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Impacts from human activity on land and in the water can influence ecosystems profoundly. Climate change, ocean acidification, permafrost melting, habitat loss, eutrophication, stormwater runoff, air pollution, contaminants, and invasive species are among many problems facing ecosystems

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Things humans do that is killing the enviroment

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Things humans do that is killing the enviroment

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-use a lot of fossil fuels
-deforestation
-landfills
-agriculture

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A fossil fuel[a] is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas.[2] Fossil fuels may be burned to provide heat for use directly (such as for cooking or heating), to power engines (such as internal combustion engines in motor vehicles), or to generate electricity.[3] Some fossil fuels are refined into derivatives such as kerosene, gasoline and propane before burning. The origin of fossil fuels is the anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms, containing organic molecules created by photosynthesis.[4] The conversion from these materials to high-carbon fossil fuels typically require a geological process of millions of years.[5]

In 2019, 84% of primary energy consumption in the world and 64% of its electricity was from fossil fuels.[6][7][8] The large-scale burning of fossil fuels causes serious environmental damage. Over 80% of the carbon dioxide (CO ₂) generated by human activity comes from burning them: around 35 billion tonnes a year,[9] compared to 4 billion from land development.[10] Natural processes on Earth, mostly absorption by the ocean, can only remove a small part of this. Therefore, there is a net increase of many billion tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year.[11] Although methane leaks are significant,[12]: 52  the burning of fossil fuels is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming and ocean acidification. Additionally, most air pollution deaths are due to fossil fuel particulates and noxious gases. It is estimated that this costs over 3% of the global gross domestic product[13] and that fossil fuel phase-out will save millions of lives each year.[14]

Recognition of the climate crisis, pollution and other negative impacts caused by fossil fuels has led to a widespread policy transition and activist movement focused on ending their use in favor of sustainable energy.[15] However, because the fossil-fuel industry is so heavily integrated in the global economy and heavily subsidized,[16] this transition is expected to have significant economic impacts.[17] Many stakeholders argue that this change needs to be a just transition[18] and create policy that addresses the societal burdens created by the stranded assets of the fossil fuel industry.[19][20]

International policy, in the form of United Nations sustainable development goals for affordable and clean energy and climate action, as well as the Paris Climate Agreement, is designed to facilitate this transition at a global level. In 2021, the International Energy Agency concluded that no new fossil fuel extraction projects could be opened if the global economy and society wants to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and meet international goals for climate change mitigation.[21]

Origin

The theory that fossil fuels formed from the fossilized remains of dead plants by exposure to heat and pressure in Earth's crust over millions of years was first introduced by Andreas Libavius "in his 1597 Alchemia [Alchymia]" and later by Mikhail Lomonosov "as early as 1757 and certainly by 1763".[23] The first use of the term "fossil fuel" occurs in the work of the German chemist Caspar Neumann, in English translation in 1759.[24] The Oxford English Dictionary notes that in the phrase "fossil fuel" the adjective "fossil" means "[o]btained by digging; found buried in the earth", which dates to at least 1652,[25] before the English noun "fossil" came to refer primarily to long-dead organisms in the early 18th century.[26]

Aquatic phytoplankton and zooplankton that died and sedimented in large quantities under anoxic conditions millions of years ago began forming petroleum and natural gas as a result of anaerobic decomposition. Over geological time this organic matter, mixed with mud, became buried under further heavy layers of inorganic sediment. The resulting high temperature and pressure caused the organic matter to chemically alter, first into a waxy material known as kerogen, which is found in oil shales, and then with more heat into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons in a process known as catagenesis. Despite these heat-driven transformations, the energy released in combustion is still photosynthetic in origin.[4]

Terrestrial plants tended to form coal and methane. Many of the coal fields date to the Carboniferous period of Earth's history. Terrestrial plants also form type III kerogen, a source of natural gas. Although fossil fuels are continually formed by natural processes, they are classified as non-renewable resources because they take millions of years to form and known viable reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are generated.[27][28]

Importance

Fossil fuels have been important to human development because they can be readily burned in the open atmosphere to produce heat. The use of peat as a domestic fuel predates recorded history. Coal was burned in some early furnaces for the smelting of metal ore, while semi-solid hydrocarbons from oil seeps were also burned in ancient times,[29] they were mostly used for waterproofing and embalming.[30]

Commercial exploitation of petroleum began in the 19th century.[31]

Natural gas, once flared-off as an unneeded byproduct of petroleum production, is now considered a very valuable resource.[32] Natural gas deposits are also the main source of helium.

Heavy crude oil, which is much more viscous than conventional crude oil, and oil sands, where bitumen is found mixed with sand and clay, began to become more important as sources of fossil fuel in the early 2000s.[33] Oil shale and similar materials are sedimentary rocks containing kerogen, a complex mixture of high-molecular weight organic compounds, which yield synthetic crude oil when heated ( pyrolyzed). With additional processing, they can be employed instead of other established fossil fuels. During the 2010s and 2020s there was disinvestment from exploitation of such resources due to their high carbon cost relative to more easily-processed reserves.[34]

Prior to the latter half of the 18th century, windmills and watermills provided the energy needed for work such as milling flour, sawing wood or pumping water, while burning wood or peat provided domestic heat. The wide-scale use of fossil fuels, coal at first and petroleum later, in steam engines enabled the Industrial Revolution. At the same time, gas lights using natural gas or coal gas were coming into wide use. The invention of the internal combustion engine and its use in automobiles and trucks greatly increased the demand for gasoline and diesel oil, both made from fossil fuels. Other forms of transportation, railways and aircraft, also require fossil fuels. The other major use for fossil fuels is in generating electricity and as feedstock for the petrochemical industry. Tar, a leftover of petroleum extraction, is used in the construction of roads.

The energy for the Green Revolution was provided by fossil fuels in the form of fertilizers (natural gas), pesticides (oil), and hydrocarbon-fueled irrigation.[35][36] The development of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has significantly supported global population growth; it has been estimated that almost half of the Earth's population are currently fed as a result of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use.[37] According to head of a fertilizers commodity price agency, "50% of the world's food relies on fertilisers."[38]

Environmental effects

The burning of fossil fuels has a number of negative externalities - harmful environmental impacts where the effects extend beyond the people using the fuel. The actual effects depend on the fuel in question. All fossil fuels release CO ₂ when they burn, thus accelerating climate change. Burning coal, and to a lesser extent oil and its derivatives, contribute to atmospheric particulate matter, smog and acid rain.[39][40][41]

Climate change is largely driven by the release of greenhouse gasses like CO ₂, with the burning of fossil fuels being the main source of these emissions. In most parts of the world climate change is negatively impacting ecosystems.[45] This includes contributing to the extinction of species and reducing people's ability to produce food, thus adding to the problem of world hunger. Continued rises in global temperatures will lead to further adverse effects on both ecosystems and people, with the World Health Organization having stated climate change is the greatest threat to human health in the 21st century.[46][47]

Combustion of fossil fuels generates sulfuric and nitric acids, which fall to Earth as acid rain, impacting both natural areas and the built environment. Monuments and sculptures made from marble and limestone are particularly vulnerable, as the acids dissolve calcium carbonate.

Fossil fuels also contain radioactive materials, mainly uranium and thorium, which are released into the atmosphere. In 2000, about 12,000 tonnes of thorium and 5,000 tonnes of uranium were released worldwide from burning coal.[48] It is estimated that during 1982, US coal burning released 155 times as much radioactivity into the atmosphere as the Three Mile Island accident.[49]

Burning coal also generates large amounts of bottom ash and fly ash. These materials are used in a wide variety of applications (see Fly ash reuse), utilizing, for example, about 40% of the United States production.[50]

In addition to the effects that result from burning, the harvesting, processing, and distribution of fossil fuels also have environmental effects. Coal mining methods, particularly mountaintop removal and strip mining, have negative environmental impacts, and offshore oil drilling poses a hazard to aquatic organisms. Fossil fuel wells can contribute to methane release via fugitive gas emissions. Oil refineries also have negative environmental impacts, including air and water pollution. Coal is sometimes transported by diesel-powered locomotives, while crude oil is typically transported by tanker ships, requiring the combustion of additional fossil fuels.

A variety of mitigating efforts have arisen to counter the negative effects of fossil fuels. This includes a movement to use alternative energy sources, such as renewable energy. Environmental regulation uses a variety of approaches to limit these emissions; for example, rules against releasing waste products like fly ash into the atmosphere.[41]

In December 2020, the United Nations released a report saying that despite the need to reduce greenhouse emissions, various governments are " doubling down" on fossil fuels, in some cases diverting over 50% of their COVID-19 recovery stimulus funding to fossil fuel production rather than to alternative energy. The UN secretary general António Guterres declared that "Humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal. Nature always strikes back - and it is already doing so with growing force and fury." However, Guterres also said there is still cause for hope, anticipating Joe Biden's plan for the US to join other large emitters like China and the EU in adopting targets to reach net zero emissions by 2050.[51][52][53]

Illness and deaths

Environmental pollution from fossil fuels impacts humans because particulates and other air pollution from fossil fuel combustion cause illness and death when inhaled. These health effects include premature death, acute respiratory illness, aggravated asthma, chronic bronchitis and decreased lung function. The poor, undernourished, very young and very old, and people with preexisting respiratory disease and other ill health are more at risk.[54] Global air pollution deaths due to fossil fuels have been estimated at over 8 million people (2018, nearly 1 in 5 deaths worldwide)[55] and at 10.2 million (2019).[56]

While all energy sources inherently have adverse effects, the data shows that fossil fuels cause the highest levels of greenhouse gas emissions and are the most dangerous for human health. In contrast, modern renewable energy sources appear to be safer for human health and cleaner. The death rate from accidents and air pollution in the EU are as follows per terawatt-hour: coal (24.6 deaths), oil (18.4 deaths), natural gas (2.8 deaths), biomass (4.6 deaths), hydropower (0.02 deaths), nuclear energy (0.07 deaths), wind (0.04 deaths), and solar (0.02 deaths). The greenhouse gas emissions from each energy source are as follows, measured in tonnes: coal (820 tonnes), oil (720 tonnes), natural gas (490 tonnes), biomass (78-230 tonnes), hydropower (34 tonnes), nuclear energy (3 tonnes), wind (4 tonnes), and solar (5 tonnes).[57] As the data shows, coal, oil, natural gas, and biomass cause higher death rates and higher levels of greenhouse gas emissions than hydropower, nuclear energy, wind, and solar power. Scientists propose that 1.8 million lives have been saved by replacing fossil fuel sources with nuclear power.[58]

Phase-out

Just transition

Divestment

Fossil fuel divestment or fossil fuel divestment and investment in climate solutions is an attempt to reduce climate change by exerting social, political, and economic pressure for the institutional divestment of assets including stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments connected to companies involved in extracting fossil fuels.

Fossil fuel divestment campaigns emerged on campuses in the United States in 2011 with students urging their administrations to turn endowment investments in the fossil fuel industry into investments in clean energy and communities most impacted by climate change.[62] In 2012, Unity College in Maine became the first institution of higher learning to divest[63] its endowment from fossil fuels.

By 2015, fossil fuel divestment was reportedly the fastest growing divestment movement in history.[64] In October 2021, a total of 1,485 institutions representing $39.2 trillion in assets worldwide had begun or committed to a divestment from fossil fuels.[65]

Industrial sector

In 2019, Saudi Aramco was listed and it reached a US$2 trillion valuation on its second day of trading,[68] after the world's largest initial public offering.[69]

Economic effects

Air pollution from fossil fuels in 2018 has been estimated to cost US$2.9 trillion, or 3.3% of the global gross domestic product (GDP).[13]

Subsidies

Lobbying activities

The fossil fuels lobby includes paid representatives of corporations involved in the fossil fuel industry ( oil, gas, coal), as well as related industries like chemicals, plastics, aviation and other transportation.[78] Because of their wealth and the importance of energy, transport and chemical industries to local, national and international economies, these lobbies have the capacity and money to attempt to have outsized influence governmental policy. In particular, the lobbies have been known to obstruct policy related to environmental protection, environmental health and climate action.[79]

Lobbies are active in most fossil-fuel intensive economies with democratic governance, with reporting on the lobbies most prominent in Canada, Australia, the United States and Europe, however the lobbies are present in many parts of the world. Big Oil companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, TotalEnergies, Chevron Corporation, and ConocoPhillips are among the largest corporations associated with the fossil fuels lobby.[80] The American Petroleum Institute is a powerful industry lobbyist for Big Oil with significant clout in Washington, D.C.[81][82][83]

Some observers have also been critical of the presence of major fossil fuel companies at global forums for decision making, like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,[84] Paris Climate Agreement negotiations,[84] the Plastic and other international forums. The lobby is known for exploiting international crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic,[85] or the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine,[86][87] to try to roll back existing regulations or justify new fossil fuel development.[85][86]

See also

Notes

The term has been considered a ^ misnomer because it does not actually originate from fossils, but from organic matter.[1]

References

1. ^ Fleckenstein, Joseph E. (2016). Three-phase electrical power. Boca Raton. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-4987-3778-4. OCLC 958799795.

2. "thermochemistry of fossil fuel formation" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 September 2015.

3. Paul Mann, Lisa Gahagan, and Mark B. Gordon, "Tectonic setting of the world's giant oil and gas fields", in ^ Michel T. Halbouty (ed.) Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade, 1990-1999, Tulsa, Okla.: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, p. 50, accessed 22 June 2009.

4. ^ Ritchie, Hannah; Roser, Max (28 November 2020). "Energy". Our World in Data.

5. ^ Bank, European Investment (2 February 2023). "Energy Overview 2023".

6. ^ "Chapter 2: Emissions trends and drivers" (PDF). Ipcc_Ar6_Wgiii. 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 April 2022.

7. "Quantifying the Economic Costs of Air Pollution from Fossil Fuels" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 April 2020.

8. ^ Bos, Kyra; Gupta, Joyeeta (1 October 2019). "Stranded assets and stranded resources: Implications for climate change mitigation and global sustainable development". Energy Research & Social Science. 56: 101215. doi:10.1016/j.erss.2019.05.025. ISSN 2214-6296. S2CID 198658515.

9. ^ Hsu, Chang Samuel; Robinson, Paul R. (2017). Springer Handbook of Petroleum Technology (2nd, illustrated ed.). Springer. p. 360. ISBN 978-3-319-49347-3. Extract of p. 360

10. ^ Caspar Neumann; William Lewis (1759). The Chemical Works of Caspar Neumann ... (1773 printing). J. and F. Rivington. pp. 492-.

11. (Subscription or ^ "fossil". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. participating institution membership required.) - "fossil [...] adj. [...] Obtained by digging; found buried in the earth. Now chiefly of fuels and other materials occurring naturally in underground deposits; esp. in FOSSIL FUEL n."

12. (Subscription or ^ "fossil". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. participating institution membership required.) - "fossil [...] n. [...] Something preserved in the ground, esp. in petrified form in rock, and recognizable as the remains of a living organism of a former geological period, or as preserving an impression or trace of such an organism."

13. ^ Miller, G.; Spoolman, Scott (2007). Environmental Science: Problems, Connections and Solutions. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-495-38337-6 - via Google Books.

14. ^ Ahuja, Satinder (2015). Food, Energy, and Water: The Chemistry Connection. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-12-800374-9 - via Google Books.

15. ^ Bilkadi, Zayn (1992). "Bulls From the Sea: Ancient Oil Industries". Aramco World. Archived from the original on 13 November 2007.

16. ^ Ball, Max W.; Douglas Ball; Daniel S. Turner (1965). This Fascinating Oil Business. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. ISBN 978-0-672-50829-5.

17. ^ Kaldany, Rashad, Director Oil, Gas, Mining and Chemicals Dept, World Bank (13 December 2006). Global Gas Flaring Reduction: A Time for Action! (PDF). Global Forum on Flaring & Gas Utilization. Paris.

18. ^ Eating Fossil Fuels. EnergyBulletin. Archived June 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine

19. ^ "Soaring fertilizer prices put global food security at risk". Axios. 6 May 2022.

20. ^ Erisman, Jan Willem; MA Sutton, J Galloway, Z Klimont, W Winiwarter (October 2008). "How a century of ammonia synthesis changed the world". Nature Geoscience. 1 (10): 636-639. Bibcode:2008NatGe...1..636E. doi:10.1038/ngeo325. S2CID 94880859. Archived from the original on 23 July 2010.

21. ^ Oswald Spengler (1932). Man and Technics (PDF). Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-8371-8875-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 November 2020.

22. ^ Griffin, Rodman (10 July 1992). "Alternative Energy". 2 (2): 573-596.

23. Michael Stephenson (2018). Energy and Climate Change: An Introduction to Geological Controls, Interventions and Mitigations. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0128120217.

24. ^ Neukom, Raphael; Barboza, Luis A.; Erb, Michael P.; Shi, Feng; et al. (2019). "Consistent multidecadal variability in global temperature reconstructions and simulations over the Common Era". Nature Geoscience. 12 (8): 643-649. Bibcode:2019NatGe..12..643P. doi:10.1038/s41561-019-0400-0. ISSN 1752-0908. PMC 6675609. PMID 31372180.

25. ^ "The European Power Sector in 2020 / Up-to-Date Analysis on the Electricity Transition" (PDF). ember-climate.org. Ember and Agora Energiewende. 25 January 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 January 2021.

26. ^ World Meteorological Organization (2020). WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2019. WMO-No. 1248. Geneva. ISBN 978-92-63-11248-4.

27. ^ American Coal Ash Association. "CCP Production and Use Survey" (PDF).[permanent dead link ] [dead link ]

28. ^ "The Production Gap: The discrepancy between countries' planned fossil fuel production and global production levels consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C or 2°C". UNEP. December 2020.

29. ^ Liodakis, E; Dashdorj, Dugersuren; Mitchell, Gary E. (2011). The nuclear alternative: Energy Production within Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. AIP Conference Proceedings. Vol. 1342. p. 91. Bibcode:2011AIPC.1342...91L. doi:10.1063/1.3583174.

30. ^ Vohra, Karn; Vodonos, Alina; Schwartz, Joel; Marais, Eloise A.; Sulprizio, Melissa P.; Mickley, Loretta J. (April 2021). "Global mortality from outdoor fine particle pollution generated by fossil fuel combustion: Results from GEOS-Chem". Environmental Research. 195: 110754. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.110754.

31. ^ "Climate Frontlines Briefing - No Jobs on a Dead Planet" (PDF). International Trade Union Confederation. March 2015.

32. ^ Gibson, Dylan; Duram, Leslie (2020). "Shifting Discourse on Climate and Sustainability: Key Characteristics of the Higher Education Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement". Sustainability. 12 (23): 10069. doi:10.3390/su122310069.

33. ^ "Energy Transition Investment Hit $500 Billion in 2020 - For First Time". Bloomberg New Energy Finance. 19 January 2021. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021.

34. ^ Chrobak, Ula; Chodosh, Sara (28 January 2021). "Solar power got cheap. So why aren't we using it more?". Popular Science. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. ● Chodosh's graphic is derived from data in "Lazard's Levelized Cost of Energy Version 14.0" (PDF). Lazard.com. Lazard. 19 October 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 January 2021.

35. ^ "Local Environmental Externalities due to Energy Price Subsidies: A Focus on Air Pollution and Health" (PDF). World Bank.

36. ^ "Update on recent progress in reform of inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption" (PDF). 2021.

Further reading

External links

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Toggle the table of contents From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A fossil fuel [a] is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel.

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To provide information on landfills, including laws/regulations, and technical guidance on municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, industrial, PCBs, and construction and debris landfills. To provide resources for owners and operators of landfills.

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Agricultural Waste is unwanted or unsalable materials produced wholly from agricultural operations directly related to the growing of crops or raising of animals for the primary purpose of making a profit or for a livelihood.

Some examples of agricultural waste include:

Agricultural wastes do not include items such as:

Oil Filters

Broken Boxes

Chemically Treated Wood

Material Containing Asbestos

Packaging Material and Boxes

Pesticide and Fertilizer Containers

Construction and Demolition Material

Ornamental or Landscape Vegetation (e.g. Grass, Weeds, and Tree Trimmings)

Any Other Material Produced in the Packaging or Processing of Agricultural Products

Orchard or vineyard waste or any other material, generated as a result of land use conversion to nonagricultural purposes is not agricultural waste.

Agricultural Waste is unwanted or unsalable materials produced wholly from agricultural operations directly related to the growing of crops or raising of animals for the primary purpose of making a profit or for a livelihood.

Some examples of agricultural waste include:

Agricultural wastes do not include items such as:

Oil Filters

Broken Boxes

Chemically Treated Wood

Material Containing Asbestos

Packaging Material and Boxes

Pesticide and Fertilizer Containers

Construction and Demolition Material

Ornamental or Landscape Vegetation (e.g. Grass, Weeds, and Tree Trimmings)

Any Other Material Produced in the Packaging or Processing of Agricultural Products

Orchard or vineyard waste or any other material, generated as a result of land use conversion to nonagricultural purposes is not agricultural waste.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Agricultural Waste is unwanted or unsalable materials produced wholly from agricultural operations directly related to the growing of crops or raising of animals for the primary purpose of making a profit or for a livelihood.