Research Links
UN Environmental Programme -Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change
National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA
NASA Global Change Master Directory
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA: National Climate Data Center NCDC
US Environmental Protection Agency EPA
Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network CIESIN

NGO Links
Natural Resources Defense Council
Sierra Club
Union of Concerned Scientists
Woods Hole Research Center
World Meteorological Organization WMO
Yale FES Project on Climate Change

Other Resources
A good secondary school level resource for global climate change is the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research UCAR.

Greenhouse Gases
Since the industrial and agricultural revolutions, the effects of population growth, fossil fuel usage, deforestation, and soil loss have changed the chemical composition of the atmosphere. These additions are called greenhouse gases because they hold in the heat caused by human civilization and include carbon dioxide, methane (natural gas), nitrous oxide (N2O or NOx), ozone, and various chloroflourocarbons (CFCs), and water vapor. Although some of these occur naturally in the environment, their levels have risen sharply in recent years to result in a consequent warming of the global climate. The carbon dioxide increase is driven by both vehicle and smokestack emissions and the loss of vegetation sinks to absorb them.

Research Links
US Department of Energy DOE - Energy Information Administration
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA
Cambridge University Center for Atmospheric Sciences
World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases (Japan)
World Meteorological Organization WMO

Stratospheric Ozone Depletion
Ozone (O3) is a relatively unstable molecule made up of three atoms of oxygen. Most ozone resides in the stratosphere (a layer of the atmosphere between 10 and 40 km above us), where it acts as a shield to protect Earth's surface from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation. With a weakening of this shield, people are more susceptible to skin cancer, cataracts, and impaired immune systems. Closer to Earth in the troposphere (the atmospheric layer from the surface up to about 10 km), ozone is a harmful pollutant that causes damage to lung tissue and plants. Ozone depletion is caused by the release of chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone-depleting substances (ODS), which are used widely as refrigerants, insulating foams, and solvents.

Research Links
UNEP Stratospheric Ozone and Human Health Project
NASA
US Environmental Protection Agency EPA
Cambridge University Centre for Atmospheric Science
European Environmental Agency

Carbon Sequestration
The storage or sequestration of carbon dioxide emissions, especially from coal-fired sources, is an on-going effort to control its level in the atmosphere. One approach is to entrap the gas when generated by a process called steam reformation. Other methods include storing excess CO2 in the ocean, in depleted oil and gas reservoirs or coal seams or in deep saline aquifers.

Research Links
US Department of Agriculture
US DOE Fossil Energy
US DOE Office of Science
US National Energy Technology Laboratory
Economist Magazine
International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas Program
MIT Laboratory for Energy and the Environment
University of Texas Department of Economic Geology

Air Quality and Pollution
In developed and especially emerging countries, air pollution is caused by high levels of smoke and sulfur dioxide (SO2) arising from the combustion of sulfur-containing fossil fuels such as coal for domestic and industrial purpose. Petrol and diesel-engine motor vehicles emit a wide variety of pollutants, principally carbon monoxide (CO) and dioxide, oxides of nitrogen (NOx), hydrocarbons (HCs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulates (soot), which reduce urban air quality (smog). Photochemical reactions from sunlight on nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and VOCs lead to the formation of ozone, a secondary long-range pollutant, with effects in rural areas far from the original emission site. The health consequences of a respiratory and carcinogenic nature can be acute or chronic and are often unknown.

Research Links
Environment Canada
European Environmental Agency
United Kingdom: National Air Quality
United States: Environmental Protection Agency

NGO Links
Natural Resources Defense Council

Acid Rain
Acid rain is a broad term to describe several ways that acids fall out of the atmosphere. Wet deposition refers to rain, fog, and snow. As this water flows over and through the ground, it affects a variety of plants and animals, depending on how acidic it is, the chemistry and buffering capacity of the soils, and the types of fish, trees, and other living things that rely on the water.

Dry deposition refers to acidic gases and particles. About half of the acidity in the atmosphere falls back to earth through dry deposition. The wind blows these particles and gases onto buildings, cars, homes, and trees. Dry deposited gases and particles can also be washed from trees and other surfaces by rainstorms. When that happens, the runoff water is more acidic than the falling rain alone.

Research Links
Environment Canada
NOAA National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program
Southampton University
US Environmental Protection Agency
US Geological Survey USGS

Biosphere
The health and viability of flora and fauna on a local and global scale with regard to biodiversity, endangered and alien species, forest degradation, and marine ecosystems.

Biodiversity
Biological diversity, or "biodiversity," refers to the great variety of all life on earth and the intricate relationships among living beings and their environment. Biodiversity concerns the genetic differences and myriad kinds of species in their communities, ecosystems, and landscapes. The scientific field runs from genes to species and on to ecosystems—coral reefs, prairies, forests, wetlands and so on—all located within the encompassing biosphere.

Research Links
American Museum of Natural History
CIESIN
UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
Union of Concerned Scientists

Endangered and Alien Species
An animal species (e.g., panda or condor) is considered endangered if it can disappear from the earth if its situation is not improved through intervention. When not seen in the wild for over fifty years, we say that it is extinct. Those species that may soon become endangered are called threatened species. The main causes of extinction or endangerment are habitat destruction, commercial exploitation, over-predation, invasive non-native plants and animals, along with a variety of chemical pollutants which cause eggshell and birth defects.

Alien species are animals or plants that take over a bioregion, such as a pond or forest, and drive out or eliminate indigenous flora and fauna. Examples are the kudzu vine and the Asian snakehead fish in the Chesapeake river area.

Research Links
American Museum of Natural History
US Fish and Wildlife Service

NGO Links
World Wildlife Fund

Deforestation and Forest Fires
The partial or complete removal of a forest ecosystem for land conversion to other usage is called deforestation. Environmental costs can include species extinction, soil erosion, flooding, and desertification. A larger consequence is to upset the global energy and atmospheric chemical budget which leads to extreme climate change. Local impacts are loss of watershed viability, topsoil erosion, and silting of rivers.

Human intervention to prevent or mitigate the natural periodic cycle of forest fires has been found to result in catastrophic fires as underbrush builds up and tree density increases.

Rain Forests
Tropical rain forests are consistently warm, green, and humid biota in the equatorial regions which receive at least 150 inches of rain annually. Their fecundity is home to more than half of all species of plants and animals on the planet. Until the mid-twentieth century they served as a vast reservior to absorb and maintain atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, due to extensive clear cutting in recent years from Amazonia to New Guinea for timber and farmland, this rainforest preserve has been much depleted. Their continued conservation is of much importance.

Research Links
Federation of Earth Science Information Partners
NASA
World Rainforest Information Portal

Marine Ecosystems
From the open ocean to coral reefs and tidal shorelines, marine biology concerns a multitude of diverse species ranging in size from algae and plankton to dolphins and whales. Subject to various factors such as El Nino, toxic pollution, and habitat destruction, these ecosystems serve as microcosms that help us to understand the interrelated effects of various systems.

Ocean Ecology
The world's oceans and the species habitat they provide are under assault by increasing toxic pollution and waste disposal. These change the chemical and thermal constitution of the seven seas with deleterious effects on fish and birds. An example is the close balance between kelp forests, anemones, and otters in the Pacific Northwest.

Research Links
Boston Museum of Science
NOAA National Oceanographic Data Center
Sea Web

Freshwater Wetlands
Industrial, domestic, and agricultural (pesticide) effluents are often dumped into rivers, estuaries, and streams which renders them unfit for fish or plant life or for human consumption. By programs of ecological management and public awareness, rivers once fouled by toxic waste such as the Hudson River can once again become viable. Freshwater lakes and ponds are under similar threat from dumping, saline influx, algae blooms, and other impacts which upset their dynamically poised ecosystem.

Wetlands are those regions permanently or temporarily submerged or permeated by water, and characterized by plants adapted to saturated soil conditions. Wetlands include fresh and salt water marshes, wooded swamps, bogs, seasonally flooded forest, sloughs – any land area that can keep water long enough to let wetland plants and soils develop.

Research Links
Biology Online
Environment Canada
UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
US EPA Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds

Coral Reefs
Corals are tiny plant-like animals that depend on clean, clear waters and sunlight to survive. Under these conditions, corals gradually build the coral skeleton that shapes the reef and transforms it into an elaborate structure which can live for thousands of years. A healthy coral reef is home to thousands of fish, lobsters, sea turtles, and other species found no where else.

Research Links
International Coral Reef Initiative
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
University of the Virgin Islands
World Meteorological Organization

Groundwater and Aquifers
Groundwater is found in underground cracks and spaces in soil, sand, and rocks. Often called the water table, it may be only a foot below the surface or hundreds of feet down. Aquifers typically consist of gravel, sand, sandstone, or fractured rock, like limestone. These materials are permeable because they have large connected spaces that allow water to flow through. Such natural zones below ground yield water in sufficient quantities to be economically important for domestic, agriculture, and industrial purposes. They can occur in a variety of geologic materials ranging from glacial-deposited outwash to sedimentary beds of limestone and sandstone to fractured cavities in dense igneous rocks. Unconfined aquifers are those which are open to the atmosphere, while confined or artesian aquifers are separated from the air by impermeable layers. A prime concern worldwide is their depletion by excessive overuse for human habitation.

El Nino and La Nina
El Niño is a thermal disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific Ocean having important consequences for weather around the globe. Among these are increased rainfall across the southern tier of the US and western South America with destructive flooding and drought in the west Pacific, sometimes associated with devastating brush fires in Australia.

La Niña is characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, as compared to El Niño, which is characterized by warmer ocean temperatures in this area.

Geosphere

Typical terra firma concerns are soil quality, erosion, and desertification.

Soil Erosion and Salinification
Clear cutting of trees, monocrop planting, overfertilizing, and other land misuses can result in a degradation of soil quality. Coupled with drought, flooding, or wind, a significant amount of soil can be eroded and lost. An increase in salt content in soils, especially agricultural, along with irrigation sources or drinking water is known as the process of salinification. Causes vary from depletion of aquifers to raised saline content in rivers from sewage treatment. Plants and crops then have difficulty taking up water and nutrients, and produce withered leaves, fruits, and seeds.

Desertification
Desertification means the loss of vegetation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas regions, caused by climatic changes, human influences, or both. This insidious reduction of the biological or economic productivity and complexity of rainfed cropland, irrigated cropland or range, pasture, forest, and woodlands, results from land use or abuse from human activities and habitation patterns. Natural, climatic factors include periods of temporary but severe drought and long-term weather changes toward aridity. Human factors include clear cutting and soil erosion, excessive cultivation, and the exhaustion of surface-water or groundwater supplies for irrigation, industry, or domestic use.

Arctic Regions
The North and South arctic bioregions are unique laboratories for studying the damaging effects of an exploding human population between these regions. Among serious concerns are melting of the polar ice caps, the presence of airborne and ocean pollution, and the fragile wildlife ecosystem.

Anthroposphere

The multi-faceted human dimension from material and resource usage to birth rate, transport, nuclear, fossil and renewable energy, biotechnologies, conservation, and on to sociopolitical areas such as industry pollution and rampant militarism.

Population and the Environment
Over three and a half million years ago, two of modern humanity's ancestors left their footprints in the sand near what is now Laetoli in the United Republic of Tanzania. This couple was walking barefoot along a plain. Their people probably numbered in the hundreds or thousands and possessed very rudimentary implements.

Today the footprints of humanity are impossible to miss. Human activity has affected every part of the planet, no matter how remote, and every ecosystem, from the simplest to the most complex. Our choices and interventions have transformed the natural world, posing both great possibilities and extreme dangers for the quality and sustainability of our civilizations, and for the intricate balances of nature.

The great questions for the twenty-first century are whether the activities of the twentieth century have set us on a collision course with the environment and, if so, what can we do about it? Human ingenuity has brought us this far. How can we apply it to the future so as to ensure the well-being of human populations, and still protect the natural world?

Water Resources
Potable water for drinking and hygiene, and an adequate supply for agriculture are agreed to be the crucial yet most threatened resource. World water conferences are being held to comprehend and address the problem on all levels. A systemic approach of conservation, proper waste disposal, respect for aquifers, water purification, and trace element monitoring is called for. Improved irrigation methods and more drought resistant crops can extend dwindling sources and endure dry spells.

Energy Issues and Alternatives
This multi-faceted area includes modes of generation from nuclear, coal, oil, and gas fired plants to alternative methods and renewable fuels along with conservation measures.

Conservation
These websites offer practical and innovative ways to conserve heat and energy in domestic dwellings, office buildings, and industrial usage.

Research Links
US Department of Energy (DOE): Energy Information Administration
US DOE: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

NGO Links
Sierra Club: Global Warming Solutions: Clean Energy

Fuel Cells
A fuel cell is similar to a battery but is continuously supplied with a fuel, usually hydrogen, and oxygen or air. In construction, it consists of the fuel passages, a permeable anode electrode (plus), a central electrolyte such as phosphoric acid, a cathode plate (minus), and the oxidant passages. Aided by a catalyst, the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen produces electricity and byproduct water. In practice, a fuel cell often employs an upstream reformer that converts natural gas, methanol, or even gasoline into hydrogen. These systems operate at a high conversion of fuel into electricity efficiency but with no combustion they are very clean.

Solar Energy
The heat content of the sun’s rays can be used in a variety of ways. Solar cells, known as photovoltaics, use custom semiconductor materials to convert this energy directly into electricity. These panels are usually placed on building roofs but can be stand-alone installations. Solar water heaters are similarly located but consist of tubing through which water or another fluid flows to be heated by the sun. Passive solar means the design of buildings such as homes or factories are oriented to the sun’s passage so its light and heat are captured greenhouse style.

Research Links
US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Wind Energy
With the advent of lightweight, high efficiency turbines and blade geometries, the employ of wind power to generate electricity is becoming a clean, economic source of energy. A major effort is now underway in the US, which is seen of especial value to Native Americans whose reservations will benefit from this new source of electrification.

Environmental Health
This area of concern involves the medical effects of chemicals, pathogenic (disease-causing) organisms, or physical factors such as smog. Broadly defined, it seeks to study and remedy the health and especially carcinogenic (cancer-causing) consequences of polluted air and water, pesticide residue, contaminated food, and toxic or hazardous materials in the environment.

Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases
The spread of epidemics often involves environmental factors such as geographical features, climate, soil constitution, local insect infestation, and water quality. By an increasing use of computer based complex systems science along with improved data collection, the demographics and topology of a disease outbreak such as cholera, lyme disease, or malaria can be correlated with these indigenous factors. A noticeable effect of global warming is the spread of bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi to developing regions now warm enough to sustain them.

Toxic Waste /Brownfields
Our industrialized society produces a rogues gallery of toxic metals, plastics, pesticides, and other materials which find their way into land, sea, and air. Well known members include mercury and cadmium, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), freon, and dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT). Their unregulated spread throughout the environment reduces bird and fish populations and causes birth defects, cancer, and neurological damage in people.

“With certain legal exclusions and additions, the term `brownfield site' means real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.”
                              —United States Environmental Protection Agency

Nuclear Waste Disposal
Nuclear waste is composed of radioactive materials such as plutonium and uranium left over from atomic power plants or medical, industrial, or research devices. High-level wastes remain dangerous for centuries and pose a severe problem.

NGO Links
Resources for the Future
Sierra Club

Toxicology
More than 80,000 chemicals are registered for use in the United States, with an estimated 2,000 more introduced annually for use in foods, personal care products, prescription drugs, household cleaners, and lawn care products. Toxicology is the research field that studies the effects of these chemicals on human health with the intent to establish safe levels of exposure, an often difficult task to do for a public which varies widely in its susceptibility.

Industrial Pollution and Ecology
Billowing smokestacks and unrestrained dumping of pollutants is on the way out for health, economic, political, and legal reasons. But much remains to be done, especially in the former Communist countries and in emerging lands, which wealthy countries need to assist.

Industrial Ecology is a novel interdisciplinary framework for designing and operating factories, refineries, and buildings as living systems interdependent with natural systems. It seeks to balance environmental and economic performance within a quantified understanding of local and global ecological constraints. Its objective is to organically close the cycle to achieve green businesses with minimum environmental impact.

Research Links
Indigo Development: Defining Industrial Ecology
National Pollution Prevention Center (NPPC): Teaching and Resource Materials for Faculty
US DOE Smart Communities Network
US EPA Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics
US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
World Bank: New Ideas in Pollution Regulation

Transportation/Hybrid Electric Vehicles
Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) combine the internal combustion (IC) engine with a battery and electric motor to achieve twice the fuel economy with fewer emissions than conventional vehicles. This combination gains the advantages of both modes of propulsion without sacrifice in driving range and fuel up time. The pollution levels of the IC are reduced while avoiding the performance loss of the pure electric mode. The inherent flexibility of HEVs is finding wide application from automobiles to trucks and urban buses.

Sustainable Consumption
Sustainable consumption is the use of goods and services that satisfy basic needs and improve quality of life while minimizing the usage of irreplaceable natural resources and the byproducts of toxic materials, waste, and pollution.

Research Links
Consumers International
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
UNEP Sustainable Consumption Network
University of Michigan Center for Sustainable Systems

Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable or organic agriculture is a holistic system which promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity. It emphasizes ecological management in preference to the use of off-farm inputs, taking into account that regional conditions require locally adapted systems. This is accomplished by using, where possible, agronomic, biological, and mechanical methods, as opposed to synthetic materials, to fulfill any specific function within the system.

Biotechnology
The United Nations defines biotehnology as:

Research Links
Agriculture Biotech Information Network
Food Biotechnology Communications Network
UN Food and Agriculture Organization
US Department of Agriculture (definitions)
US National Center for Biotechnology Information

Genetic Engineering
Genetic engineering is the transfer of genes from one organism to another organism in ways that are not possible using conventional breeding methods. Genetic engineering bypasses the reproductive barriers that prevent genetic transfers between unrelated species, thus allowing transfer of genes from an organism of one species to another, completely unrelated species. Genetic engineering also includes methods of gene deletion and gene manipulation that are not possible using conventional breeding methods.

Research Links
Church of Scotland Society, Religion, and Technology Program
International Forum for Genetic Engineering
UN FAO Glossary of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering

NGO Links
Union of Concerned Scientists
Sierra Club

Research Links
Federation of American Scientists
International Action Network on Small Arms
Island Press: Environmental Impacts of War
United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects

Environmental Justice
It is vital that ecological programs be equitably implemented without bias to any locale or segment of the population. "Environmental Justice" has been defined diferently by different organizations (e.g., government, universities). Some of those definitions are provided below.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines "environmental justice" (EJ) as the

"fair treatment for people of all races, cultures, and incomes, regarding the development of environmental laws, regulations, and policies."

"Environmental justice has been defined as the pursuit of equal justice and equal protection under the law for all environmental statutes and regulations without discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and /or socioeconomic status. This concept applies to governmental actions at all levels—local, state, and federal—as well as private industry activities. Providing environmental justice goes beyond the stated definition and includes a guarantee of equal access to relief and meaningful community participation with government and industry decision-makers." —University of Michigan

"Environmental Justice is the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures and income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, programs, and policies. Fair treatment means that no racial, ethnic or socioeconomic group should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from the operation of industrial, municipal, and commercial enterprises and from the execution of federal, state and local, and tribal programs and policies." —North Carolina State University

Research Links
Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice
Center for Health, Environment, and Justice
Clark Atlanta University Environmental Justice Resource Center
North Carolina State University
Native Americans and the Environment
NYU Center for Environmental and Land Use Law
University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment
US Environmental Protection Agency
US Federal Highway Administration