10 Natural Disasters

The earth’s weather is very mysterious. One day it is sunny the next it is raining. In fact, sometimes as you are driving down the road, you hit the “wall” between a sunny day and a severe thunderstorm. Men have spent years trying to predict weather patterns but it is still an inexact science. This is a list of the most commonly occurring disasters of nature:

10. Landslide

A landslide is a disaster involving elements of the ground, including rocks, trees, parts of houses, and anything else which may happen to be swept up. Landslides can be caused by an earthquake, volcanic eruptions, or general instability in the surrounding land. Mudslides or mudflow, are a special case of landslides, in which heavy rainfall causes loose soil on steep terrain to collapse and slide downwards.

One of the main causes of landslides is gravity. One landslide prevention technique is to change the geometry of the man-made slope to lessen the effects of gravity. When the landslide is surficial (near the earth's surface), the simplest prevention solution to avoid soil and rock fall over the slope are to vegetate it.

9. Avalanche

An avalanche is a geophysical hazard involving a slide of a large snow or rock mass down a mountainside, caused when a buildup of material is released down a slope, it is one of the major dangers faced in the mountains in winter. As avalanches move down the slope they may entrain snow from the snowpack and grow in size. The snow may also mix with the air and form a powder cloud. An avalanche with a powder cloud is known as a powder snow avalanche. The powder cloud is a turbulent suspension of snow particles that flows as a gravity current.

People try to predict when avalanches are going to occur. The Alps has an 'avalanche season' between January and March when most avalanches happen. Where avalanches are going to occur is hard to predict. Historical data, weather information and information about the actual snow on the mountainside is collected together to try and forecast the likelihood of an avalanche.

8. Drought

A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region suffers a severe deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average rainfall. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region. Although droughts can persist for several years, even a short, intense drought can cause significant damage and harm the local economy.

Agriculturally, people can effectively mitigate much of the impact of drought through irrigation and crop rotation. Failure to develop adequate drought mitigation strategies carries a grave human cost in the modern era, exacerbated by ever-increasing population densities.

7. Wildfire

Wildfires, or forest fires, are uncontrolled fires burning in wildland areas. Common causes include lightning, human carelessness, arson, volcano eruption, and pyroclastic cloud fro the active volcano. The can be a threat to those in rural areas and also to wildlife. Wildfires can also produce ember attacks, where floating embers set fire to buildings at a distance from the fire itself.

Wildfires are unplanned and unwanted fires that are very dangerous to people who use the forests and outdoor areas or live in nearby homes and communities. Wildfires can also cause a lot of damage to some plants and animals and their homes.

6. Flood

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land, a deluge. It is usually due to the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, exceeding the total capacity of the body, and as a result, some of the water flows or sits outside of the normal perimeter of the body. It can also occur in rivers, when the strength of the river is so high it flows right out of the river channel, usually at corners or meanders.

Sea walls and tide gates have been built in some places to prevent tidal waves from pushing the waters up ashore. In some areas too, sand bags are made and placed in strategic areas to retain floodwaters.

5. Tsunami

A tsunami is a series of waves created when a body of water, such as an ocean, is rapidly displaced. Earthquakes, mass movements above or below water, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions, landslides, large meteorite impacts comet impacts and testing with nuclear weapons at sea all have the potential to generate a tsunami. A tsunami is not the same thing as a tidal wave, which will generally have a far less damaging effect than a Tsunami.

Tsunamis, like most natural disasters, are beyond human control. There are, however, a number of techniques that can minimize the harmful effects of tsunamis to the physical environment (including built structures) and to individuals and communities. Accompanied by an effective warning system, thoughtful design, and strong community organization can reduce harm from Tsunamis and other natural disasters.

4. Volcano Eruption

A volcanic eruption is a point in which a volcano is active and releases lava and poisonous gasses into the air. They range from daily small eruptions to extremely infrequent supervolcano eruptions (where the volcano expels at least 1,000 cubic kilometers of material.) Some eruptions form pyroclastic flows, which are high-temperature clouds of ash and steam that can travel down mountainsides at speeds exceeding that of an airliner.

Be prepared either to shelter or to evacuate. Develop an evacuation plan and a sheltering plan for yourself, your family, and others in your household. Review the plans and make sure that everyone understands them.

3. Tornadoes

Tornadoes are violent, rotating columns of air which can blow at speeds between 50 and 300 mph, and possibly higher. Tornadoes can occur one at a time or can occur in large tornado outbreaks along squall lines or in other large areas of thunderstorm development. Waterspouts are tornadoes occurring over water in light rain conditions.

2. Earthquake 

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph. The magnitude of an earthquake is conventionally reported on the Richter scale, with magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes being mostly imperceptible and magnitude 7 causing serious damage over large areas. The intensity of shaking is measured on the modified Mercalli scale. At the Earth’s surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and sometimes displacement of the ground.

1. Hurricane

Hurricanes, tropical cyclones, and typhoons are different names for the same phenomenon: a cyclonic storm system that forms over the oceans. It is caused by evaporated water that comes off of the ocean and becomes a storm. The Coriolis Effect causes the storms to spin, and a hurricane is declared when this spinning mass of storms attains a wind speed greater than 74 mph. Hurricane is used for these phenomena in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans, tropical cyclone in the Indian, and typhoon in the western Pacific.

Nuclear Issues

Nuclear power is experiencing a revival due to growing concerns about climate change. The nuclear industry has reinvented itself as an environmentally friendly option, producing electricity without the air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions of coal, oil or gas.

But there are a number of concerns with relying on nuclear power as an environmentally and financially viable option. Nuclear power creates radioactive waste for which there is no accepted method of safely managing or storing. It is also prohibitively expensive.

Environmental problems

Nuclear technology can provide energy without the air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions produced by fossil fuels. The largest and currently unresolved environmental problem concerns nuclear waste. As of 2012, Canada had over 56,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste and nowhere to put it. With a radioactive half-life of 25,000 years, nuclear waste remains dangerous for 250,000 years, posting huge costs and risks for future generations.

Power plants can also leak hazardous materials. For example, a reactor had a heavy water leak that released radioactive tritium into a lake, contaminating drinking water supplies.

Economic problems

The energy source once billed as "too cheap to meter" has proven to be one of the most expensive energy sources in history.

Nuclear cost does not include lifecycle costs to society from the environmental and health damage that would result if an accident occurred, nor does it include the costs of clean-up, waste disposal or plant decommissioning. Nuclear plants are not only expensive, they're also financially risky because of their long lead times, huge cost overruns and open-ended liabilities.

Can nuclear power stop climate change?

Much is made of nuclear power is essential for tackling climate change because it is CO2 free, but even at the most optimistic build rate, 10 new reactors by 2025, the carbon emissions would be cut by just four per cent.

New nuclear’s ability to help meet our obligations is tiny.

We only have so much time and money to spend and must prioritize those technologies with the greatest potential to meet our energy needs and cut emissions.

Energy efficiency, renewable energy and cleaner use of fossil fuels like state of the art combined heat and power stations offer solutions on the scale and timeframe we need to cut emissions.

These options are challenging and require support and concerted government effort to deliver (just like nuclear power), but with that support, this mix has the potential to deliver reliable low carbon energy quicker, cheaper and more efficient than nuclear electric.

We’re campaigning for a low carbon economy that maximizes energy efficiency and puts clean energy at its heart.

Can we keep the lights on without nuclear power?

Since it is likely that not a single new reactor will come into operation over the next decade, new nuclear power can make no obvious contribution to our electricity supply until years after any potential ‘energy gap’ would need to be dealt with.

Rather than concentrating on getting nuclear on-stream at some point after 2020, the government should be focussing on all the sensible alternatives that already exist and can close any energy gap, cut emissions and move us towards a clean energy future.

Large scale electricity generation could be met by developing many different cleaner alternatives, including combined heat and power, using fossil fuels more efficiently and cleanly, and renewable electricity generation such as the wind, wave and tidal power.

If we focused on energy efficiency alone, the single most cost-effective way of making deep cuts to our greenhouse gas emissions, it would help the climate and deliver substantial economic savings at the same time.

Supporting the growth in industries that use the power of the wind, waves, and the sun will not only power our country but also create jobs, new businesses and help make Britain a world leader in cutting-edge 21st-century technologies.

A major study by consultants McKinsey, scientists at Imperial College London and partners in the energy industry showed that it’s entirely possible to have 80 percent renewable power in Europe by 2050, at the same price and as reliable as energy today.

If we used all of these technologies, most of them already at our disposal, we would secure both the climate and our energy supply. All without the need for new nuclear.

Nuclear power as part of the mix?

The problem with including nuclear power as part of a diversified energy system is that it could undermine the solutions that can deliver energy and emissions cuts quicker and cheaper.

New nuclear will lock us into the same old inflexible, inefficient and outdated energy system we’ve had for years. Such a system, with nuclear at its heart, has almost no room for effective, cutting edge and flexible technologies like wind power and CHP.

New nuclear also means that the more cost effective, readily available alternatives above would be hindered because making nuclear a reality requires every ounce of financial, regulatory and political will on the part of the government.

Major utilities EDF and Eon have admitted that nuclear power and major new renewable energy developments cannot coexist. They say they would scale back renewable energy investment to accommodate nuclear.

And then there’s the waste…

Nuclear waste is produced at every stage of the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining and enrichment to reactor operation and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Much of this nuclear waste will remain hazardous for hundreds of thousands of years.

The current “solution” for dealing with highly radioactive nuclear waste involves burying it in deep underground sites. Whether the storage containers, the store itself, or the surrounding rocks will offer enough protection to stop radioactivity from escaping in the long-term is impossible to predict.

To give you an idea of the scale of the problem, if the people who build the pyramids had used them to store radioactive waste, today it’d only be 2% of the way through the time it would need to be stored securely. That’s a major commitment that we’d be making on behalf of our children’s children, and their children’s children, and their…

Medical Waste

Medical waste is a subset of wastes generated at health care facilities, such as hospitals, physicians' offices, dental practices, blood banks, and veterinary hospitals or clinics, as well as medical research facilities and laboratories. Generally, medical waste is healthcare waste that may be contaminated by blood, body fluids or other potentially infectious materials and is often referred to as regulated medical waste. 

Waste generated by health care activities includes a broad range of materials, from used needles and syringes to soiled dressings, body parts, diagnostic samples, blood, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and radioactive materials.

Poor management of health care waste potentially exposes health care workers, waste handlers, patients and the community at large to infection, toxic effects and injuries, and risks polluting the environment. It is essential that all medical waste materials are segregated at the point of generation, appropriately treated and disposed of safely.

Like some regular trash that is incinerated, medical waste dumped in landfills releases harmful gases into the atmosphere which produces greenhouse gas emissions.

So how do we reach a safe and effective solution?

Unfortunately, not much effort has been exuded towards finding another alternative to incineration. Currently, funding for effective waste management is as underdeveloped as non-burning technologies. The only other way to handle medical waste without burning it includes “deep burial (secure burial in a designated site that is protected from disturbance) and chemical disinfection (spreading of a disinfectant - e.g. chlorine by hand on wastes, or soaking of waste material in a hypochlorite solution prior to disposal by burial),” not exactly environmentally-friendly solutions.

To reduce the risk of environmental and human toxicity, more and more health care facilities are doing their part to recycle and compost what materials they can, and purchasing better products that include less plastic, are reusable rather than disposable, are made from recycled resources, and minimize waste transportation. Even better, all medical facilities should be required to have some sort of waste management system in place and monitored regularly so that the necessary materials are discarded properly for the safety of both people and the environment.

Extinction

It’s frightening but true, our planet is now in the midst of its sixth mass extinction of plants and animals — the sixth wave of extinctions in the past half-billion years. We’re currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. 

Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, it occurs at a natural “background” rate of about one to five species per year. Scientists estimate we’re now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate, with literally dozens going extinct every day. It could be a scary future indeed, with as many as 30 to 50 percents of all species possibly heading toward extinction by mid-century.

Unlike past mass extinctions, caused by events like asteroid strikes, volcanic eruptions, and natural climate shifts, the current crisis is almost entirely caused by us — humans. In fact, 99 percent of currently threatened species are at risk from human activities, primarily those driving habitat loss, the introduction of exotic species, and global warming. Because the rate of change in our biosphere is increasing, and because every species’ extinction potentially leads to the extinction of others bound to that species in a complex ecological web, numbers of extinctions are likely to snowball in the coming decades as ecosystems unravel.

Species diversity ensures ecosystem resilience, giving ecological communities the scope they need to withstand stress. Thus while conservationists often justifiably focus their efforts on species-rich ecosystems like rainforests and coral reefs — which have a lot to lose — a comprehensive strategy for saving biodiversity must also include habitat types with fewer species, like grasslands, tundra, and polar seas — for which any loss could be irreversibly devastating. And while much concern over extinction focuses on globally lost species, most of the biodiversity’s benefits take place at a local level, and conserving local populations is the only way to ensure genetic diversity critical for a species’ long-term survival.

AMPHIBIANS

No group of animals has a higher rate of endangerment than amphibians. Scientists estimate that a third or more of all the roughly 6,300 known species of amphibians are at risk of extinction. The current amphibian extinction rate may range from 25,039 to 45,474 times the background extinction rate.

Frogs, toads, and salamanders are disappearing because of habitat loss, water, and air pollution, climate change, ultraviolet light exposure, introduced exotic species, and disease. Because of their sensitivity to environmental changes, vanishing amphibians should be viewed as the canary in the global coal mine, signaling subtle yet radical ecosystem changes that could ultimately claim many other species, including humans.

BIRDS

Birds occur in nearly every habitat on the planet and are often the most visible and familiar wildlife to people across the globe. As such, they provide an important bellwether for tracking changes to the biosphere. Declining bird populations across most to all habitats confirm that profound changes are occurring on our planet in response to human activities.

A 2009 report on the state of birds in the United States found that 251 (31 percent) of the 800 species in the country are of conservation concern. Globally, BirdLife International estimates that 12 percent of known 9,865 bird species are now considered threatened, with 192 species, or 2 percent, facing an “extremely high risk” of extinction in the wild — two more species than in 2008. Habitat loss and degradation have caused most of the bird declines, but the impacts of invasive species and capture by collectors play a big role, too.

FISH

Increasing demand for water, the damming of rivers throughout the world, the dumping and accumulation of various pollutants, and invasive species make aquatic ecosystems some of the most threatened on the planet; thus, it’s not surprising that there are many fish species that are endangered in both freshwater and marine habitats.

The American Fisheries Society identified 700 species of freshwater or anadromous fish in North America as being imperiled, amounting to 39 percent of all such fish on the continent. In North American marine waters, at least 82 fish species are imperiled. Across the globe, 1,851 species of fish — 21 percent of all fish species evaluated — were deemed at risk of extinction by the IUCN in 2010, including more than a third of sharks and rays.

INVERTEBRATES

Invertebrates, from butterflies to mollusks to earthworms to corals, are vastly diverse — and though no one knows just how many invertebrate species exist, they’re estimated to account for about 97 percent of the total species of animals on Earth. Of the 1.3 million known invertebrate species, the IUCN has evaluated about 9,526 species, with about 30 percent of the species evaluated at risk of extinction. Freshwater invertebrates are severely threatened by water pollution, groundwater withdrawal, and water projects, while a large number of invertebrates of notable scientific significance has become either endangered or extinct due to deforestation, especially because of the rapid destruction of tropical rainforests. In the ocean, reef-building corals are declining at an alarming rate: 2008’s first-ever comprehensive global assessment of these animals revealed that a third of reef-building corals are threatened.

MAMMALS

Perhaps one of the most striking elements of the present extinction crisis is the fact that the majority of our closest relatives — the primates — are severely endangered. About 90 percent of primates — the group that contains monkeys, lemurs, lorids, galagos, tarsiers, and apes (as well as humans) — live in tropical forests, which are fast disappearing. The IUCN estimates that almost 50 percent of the world’s primate species are at risk of extinction. Overall, the IUCN estimates that half the globe’s 5,491 known mammals are declining in population and a fifth are clearly at risk of disappearing forever with no less than 1,131 mammals across the globe classified as endangered, threatened, or vulnerable. In addition to primates, marine mammals — including several species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises — are among those mammals slipping most quickly toward extinction.

PLANTS

Through photosynthesis, plants provide the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat and are thus the foundation of most life on Earth. They’re also the source of a majority of medicines in use today. Of the more than 300,000 known species of plants, the IUCN has evaluated only 12,914 species, finding that about 68 percent of evaluated plant species are threatened with extinction.

Unlike animals, plants can’t readily move as their habitat is destroyed, making them particularly vulnerable to extinction. Indeed, one study found that habitat destruction leads to an “extinction debt,” whereby plants that appear dominant will disappear over time because they aren’t able to disperse to new habitat patches. Global warming is likely to substantially exacerbate this problem. Already, scientists say, warming temperatures are causing quick and dramatic changes in the range and distribution of plants around the world. With plants making up the backbone of ecosystems and the base of the food chain, that’s very bad news for all species, which depend on plants for food, shelter, and survival.

REPTILES

Globally, 21 percent of the total evaluated reptiles in the world are deemed endangered or vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN — 594 species — while in the United States, 32 reptile species are at risk, about 9 percent of the total. Island reptile species have been dealt the hardest blow, with at least 28 island reptiles having died out since 1600. But scientists say that island-style extinctions are creeping onto the mainland's because of human activities fragment continental habitats, creating “virtual islands” as they isolate species from one another, preventing interbreeding and hindering populations’ health. The main threats to reptiles are habitat destruction and the invasion of non-native species, which prey on reptiles and compete with them for habitat and food.

Overpopulation

Overpopulation in various countries has become a serious threat to the health of people and a grave obstacle to any attempt to organize peace on this planet.

Overpopulation is the state whereby the human population rises to an extent exceeding the carrying capacity of the ecological setting. In an overpopulated environment, the numbers of people might be more than the available essential materials for survival such as transport, water, shelter, food or social amenities. This regularly contributes to environmental deterioration, worsening in the quality of life, or even the disintegration of the population.

It is estimated that about 81 million people add to the world’s population annually. Regions with the highest number of population density feel the dire effects and problems of overpopulation. Due to immigration, the decline in mortality rates, medical breakthroughs, and increased birth rates, populations will always increase and eventually gives rise to overpopulation.

Overpopulation is caused by a number of factors. Reduced mortality rate, better medical facilities, depletion of precious resources are few of the causes which result in overpopulation. It is possible for a sparsely populated area to become densely populated if it is not able to sustain life.

Growing advances in technology with each coming year has affected humanity in many ways. One of these has been the ability to save lives and create a better medical treatment for all. A direct result of this has been increased lifespan and the growth of the population. In the past fifty or so years, the growth of population has boomed and has turned into overpopulation. In the history of our species, the birth and death rate have always been able to balance each and maintain a population growth rate that is sustainable.

Causes of Overpopulation

Better Medical Facilities: 
Technological advancement was perhaps the biggest reason why the balance has been permanently disturbed. Science was able to produce better means of producing food, which allowed families to feed more mouths. Medical science made many discoveries thanks to which they were able to defeat a whole range of diseases. Illnesses that had claimed thousands of lives till now were cured because of the invention of vaccines. Combining the increase in food supply with fewer means of mortality tipped the balance and became the starting point of overpopulation.


More Hands to Overcome Poverty: 
However, when talking about overpopulation we should understand that there is a psychological component as well. For thousands of years, a very small part of the population had enough money to live in comfort. The rest faced poverty and would give birth to large families to make up for the high infant mortality rate. Families that have been through poverty, natural disasters or are simply in need of more hands to work are a major factor for overpopulation. As compared to earlier times, most of these extra children survive and consume resources that are not sufficient in nature.

Technological Advancement in Fertility Treatment: 
With the latest technological advancement and more discoveries in medical science, it has become possible for a couple who are unable to conceive to undergo fertility treatment methods and have their own babies. Today there are effective medicines which can increase the chance of conception and lead to the rising in birth rate. Moreover, due to modern techniques pregnancies, today are safer.


Immigration: 
Many people prefer to move to developed countries like US, UK, Canada and Australia where best facilities are available in terms of medical, education, security and employment. The end result is that those people settle over there and those places become overcrowded. Difference between the number of people who are leaving the country and the number of people who enter narrows down which leads to more demand for food, clothes, energy and homes. This gives rise to the shortage of resources. Though the overall population remains the same, it just affects the density of population making that place simply overcrowded.

Effects of Overpopulation

Depletion of Natural Resources: 
The effects of overpopulation are quite severe. The first of these is the depletion of resources. The Earth can only produce a limited amount of water and food, which is falling short of the current needs. Most of the environmental damage being seen in the last fifty odd years is because of the growing number of people on the planet. They are cutting down forests, hunting wildlife in a reckless manner, causing pollution and creating a host of problems. Those engaged in talking about overpopulation have noticed that acts of violence and aggression outside of a war zone have increased tremendously while competing for resources.


Degradation of Environment: 
With the overuse of coal, oil and natural gas, it has started producing some serious effects on our environment. Rise in the number of vehicles and industries have badly affected the quality of air. Rise in amount of CO2 emissions leads to global warming. Melting of polar ice caps, changing climate patterns, rise in sea level are few of the consequences that we might we have to face due to environment pollution.

Conflicts and Wars: 
Overpopulation in developing countries puts a major strain on the resources it should be utilizing for development. Conflicts over water are becoming a source of tension between countries, which could result in wars. It causes more diseases to spread and makes them harder to control. Starvation is a huge issue facing the world and the mortality rate for children is being fuelled by it. Poverty is the biggest hallmark we see when talking about overpopulation. All of this will only become worse if solutions are not sought out for the factors affecting our population. We can no longer prevent it, but there are ways to control it.


The rise in Unemployment: 
When a country becomes overpopulated, it gives rise to unemployment as there fewer jobs to support large number of people. Rise in unemployment gives rise to crime as people will steal various items to feed their family and provide them basic amenities of life.

Solutions to Overpopulation

Better Education: 
One of the first measures is to implement policies reflecting social change. Educating the masses helps them understand the need to have one or two children at the most. Similarly, education plays a vital role in understanding latest technologies like CloudDesktopOnline that are making huge waves in the world of computing. Families that are facing a hard life and choose to have four or five children should be discouraged. Family planning and efficient birth control can help in women making their own reproductive choices. Open dialogue on abortion and voluntary sterilization should be seen when talking about overpopulation.


Making People Aware of Family Planning: 
As the population of this world is growing at a rapid pace, raising awareness among people regarding family planning and letting them know about serious after effects of overpopulation can help curb population growth. One of the best ways is to let them know about various safe sex techniques and contraceptives methods available to avoid any unwanted pregnancy.

Tax Benefits or Concessions: 
Government of various countries might have to come with various policies related to tax exemptions to curb overpopulation. One of them might be to waive of a certain part of income tax or lower rates of income tax for those married couples who have single or two children. As we humans are more inclined towards money, this may produce some positive results.

The good news is that public policy matters and can reduce overpopulation. Many countries, from Bangladesh and Iran to Singapore and Thailand adopted policies that incentify small families, make birth control available, provide better social security and most of all — empower women. The results are remarkable, showing that trend need not be destiny. As the population began to stabilize, the drop in undernourished people in Asia and the Pacific went down from 23.7 percent to 13.9 percent. The quality of education, housing and health improved as a matter course.

It is time to realize that there is a tradeoff between “quality of life” and “quantity of life.” In a planet with limited resources — sustainable growth is an oxymoron. Of course, humanity could all shift to vegan diets, forgo national parks and crowd in a few more billion people, hoping that new levels of efficiency will allow us to survive. But it is well to ask if this really is the kind of world that we want? There is much we can do to reduce the suffering caused by human population growth. But recognizing that overpopulation is a perilous problem constitutes a critical first step.

Genetic Engineering Risks and Impact

Any technology that offers benefits will usually come with risks as well. In order to make wise decisions about using a technology, we must understand its potential impacts well enough to decide whether the risks are acceptably low.

What are the risks posed by the use of genetic engineering in agriculture? The answers fall mostly into two categories: risks to human health, and environmental impacts.

GE Health Risks

Health risks of genetic engineering have sometimes been described in exaggerated, alarmist terms, implying that foods made from GE crops are inherently unsafe. There is no evidence, for instance, that refined products derived from GE crops, such as starch, sugar, and oils, are different than those derived from conventionally bred crops.

It is also an exaggeration, however, to state that there are no health risks associated with GE. For one thing, not enough is known: research on the effects of specific genes has been limited—and tightly controlled by the industry.

But we do know of ways in which genetically engineered crops could cause health problems. For instance, genes from an allergenic plant could transfer this unwanted trait to the target plant. This phenomenon was documented in 1996, as soybeans with a Brazil nut gene—added to improve their value as animal feed—produced an allergic response in test subjects with Brazil nut allergies.

Unintended consequences like these underscore the need for effective regulation of GE products. In the absence of a rigorous approval process, there is nothing to ensure that GE crops that cause health problems will always be identified and kept off the market.

GE Environmental Impacts

Genetically engineered crops can potentially cause environmental problems that result directly from the engineered traits. For instance, an engineered gene may cause a GE crop to become invasive or toxic to wildlife.

But the most damaging impact of GE in agriculture so far is the phenomenon of pesticide resistance. Millions of acres of U.S. farmland are now infested with weeds that have become resistant to the herbicide glyphosate. Overuse of Monsanto's "Roundup Ready" trait, which is engineered to tolerate the herbicide, has promoted the accelerated development of resistance in several weed species.

Looking for ways to fight back against these "superweeds," farmers are now turning to older, more toxic herbicides such as 2,4-D and dicamba. As if on cue, agribusiness companies have begun to develop new GE crops engineered to tolerate these older herbicides—with no guarantee that the Roundup Ready story will not repeat itself, producing a new wave of resistant weeds.

And this issue is not confined to herbicides: recent reports suggest a growing problem of corn rootworms resistant to the insecticide Bt, which some corn varieties have been engineered to produce.

GE and Industrial Agriculture

As the superweed crisis illustrates, current applications of genetic engineering have become a key component of an unsustainable approach to food production: industrial agriculture, with its dependence on monoculture—supported by costly chemical inputs—at the expense of the long-term health and productivity of the farm.

A different approach to farming is available—what UCS calls "healthy farms." This approach is not only more sustainable than industrial agriculture, but often more cost-effective. Yet as long as the marketplace of agricultural products and policies is dominated by the industrial model, prioritizing expensive products over knowledge-based agroecological approaches, healthy farm solutions face an uphill battle.

In the case of GE, better solutions include crop breeding and agroecological practices such as crop rotation, cover crops, and integrated crop/livestock management.

Such healthy farm practices are the future of U.S. agriculture—and policymakers can help speed the transition by supporting research and education on them. In the meantime, stronger regulation of the biotechnology industry is needed to minimize health and environmental risks from GE products.

Deforestation Facts

Deforestation Facts

Deforestation or felling trees has become a favorite activity of man to extract assorted needs- be it medicines or precious paper to waste. For obvious reasons, it is shameful to read the statistics on how discriminating man has been, especially when it comes to deforestation… but at the end, there is always hope. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an estimated 18 million acres of forest are lost each year. In the last two decades, Afghanistan has lost over 70% of its forests throughout the country.

What is Deforestation?

Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forest land for use such as arable land, pasture, urban use, logged area, or wasteland. Deforestation can also be seen as the removal of forests leading to several imbalances ecologically and environmentally and results in declines in habitat and biodiversity. Urbanization, Mining, Fires, Logging and Agricultural activities are few of the causes of deforestation.

Below are 51 facts on deforestation

Facts 1: Forests cover 30% of the earth’s land.

Facts 2: It is estimated that within 100 years there will be no rain-forests.

Facts 3: Agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation

Facts 4: One and a half acres of forest is cut down every second.

Facts 5: Loss of forests contributes between 12 percent and 17 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions.

Facts 6: If the current rate of deforestation continues, it will take less than 100 years to destroy all the rain-forests on the earth.

Facts 7: The rate of deforestation equals to loss of 20 football fields every minute.

Facts 8: There are more than 121 natural remedies in the rain forest which can be used as medicines.

Facts 9: According to Rain-forest Action Network, the United States has less than 5% of the world’s population yet consumes more than 30% of the world’s paper.

Facts 10: The over-exploitation of forests is making it extremely difficult to replant a new ecology.

Facts 11: 20% of the world’s oxygen is produced in the Amazon forest.

Facts 12: Up to 28,000 species are expected to become extinct by the next quarter of the century due to deforestation.

Facts 13: 25% of cancers fighting organisms are found in the Amazon.

Facts 14: 13 million hectares per year in South America and Africa and South East Asia is converted from a forest to an agriculture land.

Facts 15: Deforestation has considerably stopped in places like Europe, Pacific, North America and some parts of Asia due to lack of agricultural land.

Facts 16: Half of the world’s tropical forests has already been cleared.

Facts 17: 4500 acres of forests are cleared every hour by forest fires, bulldozers, machetes etc.

Facts 18: Poverty, overpopulation, and unequal land access are the main causes of man- made deforestation.

Facts 19: The total world forest loss till date is 7.3 million hectares per year.

Facts 20: 1.6 billion people across the globe depend on forest products for their livelihoods thereby adding more to deforestation.

Facts 21: Almost half of world’s timber and up to 70% of paper is consumed by Europe, the United States and Japan alone.

Facts 22: Industrialized countries consume 12 times more wood and its products per person than the non-industrialized countries.

Facts 23: The United States has less than 5% of the world’s population but consumes more than 30% of the world’s paper.

Facts 24: Fuel-wood in sub-Saharan African countries is consumed up to 200% times more than the annual growth rates of the trees. This is causing deforestation, lack of timber resources and loss of habitat for the species living in it.

Facts 25: Trees are important constituents of the ecosystem by absorbing carbon.

Facts 26: Soil erosion, floods, wildlife extinction, the increase in global warming, and climate imbalance are few of the effects of deforestation.

Facts 27: Worldwide more than 1.6 billion people rely on forests products for all or part of their livelihoods.

Facts 28: Tropical forests, where deforestation is most prevalent, hold more than 210 gigatonnes of carbon.

Facts 29: According to Forestry Department Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, about half the world’s tropical forests have been cleared or degraded.

Facts 30: Tropical rain-forests which cover 6-7% of the earth’s surface, contain over half of all the plant and animal species in the world!

Facts 31: Deforestation affects water cycle. Trees absorb groundwater and release the same into the atmosphere during transpiration. When deforestation happens, the climate automatically changes to a drier one and also affects the water table.

Facts 32: The world’s forests store 283 billion tons of carbon present in the biomass.

Fact 33: Money to save trees is majorly collected online.

Fact 34: One can save up to 20 square feet of the forest with online contributions thereby conveniently prevent deforestation.

Fact 35: Over 4 million tons of junk is created online by spamming.

Fact 36: 41 pounds of these junk mails are sent to almost every adult in the United States.

Fact 37: 44% of the junk mail goes unopened.

Fact 38: People in America spend more than 275 million dollars to dispose of junk mails.

Fact 39: The paper industry is fourth largest in producing greenhouse gas thereby majorly contributing to deforestation.

Fact 40: On an average, a person in the United States uses more than 700 pounds of paper every year.

Fact 41: A lot of paper and cardboard is used unnecessarily for packing. This means more tree felling.

Fact 42: Re- use paper and plastic bags to discourage deforestation.

Fact 43: Use canvas or paper bags as another alternative.

Fact 44: Pick products which require less packaging.

Fact 45: Be creative and mail manufacturers telling them to use eco-friendly products.

Fact 46: Sign effective petitions that work and help reduce deforestation.

Fact 47: Support eco-friendly companies buy buying their products that promise more durability in an inexpensive way.

Fact 48: Be active and plant trees- it can be at your homes, backyards or you can join any organization keen on stopping deforestation.

Fact 49: Reduce the consumption of beef to tone down the pressure to clear more forests for the cattle.

Fact 50: Boycott companies by supporting organizations that care about the environment at the cost of fighting back for the evergreen trees.

Fact 51: Seek knowledge on deforestation and how can you prevent it from happening by reading newspapers, magazines, the internet, TV shows. Spread the word and make it go viral.


To fill or not to fill is not up to the woodcutter, but surely depends on you. Be the change and eliminate the disturbing statistics on deforestation. It takes not guts, but love and compassion for nature to save trees from being felled.