Environmental Science

The world is very crowded more polluted ecologically fragile and vulnerable to disruption and imbalance. Serious stresses involving population resources and environment are clearly visible ahead. Despite greater material output the worlds people will be poorer in many ways than they are today. Regional water shortage will become more severe in the future. Significant loss of world forests will continue over the next 20 years as demand for forest products and fuel wood increases. Deterioration of agricultural soils will occur world-wide due to erosion loss of organic matter desertification salinization and water logging. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and ozone are depleting and this change may alter the worlds climate and upper atmosphere significantly by 2050. Acid rain from increased combustion of fossil fuels threatens and causes damage to lakes soils and crops. Radioactive and other hazardous materials pose health and problems in most countries. Extinctions of plant and animal species will increase dramatically. More than 20 percent of all species on earth will be lost from their habitats and thus disappear especially from tropical forests.