Top 10 Cleanest Countries of the world

These are the top 10 cleanest countries of the world.

1. Iceland
2. Switzerland
3. Costa Rica
4. Sweden
5. Norway
6. Mauritius
7. France
8. Austria
9. Cuba
10. Singapore

Countries which are responsible for environmental degradation

These are the top 10 countries responsible for environmental degradation.
1. Brazil
2. USA
3. China
4.Indonesia
5. Japan
6. Mexico
7. India
8. Russia
9. Australia
10. Peru

The study, in collaboration with the National University of Singapore and Princeton University, found that the total wealth of a country was the most important driver of environmental impact.

Acid Rain and Its Effects

Acid rain is a rain  that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). It causes harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals and infrastructure. It is caused by emissions of Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids. Nitrogen oxides can also be produced naturally by lightning strikes, and Sulfur dioxide is produced by volcanic eruptions. The chemicals in acid rain can cause paint to peel, corrosion of steel structures such as bridges, and weathering of stone buildings and statues.

The principal cause of acid rain is Sulfur and nitrogen compounds from human sources, such as electricity generation, factories, and motor vehicles. Thermal electrical power generation is among the greatest contributors to gaseous pollutions that are responsible for acidic rain. In the past, factories had short funnels to let out smoke but this caused many problems locally; thus, factories now have taller smoke funnels. However, despite of  these taller stacks causes pollutants to be carried farther, causing widespread ecological damage.

Earth Situation by 2020

 Earth's environment  is changing very fiercely.The unsustainable development of developing is playing a major role to destroy earth environment. The world population is growing day by day and there is no such road map to reduce population growth.

We are enhancing our technology but  not concerned about the earth's environment which will leads to a devastating situation.

All around the world will soon reach climatic tipping points, with some in tropical regions — home to most of the world’s biodiversity — feeling the first impacts of unprecedented eras of elevated temperatures as soon as four years from now.

On average, locations worldwide will leave behind the climates that have existed from the middle of the 19th century through the beginning of the 21st century by 2047 if no progress is made in curbing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, said researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, who sought to project the timing of that event for 54,000 locations.

If they are correct, the transition would occur by 2020 in Manokwari, Indonesia; by 2023 in Kingston, in the Caribbean; by 2029 in Lagos; by 2047 in Washington; by 2066 in Reykjavik; and by 2071 in Anchorage, Alaska.

Environmental Science Study

It may be one of the best area of study.Environmental science is very much a generalist degree. Degree in environment science not only provide good job prospective but also a good researcher who can solve environmental related issues. It requires a strong background in the more traditional sciences: biology, physics, chemistry, geography, and ecology. In addition, environmental science degrees also draw heavily from the social sciences, such as economics, business, or sociology. Due to the fact that environmental science is a generalist degree, students often complete specializations within a more select area, i.e. energy, sustainability, conservation, etc. True to most science degrees, environmental science programs often require significant field work, lab work, or other data-oriented work. There are universities like Florida state university and university of Texas are providing the following degrees in environmental study.

Degrees in Environmental Study

                                Bachelor's                           Master's                                  Doctorate

 Years of study               4                                       2                                             4-7

 Degree                         BS                                    MS                                          Ph. D

Job Prospects with a Environmental Science Degree

There are different kind of positions for Environmental Science Degree holders

i)   Environmental scientists

ii)  Team leader 

iii) Management positions

iv) University professor

Solar and Wind Energy

Solar Energy and wind energy will play a major role in coming future. There is a huge exploitation of non renewable resources and due to this non renewable resources are at shrinking stage. Hence we should think for these alternative energy resources so that we scan reduce energy crisis of our country. The clean energy will  make our earth green which is our motto. so we and govt should work together to fulfill our dream.

Renewable Energy

By using renewable energy sources like solar energy, we also reduce our dependence on fossil fuel gas and oil reserves, which are becoming more expensive and difficult to find. It also reduces our dependence on imported fossil fuels, improving our energy security.

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources—such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat—which are renewable (naturally replenished).

Renewable energy technologies range from solar power, wind power, hydroelectricity/micro hydro, biomass and bio-fuels for transportation.



News:

Hong Kong based CLP Group has forayed into the Indian solar energy market by acquiring 49% stake in Suzlon Energy's 100 mw project in Telangana, the two companies said in a joint statement Monday. 

While the two companies will develop the project at Veltoor in Telangana in a joint venture, under s special purpose vehicle namely SE Solar, CLP India will have the option to acquire the balance 51% stake later. ET had first reported the deal on May 30. (Read more: CLP set to buy Suzlon's Rs 800 crore Telengana project for India solar debut ) 

Factors of Environmental Degradation

I am providing the graphs that will definitely make you compel to think about the current world scenario. 

World Population Graph

Air Pollution Report

We live in a greenhouse

Life on Earth depends on energy coming from the sun. About half the light reaching Earth's atmosphere passes through the air and clouds to the surface, where it is absorbed and then radiated upward in the form of infrared heat. About 90 percent of this heat is then absorbed by the greenhouse gases and radiated back toward the surface, which is warmed to a life-supporting average of 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius).

GLOBAL WARMING REPORT

World Environment Day

Each year celebration of the World Environment Day is based on the particular theme decided by the United Nations to make the celebration more effective by encouraging mass people worldwide to hugely take part in addressing environmental issues on global scale. Year wise list of the themes and slogans of world environment day are mentioned below:

• The theme of the year 2016 would be “Join the race to make the world a better place”.

World Environment Day Quotes

Some of the famous quotes (written by the famous personalities) on world environment day are mentioned below:

• “The environment is everything that isn’t me”. – Albert Einstein
• “God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools”. – John Muir
• “Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth”. – Henry David Thoreau
• “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”. – Margaret Mead
• “We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment”. – Margaret Mead
• “It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment”. – Ansel Adams
• “I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend”? – Robert Redford
• “Take a course in good water and air; and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you”. – John Muir
• “Birds are indicators of the environment. If they are in trouble, we know we’ll soon be in trouble”. – Roger Tory Peterson
• “By polluting clear water with slime you will never find good drinking water”. – Aeschylus
• “If we do not permit the earth to produce beauty and joy, it will in the end not produce food, either”. – Joseph Wood Krutch
• “They claim this mother of ours, the Earth, for their own use, and fence their neighbors away from her, and deface her with their buildings and their refuse”. – Sitting Bull
• “Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land”. – Aldo Leopold
• “After all, sustainability means running the global environment – Earth Inc. – like a corporation: with depreciation, amortization and maintenance accounts. In other words, keeping the asset whole, rather than undermining your natural capital”. – Maurice Strong
• “Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left”. – Aldo Leopold
• “You will die but the carbon will not; its career does not end with you. It will return to the soil, and there a plant may take it up again in time, sending it once more on a cycle of plant and animal life”. -Jacob Bronowski
• “People blame their environment. There is only one person to blame – and only one – themselves”. – Robert Collier
• “I can find God in nature, in animals, in birds and the environment”. – Pat Buckley
• “We must return to nature and nature’s god”. – Luther Burbank
• “The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment, is to get everybody involved”. – Richard Rogers
• “Journey with me to a true commitment to our environment. Journey with me to the serenity of leaving to our children a planet in equilibrium”. – Paul Tsongas
• “Environmental degradation, overpopulation, refugees, narcotics, terrorism, world crime movements, and organized crime are worldwide problems that don’t stop at a nation’s borders”. – Warren Christopher
• “I think the government has to reposition environment on top of their national and international priorities”. – Brian Mulroney
• “Environmental concern is now firmly embedded in public life: in education, medicine and law; in journalism, literature and art”. – Barry Commoner
• “Earth Day 1970 was irrefutable evidence that the American people understood the environmental threat and wanted action to resolve it”. – Barry Commoner
• “The government should set a goal for a clean environment but not mandate how that goal should be implemented”. – Dixie Lee Ray
• “Why has it seemed that the only way to protect the environment is with heavy-handed government regulation”? – Gale Norton
• “The most important environmental issue is one that is rarely mentioned, and that is the lack of a conservation ethic in our culture”. – Gaylord Nelson
• “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed”. – Mahatma Gandhi
• “What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another”. – Mahatma Gandhi

Most endangered animals in the world

GIANT PANDA

GORILLA

KIWI

NORTHERN SPORTIVE LEMUR

PACIFIC-WALRUS

POLAR BEAR

SMILING TARSIER

Early Environmental Education to children

Environmental education should be provided to children at school so that they will well understand about the current environmental challenges. They will be encouraged to take part of the initiatives taken by the government to control pollution.

A monthly seminar should be held at the school where all distinguished environmentalist should be called for a talk. They will motivate students to take part of the environmental related program and campaign run and managed by government and NGO.

INDIA'S CONTINUOUS ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION

India needs to cut its levels of air pollution to preserve and increase its productivity.

India is experiencing an economic surge after Prime Minister Narendra Modi entered office in 2014. Investors see India as a growth opportunity. Last year, capital expenditure projects attracted $23 billion of foreign investment. Yet the country’s potential is clouded by environmental problems, which have been caused by pollution.

Water pollution has been in focus because of the River Ganga. Air pollution is not featured as much as it should in the news, but noxious air is shortening the life expectancy of India’s citizens. The Environmental Protection Index (EPI) air quality ranking places India at 174 out of 178 countries on the population’s exposure to particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5). According to an article in the Economic and Political Weekly, particulate matter comprises small particles suspended in the air with a concoction of “acids (sulphate and nitrates), ammonia, sodium chloride, black carbon, water, and mineral dust.” PM2.5 is particularly egregious to health because it burrows deeper into the lungs and can cause pneumonia and cancer. Needless to say, this results in an unhealthier and less productive population apart from increasing pressure on an already overburdened health care system.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2005 guidelines state that permissible exposure to PM2.5 should be an annual average of ten micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3). The Central Pollution Control Board’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) set the rate at an average of 40μg/m3 per year. Around 660 million people live in cities with PM2.5 higher than 40μg/m3 each year, the NAAQS standard. Over a billion people, around 99.5% of the Indian population, live in places with PM2.5 levels over the WHO’s more stringent guidelines.

Increasing air pollution is causing lower labor productivity. It is also damaging agriculture. Crop yields have been falling. Tourism is likely to be affected with India’s legendary smog causing increasing problems to foreign visitors. The poor suffer disproportionately from air pollution. Those who work in or live near factories, drive auto rickshaws and work as traffic policemen breathe noxious fumes on a daily basis. According to the abovementioned article in the Economic and Political Weekly, life expectancy for 660 million Indians could be increased by an average of 3.2 years if pollution was limited to NAAQS standards.

Delhi government scheme for preventing air pollution in Delhi

Over the past month, there have been repeated calls from environmentalists and activists for drastic measures on part of the administration to clean the toxic air in Delhi, considered the world’s most polluted city. Studies have shown that vehicular emissions and dust from construction sites account for rising air pollution levels and smog in the city.

This year, the outcry has seen a slew of measures proposed by the state government as well as the Supreme Court of India so as to ensure that future generations are not harmed by the air.

The following are some of these measures:

1. The Delhi government has proposed the odd/even rule wherein cars with odd-numbered registration plates would ply on odd dates and those with even-numbered registration plates would do so on even dates. The idea is to reduce congestion as well as to reduce pollution resulting from vehicular emissions.

2. The top court has asked the Centre to supply the Delhi traffic police with proper masks. The court noted that the policemen, who stand for long hours at traffic signals, should be supplied with masks so that their health is not compromised.

3. The Supreme Court has also banned the registration of luxury SUVs and diesel cars above 2000cc in the national capital. Diesel cars are believed to be a major source of vehicular emissions. A bench headed by the Chief Justice had noted that it was not fair for rich people to buy luxury cars and thus pollute Delhi.

4. The green cess on commercial vehicles entering Delhi has been hiked by the top court by a whopping 100 per cent. The SC-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority has directed the Delhi government to install boards notifying the new cess in 125 toll booths across Delhi.

5. The top court has ordered that all taxis plying in the city must convert to CNG from March next year. Also, commercial vehicles which are registered before 2005 won’t be allowed to enter the national capital.

6. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued directions to all authorities to strictly implement earlier orders regarding the ban on burning of waste and fine on emission of construction dust. The bench called for an action taken report as well as a “list of offenders” from all authorities on the next date of hearing.

7. The NGT has asked the central and state government not to buy diesel vehicles for its personnel. It also asked public administration departments and municipal bodies to take efforts to gradually phase out diesel vehicles.

8. In a separate order, the NGT directed the state governments of Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to immediately ban the burning of crop residue. In earlier orders, the NGT had noted that the practice was contributing to the rising air pollution in the NCR.

9. To give alternative modes of transport to people during the odd-even rule, the government said it would add 1,000 more buses in three months. Also, 9,000 CNG contract carriages will be roped into Delhi to augment public transport.

10. The Delhi government has imposed an environment compensation penalty of Rs 50,000 on 38 major projects across the city for causing dust pollution. Officials said notices have been sent to all the projects. While a few of the projects have replied asking for ‘reconsideration’ of the compensation fee, 26 of them are yet to file their replies.

Prevention of Water Pollution

Things You Can Do To Reduce Water Pollution

• DO NOT pour fat from cooking or any other type of fat, oil, or grease down the sink. Keep a “fat jar” under the sink to collect the fat and discard in the solid waste when full.
• DO NOT dispose of household chemicals or cleaning agents down the sink or toilet. 
• DO NOT flush pills, liquid or powder medications or drugs down the toilet. For recommendations on proper disposal for all types of medical wastes, visit the CT DEP publication here.
• Avoid using the toilet as a wastebasket. Most tissues, wrappers, dust cloths, and other paper goods should be properly discarded in a wastebasket. The fiber reinforced cleaning products that have become popular should never be discarded in the toilet.
• Avoid using a garbage disposal. Keep solid wastes solid. Make a compost pile from vegetable scraps.
• Install a water efficient toilet. In the meantime, put a brick or 1/2 gal container in the standard toilet tank to reduce water use per flush.
• Run the dishwasher or clothes washer only when you have a full load. This conserves electricity and water.
• Use the minimum amount of detergent and/or bleach when you are washing clothes or dishes. Use only phosphate free soaps and detergents.
• Minimize the use of pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers. DO NOT dispose of these chemicals, motor oil, or other automotive fluids into the sanitary sewer or storm sewer systems. Both of them end at the river.