essay on biosphere ecosystem

Ecosystem and the Biosphere: Effect of Human Activities Essay

Introduction.

Ecosystem implies a complex relationship between living things, their habitats, the surrounding environment as well as the people who reside in a certain area. This includes plants, organisms, soil, and people among others. Biosphere defines the part of the earth that supports life. It is the earths’ atmosphere whereby living organisms exists in. in other words, biosphere is the composition of living organisms and their surrounding environment. Human beings accounts for being part of the greater earth’s ecosystem and their activities affects the ecosystem and the biosphere in various ways as discussed below.

Ludington (n.d) in Ecology 2, observed that human activities were greatly involved in altering the balance in the ecosystem and biosphere. Activities such as hunting, agriculture, urbanization and industrialization are among the major human activities responsible of creating imbalances in the ecosystem and the biosphere. These activities greatly affect the quality and availability of earth’s renewable resources, mainly land, air and water, which dictates the stability in the ecosystems.

Human activities reduce biodiversity through various ways. Moving organisms from their original habitats to create space for agricultural activities or for human settlements is a course for imbalance in the ecosystem. For instance deforestation of land will lead to alteration of habitats which in turn may affect food chains and webs. Extensive reduction of forest cover can also contribute to droughts which directly affects the equilibrium in the ecosystem and biodiversity. Extensive hunting of various species to extermination, introduction of foreign species to environment which different from their original habitats also leads to imbalance and conflicts in the ecosystem and the biosphere (Ludington, n.d).

According to Ludington (n.d), the exposure of pollutant and toxic materials resulting from human activities to the environment, accounts among the major factors affecting the equilibrium in the ecosystem and the biosphere. Air pollutants such as greenhouse gases from industries and carbonic fumes from automobile exhausts are linked with the ozone layer depletion and global warming, which posses a great threat to the biosphere. The consequences of these air pollutants are excessive warming on the earth’s surface, harmful radiations, excessive flooding and droughts, acidic rainfalls, all which directly affects the organism food and water supply, alters their habitats and destruction of the environment.

Poor dumping of industrial and urban wastes affect the ecosystem in large magnitudes. Poor disposal of sewers into water system affects the quality and survival of marine organisms. Non-biodegradable wastes such as plastics kills micro-organisms which plays a key role in the in maintaining the interdependence in the eco-system and the bio-sphere. Agricultural fertilizers and chemicals are also swept to water bodies through surface runoffs, which affect food webs and marine life in general (Ludington, n.d).

Generally human activities majorly exposes adverse affects on the ecosystem and biosphere, but activities such as reforestation can be a great boost to sustainable development in the relationships within the biosphere hence improving the ecosystem.

Ludington, S. (n.d). Ecology Part 2: Populations and Humans in the Biosphere . Web.

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Bibliography

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Essay on Biosphere

Students are often asked to write an essay on Biosphere in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Biosphere

Introduction to biosphere.

The biosphere is the part of Earth where all life exists. It includes every living organism, from the smallest bacteria to the largest whale.

Components of the Biosphere

The biosphere is made up of various ecosystems. These include forests, oceans, deserts, and even cities, where plants, animals, and humans live and interact.

The Importance of the Biosphere

The biosphere is vital for life. It provides us with air to breathe, food to eat, and water to drink. Moreover, it helps regulate the planet’s climate and recycles essential nutrients.

Protecting the Biosphere

We must protect the biosphere. This can be achieved by reducing pollution, conserving resources, and promoting biodiversity. By doing so, we ensure the survival of all life on Earth.

Also check:

• 10 Lines on Biosphere

250 Words Essay on Biosphere

The concept of biosphere.

The term ‘Biosphere’ was first coined by geologist Eduard Suess in 1875, and later popularized by Vladimir Vernadsky, a Russian scientist. The biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. It is essentially the layer of life enclosing the Earth, extending from the deep-sea vents to the peak of Mount Everest.

Components and Functioning

The biosphere is composed of various biomes, each with its own unique ecosystem. These biomes range from forests to deserts, from tundras to coral reefs. Each of these ecosystems has a unique set of flora and fauna that interact with the non-living components, forming a complex, interwoven web of life.

The biosphere plays a crucial role in the planet’s health and stability. It acts as a buffer, maintaining the balance of gases in the atmosphere, regulating the water cycle, and controlling the climate.

Threats to the Biosphere

However, human activities pose significant threats to the biosphere. Deforestation, pollution, overpopulation, and climate change are all contributing factors to the degradation of the biosphere. These activities disrupt the delicate balance of the biosphere, leading to biodiversity loss and habitat destruction.

The biosphere is a complex, interconnected system that sustains life on Earth. Its preservation is crucial for the survival of all species, including humans. As such, understanding and respecting the biosphere is not just an academic exercise, but a necessity for the continued existence of life on our planet.

500 Words Essay on Biosphere

Introduction.

The biosphere, a complex and dynamic system, is an integral part of the Earth’s structure. It is an amalgamation of all ecosystems and living beings, including humans, and their chemical interactions with the environment. The biosphere, literally meaning “life sphere,” is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships.

The Composition of the Biosphere

The biosphere is composed of various biomes, which are large ecological areas on the planet’s surface, with animals and plants adapting to their environment. Biomes range from deserts to tropical rainforests, and from grasslands to aquatic systems. Each of these biomes represents a community of plants and animals that have common characteristics for the environment they exist in.

Interactions within the Biosphere

The biosphere is not an isolated system, but rather it interacts continuously with other parts of the Earth system: the lithosphere (land), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air). These interactions are vital for the functioning of the biosphere and the maintenance of life on Earth. For instance, the process of photosynthesis in plants, which is part of the biosphere, relies on sunlight (from the outer space), carbon dioxide (from the atmosphere), and water (from the hydrosphere).

Role of the Biosphere in the Earth System

The biosphere plays a critical role in the Earth system, particularly in the areas of biogeochemical cycles and climate regulation. Through processes like photosynthesis and respiration, the biosphere helps regulate the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, contributing to the Earth’s climate stability. Additionally, the biosphere is a key player in the cycling of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which are essential for life.

Human Impact on the Biosphere

Human activities have significantly impacted the biosphere, often leading to biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, and climate change. Overexploitation of resources, deforestation, pollution, and urbanization are among the human activities that have disrupted the balance of the biosphere. These actions not only threaten biodiversity but also the stability and resilience of the biosphere as a whole.

The Importance of Biosphere Conservation

Understanding the importance of the biosphere is crucial for its conservation. As the living space of all organisms, the biosphere’s integrity is essential for our survival and well-being. Conservation efforts should focus on maintaining biodiversity, restoring damaged ecosystems, and promoting sustainable practices. Such efforts require interdisciplinary collaboration, incorporating ecological, social, and economic perspectives.

The biosphere is a complex and dynamic system, essential for life on Earth. It interacts constantly with other Earth systems, playing a critical role in climate regulation and nutrient cycling. However, human activities have disrupted the biosphere, necessitating urgent conservation efforts. By understanding and respecting the biosphere, we can ensure a sustainable future for all life forms on our planet.

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4.4: Ecosystems and the Biosphere

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• Page ID 108097

• Tara Jo Holmberg
• Northwestern Connecticut Community College

Learning Objectives

• Discuss how life and the planet exist as a system
• Outline the flow of energy through an ecosystem using trophic dynamics theory
• Describe the basic ecosystem types
• Explain the methods that ecologists use to study ecosystem structure and dynamics
• Identify the different methods of ecosystem modeling

In this 10-minute video, Hank will provide an overview of ecosystem ecology and its various subfields. Question after watching: After watching this video, make a list of questions that you have about ecosystems.

• 4.4.1: Ecology of Ecosystems An ecosystem is a community of living organisms and their interactions with their abiotic (non-living) environment. Ecosystems can be small, such as the tide pools found near the rocky shores of many oceans, or large, such as the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework. This field examines how ecosystems work and relates this to their components
• 4.4.2: Energy Flow through Ecosystems All living things require energy in one form or another. Energy is required by most complex metabolic pathways (often in the form of adenosine triphosphate, ATP), especially those responsible for building large molecules from smaller compounds, and life itself is an energy-driven process. Living organisms would not be able to assemble macromolecules (proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and complex carbohydrates) from their monomeric subunits without a constant energy input.
• 4.4.3: Terrestrial Biomes The Earth’s biomes are categorized into two major groups: terrestrial and aquatic. Terrestrial biomes are based on land, while aquatic biomes include both ocean and freshwater biomes. The eight major terrestrial biomes on Earth are each distinguished by characteristic temperatures and amount of precipitation. Comparing the annual totals of precipitation and fluctuations in precipitation from one biome to another provides clues as to the importance of abiotic factors in biome distribution.
• 4.4.4: Aquatic Biomes Like terrestrial biomes, aquatic biomes are influenced by a series of abiotic factors. The aquatic medium—water— has different physical and chemical properties than air. Even if the water in a pond or other body of water is perfectly clear (there are no suspended particles), water, on its own, absorbs light. As one descends into a deep body of water, there will eventually be a depth, which the sunlight cannot reach.
• 4.4.5: Biogeochemical Cycles The matter that makes up living organisms is conserved and recycled. The six most common elements associated with organic molecules—carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur—take a variety of chemical forms and may exist for long periods in the atmosphere, on land, in water, or beneath the Earth’s surface. Geologic processes, such as weathering, erosion, water drainage, and the subduction of the continental plates, all play a role in this recycling of materials.
• 4.4.6: Biogeography Many forces influence the communities of living organisms present in different parts of the biosphere (all of the parts of Earth inhabited by life). The biosphere extends into the atmosphere (several kilometers above Earth) and into the depths of the oceans. Despite its apparent vastness to an individual human, the biosphere occupies only a minute space when compared to the known universe. Many abiotic forces influence where life can exist and the types of organisms found in the biosphere.

Photo Essay: Portlanders Young and Old Celebrate Earth Day With Making Earth Cool

Under the pomp and ceremony of a costume parade on a beautiful spring day lay a deep reservoir of disquiet for what the future might hold..

On Saturday, a parade of Portlanders marched from Sunnyside Environmental School through quiet inner Eastside residential blocks, celebrating Earth Day with the pageantry of handmade costumes and musical accompaniment from Portland’s own Unpresidented Brass Band.

Led by a decommissioned fire engine, the procession of approximately 200 people—most dressed as animals and plants—drew neighbors and diners out to watch the passing spectacle.

The event was organized by climate crisis-focused art collective Making Earth Cool , Portland Youth Climate Strike, Sunnyside Environmental School, and Extinction Rebellion PDX (a local chapter of the global nonviolent civil disobedience movement), among others.

At the parade Angela McIlvain, Mel Shea, and Nora Colie—wearing their respective ensembles as a globe with sunglasses "Earthy," a yellow flower "Dandy," and a pink wildflower "Clover"—emphasized the importance of this event being a multigenerational gathering and celebration. Under the pomp and ceremony of families in costumes and the communal celebration of Earth on a beautiful spring day, lies a deep reservoir of disquiet for what the future might hold.

“The youth are going to experience a lot more climate change than we have,” Shea told the  Mercury . “There is an anxiousness to it, and we hope to help people not feel alone.”

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When is Earth Day 2024? How the day raises awareness about climate change, our environment

Earth day started over 50 years ago, on april 22, 1970, and the celebrations are still going strong..

Earth Day is today. But what does the day even mean? Here's what you need to know about the annual commemoration and how to celebrate our planet while fighting climate change .

"For me, every day is Earth Day," Leila Yassine, Rainforest Alliance's global advocacy engagement manager, told USA TODAY. "But I think it's really important to have this Earth Day as a yearly wake-up call for everyone."

She goes on to say that the day itself brings attention to organizations that are working to bring attention to climate change and what folks can do to help the Earth recover.

Earth Day 2024: In honor of Earth Day, today's Google Doodle takes us on a trip around the world

When is Earth Day?

Earth Day falls on April 22 every year. This year, however, it falls on a Monday and shares the date with the start of the Jewish holiday, Passover.

The day has been celebrated for over 50 years, but isn't federally recognized, as previously reported by USA TODAY .

Why do we celebrate Earth Day?

The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 when 20 million people went to inaugural events at schools, universities and other public areas around the country, according to the Library of Congress's website .

Senator Gaylord Nelson advocated for Earth Day and called on "students to fight for environmental causes and oppose environmental degradation with the same energy that they displayed in opposing the Vietnam War," states the library.

Then, the library adds, in July of 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency was created after the public demanded cleaner water, air and land as more disasters caused by climate change and pollution impacted the country.

How can we celebrate Earth Day 2024?

Yassine said her favorite way to celebrate Earth Day is by taking a walk through nature.

"It just reminds us how the earth is beautiful and how nature is powerful," said Yassine. "So I think for me this is a way of celebrating Earth Day."

But, she adds that it isn't the only way to celebrate Earth Day, and there are simple things folks can do, too.

She said people can do something as small as going to the grocery store and buying sustainable produce.

Since Earth Day falls on a Monday, it can also be celebrated by participating in Meatless Monday. The movement, according to its website, was started in 2003 by Sid Lerner, with the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. It aimed to reduce the amount of meat in one's diet to improve health and the health of the planet.

According to a study published by the National Library of Medicine , a more plant-based diet would not only improve environmental health, but human health too.

But, if that's not your cup of tea, there's always the option to go to a local park, beach clean-up or attend an Earth Day event in your area.

"Everyday actions count," said Yassine. "Fighting climate change doesn't always require that we have ground-breaking innovation or technology."

Folks can also research news regarding climate change and the work that needs to be done. But, Yassine says it's important to look at positive news regarding the situation, too.

Have a positive outlook on Earth Day 2024

According to Yassine, sharing positive news about the climate crisis and avoiding doom-scrolling on social media can encourage others to tackle the issue and keep folks optimistic about the future of the climate crisis.

No matter how one chooses to celebrate Earth Day or fight against climate change, Yassine said it's important to stay positive about the future.

"Share ideas and this will really cultivate collective optimism," she said. "It's like you have little seeds and then you're feeding it. You're feeding it until gives you this beautiful tree of hope."

Julia is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. She has covered various topics, from local businesses and government in her hometown, Miami, to tech and pop culture.   You can follow her on  X, formerly known as Twitter ,  Instagram  and  TikTok : @juliamariegz

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R.F.K. Jr.’s Environmental Colleagues Urge Him to Drop Presidential Bid

Nearly 50 leaders and activists who worked with Mr. Kennedy at an environmental nonprofit group will run ads calling on him to “Honor our planet, drop out.”

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By Lisa Friedman

As an independent candidate for the White House, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims he would be the “best environment president in American history,” drawing on his past as a crusading lawyer who went after polluters in New York.

But dozens of Mr. Kennedy’s former colleagues at the Natural Resources Defense Council are calling on him to withdraw from the race, in full-page advertisements sponsored by the group’s political arm that are expected to appear in newspapers in six swing states on Sunday.

Separately, a dozen other national environmental organizations have issued an open letter calling Mr. Kennedy “ a “dangerous conspiracy theorist and a science denier” who promotes “toxic beliefs” on vaccines and on climate change.

People involved in both efforts maintain that Mr. Kennedy cannot win the presidency but could siphon votes away from President Biden and help elect former President Donald J. Trump, who has called climate change a hoax and promised to unravel environmental laws and policies.

“A vote for RFK Jr. is a vote to destroy that progress and put Trump back in the White House,” says the newspaper ad that will run in Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Signatories include John Hamilton Adams, who co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council and hired Mr. Kennedy in the 1980s, as well as past presidents and the group’s current president. They implore Mr. Kennedy to “Honor our planet, drop out.”

Mr. Kennedy was a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council for about 28 years, stepping down in 2014.

In a telephone interview on Thursday, Mr. Kennedy shot back against the idea that he might bring Mr. Trump back to the White House.

“President Biden does not need my help to lose to Donald Trump,” Mr. Kennedy said. He avoided directly addressing the actions of Mr. Adams and other former colleagues, saying only that he and his mentor “disagree with each other on politics.”

Instead Mr. Kennedy criticized Mr. Biden as well as the environmental movement, which he said “is making a mistake to settle for crumbs that have been given to us by the Biden administration.”

Former colleagues in environmental circles were unvarnished in their assessments of Mr. Kennedy.

“The Bobby I knew is gone,” said Dan Reicher, a senior energy researcher at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for Environment. Mr. Reicher worked with Mr. Kennedy at N.R.D.C. and said he had a decades-long personal friendship with Mr. Kennedy, including paddling rivers together in the United States and Chile.

Gina McCarthy was the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Barack Obama and then became president of N.R.D.C. during the Trump administration, only to return to national service as Mr. Biden’s climate adviser until last year.

“If folks remember him as an environmentalist, he is no more,” she said about Mr. Kennedy. “He’s against science, he’s against vaccines, he talks jibber jabber on climate. I don’t know what he stands for.”

Mr. Adams said in a statement: ”I mentored Bobby as a young environmentalist. I do not recognize the person he has become. His actions are a betrayal to our environment.”

The rebuke from Mr. Kennedy’s professional colleagues comes after his brothers and sisters and other members of the Kennedy family endorsed President Biden at a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Thursday. Mr. Kennedy is a nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and a son of the former attorney general and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. Family members have said they are concerned that Mr. Kennedy could tilt the race to Mr. Trump.

Allies of Mr. Trump have been discussing ways to elevate third-party candidates like Mr. Kennedy in battleground states to divert votes away from Mr. Biden. They are looking to underline Mr. Kennedy’s background as an environmentalist in the hope of peeling away some progressive voters frustrated by the fact that under Mr. Biden, the country has produced record levels of oil and gas.

“The path to victory here is clearly maximizing the reach of these left-wing alternatives,” Stephen K. Bannon, the former White House chief strategist who also served as Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman in 2016, told The New York Times earlier this month .

Mr. Kennedy’s views on climate change are unconventional. He agrees with the overwhelming scientific opinion that carbon dioxide and methane, two greenhouse gases, are heating the planet, and that the evidence is visible. “All of my senses are telling me that the warming is occurring,” he said in a video he posted to X in July.

But in the same video, he also said that a “war on carbon” was not the answer and that “this crisis is being used as a pretext for clamping down totalitarian controls.” He said that the actors behind the clampdown were “the intelligence agencies, the World Economic Forum, the billionaire club at Davos,” and that their goal was to make the rich more wealthy. But moments later, he said that free markets would solve the climate crisis.

Mr. Kennedy said he opposed federal subsidies for carbon capture and storage, a technology to capture greenhouse gas emissions from power plants or industrial processes before they reach the atmosphere, where they drive global warming. Mr. Kennedy called it a “useless and huge boondoggle to the industry” and criticized Mr. Biden for agreeing to include those subsidies in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the president’s landmark climate law.

Many environmental activists are also opposed to carbon capture technology because they want the nation to stop burning fossil fuels and instead switch to wind, solar and other nonpolluting energy sources.

But Mr. Kennedy’s agenda does not include any clear policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

On Thursday he said eliminating subsidies for fossil fuels and tougher enforcement of existing laws like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act would be sufficient to fight climate change. President Biden has tried three times to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies , and each time, Congress has restored them. And in recent rulings, the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court has limited the Biden administration’s ability under existing laws to regulate greenhouse gases.

Mr. Kennedy also said the environmental movement was making “a huge tactical error” in focusing on climate change instead of environmental issues that are less divisive.

He accused Mr. Biden of turning his back on the environment by approving the Willow project, an $8 billion oil drilling project in Alaska; for overseeing record oil and gas production; and for signing the Inflation Reduction Act, which ensures continued offshore oil drilling.

“It’s hard to understand how the environmental movement is now saying that this is OK,” Mr. Kennedy said. “I think we need a bigger vision for the environment.”

Manish Bapna, the president of the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, the political arm of the nonprofit environmental organization, noted that Mr. Kennedy had also criticized the federal subsidies that jump-started domestic manufacturing of electric vehicles and batteries and solar and wind production in the United States.

“Voters who care about the environment shouldn’t be fooled,” Mr. Bapna said.

Mr. Biden has enacted the most aggressive climate agenda of any president. In addition to the Inflation Reduction Act, which is providing more than $370 billion for clean energy over the next decade, he is limiting emissions from automobiles, is poised to cut carbon pollution from power plants and has reined in future oil and gas drilling by limiting the available tracts of land and water that companies can lease.

The political ad does not discuss Mr. Kennedy’s record as a lawyer who helped clean up the Hudson River and started a global movement to protect waterways.

Mr. Kennedy was named a hero of the planet by Time magazine in 1999 for his work with the Riverkeeper organization, among the groups credited with cleaning up the Hudson. As a founder of the Waterkeeper Alliance, he successfully fought to close a New York landfill that was contaminating the water supply and helped defeat dams in Chile and Peru.

Lisa Friedman is a Times reporter who writes about how governments are addressing climate change and the effects of those policies on communities. More about Lisa Friedman

Our Coverage of the 2024 Election

Presidential Race

The Trump campaign and the Republican Party plan to dispatch over 100,000 volunteers and lawyers to monitor elections in battleground states  — and work in concert with conservative activists.

The prospect of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. threatening to upend the presidential race  went from an idea to a reality in one of the country’s most consequential battlegrounds, when Kennedy qualified for the ballot in Michigan .

Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, a potential vice-presidential pick for Donald Trump, refused to say whether she would have certified the 2020 election  if she had been in Mike Pence’s position. She also dodged questions about exceptions to abortion bans.

Other Key Races

A high-energy crowd rallied in Pittsburgh to support Representative Summer Lee, a left-leaning congresswoman whose primary is a high-profile test  of whether she can stave off a challenge aimed in part at her stance over the war in Gaza.

After Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, pro-Israel political groups put the Democratic Party’s most outspoken critics on notice. The groups have raised millions to challenge candidates they see as not sufficiently pro-Israel, but have spent little  as public opinion shifts.

Pressed on his claims of 2020 election irregularities, the Republican candidate for Senate in Wisconsin has questioned the mental capacity of nursing home residents  to vote.

Nevada’s once-sleepy Republican primary for Senate, which has been dominated by Sam Brown, a U.S. Army veteran, was jolted to life when a deep-pocketed rival  took aim at the front-runner.

Europe is the fastest-warming continent, at nearly twice the average rate, report says

Europe is the fastest-warming continent and its temperatures are rising at roughly twice the global average, two top climate monitoring organizations reported Monday, warning of the consequences for human health, glacier melt and economic activity.

The U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s climate agency, Copernicus, said in a joint report that the continent has the opportunity to develop targeted strategies to speed up the transition to renewable resources like wind, solar and hydroelectric power in response to the effects of climate change.

The continent generated 43% of its electricity from renewable resources last year, up from 36% the year before, the agencies say in their European State of the Climate report for last year. More energy in Europe was generated from renewables than from fossil fuels for the second year running.

The latest five-year averages show that temperatures in Europe are now running 2.3 degrees Celsius (4.1 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, compared to 1.3 degrees Celsius higher globally, the report says — just shy of the targets under the 2015 Paris climate accord to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“Europe saw yet another year of increasing temperatures and intensifying climate extremes — including heat stress with record temperatures, wildfires, heat waves, glacier ice loss and lack of snowfall,” said Elisabeth Hamdouch, the deputy head of unit for Copernicus at the EU’s executive commission.

The report serves up a continental complement for WMO’s flagship state of the global climate report, which has been published annually for three decades, and this year came with a  “red alert” warning  that the world isn’t doing enough to fight the consequences of global warming.

Copernicus has reported that March  marked the 10th straight month  of record monthly temperatures. The average sea-surface temperature for the ocean across Europe hit its highest annual level in 2023, the Europe report said.

The European report focuses this year on the impact of high temperatures on human health, noting that deaths related to heat have risen across the continent. It said more than 150 lives were lost directly last year in connection with storms, floods and wildfires.

The cost of weather- and climate-related economic losses in 2023 were estimated at more than 13.4 billion euros (about $14.3 billion).

“Hundreds of thousands of people were affected by extreme climate events in 2023, which have been responsible for large losses at continental level, estimated to be at least in the tens of billions of euros,” said Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo.

Extreme weather fanned heat waves, wildfires, droughts and flooding, the report said. High temperatures have contributed to a loss of glacier ice on the continent, including in the Alps — which have lost about 10% of  their remaining glacier ice over the last two years .

Still, the report’s authors pointed to some exceptions, such as how temperatures were below average in Scandinavia and Iceland even if the mercury was higher than average across much of the continent as a whole.

UK's Thames Water makes new clean-up pledge in bid to raise prices

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• Proposes additional 1.1 bln stg investment for 2025-2030
• That would bring total expenditure to 19.8 bln
• No extra increase to rise in bills already set out
• CEO says discussions with regulator continue

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Musk decries Australian court 'censorship' of X terror posts

Elon Musk lashed out at Australia's prime minister on Tuesday after a court ordered his social media company X to take down footage of an alleged terrorist attack in Sydney, and said the ruling meant any country could control "the entire internet".

The U.S. is drafting sanctions that threaten to cut some Chinese banks off from the global financial system, which officials hope will stop Beijing's commercial support of Russia's military production, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Russia launched a drone attack on Ukraine that injured seven people in the Black Sea port of Odesa, two of them children, and also targeted Kyiv, the capital, Ukraine's military officials said early on Tuesday.

Human Impacts on the Environment

Humans impact the physical environment in many ways: overpopulation, pollution, burning fossil fuels, and deforestation. Changes like these have triggered climate change, soil erosion, poor air quality, and undrinkable water. These negative impacts can affect human behavior and can prompt mass migrations or battles over clean water.

Help your students understand the impact humans have on the physical environment with these classroom resources.

Earth Science, Geology, Geography, Physical Geography

• Environment

Are pollen allergies in Florida worse this year? Is climate change to blame?

• Michaela Mulligan Times staff

Spring has more than sprung. It has erupted in Tampa Bay.

Over the past few month, piles of pollen have accumulated in clumps of snot-inducing confetti. Cars have a sickly green tint to them. And who hasn’t heard someone say something along the lines of “allergies must be worse this year.”

There is some truth to it.

Human-caused climate change is prolonging and intensifying the pollen season across the country, including in Florida. Boosted by warming temperatures, plants and trees are releasing pollen earlier.

“Broadly, climate change is going to make things weird,” said Alyssa Vinson, a Manatee County horticulture extension agent for the University of Florida. “Things are changing.”

Fluctuations in the pollen season have consequences for human and environmental health, experts say. As pollen worsens, it can exacerbate respiratory conditions and just be uncomfortable. And as the planet warms, longer growing seasons can throw off the delicate balance of ecosystems.

Here’s how climate change is affecting pollen season in Florida.

What does a typical pollen ‘season’ look like in Florida?

Florida is lush and green year-round. It’s a benefit to living in nearly constant temperate climate. But there is a consequence — something is always growing.

Around this time of year, trees (particularly oaks) are producing the pollen that we typically think of when we see the little yellow fluffs that make us itchy. In Florida, though, irksome allergies can happen any time of year. Grasses in the summertime can also trigger coughing and sneezing. It’s followed by ragweed (a thin purple-stemmed, green flowering plant) in the fall, that is also showing signs of worsening from higher amounts of carbon dioxide in the air.

And let’s not forget mold, which is always lurking in Florida humidity.

Marc Frank, a botanist at the University of Florida Herbarium, said people tend to pay more attention to pollen from January to through April because that’s when its most visible.

“They see it on the cars, they see it on the patios, they see it on surfaces, and that is almost exclusively tree pollen,” Frank said.

Plants have one goal — to reproduce, and to do so widely. Various plant species go about it in different ways. Vibrant, blooming flowers attract bees. Small, furry mammals drop seeds or nuts all around. Other plants, like some trees, are pollenated when wind sweeps up its pollen and drops it somewhere new.

The wind-pollenated plants are the culprits behind allergies in humans, said Theresa Crimmins, director of the USA National Phenology Network and an associate professor at the University of Arizona.

“All of these events are actually cued by local environmental conditions, and a lot of the times it has a lot to do with temperature,” Crimmins said.

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How is climate change influencing pollen?

Human-caused climate change, spurred on by the burning fossil fuels, is driving up temperatures across the planet, according to The Fifth National Climate Assessment.

Since the late 19th century, the planet has warmed by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit. Hotter temperatures have led to wide-reaching changes, like an increase in humidity, shifting rainfall patterns, and on average, shorter winters coupled with earlier spring and summer seasons.

Florida’s average annual temperature has increased by about 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895, according to the Florida Climate Center at Florida State University.

Over the past few decades, the spring season in the United States has been arriving sooner , according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

“There’s been a trend for changes in the growing season, and that then correlates with changes in pollen,” said Stefanie Ebelt, a professor of Environmental Health and Epidemiology at Emory University.

A 2021 study from climate and environmental researchers from across the country found that over a nearly 30-year period, the pollen season has grown on average by 20 days and its intensity has also increased 21%.

The study looked at pollen monitoring stations in the U.S., including one in Tampa.

The Tampa location showed that the pollen season was beginning several days earlier than when it launched about 15 years ago. The Tampa site also showed pollen concentrations were growing.

Florida has its own version of winter with some freezing days, but the state doesn’t have the same black and white season change as other parts of the country. So tracking pollen here can be a little more complicated than in northern states, where there is a starker difference between winter and summer.

“It’s not as easy to say, ‘growing season stops here and starts here,’” Crimmins said. “It’s kind of this gradient with overlap.”

Crimmins said, however, that plants that are more sensitive to season change are showing signs of blooming earlier.

“We’ve got more carbon dioxide in the air, which acts like a fertilizer in the short-term for plants, enabling them to grow bigger and produce more pollen,” Crimmins said.

Pollen is here. What to know about it?

Longer pollen seasons have larger implications for the environment — in addition to our noses.

“Everything in an ecosystem exists in balance, and when you wait or remove something, the system becomes out of balance and you start to see those effects ripple outward throughout the rest of the ecosystem,” Vinson said.

For example, if a plant begins to bloom in March, instead of its typical April, a pollinator that arrives in April won’t be there to pollinate that plant. Vinson said the plant may not reproduce as much, and the pollinator’s population could decline, too.

And as much as our ecosystems will feel the change in pollen, we — people with noses that run and eyes that itch — feel it too.

Dr. Farnaz Tabatabaian, an allergist and immunologist at the University of South Florida, said doctors know tree pollen season will come each year, but when is trickier to nail down.

Last season, blooming began in late December and was consistent throughout the season. This year, cooler temperatures in January kept tree pollen at bay, but by late February it exploded, according to the Tampa pollen station , recorded by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. In recent weeks, pollen counts have begun to drop.

“It’s interesting because our temperatures are so fluctuate,” Tabatabaian said. “We know the seasons and things, when they’re going to come, but it’s becoming a little bit more unpredictable because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

For those with asthma or eczema, increased pollen can cause more serious health complications.

Ebelt said her studies show that higher outdoor pollen levels resulted in more emergency room visits for those with respiratory conditions, particularly asthma.

Even for those whose allergies are not taking them to the ER, months out of the year are uncomfortable.

“It is a quality of life issue, and it impacts a lot of people ... they’re not sleeping well, they’re not functioning well at work,” Tabatabaian said. ”These couple of months are pretty miserable for people.”

Spotlight Tampa Bay

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch and scientists are among those taking The Palladium stage in May to discuss how climate change will affect the Tampa Bay area at the Spotlight Tampa Bay forum. Tickets are $20, or $10 for students with IDs. A limited number of $50 VIP tickets are available. Proceeds will support the Tampa Bay Times Journalism Fund. For more information, click here.

Michaela Mulligan a climate and environment reporter. Reach her at [email protected].

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AP®︎/College Biology

Course: ap®︎/college biology   >   unit 8.

• Mutation as a source of variation
• Introduced species and biodiversity
• Invasive species
• Human activities that threaten biodiversity
• How does climate change affect biodiversity?
• How did all dinosaurs except birds go extinct?
• Were dinosaurs undergoing long-term decline before mass extinction?

Human impact on ecosystems review

• Disruptions to ecosystems

Human impact on biodiversity

Human-mediated causes of biodiversity loss.

• Land-use change : Humans may destroy natural landscapes as they mine resources and urbanize areas. This is detrimental, as it displaces residing species, reducing available habitats and food sources.
• Pollution : Pollution can occur from the runoff or disposal of chemical substances, or from energy sources (noise and light pollution).
• Introduced species : Humans may unintentionally, or intentionally, introduce a non-native species into an ecosystem. This can negatively effect an ecosystem because the introduced species may outcompete native organisms and displace them.
• Resource exploitation : Humans consume large amounts of resources for their own needs. Some examples include the mining of natural resources like coal, the hunting and fishing of animals for food, and the clearing of forests for urbanization and wood use. Extensive overuse of nonrenewable resources , like fossil fuels, can cause great harm to the environment. Recycling products made from nonrenewable resources (such as plastic, which is made from oil) is one way to reduce the negative impacts of this resource exploitation. In addition, the development and use of renewable resources , like solar or wind energy, can help decrease the harmful effects of resource exploitation.

Climate change and biodiversity

Conservation, common mistakes and misconceptions.

• The extinction rate is currently 1,000-10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate. Some people think that extinction is not a relevant issue, but it is actually more relevant than ever! Historically, the natural extinction rate is between 1-5 species-level extinctions per year. Human impact has caused this rate to jump to a significantly higher rate, offsetting the balance of biodiversity.
• The greenhouse effect is not all negative. Although we talk about greenhouse gases producing a negative impact (global change), the greenhouse effect serves a natural purpose: maintaining the warmth that sustains life on Earth. The problem arises when too much heat is trapped, causing a rise in average global temperature.
• An individual person can have an effect on biodiversity. Although biodiversity loss may be a large-scale problem, reducing threats to biodiversity can begin with a single individual. Smaller efforts, such as reusing or recycling items, or even purchasing sustainable foods, can have a culminating effect. That is, if each person did these things, even just a little, they would add up and help reduce biodiversity loss!

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Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem.

As electricity prices go negative, the golden state is struggling to offload a glut of solar power.

In sunny California, solar panels are everywhere. They sit in dry, desert landscapes in the Central Valley and are scattered over rooftops in Los Angeles’s urban center. By last count, the state had nearly 47 gigawatts of solar power installed — enough to power 13.9 million homes and provide over a quarter of the Golden State’s electricity.

But now, the state and its grid operator are grappling with a strange reality: There is so much solar on the grid that, on sunny spring days when there’s not as much demand, electricity prices go negative. Gigawatts of solar are “curtailed” — essentially, thrown away.

In response, California has cut back incentives for rooftop solar and slowed the pace of installing panels. But the diminishing economic returns may slow the development of solar in a state that has tried to move to renewable energy . And as other states build more and more solar plants of their own, they may soon face the same problems.

“These are not insurmountable challenges,” said Michelle Davis, head of global solar at the energy research and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie Power and Renewables. “But they are challenges that a lot of grid operators have never had to deal with.”

Solar power has many wonderful properties — once built, it costs almost nothing to run; it produces no air pollution and generates energy without burning fossil fuels. But it also has one major, obvious drawback: The sun doesn’t shine all the time.

Over 15 years ago, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory were in the midst of modeling a future with widespread solar power when they noticed something strange. With lots of solar power on a given electricity grid, the net load — or the demand for electricity minus the renewable energy — would take on a “U” shape. Sky-high demand in the morning would be replaced by almost zero demand in the middle of the day, when solar power could generate virtually all electricity people needed. Then as the sun set, demand surged up again.

California’s grid operator, known as CAISO, later dubbed this effect the “ duck curve .” (If you squint, you can imagine the curve as the belly of a duck.) It’s most prominent in the spring months, when solar panels get plenty of sunshine but there is less demand for heating and cooling.

In recent years in California, the duck curve has become a massive, deep canyon — and solar power is going unused. In 2022, the state wasted 2.4 million megawatt-hours of electricity, 95 percent of which was solar. (That’s roughly 1 percent of the state’s overall power generation in a year, or 5 percent of its solar generation.) Last year, the state did that in just the first eight months.

Clyde Loutan, principal for renewable energy integration at CAISO, says that the state has long been prepared for more solar on the grid. But, he added, “We drastically underestimated the speed at which residential solar was going to come in.”

Curtailing solar isn’t technically difficult — according to Paul Denholm, senior research fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, it’s equivalent to flipping a switch for grid operators. But throwing away free power raises electricity prices.

It has also undercut the benefits of installing rooftop solar. Since the 1990s, California has been paying owners of rooftop solar panels when they export their energy to the grid. That meant that rooftop solar owners got $0.20 to $0.30 for each kilowatt-hour of electricity that they dispatched.

But a year ago, the state changed this system, known as “net-metering,” and now only compensates new solar panel owners for how much their power is worth to the grid. In the spring, when the duck curve is deepest, that number can dip close to zero. Customers can get more money back if they install batteries and provide power to the grid in the early evening or morning.

The change has sparked a huge backlash from Californians and rooftop solar companies, which say that their businesses are flagging. Indeed, Wood Mackenzie predicts that California residential solar installations in 2024 will fall by around 40 percent. Some state politicians are now trying to reverse the rule.

“Under the CPUC’s leadership California is responsible for the largest loss of solar jobs in our nation’s history,” Bernadette del Chiaro, the executive director of the California Solar and Storage Association, said in a statement referring to California’s public utility commission.

But experts say that it reflects how the economics of solar are changing in a state that has gone all-in on the technology.

“You don’t want the utility or the grid operator to be overpaying for power when they don’t have to,” Davis said.

Other states, which have been slower to adopt solar, are starting to experience the same thing. Nevada, which generates 23 percent of its power from solar, has also seen deepening duck curves. Hawaii, which has thousands of homes with rooftop solar, has cut down on the payments those households get from the grid.

Beyond the sunny West, many states are still trying to ramp up rooftop solar power and extend its reach beyond affluent households. The Biden administration announced $7 billion in grants this week to provide rooftop solar to 900,000 low-income households.

California grid operators hope that their experience will teach other states what to expect as renewables grow. “The problem we’re seeing out West — nobody else has seen this,” Loutan said.

Solar can still grow in California. In the summer, when high air conditioning use strains the grid, solar can be useful even in the middle of the day. Denholm says that as solar continues to drop in price, installing solar that is curtailed regularly can still be cost-effective. “Throwing away some amount of renewable energy can absolutely make economic sense,” he said.

But California’s grid operator still hopes to avoid it if at all possible. Loutan called it “one of the last things we want to do.”

To cope, CAISO is selling some excess power to nearby states; California is also planning to install additional storage and batteries to hold solar power until later in the afternoon. Transmission lines that can carry electricity to nearby regions will also help — some of the lost power comes from regions where there simply aren’t enough power lines to carry a sudden burst of solar.

Denholm says the state is starting to take the steps needed to deal with the glut. “There are fundamental limits to how much solar we can put on the grid before you start needing a lot of storage,” Denholm said. “You can’t just sit around and do nothing.”

More on climate change

Understanding our climate: Global warming is a real phenomenon , and weather disasters are undeniably linked to it . As temperatures rise, heat waves are more often sweeping the globe — and parts of the world are becoming too hot to survive .

What can be done? The Post is tracking a variety of climate solutions , as well as the Biden administration’s actions on environmental issues . It can feel overwhelming facing the impacts of climate change, but there are ways to cope with climate anxiety .

Inventive solutions: Some people have built off-the-grid homes from trash to stand up to a changing climate. As seas rise, others are exploring how to harness marine energy .

What about your role in climate change? Our climate coach Michael J. Coren is answering questions about environmental choices in our everyday lives. Submit yours here. You can also sign up for our Climate Coach newsletter .

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