, paleontologists, and other Earth scientists to describe the timing and relationships of events that have occurred during Earth’s history. The table of geologic time spans, presented here, agrees with the nomenclature, dates and standard color codes set forth by the International Commission on Stratigraphy.

Mass Extinctions in the Past

Extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms (taxon), normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species.

Fern Spike is the occurrence of abundant fern spores in the fossil record, usually immediately (in a geological sense) after an extinction event. The spikes are believed to represent a large, temporary increase in the number of ferns relative to other terrestrial plants after the extinction or thinning of the latter, probably because fern dispersal is more rapid over large geographic areas, since single-celled fern spores are more easily distributed by the wind than are seeds. Fern spikes are most associated with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, although they have been found at other events such as at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Away from the fossil record, fern spikes have also been observed to occur in response to local extinction events, for instance the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption.

Extinction Event is a widespread and rapid decrease in the biodiversity on Earth. Such an event is identified by a sharp change in the diversity and abundance of multicellular organisms. It occurs when the rate of extinction increases with respect to the rate of speciation. Because the majority of diversity and biomass on Earth is microbial, and thus difficult to measure, recorded extinction events affect the easily observed, biologically complex component of the biosphere rather than the total diversity and abundance of life. Extinction occurs at an uneven rate. Based on the fossil record, the background rate of extinctions on Earth is about two to five taxonomic families of marine animals every million years. Marine fossils are mostly used to measure extinction rates because of their superior fossil record and stratigraphic range compared to land organisms.

Extinction Threshold is a term used in conservation biology to explain the point at which a species, population or metapopulation, experiences an abrupt change in density or number because of an important parameter, such as habitat loss. It is at this critical value below which a species, population, or metapopulation, will go extinct, though this may take a long time for species just below the critical value, a phenomenon known as extinction debt. Extinction thresholds are important to conservation biologists when studying a species in a population or metapopulation context because the colonization rate must be larger than the extinction rate, otherwise the entire entity will go extinct once it reaches the threshold. Extinction thresholds are realized under a number of circumstances and the point in modeling them is to define the conditions that lead a population to extinction. Modeling extinction thresholds can explain the relationship between extinction threshold and habitat loss and habitat fragmentation.

How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean? 8.7 million (±1.3 million SE) eukaryotic species globally, of which 2.2 million (±0.18 million SE) are marine. In spite of 250 years of taxonomic classification and over 1.2 million species already catalogued in a central database, our results suggest that some 86% of existing species on Earth and 91% of species in the ocean still await description.

Armageddon refers to any end of the world scenario.

Eschatology are the final events of history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity.

End Time is where world events achieve a final climax.

Eco-Ideas - Environmental Education

Researchers uncover new clues to Surviving Extinction. Ecological transformation in the wake of the 'Great Dying' moves scientists closer to understanding the nature of recovery. Sustainability Success Stories.

Revolutionary method could bring us much closer to the description of hyperdiverse faunas. Largely relying on DNA barcoding, rather than traditional practices, a simplified diagnostics method for species description could be the key to revealing Earth's biodiversity before much of it goes extinct. The approach is demonstrated in practice with the description of 18 new to science species of parasitic wasps, recently discovered from the Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

Researchers consider whether supernovae killed off large ocean animals at dawn of Pleistocene. About 2.6 million years ago, an oddly bright light arrived in the prehistoric sky and lingered there for weeks or months. It was a supernova some 150 light years away from Earth. Within a few hundred years, long after the strange light in the sky had dwindled, a tsunami of cosmic energy from that same shattering star explosion could have reached our planet and pummeled the atmosphere, touching off climate change and triggering mass extinctions of large ocean animals, including a shark species that was the size of a school bus.

A staggering 80 percent of 94 ecological processes that form the foundation for healthy marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems already show signs of distress and response to climate change. 82 percent of key biological processes necessary for healthy ecosystems had been impacted by the phenomenon. The changes have been felt even though the world is just 1 degree Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels.

More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas.

Fossil pollen record suggests vulnerability to mass extinction ahead. Reduced resilience of plant biomes in North America could be setting the stage for the kind of mass extinctions not seen since the retreat of glaciers and arrival of humans about 13,000 years ago, cautions a new study. The warning comes from a study of 14,189 fossil pollen samples taken from 358 locations across the continent.

Human-influenced Mass Extinction of Giant Carnivores and Herbivores of North America fundamentally changed the biodiversity and landscape of the continent.

Extinction of Large Mammal species likely drove survivors apart. Disappearance of mammoths, other giants likely reduced interactions of smaller mammals.

Precipice is when you're on the brink of a dangerous situation and extremely close to disaster or failure.

Human Extinction is the hypothetical end of the human species. This may result from natural causes or it may be anthropogenic, i.e. the result of human action. The likelihood of human extinction in the near future by wholly natural scenarios, such as a meteorite impact or large-scale volcanism, is generally considered to be extremely low. For anthropogenic extinction, many possible scenarios have been proposed: human global nuclear annihilation, biological warfare or the release of a pandemic-causing agent, dysgenics, overpopulation, ecological collapse, and climate change; in addition, emerging technologies could bring about new extinction scenarios, such as advanced artificial intelligence, biotechnology or self-replicating nanobots. The probability of anthropogenic human extinction within the next hundred years is the topic of an active debate. Human extinction needs to be differentiated from the extinction of all life on Earth (see also future of Earth) and from the extinction of major components of human culture (e.g., through a global catastrophe leaving only small, scattered human populations, which might evolve in isolation). Why Civilizations Fail.

What Would Happen If Humans Disappeared? (youtube)

10,000 Years After Humans The only sign of human life on Earth will be the stone statues we've created, like the Pyramids, The Great Wall of China, and Mt. Rushmore. Our stone presidents will remain "mostly intact" for several hundreds of thousands of years.

50 Million Years After Humans By now, the only trace of our entire human existence will plastic bottles and pieces of broken glass.

100 Million Years After Humans The plastic bottles and pieces of glass will finally be gone. Knowledge Preservation.

300 Million Years After Humans There will be no trace of us at all. If another species comes to our planet, they won't even know we were there.

Timeline of the Far Future (wiki)

1 billion years The Sun's luminosity has increased by 10%, causing Earth's surface temperatures to reach an average of c. 320 K (47 °C; 116 °F). The atmosphere will become a "moist greenhouse", resulting in a runaway evaporation of the oceans. Pockets of water may still be present at the poles, allowing abodes for simple life

1.3 billion years eukaryotic life dies out due to carbon dioxide starvation. Only prokaryotes remain.

1.5–1.6 billion years The Sun's increasing luminosity causes its circumstellar habitable zone to move outwards; as carbon dioxide increases in Mars's atmosphere, its surface temperature rises to levels akin to Earth during the ice age.

"I'm not sad to know that I will die someday, what truly makes me sad is knowing that the entire human race could die and go extinct. So I'm going to do everything in my power to stop this from happening. We can not have a mutiny on a sinking ship, that's just freaking stupid. We need to stop the ship from sinking first, then we can work on solving our other problems too."

The human body is in fact very much like the earths eco-system, it grows, it regenerates, it sustains, it dies and then it’s reborn. So in a sense the earth is an extension of our body for it too keeps us alive. The earth can live without humans but humans cannot live without the earth.

We are all Connected

The Earth is our Greatest Teacher. Everything that our earth has taught us, through her many lessons and examples, has given us the abilities and knowledge to survive and grow for ten’s of thousands of years. But for some strange reason humans have stopped paying attention to their teacher. Blame it on emotions, superficial distractions or an undisciplined brain. This Attention Deficit is every humans Achilles Heal. We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted or blinded from knowing our responsibilities, our priorities and our own reality. One of earth’s greatest lessons is upon us, “Learn to Live Together or Die”. And not just learn to live each other as humans, but learn to live together with our planet. There’s nothing more damaging to the human spirit then suffering. And there’s no need to suffer in order to learn a lesson. Though survival is a great motivator, motivation without a clear direction or understanding will always lead to more confusion and then more suffering. Our fellow humans are suffering and so is our earth. It’s time that we start paying more attention to what we need to do and not just what we want to do.

Every living thing on this planet is in some way affected by the environment in which they live. The number of environmental effects that Humans have to deal with is much higher then any other species on the planet. That is because we have added most of theses environmental effects ourselves. We are not totally aware of most of these environmental effects but we are aware of a lot of them. Everyone needs to be more informed in order to be aware of these effects and to be aware if they are contributing to these effects. Also everyone needs to be more informed in order to understand and become more aware of the effects that we know little about. If we minimize our affects on the environment while at the same time educate ourselves about the ones that we need to contend with, we will definitely improve life to a degree because we all know that things have a cumulative effect, whether they are good or bad. 

"You have to learn to understand the soil, what it needs and what it offers. The earth is our mother and she’s the reason why we are all here. Take care of her and she’ll take care of you. And please don’t mind the occasional outbursts from mother nature, she’s just reminding us that we should never take Life for granted. Thank You Mom.."

Our Souls are Seeds, our Words are its Soil. Spreading the seeds of knowledge like a flower spreading its seeds in the wind, education is the first step so let us begin. Our evolution is upon us, and has already begun, it's time for all to realize, we too can shine like the sun. - Howard Polley

To learn more about how earth is our greatest teacher watch the documentary NatureTech (youtube).

Bio-mimicry - Environmental Quotes - Famous Sayings about the Environment

The universe is our home. The earth is our teacher and the animals are the students. Since most animals have been here longer then humans they have become the teachers assistant. Animals have taught us many things on how to survive and the reasons to migrate.

There are a lot of things in nature that make sense, except for humans, especially when too many people are not making any sense of the world. When you don't make sense, you do things that don't make sense. Nature understands adaptation, nature understands trends. And this intelligence is one of the main reasons why plant life has survived for millions of years. We also see intelligence in animal life, especially humans. But too many humans make no sense of the environment, like plants do. So why are we so disconnected? And not just disconnected from ourselves, why are we so disconnected from other intelligent life on our planet? Somehow we got lost, we went of track. We have the bigger brain, so why don't we use it? Oh ya, that stupid education problem that we have. What we think is education, is not education. Today's education does not help us connect, we must correct this. We need to be more aware. So the curriculum needs to be expanded, and this curriculum will be intelligent, because one of the main goals of this new improved and expanded curriculum, is to create intelligent people.

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Connections - Everything is Connected

Connected is being joined in close association. Joined or linked together. Make a logical or causal connection. Join by means of communication equipment. Establish a rapport or a relationship. Connection is the act of bringing two things into contact. The state of being connected. A relation between things or events. The process of bringing ideas or events together in memory or imagination. Contact is a close interaction or the state or condition of touching physically or of being in immediate proximity. A communicative Interaction.

Interconnectedness is oneness in all things. All things are of a single underlying substance and reality, and that there is no true separation deeper than appearances.

Relation of Subjects - Coherence - Interactions - Seeing the Whole Picture

Interdependent is two or more people or things dependent on each other. Interdependent Networks - Complex System.

Interconnectivity refers to the state or quality of being connected together. The concept is widely used in various fields such as biology, network theory, and ecology. It can be further elaborated as all parts of a system, which interact with one another and cannot be analyzed if considered alone. Despite subtle differences in meaning, interconnectivity is often related to the ideas of interconnectedness and interdependence.

Coexist - Feedback Loops - Reciprocation

Subset is a part of a larger group of related things. A set whose members are members of another set; a set contained within another set. The relationship of one set being a Subset of another is called inclusion or sometimes containment. The Earth is a subset of the solar system, the solar system is a subset of the galaxy, and the galaxy is a subset of the Universe.

For every action a human takes there is a reaction in the world. Most reactions are unnoticed because the impact is not so obvious, or in some cases not totally in sync with the action of the human. So even doing nothing will still have an effect on the world. So it is only logical that every human understands these effects and understands their responsibilities to minimize negative effects and to maximize positive effects. All actions and inactions have a reaction.

"A human being is part of the whole, called by us "universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole [of] nature in its beauty." - Albert Einstein 1950.

Biophilia Hypothesis suggests that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularized the hypothesis in his book, Biophilia (1984). He defines biophilia as "the urge to affiliate with other forms of life".

One world is a fact of life, except for those who live in a fantasy world. It's easy to feel disconnected when you lack knowledge and information. Even ancient cultures knew the power of knowledge. Tribal wisdom may seem primitive to outsiders, but they are more aware and more knowledgeable about their environment than most people who live in modern countries. Living in a developed country does more harm than good when most of the minds are underdeveloped. We need to grow intellectually and grow sustainably and symbiotically, and also be fair to everyone at the same time. That's development. 

Biological Network - Networks - Mushrooms

Quantum Entanglement is a physical phenomenon that occurs when pairs or groups of particles are generated or interact in ways such that the quantum state of each particle cannot be described independently of the others, even when the particles are separated by a large distance—instead, a quantum state must be described for the system as a whole. (could make communication over long distances possible, instant transmission). Billions of quantum entangled electrons found in 'strange metal'.

Quantum Teleportation is a process in which quantum information (e.g. the exact state of an atom or photon) can be transmitted (exactly, in principle) from one location to another, with the help of classical communication and previously shared quantum entanglement between the sending and receiving location. Because it depends on classical communication, which can proceed no faster than the speed of light, it cannot be used for faster-than-light transport or communication of classical bits. While it has proven possible to teleport one or more qubits of information between two (entangled) quanta, this has not yet been achieved between anything larger than molecules. Although the name is inspired by the teleportation commonly used in fiction, quantum teleportation is limited to the transfer of information rather than matter itself. Quantum teleportation is not a form of transportation, but of communication: it provides a way of immediately transferring a qubit from one location to another without having to move a physical particle along with it.

Teleportation is the theoretical transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. The way it works is based on the idea of quantum entanglement. Two photons that are created at the same moment share the same existence and are linked in such a way that no matter how far the distance, any changes happening to one of the objects happens instantaneously to the other. Using this technology, scientists hope to be able to communicate across vast distances of space without any delay, making manned missions to Mars and other planets much more feasible.

Action at a Distance is the concept that an object can be moved, changed, or otherwise affected without being physically touched (as in mechanical contact) by another object. That is, it is the nonlocal interaction of objects that are separated in space. Pioneering physicist Albert Einstein described the phenomenon as "spooky action at a distance".

The Tao of Physics is a 1975 book about An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism.

Structuralism are elements of human culture that must be understood in terms of their relationship to a larger, overarching system or structure. It works to uncover the structures that underlie all the things that humans do, think, perceive, and feel.

Geophysiology is the study of living bodies and the study of interaction among living organisms on the Earth operating under the hypothesis that the Earth itself acts as a single living organism. Topology.

Gaia Hypothesis organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic self-regulating, complex system that helps to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet.

Overview Effect (when people view the earth from space)

Gaia in Mythology is the ancestral mother of all life: the primal Mother Earth goddess.
 
Omnipresence is the property of being present everywhere.

Gaia Philosophy believes that living organisms on a planet will affect the nature of their environment in order to make the environment more suitable for life.

"If Humans make Earth Less Inhabitable, then Earth will not be able to sustain life, not even human life. Earth is a living entity. Earth needs to feed, Earth needs to erupt, Earth has stormy reactions to environmental pressures. Earth gets sick and Earth needs time to heal. But Earth gives Humans life, so that makes Earth our best friend. So we need to show our friend some respect and appreciation. And we need to pay attention to our friend. We need to have a good relationship with our friend Earth. Earth loves us. But if we turn our back on Earth, then Earth can no longer protect us or provide for us. My friend is Earth, and Earth is my Friend. And I will stick by my friend till the end. I hope you too will be our friend. So please, don't let all this incredible Love go to waste. There is no other Earth. Earth is totally unique and incredibly special, which happens to be the kind of friends I like the most, people who are unique and special, just Like Earth."

Mother Nature is a common personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it, in the form of the mother.

World is everything that exists anywhere. All of your experiences that determine how things appear to you. People in general considered as a whole. All of the Living human inhabitants of the Earth.

Nondualism means "not two" or "one undivided without a second". In Buddhist Madhyamaka it means that there is no absolute, transcendent reality beyond our everyday reality, and while things exist, they are ultimately "empty" of any existence on their own. In Yogacara, it refers to the idea of nondualism of cognition and that which is cognized; Advaita, which states that all of the universe is one essential reality, and that all facets and aspects of the universe are ultimately an expression or appearance of that one reality.

Monism is the view that attributes oneness or singleness.

Anima Mundi an intrinsic connection between all living things on the planet, which relates to our world in much the same way as the soul is connected to the human body.

Holistic or Holism is the idea that systems and their properties should be viewed as wholes, not just as a collection of parts. Holistic Medicine.

Coherence is the quality of being logical and consistent. The quality of forming a unified whole.

Intrinsic is belonging to a thing by its very nature.

Homogeneous is of the same or similar kind or alike. Nature.

Continuity is an uninterrupted connection or union. The property of a continuous and connected period of time.

Conjunction is the state of being joined together. The temporal property of two things happening at the same time. Something that joins or connects.

Gestalts is a structure, configuration, arrangement, or pattern of physical, biological, or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit with properties not derivable by summation of its parts. Elements so unified as a whole that it cannot be described merely as a sum of its parts. "the whole is something else than the sum of its parts",
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts".

Gestalt Psychology is an attempt to understand the laws behind the ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world. The central principle of gestalt psychology is that the mind forms a global whole with self-organizing tendencies. This principle maintains that when the human mind (perceptual system) forms a percept or "gestalt", the whole has a reality of its own, independent of the parts.

World-Systems Theory is a multidisciplinary, macro-scale approach to world history and social change which emphasizes the world-system (and not nation states) as the primary (but not exclusive) unit of social analysis.

As Above, So Below is an expression that says that some problems are systemic and that individual or domestic ills can result from larger societal ills. The microcosm reflects the macrocosm, and trickle down ignorance is the root of the problem. As Above, So Below whatever happens on any level of reality (physical, emotional, or mental) also happens on every other level. Everything is connected. This is more than the just mundane chains of cause and effect. This is a problem that we can fix. DNA (below) and Our Knowledge and Education (above).

Macro-Level in sociology looks at large-scale social processes, such as social stability and change.

Macro is something very large in scale, scope or capability.

Micro-Level in sociology looks at small-scale interactions between individuals, such as conversation or group dynamics.

Micro is something extremely small in scale, scope or capability.

Macrocosm refers to a vision of cosmos where the part microcosm reflects the whole macrocosm and vice versa. It is a feature "present in all esoteric schools of thinking". 

Level of Analysis is used in the social sciences to point to the location, size, or scale of a research target.

Identity of Indiscernibles is an ontological principle that states that there cannot be separate objects or entities that have all their properties in common. That is, entities x and y are identical if every predicate possessed by x is also possessed by y and vice versa; to suppose two things indiscernible is to suppose the same thing under two names. It states that no two distinct things (such as snowflakes) can be exactly alike, but this is intended as a metaphysical principle rather than one of natural science.

Relevance is the concept of one topic being connected to another topic in a way that makes it useful to consider the second topic when considering the first.

Principles of Grouping are a set of principles in psychology, first proposed by Gestalt psychologists to account for the observation that humans naturally perceive objects as organized patterns and objects, a principle known as Prägnanz. Gestalt psychologists argued that these principles exist because the mind has an innate disposition to perceive patterns in the stimulus based on certain rules. These principles are organized into five categories: Proximity, Similarity, Continuity, Closure, and Connectedness.

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but the whole is nothing without its parts".

"Things which equal the same thing are also equivalent to one another"

"We are all independent cells within the super-organism called humanity"

Parts of the universe are abstractions of the whole. Though quantum mechanics and relativity have contradictions, they are still connected in the field.

Is there such a thing as an Isolated System? A physical system so far removed from other systems that it does not interact with them. Or a thermodynamic system enclosed by rigid immovable walls through which neither matter nor energy can pass.

Working Together - Interdependence - Associations

Matrix - Network - The Tree of Life - Pyramid of Complexity

Symbiosis - Cause and Effect - Space

Transport Hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include train stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stop, airports and ferry slips. Freight hubs include classification yards, seaports and truck terminals, or combinations of these. For private transport, the parking lot functions as a hub.

Six Degrees of Separation is the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world, so that a chain of "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps.

Environmental Sayings - Quotes about the Environment

Eco-Initiative Ideas and Actions

The worst type of disconnect is when people have no real connection to life. People are so distracted and so consumed by things in their life that they never realize their own potential, or do they realize how incredible life is and how incredible our planet is. This disconnect is related to the lack of knowledge and information that people have. You have to learn how to be connected to life and learn how to stay connected to life, if not, then you will live your entire life without ever being truly connected to life itself, as if you have never lived. This doesn't have to happen. We can improve education and improve peoples access to valuable knowledge and information. Humans have a right to be humans and the right to reach for their fullest potential. No one has a right to treat people like they are insignificant to life.

Most things we do have many side-effects, whether the effects come from drugs, foods or the actions we take. You must know all the side effects involved in order to determine what the correct action is that you should to take. You have to understand what each side effect means separately, and you also have to understand what all the effects mean as a whole, as well as determine which effect is the most dangerous and most likely the one that could cause the most damage.

“The Earth does not belong to man; Man belongs to the Earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” — Chief Seattle.

Web is an intricate network suggesting something that was formed by weaving or interweaving. An interconnected system of things or people. Computer network consisting of a collection of internet sites that offer text and graphics and sound and animation resources through the hypertext transfer protocol.

Humans need to remember that they do not create or sustain Mother Earth. Mother Earth creates and sustains us. Instead of seeking to dominate and control Earth, we need to respect and cooperate with Earth and our fellow inhabitants (including animals and plants).

"Apparently there is a great discovery or insight which our culture is deliberately designed to suppress, distort and ignore. That is that Nature is some kind of minded entity. That Nature is not simply the random flight of atoms through electromagnetic fields. Nature is not the empty, despiritualized lumpen matter that we inherit from modern physics. But it is instead a kind of intelligence, a kind of mind." ~ Terence McKenna.

"No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were, any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee." - Ernest Hemingway.

There is literally 100's of important choices and decisions that we make everyday.

Problem Solving - Climate Change

Changes and Improvements will only come from being aware of the choices that we need to make everyday and not from the money we give to charities. Face it, money will never solve our problems. Being aware of what choices we need to make everyday is the only sure way, and the only sustainable way, that we will ever have lasting changes and Improvements. And passing on this wisdom to people and future generations is the only way that we will ever free ourselves from making these same mistakes over and over again. A charity that's only asking for money is not a charity. A charity must have proven methods that clearly communicates the ways that people can really help without relying on money. Philanthropy should never have to depend on volunteering. And the word Volunteer should never be used when describing what someone needs to do or what society needs to do. There is a huge difference between 'Work' and 'Life'. Doing what's right and doing what's good should never need a reason or should never need a word to describe it.

Gift - Generosity

Helping should just be a natural reaction that a human has when a human interacts with the world. A charity should mostly be about giving knowledge and information and finding everyway possible to help people understand this knowledge and Information so that people can take action, make changes and make the right choices. Raising awareness is more important then raising money as long as the awareness can be translated into action.

We must allow time for improvements and innovation. Autonomy.

Every business should give employees a half hour every workday, or at least a half hour every week, to work on a community project or a cause that will benefit people in some way. At the same time every school should give every teacher, administrator and student a half hour every school day or school week to work on a community project or a cause that will benefit people in some way.

Social Innovation - Do Patents Encourage Innovation or Stifle Innovation?

You don't have to own everything, you just have to know where everything is. We can share a lot of our tools and resources by having a community rental place, like the ones they have now but better. But you still have to use our tools resources responsibly for rebuilding and maintaining. 

Be the Change
Serve
ROWE (Results Only Work Environment)
Involve
Volunteering

National Service
I Care America
USA Service
Teach for America
All For Good

Remember, ending poverty, ending hunger, providing healthcare, and even with all the greatest advances and improvements that we make in this world, non of these will mean nothing if we never increase the quality and quantity of our education. Give a person a fish you feed them for a day, teach that person how to fish and you feed them for a lifetime. More Qualified Teachers and increasing the Quality of Education will definitely help inspire change". Action.

Learn and Learn again until Lambs become Lions. Inspiration 101 - Information Sources.

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Zoos - Aquariums - Circuses - Rodeos

Zoo is a facility in which animals are housed within enclosures, cared for, displayed to the public, and in some cases bred.

Aquarium is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquatic reptiles such as turtles, and aquatic plants. Oceans.

Circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, unicyclists, as well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists.

Rodeo is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later Central America, South America, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros in the charreria and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States, western Canada, and northern Mexico.

Zoos, Aquariums, Circuses and Rodeos misinform us as to the social and behavioral needs of animals. Sentient beings are regarded as exhibits or displays - as mere commodities. This callous attitude contributes to society’s failure to protect natural environments because of a false sense of security -- if it’s in captivity, then it won’t become extinct; it doesn’t need help. Students do not learn about the natural habitats and the history of the species.

Can Zoos, Aquariums, Circuses and Rodeos be Educational?

Lifeforce Foundation - Promoting the development of symbiotic relations between people, animals the environment.

Animal Science is studying the biology of animals that are under the control of humankind.

Domesticated chickens have smaller brains. When the scientists selectively bred the junglefowl with least fear of humans for 10 generations, the offspring acquired smaller brains and found it easier to become accustomed to frightening but non-hazardous events. The results shed new light over how domestication may have changed animals so much in a relatively short time. Republican Voters.

Dog Show - International Freestyle Heelwork To Music - Part 1 | Crufts 2020 (youtube)

Domesticated is an animal that is tame and kept as a pet in a home or on a farm. An animal converted or adapted to domestic use and accustomed to home life. Assimilated.

Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which one group of organisms assumes a significant degree of influence over the reproduction and care of another group to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that second group. The domestication of plants and animals was a major cultural innovation ranked in importance with the conquest of fire, the manufacturing of tools, and the development of verbal language.

Temple Grandin is a prominent proponent for the humane treatment of livestock for slaughter and author of more than 60 scientific papers on animal behavior. She is a consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior, and an autism spokesperson. She is one of the first individuals on the autism spectrum to document the insights she gained from her personal experience of autism. She is currently a faculty member with Animal Sciences in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Colorado State University, United States of America. In the 2010 Time 100, an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, she was named among those in the "Heroes" category. She was the subject of the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning semi-biographical film Temple Grandin. Grandin has been an outspoken proponent of the autism rights and neurodiversity movements.

Animal Welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity, disease, immunosuppression, behavior, physiology, and reproduction, although there is debate about which of these best indicate animal welfare. Respect for animal welfare is often based on the belief that nonhuman animals are sentient and that consideration should be given to their well-being or suffering, especially when they are under the care of humans. These concerns can include how animals are slaughtered for food, how they are used in scientific research, how they are kept (as pets, in zoos, farms, circuses, etc.), and how human activities affect the welfare and survival of wild species. Animal Welfare.

Animal Welfare Science is the scientific study of the welfare of animals as pets, in zoos, laboratories, on farms and in the wild. Although animal welfare has been of great concern for many thousands of years in religion and culture, the investigation of animal welfare using rigorous scientific methods is a relatively recent development. The world's first Professor of Animal Welfare Science, Donald Broom, was appointed by Cambridge University (UK) in 1986.

Wild Animal Suffering is the suffering experienced by nonhuman animals living outside of direct human control, due to harms such as disease, injury, parasitism, starvation, dehydration, extreme weather, natural disasters, and killings by other animals.

Extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms (taxon), normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. De-Extinction.

Keystone Species is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance. Such species are described as playing a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community, affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem and helping to determine the types and numbers of various other species in the community.

Endangered Animals - Earth Botany 

Poachers killed an estimated 100,000 elephants across Africa between 2010 and 2012, a huge spike in the continent's death rate of the world's largest mammals because of an increased demand for ivory in China and other Asian nations, a new study published Monday found. This past January, China crushed six tons of illegal ivory, and Hong Kong pledged to destroy 28 tons over the next two years. Maybe we should have sold the ivory and used the money to pay for more protection of Elephants?
Every 15 minutes an Elephant is Killed by Poachers.

Monitoring Technology

Enforcing Endangered Species Laws with DNA Barcodes.

Researchers turn DNA detectives to aid rhino poaching prosecutions with forensic evidence. The project is part of the Rhino DNA Indexing System (RhODIS- India) conservation program. This database has been created to build a DNA catalogue of the existing Indian greater one-horned rhinoceros, Rhinoceros unicornis, to tackle rhino poaching and assist conservation efforts for this vulnerable species. Inspired by a similar program in South Africa, PhD student and senior research fellow Tista Ghosh, along with Dr Samrat Mondol (WII) and Amit Sharma (WWF India), collected dung from 749 rhinoceros to gather vital genetic information. By analysing dung for traces of population specific genetic signals, a genetic baseline was created for rhinoceros across India and 406 unique individuals were identified. Microsatellite markers are present in nuclear DNA, similar to a fingerprint, where each individual has its own unique genetic signature. The use of 14 markers helps to identify individuals from dung data based on unique individual rhino's signature.By comparing seized rhino horn samples to these specific genetic signals, the researchers could trace the rhino back to its breeding population, thus identifying trade routes and pinpointing poaching hotspots, which are notoriously difficult for traditional law enforcement to track.

Documenting Asia's Illegal Animal Trade (youtube)

Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights.

Trophy Hunting is as ignorant and criminal as an Honor Killing. There's no Honor in Murder.

Wildlife Trade refers to the commerce of products that are derived from non-domesticated animals or plants usually extracted from their natural environment or raised under controlled conditions. It can involve the trade of living or dead individuals, tissues such as skins, bones or meat, or other products.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals. It was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Mike - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

Illegal Fishing, Logging and Poaching are impacting two-thirds of the 57 natural World Heritage sites monitored by the International Union for Conservation of Nature this year in 2017, putting some of the world's most precious and unique ecosystems and species at risk.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. It and its predecessor shows ran from 1871 to 2017. Known as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, the circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey, was merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows. The Ringling brothers had purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919. After 1956 the circus no longer exhibited under their own portable "big top" tents, instead using permanent venues such as sports stadiums and arenas. In 1967, Irvin Feld and his brother Israel, along with Houston Judge Roy Hofheinz bought the circus from the Ringling family. In 1971, the Felds and Hofheinz sold the circus to Mattel, buying it back from the toy company in 1982. Since the death of Irvin Feld in 1984, the circus had been a part of Feld Entertainment, an international entertainment firm headed by Kenneth Feld, with its headquarters in Ellenton, Florida. With weakening attendance and high operating costs, the circus closed on May 21, 2017 after 146 years.

Urban Darwinism: How Species Are Evolving to Survive in Cities. In urban areas, the forces of rapid natural selection are leading to striking genetic changes in animals. The unprecedented influence that humans are exerting on the natural world is a given in this epoch of the Anthropocene. Animals, plants, and insects adapt to the extreme urban environment.

Urban Wildlife is wildlife that can live or thrive in urban environments. Some urban wildlife, such as house mice, are synanthropic, ecologically associated with humans. Some species or populations may become entirely dependent on humans.

Urban Ecology is the scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings in the context of an urban environment. The urban environment refers to environments dominated by high-density residential and commercial buildings, paved surfaces, and other urban-related factors that create a unique landscape dissimilar to most previously studied environments in the field of ecology. The goal of urban ecology is to achieve a balance between human culture and the natural environment.