The natural environment or natural world encompasses all
living and
non-living things occurring
naturally, meaning in this case not
artificial. The term is most often applied to
Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses the interaction of all living
species,
climate, weather and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity.
The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished as components:
In contrast to the natural environment is the
built environment. Built environments are where humans have fundamentally transformed landscapes such as urban settings and agricultural
land conversion, the natural environment is greatly changed into a simplified human environment. Even acts which seem less extreme, such as building a mud
hut or a
photovoltaic system in the
desert, the modified environment becomes an artificial one. Though many animals build things to provide a better environment for themselves, they are not human, hence
beaver dams, and the works of
mound-building termites, are thought of as natural. (Full article...)
The natural environment or natural world encompasses all
living and
non-living things occurring
naturally, meaning in this case not
artificial. The term is most often applied to
Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses the interaction of all living
species,
climate, weather and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity.
The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished as components:
In contrast to the natural environment is the
built environment. Built environments are where humans have fundamentally transformed landscapes such as urban settings and agricultural
land conversion, the natural environment is greatly changed into a simplified human environment. Even acts which seem less extreme, such as building a mud
hut or a
photovoltaic system in the
desert, the modified environment becomes an artificial one. Though many animals build things to provide a better environment for themselves, they are not human, hence
beaver dams, and the works of
mound-building termites, are thought of as natural.
People cannot find absolutely natural environments on Earth, and naturalness usually varies in a continuum, from 100% natural in one extreme to 0% natural in the other. The massive environmental changes of humanity in the
Anthropocene have fundamentally effected all natural environments: including from
climate change,
biodiversity loss and pollution from
plastic and
other chemicals in the
air and
water. More precisely, we can consider the different aspects or components of an environment, and see that their degree of naturalness is not uniform. If, for instance, in an agricultural field, the
mineralogic composition and the
structure of its soil are similar to those of an undisturbed forest soil, but the structure is quite different. (Full article...)
Coal in India has been mined since 1774, and
India is the second largest producer and consumer of
coal after
China, mining 777.31 million metric tons (856.84 million short tons) in FY 2022. Around 30% of coal is imported. Due to demand, supply mismatch and poor quality with high ash content, India imports
coking coal to meet the shortage of domestic supply.
Dhanbad, the largest coal producing city, has been called the coal capital of India. State-owned
Coal India had a
monopoly on
coal mining between its nationalisation in 1973 and 2018.
... that Enriqueta Legorreta, who was the first Mexican woman to appear as Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre, became an award-winning environmental activist?
... that Enriqueta Medellín, a Mexican surgeon, has an ecological center and environmental prize named after her in the state of
Aguascalientes?
ZENN (Zero Emission, No Noise) is a 2-seated car that runs solely on battery. It has a range of up to 60 km and does not exceed 40 km/h. The fuel economy is few cents per kilometer and the
MSRP is $12,000.
Although the company is headquartered in Canada and the car manufactured in Canada, the vehicle was first introduced in United States because at the time of vehicle's design phrase, Canadian laws prevents this car to be driven on the roads. Since 2000, British Columbia has allowed ZENN cars on its roads.
Robert Sterling Yard (February 1, 1861 – May 17, 1945) was an American writer, journalist, and
wilderness activist. Born in
Haverstraw, New York, Yard graduated from
Princeton University and spent the first twenty years of his career in the editing and publishing business. In 1915, he was recruited by his friend
Stephen Mather to help publicize the need for an independent national park agency. Their numerous publications were part of a movement that resulted in legislative support for a
National Park Service (NPS) in 1916. Yard served as head of the National Parks Educational Committee for several years after its conception, but tension within the NPS led him to concentrate on non-government initiatives. He became executive secretary of the
National Parks Association in 1919.
Yard worked to promote the national parks as well as educate Americans about their use. Creating high standards based on aesthetic ideals for park selection, he also opposed commercialism and industrialization of what he called "America's masterpieces". These standards subsequently caused discord with his peers. After helping to establish a relationship between the NPA and the
United States Forest Service, Yard later became involved in the protection of wilderness areas. In 1935, he became one of the eight founding members of
The Wilderness Society and acted as its first president from 1937 until his death eight years later. Yard is now considered an important figure in the modern wilderness movement. (Full article...)
The Rainforest Alliance certification seal on a cup of coffee.
The Rainforest Alliance is an international
non-governmental organization (NGO) with staff in more than 20 countries and operations in more than 70 countries. It was founded in 1987 by
Daniel Katz, an American environmental activist, who serves as the chair of the board of directors. The NGO states that its mission is "to create a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities." Its work includes the provision of an
environmental certification for sustainability in agriculture. In parallel to its certification program, the Rainforest Alliance develops and implements long-term conservation and community development programs in a number of critically important tropical landscapes where commodity production threatens ecosystem health and the well-being of rural communities.
The Rainforest Alliance is a product-oriented multistakeholder governance group combining the interests of companies, farmers, foresters, communities, and consumers to produce sustainable and harmonious goods. (Full article...)
Image 2Cattails indicate the presence of
phosphorus in the water. Cattails are an invasive species; they crowd out
sawgrass and grow too thick to allow nesting for birds and alligators. (from Restoration of the Everglades)
Image 8Proportion of forest area by forest area density class and global ecological zone, 2015, from
Food and Agriculture Organization publication The State of the World's Forests 2020. Forests, biodiversity and people – In brief (from Ecoregion)
Image 14A false color composite of the greater Boston area, created using remote sensing technology, reveals otherwise not visible characteristics about the land cover and the health of the surrounding ecosystems. (from Environmental science)
Image 15Dense mass of white crabs at a hydrothermal vent, with stalked barnacles on right (from Habitat)
Image 16View of Earth, taken in 1972 by the
Apollo 17 crew. Approximately 71% of
Earth's surface (an area of some 361 million square kilometers) consists of
ocean (from Ecoregion)
Image 18Rachel Carson published her groundbreaking novel, Silent Spring, in 1962, bringing the study of environmental science to the forefront of society. (from Environmental science)
Image 19Biodiversity of a coral reef. Corals adapt and modify their environment by forming
calcium carbonate skeletons. This provides growing conditions for future generations and forms a habitat for many other species. (from Environmental science)
Image 20A team of British researchers found a hole in the ozone layer forming over Antarctica, the discovery of which would later influence the Montreal Protocol in 1987. (from Environmental science)
Image 27Global oceanic and terrestrial phototroph abundance, from September 1997 to August 2000. As an estimate of
autotroph biomass, it is only a rough indicator of primary production potential and not an actual estimate of it. (from Ecosystem)
Image 28A map of the
Amazon rainforest ecoregions. The yellow line encloses the ecoregions per the World Wide Fund for Nature. (from Ecoregion)
Image 30Compartments established by C&SF projects that separated the historic Everglades into Water Conservation Areas and the Everglades Agricultural Area. One-fourth of the original Everglades is preserved in
Everglades National Park. (from Restoration of the Everglades)
Image 31Loch Lomond in
Scotland forms a relatively isolated ecosystem. The fish community of this lake has remained stable over a long period until a number of
introductions in the 1970s restructured its
food web. (from Ecosystem)
Image 34Climbing
ferns overtake
cypress trees in the Everglades. The ferns act as "fire ladders" that can destroy trees that would otherwise survive fires. (from Restoration of the Everglades)
Image 37The Paris Agreement (formerly the Kyoto Protocol) is adopted in 2016. Nearly every country in the United Nations has signed the treaty, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (from Environmental science)
Image 39Wetland habitat types in Borneo (from Habitat)
Image 40Aerial view of stormwater treatment areas in the northern Everglades bordered by sugarcane fields on the right (from Restoration of the Everglades)
Image 51Few creatures make the
ice shelves of
Antarctica their habitat, but water beneath the ice can provide habitat for multiple species. Animals such as penguins have adapted to live in very cold conditions. (from Habitat)
With the growing urgency of climate change, we cannot have it both ways. We cannot shout from the rooftops about the dangers of global warming and then turn around and shout even louder about the "dangers" of windmills.
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