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Environmental sustainability is making decisions and taking actions in the interest of protecting the natural world, preserving the capability of the environment to support human life and ensuring that humans use the environment in a way that does not harm the environment. It also questions how economic development affects our environment vice versa. Environmentally unsustainable activities (long term damage) include: Damaging rainforests and woodlands through logging Damaging land through mining Polluting and over-fishing oceans, rivers and lakes Polluting the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels Damaging prime agricultural land through use of unsustainable farming practices In a recent study by Standard Charted Bank measuring long-term sustainability of 31 countries, South Africa came in last. In addition, South Africa is one of the world's top 20 greenhouse gas emitters as of 2006. This is mainly due to mining in the country. The heavy reliance on coal mines to supply 80% of the energy in South Africa causes pollution and allows toxic chemicals to leech into the surrounding land and water bodies. Poor spatial planning of human settlements, sanitation and waste management systems, storm water management, and fall in life expectancy in the past few years have also contributed to South Africa’s low long-term sustainability and high greenhouse gas emission. Relationship between economic development and environmental sustainability (Comparisons and trade-offs) Economic development is highly dependent on the natural resources for food and energy production, which inputs to manufacturing, and to absorbing wastes and pollutants. Thus, there is a high dependency on farming. However, South Africa is not rich in agriculture resources; ... ... middle of paper ... ... in 1995 showed that native plants and micro-organisms grow naturally in hostile mine environments and how they can be propagated to potentially rehabilitate TSFs and polluted soils. The programme focused on effectiveness of different types of vegetation in groundwater and soil remediation. Around 80 plant species have been assessed in tailings experiments; almost 60 tree species are being assessed in woodlands trials on seepage from TSFs; and approximately 200 plant species will be used out of the almost 600 species found to grow naturally on the reef outcrops, polluted soils and tailings. The final phase of research (2009-2012) will look at how phytoremediation plants might be able to produce materials such as precious wood, fibres, chemicals, essential oils, dyes, gums, and recoverable minerals and metals for secondary industries, and thus help local communities.
China is becoming one of the increasingly crucial environmental concerns of heavy metal contamination on agricultural land. Heavy metal contamination happens when water resources are short and wastewater is then applied to plants causing major health risks to environmental quality and food production. Many scientists have been exploring solutions of this environmental problem and some research say that mycorrhizae have made a positive outcome in fighting the heavy metals and toxins in the soil. Heggo,A. (1990) studied the mechanism of mycorrhizae and heavy metals and resulted that mycorrhizae fungi may filter excessive metals in the soil. Another study showed that mycorrhizae enhanced tolerance of plants infected with toxic soils. Scientists are still studying to find out ways how mycorrhizae fungi improve these plants and resistance from heavy metals. However, metal and toxin uptake might be also impacted from the soils condition. Mycorrhizae symbiosis are well familiar for their enhancement of phosphorus uptake. This nutritional benefit is questioned to account for the plants tolerance of heavy metals and toxins in the soil. The way that heavy metals and toxins affect the ecosystem is the life of organisms such as plants don’t grow in a healthy manner causing toxic plants where animals and humans can
The communities of various native plants have been significantly minimized as a result of ...
Holmes, Garnett, Bureau of Plant Industry United States, and Bureau of Chemistry and Soils United States. Soil Survey of The Yuma Area, Arizona-California. N.p.: Govt. print. off., 1905
Sustainability is broadly characterized as addressing the present generation’s needs without jeopardizing the future generations to address their own issues. Sustainable procedures are those that outcome from an establishment's commitment to environmental, social and economic, or the "triple bottom line." The term "sustainability," is the advancement of a procedure or management framework that serves to maintain economy and high standard of life while regarding the need to maintain natural resources and secure the nature.
When creating a working definition of a sustainable global environment there is a short definition and a long definition. The short of definition of a sustainable global environment is an environment in which all living things can co-exist together while having their essential needs to sustain life met. This definition, while ideal, is probably not realistic due to the fact that humans in many cases are not simply satisfied with living with only the essential needs that sustain life. That leads to the more realistic but complex definition of a sustainable global environment. This definition focuses on sustainability, stewardship, science, political policy and globalization. Sustainability focuses on not depleting needed resources. Stewardship is the moral framework in which our public and private actions are made. The science aspect of a sustainable global environment is the information that decisions, including mandated policy, are made on. The final aspect is globalization, which refers to the interconnectedness humans and the environment share with each other on a global level. Regardless of the definition that is used, the goal is the same, sustaining a high quality of life for all creatures while not exhausting the needed resources to do so.
The first step to addressing issues of sustainability is examining why this has become such a heated issue in our country. Throughout the past twenty years, scientists, politicians, and environmentalists have all combined efforts to raise awareness for the condition of our environment. Oguejiofor, of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Nigeria, states that the problems that they have identified in this sector of research through studies are global warming, ozone depletion, exhaustion of resources, and air pollution.
Gazzale, L (2007), retrieved January 22, 2007 from University of Phoenix, Main MBA501 week five environmental scanning thread
In understanding sustainability, every human being plays an important role. Sustainability can be defined as how human beings depend on the environment for various needs while ensuring that what the environment is offering them, would not be depleted so that the future generation can also benefit. Sustainability is best simplified as everything that the human population needs from the environment so as to maintain their survival (ABC-CLIO, 2012). The dependence can be either direct or indirectly, depending on the relationship between man and nature. In such instances, sustainability helps in ensuring that man and nature coexist in harmony while social and economic needs are achieved so as
in accessible frame, micronutrients, microflora, compounds, and development controllers [C. A. Edwards( 2004), A. A. Ansari( 2011) ]. Along these lines, the vermicompost when connected or supplemented in soil enhances trim development and yield [J. G. Zaller et al.(2007) , M. Jayakumar et al.(2011)]. The night crawlers, the drivers of many procedures in soil, aside from the known vermicomposting, are likewise found to improve phytoextraction of metals from sullied soils [R. K. Sinha et al.(2010)]. Moreover, vermicompost, delivered by the joint activity of earthworm and microorganisms, contains supplements in accessible shape with expanded microbial action [M. Aira et al (2007)] . The utilization of biofertilizers is these days known to draw out a few advantages to soil: solubilization of basic minerals, get hold of supplements, offering micronutrients in more utilizable shape for plants, and partaking in organic nitrogen obsession. Microorganisms of this gathering are for the most part known as plant development
Betey C. B. and Godfred E. 2013. Environmental Impact Assessment and Sustainable Development in Africa: A Critical Review. Vol. 3, No. 2. Canadian Center of Science and Education.
Phytoremediation is a novel, efficient, environmentally friendly, low-cost technology, which uses plants and trees to clean up soil and water contaminated with heavy metals and/or organic contaminants such as solvents, crude oil, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and other toxic compounds from contaminated environments. This technology is useful for soil and water remediation.
Some of the typical impacts that mining in South Africa has on the environment are that it can lead to a loss of biodiversity because of a transformation in the natural habitats and ecosystems. The mining industry also usually requires large amounts of water. Surface and groundwater pollution often happen due to the acid mine drainage.
As a result of this process, the mine sites "do not develop normal soil structure or support the establishment of a plant cover". Many mine sites have...
Per year South Africa uses 1.3 % of the world’s total energy. South Africa’s main energy comes from coal, but one quarter of the coal we mine is exported to other countries. In 2009 71.1% of the total energy sources in South Africa were coal and hydroelectric energy had 0,1%. The one major reason hydroelectric energy in South Africa is so low is because this country is a water scarce one, which means that the hydroelectric power stations don’t have enough water to produce electricity efficiently. Eskom produces 95% of the electricity in South Africa and about half the electricity in Africa. Most of the electricity that is produced is from coal, but not all of it, other sources include gas, wind, hydroelectric and nuclear energy.
The thrown plastic, pampers and other product block water in the stream near the settlement which helps create habitat for the harmful species to breed in them, species such as mosquitoes that causes malaria and other disease such as cancer ,asthma and neurological disease. All those disease is dangerous disease to young children even in adult, in my opinion the high rate of mortality in South Africa is mainly cause by dirty. Uncollected waste obstructs the storm water runoff resulting in flood. Causes low birth weight, like in tembisa the is goats and horses moving the street in search of food, and they end up eating plastic bag on the ground thinking it food and that lead to death animals. Sewage in aquatic animals causes eutrophication silt build up in fresh