Environmental Problems in the 21st Century

When we think of the problem of environmental pollution, the first problem coming to mind is the global climate change due to its urgency. However, this is not the only problem of the economic system associated with nature. There are also environmental problems that are not directly related to global climate change, such as the rapid shrinkage of tropical forests, damage to coral reefs, rapid increase in harvest losses, unusual atmospheric events, increased diseases, acidification and even disappearance of rivers, lakes and seas.
As the changes in nature accelerated and reached to detrimental dimensions at the end of the 20th century, a need to redefine the concept of nature emerged. According to John Fowles, "We lose nature both inside and outside, as long as it is seen separately, surrounded and alien, outside of us in one way or another." According to Hubert Reeves, "The difficulty of perceiving nature is due to we come out of it. We are part of it; so are the impressions and reactions that it arouses in us. Nature sends an image of itself through us."
The emergence of environmental problems is basically an ecological problem. If a pollution or an extinction does create ecological problems, that means it is an environmental problem. It is the ecological cycle we should research for such an ecological problem. But how can we understand that a pollution or an extinction breaks the ecological cycle and become an environmental problem? The entropy phenomenon comes into help in this regard. Entropy is the second law of thermodynamics, which saying that everything is being worn out. This concept of physics is very useful for us to understand the nature's cycle of life. According to entropy law, everything is going to be dispersed sooner or later. For nature and ecological cycles, it is important for the natural beings to have a harmonious cycle all together. If one or some of the beings are pushed to act faster (which means they have a faster entropy)  than they actually do, then the whole system can experience an ecological problem which can turn into an environmental problem in time. So, for ecological economics, an increase in the entropy of living and non-living things bigger than the natural cycle's entropy, is an ecological problem which we can see as an environmental problem like polluted lakes or extinction of a species.
There are a lot of signs showing that the ecological cycles are being strongly hurted. Scientists in the world system science have set some planetary boundaries. Accordingly, there are nine critical thresholds: 1) climate change, 2) ocean acidification, 3) ozone depletion in the stratosphere, 4) biogeochemical flow limit (nitrogen and phosphorus cycles), 5) global fresh water use, 6) changes in soil use, 7) Reduction of biodiversity, 8) Atmospheric aerosol loading, 9) Chemical pollution. The 1st threshold has been exceeded by an increase of 0.8 ℃  from the beginning of the industrial revolution. The 7th threshold has been exceeded by the extinction of at least 100-fold extinction in species and the use of genetically modified uniform seeds in agriculture all over the world. The nitrogen cycle threshold has been exceeded due to excessive agricultural production and consumption of nutrients, as waste does not return to soil, it accumulates and pollutes various ecosystems. It is not yet possible to accurately define thresholds 8th and 9th, because the measurements are very difficult. However, there are several indicators of environmental pollution, such as the Cyprus-sized plastic island in the Atlantic Ocean, showing that these two thresholds have been exceeded. The limits of other thresholds are being approached. Ocean acidification has increased above the normal cycle due to the increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the addition of various chemicals, including especially oil on the surface of the water and mixing with water. Ozone depletion has exceeded its normal cycle due to the accumulation of ozone in the troposphere as a result of people forcing gas cycles; and due to the dissolution of the ozone layer in the stratosphere by interacting with other gases. The use of fresh water has exceeded its normal cycle due to excessive use of groundwater and pollution of rivers and lakes with industrial and urban waste. Land use increased above the normal cycle due to the increase in the pressure on land as a result of population growth and per capita consumption. Global climate change, which is the most frequently encountered problem, manifests itself in ten different indicators: surface temperatures, humidity, water vapor over the oceans, barometric pressure, total rainfall, fires, changes and extinction in plant and animal species, water loss, temperatures in upper atmosphere, heat volume in world oceans.
At last, we could say there are important environmental problems locally and globally all around the world which ecological economics is very concerned.

By Assistant Professor Armağan Canan
14.08.2020

 
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