environment before and now essay

April 22, 2020

How the Environment Has Changed since the First Earth Day 50 Years Ago

These charts show that while progress has been made in some areas, humanity still has a major impact on the planet

By Andrea Thompson

Close-up of an Earth Day button.

Getty Images

On April 22, 1970, millions of Americans took part in demonstrations, cleanups and other activities to make the first Earth Day. The event was the brainchild of then Democratic Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, and it was a watershed moment for the growing U.S. environmental movement: Americans had become increasingly aware that the same industrialization that had made the country wealthy was having an impact on the environment and their own health. As famed anchorman Walter Cronkite put it in a special CBS News broadcast, Earth Day participants had a “common cause of saving life from the deadly by-products of that bounty: the fouled skies, the filthy waters, the littered earth.”

That same year would see the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the first in a series of important environmental laws. Since then efforts to tackle various environmental ills have waxed and waned: while enormous strides have been made in curbing air pollution, the threat of climate change has emerged and mushroomed. Here we take a look at a few environmental indicators to see what progress has—or has not—been made since that inaugural Earth Day 50 years ago.

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The clear, inexorable rises of the curves in the two graphs below are at the heart of the global warming problem. As humans have piled more cars onto roads and burned more coal and natural gas for electricity, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has steadily ticked upward. The average atmospheric CO2 concentration now stands above 410 parts per million (ppm), compared with about 325 ppm in 1970 (and 280 ppm before the industrial revolution in the 19th century). The excess heat trapped by that CO2 has already raised global temperatures by about one degree Celsius since preindustrial times. Under the 2015 Paris climate accord, nations have agreed to limit total warming to no more than 2 degrees C above preindustrial levels—with a preferred goal of staying below 1.5 degrees C. To date, emissions-curbing efforts have been unable to put the brakes on quickly enough to meet those targets.

Credit: Amanda Montañez; Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Air Pollution

Among the fundamental issues that drove Nelson and his colleagues to hold the first Earth Day was the rampant, deadly pollution clogging U.S. skies. One of the worst air pollution disasters in the nation’s history came in the fall of 1948, when weather conditions caused a stew of smog to build up in the industrial town of Donora, Pa., sickening thousands and killing 20 people. Congress passed various laws to limit air pollution in the ensuing years, but the Clean Air Act of 1970 was the landmark legislation that truly ushered in the stringent and comprehensive regulation of emissions from power plants, factories and cars.

The graphs below show how the law and its subsequent revisions have led to notable nationwide drops in three major pollutants: nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and lead. Nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide can be harmful to human health when breathed in, and both react with other chemicals in the atmosphere to create the particles that contribute to smog. Lead is highly toxic and can cause neurological and cardiovascular problems. One of the key sources of airborne lead pollution in the mid-20th century was leaded gasoline; since it was phased out, beginning in the mid-1970s, lead levels have plummeted. Many environmentalists and scientists who study air pollution are concerned that the considerable progress over the past 50 years might be stalled—or even reversed—by actions the EPA has taken during the Trump administration to weaken air pollution rules and enforcement.

Credit: Amanda Montañez; Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Perhaps the most emblematic moment of the crisis that afflicted U.S. waterways was the fire that erupted on the Cuyahoga River on June 22, 1969. Effluent from industrial activity along the river, running from Akron, Ohio, to Cleveland, had provided fuel for more than a dozen fires since the mid-19th century and killed off the waterway’s fish. The 1969 event helped lead to the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. Another landmark law, this act addressed pollution entering waterways from industry, sewage facilities and agriculture.

The graphs below highlights measurements from two major U.S. water bodies: Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. The first of them shows the change in levels of phosphorus—one of the key nutrients that fuel toxic algal blooms—carried into Lake Erie by the Maumee River, which flows into the lake in Toledo. Runoff from agricultural fields is the main contributor to the phosphorus load in the lake, which supplies drinking water to 11 million people. Researchers are actively working to figure out how farming practices might be changed to reduce the amount of phosphorus pouring in.

The graph for Lake Michigan shows a different type of pollutant: polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which can cause cancer as well as other health effects. PCB production was banned in 1979. And although levels of the compounds in the air (from which these chemicals fall into the water) and in fish have declined, their presence is still high enough that some states warn people to limit consumption of fish from the lakes.

Credit: Amanda Montañez; Source: National Center for Water Quality Research, Heidelberg University ( phosphorus data ); Great Lakes Fish Monitoring and Surveillance Program and Great Lakes Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network ( PCB data )

Americans are producing a lot more garbage than they did 50 years ago—and not just because the country’s population has risen: each person in the U.S. generates an average of 4.5 pounds of waste a day, compared with just 3.25 pounds in 1970. What they throw away has also changed, with plastic waste making up a larger percentage than in the past. That change reflects the explosion of plastic products over the past few decades, from less than 50 million tons of the material produced in 1970 to more than 320 million tons today. And though the recycling and composting of some materials have grown, a large chunk of trash still ends up in landfills: 139.6 million of the 267.8 million tons generated in 2017 (the last year for which data is available). That amount is, at least, a slight decline from the 145.3 million tons dumped in landfills in 1990.

It is clear that the U.S. and the world have made strides in realizing humanity’s impact and the need to safeguard the environment. But there is still a long way to go. As Nelson wrote in 1984, “The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”

Essay on Environment Then And Now

Students are often asked to write an essay on Environment Then And Now 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 Environment Then And Now

Environment long ago.

Long ago, the environment was cleaner and more natural. There were many trees, animals, and clean rivers. Air was fresh because there were fewer cars and factories. People lived simply and did not use much plastic or chemicals. Animals roamed free without much fear.

Changes Over Time

As time passed, more people meant more houses, roads, and shops. Forests were cut down for space and wood. Cars and factories started to fill the air with smoke. Oceans got dirty because of the waste we threw in them. Many animals lost their homes.

Environment Today

Today, our environment faces big problems. Air in cities can be dirty, and it’s hard to find places without trash. Some animals are in danger because their homes are gone. But people are starting to act by cleaning up and protecting nature. We are learning to live better with the earth.

250 Words Essay on Environment Then And Now

Changes in the environment.

Long ago, the environment was cleaner and more natural. Forests were thick, and air and water were pure. Animals roamed freely without much fear. People lived simpler lives, farming and hunting without using many chemicals or machines that harm nature.

Impact of Humans

Animals and plants.

With their homes disappearing and the planet getting warmer, many animals and plants find it hard to survive. Some have even disappeared forever. Now, there are fewer wild places and more city areas without much greenery.

Positive Actions

Today, many people are working to fix these problems. They plant trees, clean rivers, and protect animals. Laws have been made to reduce pollution and save natural areas. Schools teach children to care for the environment.

We all can help. Using less plastic, recycling, and turning off lights when not needed are small steps that make a big difference. If everyone does a bit, we can make our environment healthier, like it was before, for all living things.

500 Words Essay on Environment Then And Now

Our changing environment.

Long ago, our planet was a very different place. The air was cleaner, the forests were larger, and many animals roamed freely. This was the environment of the past. Today, things have changed a lot. Our environment now faces challenges like pollution, deforestation, and global warming. Let’s explore how the environment has changed from then to now.

Clean Air to Pollution

In the past, the air was much purer. There were fewer cars and factories, so there were fewer harmful gases in the air. Now, with more vehicles on the road and more industries, the air has become polluted. This pollution can make it hard to breathe and can harm plants, animals, and humans.

Forests Then and Now

Animals in danger.

Years ago, animals had plenty of space to live. But as humans have built more and taken more land for themselves, many animals have lost their homes. Some animals are now in danger of disappearing forever. This is called extinction. Protecting these animals has become very important.

Water: Then and Now

Water is another part of the environment that has changed. In the past, rivers, lakes, and oceans were cleaner. Now, water pollution from trash, chemicals, and other waste has made many water sources unsafe for drinking or swimming. Animals that live in water are also affected by this pollution.

Climate Change

What can we do.

Even though the environment has changed a lot, there’s still hope. Everyone can help take care of the planet. Simple actions like recycling, saving water, and using less electricity can make a big difference. People can also plant trees and clean up litter to help the environment.

The environment has changed from then to now in many ways. While we face new challenges, we also have new ways to solve them. By learning about these changes and how to take care of the Earth, we can help make sure the environment is a healthy place for all living things, now and in the future.

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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Essay on Environment: Examples & Tips

• Updated on  
• May 30, 2022

In the 21st century, the Environmental crisis is one of the biggest issues. The world has been potentially impacted by the resulting hindrance in the environmental balance, due to the rising in industrialization and urbanization. This led to several natural calamities which creates an everlasting severe impact on the environment for years. To familiarize students with the importance environment, the subject ‘Environmental Studies’ is part of the curriculum in primary, secondary as well as higher school education. To test the knowledge of the students related to Environment, a question related to the topic in the form of essay or article writing is included in the exam. This blog aims to focus on providing details to students on the way, they can draft a well-written essay on Environment.

This Blog Includes:

Overview on environment, tips on writing an effective essay, format (150 words), sample essay on environment, environment essay (100 words), essay on environment (200-250 words), environment essay (300 words), world environment day.

To begin the essay on Environment, students must know what it is all about. Biotic (plants, animals, and microorganisms) and abiotic (non-living physical factors) components in our surroundings fall under the terminology of the environment. Everything that surrounds us is a part of the environment and facilitates our existence on the planet.

Before writing an effective essay on Environment, another thing students need to ensure is to get familiarised with the structure of essay writing. The major tips which students need to keep in mind, while drafting the essay are:

• Research on the given topic thoroughly : The students must research the topic given in the essay, for example: while drafting an essay on the environment, students must mention the recent events, so to provide the reader with a view into their understanding of this concept.
• Jot down the important points: When the students research the topic, students must note down the points which need to be included in the essay.
• Quote down the important examples: Students must quote the important examples in the introductory paragraphs and the subsequent paragraphs as well.
• Revise the Essay: The student after finishing writing students must revise the content to locate any grammatical errors as well as other mistakes.

Essay on Environment: Format & Samples

Now that you are aware of the key elements of drafting an essay on Environment, take a look at the format of essay writing first:

Introduction

The student must begin the essay by, detailing an overview of the topic in a very simple way in around 30-40 words. In the introduction of the essay on Environment, the student can make it interesting by recent instances or adding questions.

Body of Content

The content after the introduction can be explained in around 80 words, on a given topic in detail. This part must contain maximum detail in this part of the Essay. For the Environment essay, students can describe ways the environment is hampered and different ways to prevent and protect it.

In the essay on Environment, students can focus on summing the essay in 30-40 words, by writing its aim, types, and purposes briefly. This section must swaddle up all the details which are explained in the body of the content.

Below is a sample of an Essay on Environment to give you an idea of the way to write one:

The natural surroundings that enable life to thrive, nurture, and destroy on our planet called earth are referred to as an environment. The natural environment is vital to the survival of life on Earth, allowing humans, animals, and other living things to thrive and evolve naturally. However, our ecosystem is being harmed as a result of certain wicked and selfish human actions. It is the most essential issue, and everyone should understand how to safeguard our environment and maintain the natural balance on this planet for life to continue to exist.

Nature provides an environment that nourishes life on the planet. The environment encompasses everything humans need to live, including water, air, sunshine, land, plants, animals, forests, and other natural resources. Our surroundings play a critical role in enabling the existence of healthy life on the planet. However, due to man-made technical advancements in the current period, our environment is deteriorating day by day. As a result, environmental contamination has risen to the top of our priority list.

Environmental pollution has a detrimental impact on our everyday lives in a variety of ways, including socially, physically, economically, emotionally, and cognitively. Contamination of the environment causes a variety of ailments that can last a person’s entire life. It is not a problem of a neighborhood or a city; it is a global issue that cannot be handled by a single person’s efforts. It has the potential to end life in a day if it is not appropriately handled. Every ordinary citizen should participate in the government’s environmental protection effort.

Between June 5 and June 16, World Environment Day is commemorated to raise awareness about the environment and to educate people about its importance. On this day, awareness initiatives are held in a variety of locations.

The environment is made up of plants, animals, birds, reptiles, insects, water bodies, fish, humans, trees, microbes, and many other things. Furthermore, they all contribute to the ecosystem.

The physical, social, and cultural environments are the three categories of environments. Besides, various scientists have defined different types and numbers of environments.

1. Do not leave rubbish in public areas. 2. Minimize the use of plastic 3. Items should be reduced, reused, and recycled. 4. Prevent water and soil contamination

Hope the blog has given you an idea of how to write an essay on the Environment. If you are planning to study abroad and want help in writing your essays, then let Leverage Edu be your helping hand. Our experts will assist you in writing an excellent SOP for your study abroad consultant application. 

Sonal is a creative, enthusiastic writer and editor who has worked extensively for the Study Abroad domain. She splits her time between shooting fun insta reels and learning new tools for content marketing. If she is missing from her desk, you can find her with a group of people cracking silly jokes or petting neighbourhood dogs.

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The Environment Before and After (Us)

There are a lot of places on the Internet to look for interesting before/after pictures giving evidence of climate change like the one above, but the best one these days is probably NASA’s  Images of Change project , which provides side-by-side photos of the same place over time to document the environment changes that have happened through natural and man-made causes. Here are a few images and a video to get you going and want to explore more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cMLfPOQE3w

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• The Past, Present, and Future Of Planet Earth

Our planet Earth formed around 4.6 billion years ago. However, the planet started supporting life only after 2.2 billion years of its formation. Since then, many species of microbes, plants and animals have evolved on our planet, and many became extinct over the years. Currently, Earth supports close to 8 billion human beings, 8.7 million species of other animals and close to 1.3 million plant species.

Formation Of The Earth And The Moon

The solar nebula hypothesis is the most widely accepted model related to the formation of the Solar System. It claims that the solar nebula formed as a result of the Big Bang, and gave rise to the Solar System. Shock waves emitted by a nearby supernova could have triggered the contraction of the solar nebula, and caused it to rotate. Soon, various protoplanets began to take shape from this rotating mass of interstellar gas and dust. Our planet also was formed by accretion from the solar nebula.

The moon, our Earth's only natural satellite, was formed about 4.5 billion years ago, suggesting that it formed after the formation of the Solar System. The most widely accepted theory regarding the creation of the Moon states that the satellite formed when a celestial body of the size of Mars struck the Earth, and matter was ejected from both the Earth and the colliding body into the Earth's orbit which condensed to form the Moon.

Late, Heavy Bombardment

In the early days of the Earth and other newly formed planets of the Solar System, about 3.8 billion years ago, a large number of asteroids would collide with these planets. These collisions left gaping craters on the surface of the planets. During such bombardments, the comets, being bearers of water could have contributed much of the water in the oceans of the Earth.

Early Life Begins

Early life flourished with the release of oxygen to the Earth's atmosphere about 3.5 billion years ago as a result of cyanobacterial metabolism in the Earth's oceans. When and how these cyanobacteria, the earliest forms of life emerged on Earth, is still a mystery. The cyanobacteria performed photosynthesis which released oxygen that was absorbed by the ocean water. This oxygen got fixed in the form of iron oxide that built up in the form of sedimentary rock deposits on the ocean floor. As the iron was used up at later stages, the oxygen was released and started building up in the Earth's atmosphere. Soon, life dependent on oxygen began to evolve.

"Snowball Earth"

For some time, about 650 million years ago, the Earth was completely covered in ice from the tropics to the poles. This "snowball earth" period coincides with the pre-Cambrian period. Life underwent a growth decline during this period, and only life forms in the rare ice-free pockets of the Earth's surface survived.

Life Explodes

During the Cambrian period, life forms on Earth underwent major evolutionary changes and species evolved at a rapid pace. Soft-bodied creatures evolved in early Cambrian and those with hard shells evolved later.

Mass Extinction Events

Though life continued to evolve and diversify on Earth, such periods of growth and evolution were interrupted by mass extinction events where many major forms of life on Earth got completely or partially wiped out, and many were newly formed. Asteroids impacts, climate change, volcanic eruptions, etc., are being held responsible for such events of mass extinction. Dinosaurs also got eliminated during one such event.

Pangaea Lost

About 200 million years ago, the Earth witnessed the breakdown of the Pangaea, a supercontinent that had formed about 270 million years back. Tectonic movements of the Earth's tectonic plates triggered this separation. Now, life evolved separately on the isolated landmasses, leading to the independent evolution of life forms.

We Live In An Interglacial Period

Starting 2.5 million years ago, the Earth underwent a series of glacial and interglacial periods, which marked the advance and retreat of glaciers respectively. Today, we are living in the Holocene epoch, an interglacial period that began about 11,500 years back.

Future Earth

Climate change induced by man is the biggest challenge facing Earth currently. However, though this activity of man might wipe out species from the face of the Earth, the planet will definitely revive and restore its balance like it has done for millions of years. However, it is the sun, as the scientists predict, that will ultimately destroy the Earth. As this aging star of the Solar System will run out of hydrogen, the fuel that sustains it, the Sun will lose its integrity and expand in volume, burning all that comes in its path, including life on Earth. Ultimately, the Sun would die, immersing the Solar System in darkness forever.

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Essay on Environment | Environment Essay for Students and Children in English

February 13, 2024 by Prasanna

Essay on Environment in English: An environmental essay is a commonly asked topic in most exams. It is meant to gauge the awareness of the candidates about the various environmental issues and their repercussions. The following are a few samples of essay environment, which can be used for academic purposes. However, students are required to keep some points in their minds before starting their essays. If these points are integrated into their work, then they can easily secure more marks in their exams or assessments. Every year the world environment day is celebrated on June 5th.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

“We Won’t have a society if we destroy the environment” – Save Environment Essay

Our Environment Essay – Things To Keep In Mind

An academic essay needs to have a few essential points integrated into the body. Furthermore, an essay about the environment may sound very generic, but students should link it with other related concepts from their syllabus. Adopting this method will ensure that the essay will stay relevant and on point. The following are a few other points to keep in mind if students wish to write an essay on environment.

• Limit the use of jargon; unless the topic is exclusively technical.
• If time permits, prepare an outline of the essay.
• Include an introductory paragraph.
• Break up the body of the essay into digestible paragraphs.
• Incorporate a concluding paragraph summarizing the points.
• Try to incorporate dates, place names, and other specifics.
• Always write in the third person, that is, refrain from using words such as “Me,” “I.”
• Avoid colloquial terms, broken syntax, and slang.
• Always use formal writing. For example, replacing words such as “but” with “however,” or “moreover,” will make the essay sound more professional.
• If possible, use points to state views, opinions, or other highlights.

Sample 1 – Essay on Our Environment Pollution (Primary School Level)

Environment Essay Writing: The natural environment consists of two major components: living and non-living things. The living components, as the name implies, include all lifeforms on earth, from microscopic microbes to gargantuan blue whales. Non-living components of the environment include all the spheres of the earth, (such as hydrosphere and lithosphere), physical, chemical, and other natural forces.

The interaction between these components is crucial for life. However, anthropological activities have affected the dynamics, resulting in an imbalance. For instance, the greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon that has been around for millions of years. It is also a crucial process necessary for sustaining life on earth. However, since the Industrial Revolution, the levels of air pollution skyrocketed, pumping tremendous amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

This magnified the greenhouse effect, eventually leading to global warming. And the consequences have been dire, for instance, the rising sea level is expected to submerge most cities near the coast by 2050. Torrential floods and storms will increase in their intensity. Draughts will be more severe and induce constant famine. Hence, anthropological activities must be kept under check because environmental pollution can take atoll on the planet and ourselves.  E-District Scholarship .

Sample 2 – Environmental Pollution – Radiation and its Effects on the Environment Essay (Higher Secondary/College Level)

There are various kinds of pollution in the environment, all arising from anthropological activities. These include air, water, soil, noise, and light pollution. Radioactive pollution is another type of pollution which is incredibly rare, but more dangerous than almost all other types of pollution.

Radioactive pollution occurs when the environment and the organisms living within are exposed to high energy ionizing radiation. These ionizing radiations carry tremendous amounts of energy, which can damage the DNA of living tissues. Once the DNA gets damaged, the living tissue is unable to repair itself and is more prone to mutations – which can cause uncontrolled cell growth – cancer.

As stated before, radiation pollution is quite rare. The last major incident was at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011. A tsunami and an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 Mw damaged the powerplant, leading to a core meltdown.  This disaster was a Level 7 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). This means the severity was on par with the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident which occurred decades before.

Apart from the extensive damage to the infrastructure, health issues were starting to arise. In 2012, screening tests were done on the children of Fukushima Prefecture. Around 36% of the children exhibited abnormal growths in their thyroid gland. By 2013, the number of people diagnosed with thyroid cancer and other forms of cancer had risen drastically.

In conclusion, such incidents can be prevented if proper care and safety measures were implemented. A seawall of adequate high could have prevented the tsunami. The Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant, which was closer to the epicenter of the earthquake, successfully withstood the tsunami and averted the disaster, which affected the Fukushima power plant.

Sample 3 – Save Environment Essay (General/All audience)

The environment is where all living organisms, including humans, reside. Hence, it is important to take care of the environment. Moreover, the environment provides many resources essential to life. For instance, life on earth would not be possible without oxygen, and plants are the main producers of oxygen. Hence, we need to save trees by preventing deforestation.

Water is another essential resource for life. About 71% of the earth’s surface is covered with water; however, just 1% of that is usable freshwater. Hence, conservation of water is important. It helps to reduce the energy required to process and deliver water.

Another important aspect of the environment is the food web. A food web is a group of interconnected food chains found in the environment. If any organism on the food chain becomes extinct, the whole food web can become imbalanced and collapse. For instance, the population of an apex predator in an ecosystem may become extinct as a result of human activities. Then the prey population will exponentially rise as there is no natural predator to keep it in check.

Sometimes, these scenarios can affect humans too: If snakes are eliminated from a particular ecosystem, then, the rat population in that ecosystem will rise. This can have undesired consequences on the ecosystem as well as humans. It could lead to a rise in diseases, destruction of crops or stored grains, or wiping out other native organisms in the environment.

FAQ’s on Environment Essays

Question 1. What is the environment?

Answer: The environment can be defined as the interaction between living and non-living components of the ecosystem.

Question 2. What is pollution?

Answer: When any substance that has detrimental effects on life or factors affecting life is introduced into the environment, it can be termed as a pollutant.

Question 3. What is air pollution?

Answer: Air pollution occurs when toxic substances are introduced into the atmosphere. These can include industrial effluents and vehicular emissions.

Question 4. Why do you need to prevent deforestation?

Answer: Deforestation is bad for the environment as it can create an imbalance and bring about adverse, detrimental changes to the climate as well as the local environment.

Question 5. What is a food web?

Answer: A food web is the interconnection of various food chains in the environment.

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Earth Day: then and now

air, food & water, cities & towns, climate change, energy & technology, environmental justice, nature & conservation

The spirit of Earth Day hasn’t changed, but its imperatives have evolved and are now more urgent. Three important steps must be taken for the next generation to inherit a world that can be managed.

The first Earth Day was covered for ten hours by The Today Show in 1970—a time when there was no cable television and network coverage meant a lot more than it does now. Nobody counted the exact numbers, but it is estimated there were at least 35,000 teach-ins around the United States. Congress took April 22 off in support of Earth Day, and two-thirds of Congress spoke at Earth Day events.

In the few years that followed, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act were enacted. Eight months after that first Earth Day, the EPA was created. And all of this happened under Republican presidential administrations.

There was urgency, passion and clarity at the first Earth Day. I was in college then, and I still remember the piercing messages that created the first generation of environmentalists, to which I belong. A few commentaries stick in my mind. Author Stephanie Mills created a sensation when, in her valedictorian graduation speech, she vowed to have no children and called forecasts of a rosy future “a hoax.” She thought if the population continued to grow, “the facilities to accommodate that population must grow too.” In that future, she saw more dams and highways, fewer trees, and dirtier air.

On NBC’s mainstream Today , host Hugh Downs initiated earth week programming with: “Our Mother Earth is rotting with the residue of our good life. Our oceans are dying; our air is poisoned… Do we have the will to turn our way of life upside down? Because that is what it is going to take—to make personal, corporate and national sacrifices in order to keep this earth alive.”

My how the world has changed. The environment is no longer a bipartisan issue. Our media is carved up into so many channels it is hard to imagine an environmental event ever getting the attention of that first Earth Day. Instead of expanding government’s role in protecting the environment, today the trend is towards shrinking government’s role. What then should be our clarion call for Earth Day 2016? There are three things we need to do—and we need to do them now, without delay. Let’s begin with population.

In 1970 there were 3.7 billion people on the planet and Mills felt compelled to forsake motherhood. Today there are 7.4 billion, a number that climbs by over 200,000 every day . Forsaking reproduction in the developing would do little to address the problem. In Africa, we are seeing explosive population growth—so explosive that it fuels unrest, poverty and unprecedented environmental degradation. Business as usual will lead to almost 4 billion people in sub-Sahara Africa by 2100 (there are 1 billion now). Think about what that implies: having to provide in just sub-Saharan Africa for more people than the entire world had to provide for at the time of the first Earth Day.

There is a solution. Well-designed experiments show that vigorous support for family planning—free services, home visits by female family planning workers and communications—can make a difference of 1.5 births per female, even in the most traditional societies. Simply reducing births per woman by one-third of that, 0.5, would reduce by one billion the expected population in Sub-Sahara Africa—one billion! But every week, month or year we delay on this makes it that much harder and strains Africa’s resource base that much more.

Just as urgent as reducing African population growth is reducing global greenhouse gases. In this case, our actions in North America matter a lot. Here in the U.S., my personal preference is some form of charging companies for dumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (with provisions that remediate undue stress on those who cannot afford to pay for passed on costs), and making sure that no politician who dismisses global warming is taken seriously. If the United States cannot alter the public discourse on climate change as rapidly as it did for same-sex marriage, we will have trampled on the rights of our children and on the rights of everyone living today who is without the financial resource to adapt to climate distress. Our tactics may be up for debate, but the need for action is not a matter for debate.

Lastly, our cities are sprawling, raucous places where homelessness crises are common and transportation is often either jammed-up or life-threateningly polluting—or both—and where clean water and air can be in short supply. Cities will harbor 85% of the world’s population by 2100. In them, societal and public norms will be set that, in turn, determine what resources are extracted from the planet and in what ways. These cities can also be so devoid of nature that many scientists feel our urban youth are condemned to less happy and less rewarding lives (see my previous blog ).

If we can get transportation, food and water right in cities, we can truly save the planet. This might seem impossible, but cities have always been engines of innovation. And cities are where voters really do connect to the leaders. They vote mayors in or out on the basis of what they do for the city. Best of all, actions to improve or enrich urban environments typically deliver visible benefits with almost no delay. When a river is restored in a city, residents immediately take to the riverwalks or running trails that are built. When a bike path is opened, it quickly becomes crowded. When urban gardens are planted, the diets and knowledge of food in a neighborhood change. Rapid feedbacks make positive steps in cities positively catalytic. Social norms and unsustainable behavior will not be easy to change, but when they do, the change will almost certainly begin in cities.

In 1970, everyone realized that the environmental movement is not about saving the world—it is about saving ourselves. How sad it would be if we were left with only dimmed memories of how beautiful and inspiring the planet once was. For this reason and for many other reasons, we must be impatient. Delays only make it harder because delays mean more people to provide for, more CO2 to deal with in the atmosphere, and less water to drink.

I do not think a bright future is a “hoax”, but it is going to be hard earned. The second environmental generation must make progress now so that the third environmental generation is not handed an almost impossible task. We need to be focused: slow Africa population growth, reduce greenhouse gases, and make our cities sustainable. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

REFERENCES: Bongaarts, J. 2016. Slow down population growth. Nature 530: 409-412. Rome, Adam. 2013. The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-In Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation. MacMillan.

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• Environment Essay

Essay on Understanding and Nurturing Our Environment

The environment is everything that surrounds us – the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil beneath our feet, and the diverse flora and fauna that inhabit our planet. It's not just a backdrop to our lives; it's the very essence of our existence. In this essay, we'll explore the importance of our environment, the challenges it faces, and what we can do to ensure a sustainable and thriving world for generations to come.

Our environment is a complex and interconnected web of life. Every living organism, from the tiniest microbe to the largest mammal, plays a crucial role in maintaining the balance of ecosystems. This delicate balance ensures the survival of species, including humans. For instance, bees pollinate plants, which produce the oxygen we breathe. Nature is a masterpiece that has evolved over millions of years, and we are just one small part of this intricate tapestry.

Importance of Environment  

The environment is crucial for keeping living things healthy.

It helps balance ecosystems.

The environment provides everything necessary for humans, like food, shelter, and air.

It's also a source of natural beauty that is essential for our physical and mental health.

The Threats to Our Environment:

Unfortunately, our actions have disrupted this delicate balance. The rapid industrialization, deforestation, pollution, and over-exploitation of natural resources have led to severe environmental degradation. Climate change, driven by the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, is altering weather patterns, causing extreme events like floods, droughts, and storms. The loss of biodiversity is another alarming concern – species are disappearing at an unprecedented rate due to habitat destruction and pollution.

Impact of Human Activities on the Environment

Human activities like pollution, deforestation, and waste disposal are causing environmental problems like acid rain, climate change, and global warming. The environment has living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components. Biotic components include plants, animals, and microorganisms, while abiotic components include things like temperature, light, and soil.

In the living environment, there are producers (like plants), consumers (like animals), and decomposers (like bacteria). Producers use sunlight to make energy, forming the base of the food web. Consumers get their energy by eating other organisms, creating a chain of energy transfer. Decomposers break down waste and dead organisms, recycling nutrients in the soil.

The non-living environment includes climatic factors (like rain and temperature) and edaphic factors (like soil and minerals). Climatic factors affect the water cycle, while edaphic factors provide nutrients and a place for organisms to grow.

The environment includes everything from the air we breathe to the ecosystems we live in. It's crucial to keep it clean for a healthy life. All components of the environment are affected by its condition, so a clean environment is essential for a healthy ecosystem.

Sustainable Practices:

Adopting sustainable practices is a key step towards mitigating environmental degradation. This includes reducing our carbon footprint by using renewable energy, practicing responsible consumption, and minimizing waste. Conservation of natural resources, such as water and forests, is essential. Supporting local and global initiatives that aim to protect the environment, like reforestation projects and wildlife conservation efforts, can make a significant impact.

Education and Awareness:

Creating a sustainable future requires a collective effort, and education is a powerful tool in this regard. Raising awareness about environmental issues, the consequences of our actions, and the importance of conservation is crucial. Education empowers individuals to make informed choices and encourages sustainable practices at both personal and community levels.

Why is a Clean Environment Necessary?

To have a happy and thriving community and country, we really need a clean and safe environment. It's like the basic necessity for life on Earth. Let me break down why having a clean environment is so crucial.

First off, any living thing—whether it's plants, animals, or people—can't survive in a dirty environment. We all need a good and healthy place to live. When things get polluted, it messes up the balance of nature and can even cause diseases. If we keep using up our natural resources too quickly, life on Earth becomes a real struggle.

So, what's causing all this environmental trouble? Well, one big reason is that there are just so many people around, and we're using up a lot of stuff like land, food, water, air, and even fossil fuels and minerals. Cutting down a bunch of trees (we call it deforestation) is also a big problem because it messes up the whole ecosystem.

Then there's pollution—air, water, and soil pollution. It's like throwing a wrench into the gears of nature, making everything go wonky. And you've probably heard about things like the ozone layer getting thinner, global warming, weird weather, and glaciers melting. These are all signs that our environment is in trouble.

But don't worry, we can do things to make it better:

Plant more trees—they're like nature's superheroes, helping balance everything out.

Follow the 3 R's: Reuse stuff, reduce waste, and recycle. It's like giving our planet a high-five.

Ditch the plastic bags—they're not great for our landscapes.

Think about how many people there are and try to slow down the population growth.

By doing these things, we're basically giving our planet a little TLC (tender loving care), and that's how we can keep our environment clean and healthy for everyone.

Policy and Regulation:

Governments and institutions play a vital role in shaping environmental policies and regulations. Strong and enforceable laws are essential to curb activities that harm the environment. This includes regulations on emissions, waste disposal, and protection of natural habitats. International cooperation is also crucial to address global environmental challenges, as issues like climate change know no borders.

The Role of Technology:

Technology can be a double-edged sword in environmental conservation. While some technological advancements contribute to environmental degradation, others offer solutions. Innovative technologies in renewable energy, waste management, and sustainable agriculture can significantly reduce our impact on the environment. Embracing and investing in eco-friendly technologies is a step towards a greener and more sustainable future.

Conclusion:

Our environment is not just a collection of trees, rivers, and animals; it's the foundation of our existence. Understanding the interconnectedness of all living things and recognizing our responsibility as stewards of the Earth is essential. By adopting sustainable practices, fostering education and awareness, implementing effective policies, and embracing eco-friendly technologies, we can work towards healing our planet. The choices we make today will determine the world we leave for future generations – a world that can either flourish in its natural beauty or struggle under the weight of environmental degradation. It's our collective responsibility to ensure that it's the former.

FAQs on Environment Essay

1. What is the Environment?

The environment constitutes the entire ecosystem that includes plants, animals and microorganisms, sunlight, air, rain, temperature, humidity, and other climatic factors. It is basically the surroundings where we live. The environment regulates the life of all living beings on Earth.

2. What are the Three Kinds of Environments?

Biotic Environment: It includes all biotic factors or living forms like plants, animals, and microorganisms.

Abiotic Environment: It includes non-living factors like temperature, light, rainfall, soil, minerals, etc. It comprises the atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere.

Built Environment: It includes buildings, streets, houses, industries, etc. 

3. What are the Major Factors that Lead to the Degradation of the Environment?

The factors that lead to the degradation of the environment are:

The rapid increase in the population.

Growth of industrialization and urbanization.

Deforestation is making the soil infertile (soil that provides nutrients and home to millions of organisms).

Over-consumption of natural resources.

Ozone depletion, global warming, and the greenhouse effect.

4. How do we Save Our Environment?

We must save our environment by maintaining a balanced and healthy ecosystem. We should plant more trees. We should reduce our consumption and reuse and recycle stuff. We should check on the increase in population. We should scarcely use our natural and precious resources. Industries and factories should take precautionary measures before dumping their wastes into the water bodies.

5. How can we protect Mother Earth?

Ways to save Mother Earth include planting more and more trees, using renewable sources of energy, reducing the wastage of water, saving electricity, reducing the use of plastic, conservation of non-renewable resources, conserving the different flora and faunas, taking steps to reduce pollution, etc.

6. What are some ways that humans impact their environment?

Humans have influenced the physical environment in many ways like overpopulation, pollution, burning fossil fuels, and deforestation. Changes like these have generated 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.  

7. Why is the environment of social importance?

Human beings are social animals by nature. They spend a good amount of time in social environments. Their responsibility towards the environment is certainly important because these social environments might support human beings in both personal development goals as well as career development goals.

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A student's guide to Global Climate Change

• Climate Concepts
• Today's Climate Change

The Earth's Climate in the Past

• The Signs of Climate Change
• Effects on People and the Environment
• Clues of Climate Change
• The Proof Is in the Atmosphere
• Putting the Pieces Together
• You Can Be a Scientist, Too!
• Technologies
• What You Can Do
• Preparing for the Future
• Home »
• Learn the Basics »

Today's Climate Change Is Different!

Today's climate change is different from past climate change in several important ways:

• Natural causes are not responsible. None of the natural causes of climate change, including variations in the sun's energy and the Earth's orbit, can fully explain the climate changes we are seeing today. Learn more about how we know this .
• People's activities are the main cause. By burning lots of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas, people are overloading the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and adding to the greenhouse effect. People are also adding other heat–trapping greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide, to the atmosphere.
• Greenhouse gases are at record levels in the atmosphere. For hundreds of thousands of years, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere stayed between 200 and 300 parts per million. Today, it's up to nearly 400 parts per million, and the amount is still rising. Along with other greenhouse gases, this extra carbon dioxide is trapping heat and causing the climate to change.

Source: EPA's Climate Change Indicators (2016) .

The Earth was formed about 4.5 billion years ago—that's a very long time ago! It's hard to say exactly what the Earth's daily weather was like in any particular place on any particular day thousands or millions of years ago. But we know a lot about what the Earth's climate was like way back then because of clues that remain in rocks, ice, trees, corals, and fossils.

These clues tell us that the Earth's climate has changed many times before. There have been times when most of the planet was covered in ice, and there have also been much warmer periods. Over at least the last 650,000 years, temperatures and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have increased and decreased in a cyclical pattern. Can you see this pattern in the graph below?

These graphs are based on the Vostok ice core from Antarctica. They do not include the most recent increases in carbon dioxide and temperature caused by humans. Notice the strong connection between carbon dioxide and temperature. Source: EPA's Climate Change Indicators (2016) and Petit et al. (2001) .

People didn't cause the climate change that occurred thousands or millions of years ago, so it must have happened for other natural reasons.

Explore the list below to learn about some natural factors that have changed the Earth's climate in the past.

Changes in the Earth's orbit

The shape of the Earth's orbit around the sun naturally changes over time, and so does the way the Earth tilts toward the sun. Many of these changes happen in cycles that repeat over tens of thousands of years. These changes affect how much of the sun's energy the Earth absorbs, which in turn affects the Earth's temperature. Over at least the last few million years, these cycles likely caused the Earth to alternate between cold and warm periods. For the last few thousand years, we've been in a relatively warmer period.

About 20,000 years ago, ice sheets covered large parts of North America, where they extended as far south as where Chicago is now. In some places, this ice was a mile deep! Source: Adapted from NASA (2011) .

Changes in the sun's energy

The sun goes through sunspot cycles every 11 years or so. During times when there are sunspots, dark spots—some as big as 50,000 miles wide—move across the surface of the sun. When this happens, the sun gives off slightly more energy, which makes the Earth a bit warmer. The sun also goes through longer term changes that affect how much energy it gives off.

Photosynthesis

The Earth's first billion years were very different from the conditions today. The sun was cooler then, but the planet was generally warmer. That's because there were a lot of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, in the atmosphere. Also, the atmosphere back then contained very little oxygen. It was a very different world—a world without people or the kinds of plants and animals that thrive in today's climate. But photosynthesis, which became common about 2 billion years ago, changed all that. During photosynthesis, plants take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and replace it with oxygen. Photosynthesis permanently changed the atmosphere by adding more oxygen to the air while reducing the amount of greenhouse gases.

Volcanic eruptions

When volcanoes erupt, they spew more than red hot lava! They also add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, along with dust, ash, and other particles called aerosols. At certain times during the history of the Earth, some very active volcanoes added a lot of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, causing the planet to get warmer. However, most of the time, including today, the major effect from volcanoes is actually cooling the Earth because aerosols block some sunlight from reaching us. If an eruption is big enough to launch these particles high into the atmosphere, it can lead to slightly cooler temperatures around the world for a few years.

Scientists around the world agree that today's global climate change is mainly caused by people's activities.

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• Essay On Environment

Environment Essay

500+ words essay on environment.

Every year, on the 5th of June, we all celebrate World Environment Day. All living beings and non-living beings present on the Earth represent the environment. Plants, creatures, water, air, and other living things exist in our environment. Our environment gets influenced by climatic interaction, geomorphic measures, and hydrologic measures. The life of humans and animals is entirely dependent on climate. Our environment supports life on Earth. Everything we inhale, feel, and energy comes from the environment. The environment is considered a cover that helps sustain life on Earth. Among all the planets, it is our planet Earth that supports life.

Importance of Environment

Everyday, we get to hear about threats to the environment. Our environment includes everything from the forests to the oceans, which impacts our everyday life. It can be deforestation, pollution, soil erosion, etc., which needs to be addressed seriously.

1. Livelihoods of People depend on the Environment

Billions of people depend on the environment for their livelihood. For example, over 1.5 billion people depend on forests for food, medicine, shelter and more. Farmers turn to the woods when their crops fail. Almost two billion people earn a living from agriculture, and the other three billion people are on the ocean.

2. Environment Strength Food Security

Many negative consequences are encountered due to biodiversity loss, but weakened food security is extensive. If we lose our precious animals and plant species, we become more vulnerable to pests and diseases. Due to this, our health is at a greater risk of related illnesses like diabetes and heart disease. So, we should protect our oceans and forests to ensure food for every human being.

3. Trees Clean the Air

Pollution is a crucial issue, and every year, 7 million people die due to pollution. Polluted air impacts our health and lifespans, including behavioural problems, developmental delays, and diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The trees work as a filter to remove air pollutants like carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide while releasing oxygen.

Benefits of the Environment

Our environment provides us with enormous benefits which we can’t repay in our entire life span. The environment includes animals, water, trees, forest and air. Trees and forests filter the air and take in harmful gases, and plants purify the water, maintain natural balance and many others.

The environment keeps a regular check on its functioning as it helps regulate the vital systems essential for the ecosystem. It also helps in maintaining culture and quality of life on Earth. The environment regulates natural cycles that occur daily. These natural cycles balance living things and the environment. If we disturb these natural cycles, it will ultimately affect humans and other living beings.

For thousands of years, the environment helped humans, animals, and plants flourish and grow. It also provides us with fertile land, air, livestock, water and essential things for survival.

Cause of Environmental Degradation

Human activities are the primary cause of environmental degradation because most humans somehow harm the environment. The activities of humans that cause ecological degradation are pollution, defective environmental policies, chemicals, greenhouse gases, global warming, ozone depletion, etc.

Due to the industrial revolution and population explosion, the demand for environmental resources has increased, but their supply has become limited due to overuse and misuse. Some vital resources have been exhausted due to the extensive and intensive use of renewable and non-renewable resources. Our environment is also disturbed by the extinction of resources and the rapidly rising population.

The waste generated by the developed world is beyond the absorptive capacity of the environment. So, the development process resulted in environmental pollution, water, and the atmosphere, ultimately harming the water and air quality. It has also resulted in an increased incidence of respiratory and water-borne diseases.

To conclude, we can say that it is the environment that is keeping us alive. Without the blanket of the environment, we won’t survive.

Moreover, the environment’s contribution to life cannot be repaid. Besides, what the environment has done for us, we only have damaged and degraded it.

From our BYJU’S website, students can also access CBSE Essays related to different topics. It will help students to get good marks in their exams.

Frequently Asked Questions on Environment Essay

How can we protect the environment around us.

The first step is to change our mindset and stop littering public places. Take steps to reduce plastic usage as it is one of the biggest threats to our environment. Remember the slogan ‘Reduce, reuse and recycle’ and take a bold step towards protecting the environment. At all costs, avoid pollution of water, soil, and air.

How does the proper maintenance of the environment help human beings?

Human beings derive most of their daily needs from the environment. Moreover, environmental pollution can lead to increased risk of diseases, illness.

What are the main reasons for environmental pollution?

Over-usage of environmental and natural resources, reduction in environmental protection, destruction of natural resources are the main reasons for environmental pollution.

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15 before-and-after images that show how we're transforming the planet

by Brad Plumer

Human beings have replaced nature as the dominant force shaping Earth. We’ve cleared away forests, dammed up mighty rivers, paved vast roads, and transported thousands of species around the world. “To a large extent,” two scientists wrote in 2015 , “the future of the only place where life is known to exist is being determined by the actions of humans.”

So what does this look like? In recent decades, NASA has been tracking the major transformations we’ve wrought via satellite. In its “Images of Change” series, the agency has posted a number of before-and-after images showing the exact same rainforest or glacier or city years or decades apart. The differences are often breathtaking. Here are 14 of the most revealing changes:

1) Rainforests get swallowed by farms in Brazil

Satellite images of Rondônia in western Brazil, taken in 1975 (left) and 2009 (right). ( NASA, Images of Change )

Humans have been clearing forests to make way for farms and pastures for at least 7,000 years . And as the world’s population soars past 7 billion, the pressure for cropland is only growing.

Rondônia has lost an area of forest the size of West Virginia

The image above shows the state of Rondônia in western Brazil, one of the most deforested parts of the Amazon. In 1978, 2 percent of the state’s rainforest had been cleared. By 2008, that was up to 34 percent — an area the size of West Virginia. You can see a more detailed progression in these images : New roads protrude into the forests like fishbones, with nearby trees vanishing soon after. The newly cleared land can only sustain crops for a few years until heavy rains erode the soil, at which point it’s turned over for cattle. Then repeat.

Deforestation has all sorts of troubling side effects, from shrinking habitats for forest species to increased global warming via a reduction in carbon dioxide–absorbing trees. Brazil has tried to protect its rainforests in the past decade, but pressure to clear away trees has risen again since 2013 .

2) Cancún expands at a stunning rate

Cancún, Mexico, seen in 1979 and 2009. ( NASA, Images of Change )

Cities and towns have been around for thousands of years, but the growth of urbanization has been astonishing over the past century. More than 3.9 billion people and counting now live in urban areas.

The images above show the rapid growth of Cancún, Mexico. In the 1970s, this area was lightly inhabited, home to artisanal fishermen and empty beaches. But the government pushed to turn the area into a tourist hotspot, and today it’s home to 722,000 people. That’s been a huge economic boon, though it’s also meant a loss of biodiversity and polluted water. The fact that more people now live on Mexico’s coast also increases their vulnerability to hurricanes — one reason why the cost of natural disasters keeps rising worldwide.

3) Dubai builds a chain of artificial islands

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, seen in 2001 and 2011. ( USGS and NASA )

Some cities have gotten creative about urban growth, reclaiming land from the sea. These images show the rapid growth of Dubai , in the United Arab Emirates, between 2000 and 2011.

To promote beach tourism, the city built hundreds of artificial islands along the coast using sand dredged from the seashore. Rocky barriers were put in place to protect them from erosion. The two most famous islands are shaped like palm trees. As the images above show, the growth of Dubai on land has been no less dramatic, with barren desert replaced by irrigated land and roads.

4) The oil sands boom in Alberta, Canada

Open pit mines near Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, seen in 2000 and 2007. ( NASA, Images of Change )

In the 2000s, global demand for oil kept surging, but conventional wells weren’t keeping up. So companies cast an eye on the vast oil sands buried beneath the boreal forests in Alberta, Canada. These sands contain bitumen, a gooey petroleum that can be extracted for fuel.

Companies are supposed to restore the land after mining

The images above show the growth of oil sands mining near the Athabasca River during the 2000s. Once the sand is mined, it’s rinsed with hot water to separate out the bitumen. The sand and water are then dumped in tailings ponds , which can be seen as smooth tan squares in the images.

These mines have had a profound impact on the landscape around them. Forests have to be cleared to make way for the mines — more than 256 square miles as of 2011. The tailings ponds themselves can be toxic to birds . As such, Canada’s regulators have required companies to restore the land after they finish mining. Another NASA satellite photo here shows a reclaimed area after a pond was drained and planted over, though the grasses have not yet grown.

Meanwhile, because it takes so much energy to extract oil from the sands, this type of fuel is worse for global warming than regular crude oil. That’s a big reason the Keystone XL pipeline, which would help bring Alberta’s oil to market, has been so controversial in the United States .

5) Ukraine’s landscape recovers after Chernobyl

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, seen in 1986 and 2011. ( NASA, Images of Change )

Human activity doesn’t always expand relentlessly. Occasionally, nature reclaims the land. The images above show the evolution of the area around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after a reactor explosion in 1986 .

On the left, you see the area in 1986, just before the accident. There are cultivated fields (in light colors), small towns (in blue and purple), and old forests (dark green). Then on April 26, radiation began leaking out of Chernobyl’s reactor number four and people fled the area.

As of 2011, things look very different. The abandoned towns are decaying. The farms have now reverted to grasslands (bright green). The forests were bulldozed by the government and replanted (younger trees are seen as lighter green). Intriguingly, plant and animal populations have actually grown within the exclusion zone since the accident. Animals are still adversely affected by the radiation, but they are also thriving in the absence of humans.

6) A manmade fire rages in Namibia

Etosha National Park in Namibia. The white area is the Etosha Pan, a salt-encrusted lake bottom. The dark brown area shows where a fire burned in June 2012. ( NASA, World of Change )

For much of the 20th century, as human settlements expanded, we thought we knew how to deal with large-scale wildfires: Prevent them at all costs. The US Forest Service adopted this strategy in the forests of the American West. And Namibia’s forest managers used this strategy in Etosha National Park , which opened in 1907 and serves as a key reserve for rhinos, elephants, and lions.

This turned out to be a bad idea. Wildfires were a crucial part of the ecosystem. Before humans came along, Namibia’s savannas would burn about once per decade. When park managers suppressed these periodic wildfires, that only led to really massive fires later, as vegetation built up.

So now, in Namibia, the park managers periodically try to set smaller fires themselves. Occasionally, though, these fires can get out of hand, as happened in June 2012 , shown by the satellite image above. On June 9 and 10, winds picked up, and the fire rapidly spread west. Fortunately, no animals were harmed — in contrast to an out-of-control fire in 2011 that killed 30 rhinos.

7) Efforts to tame the Colorado River hit a snag

Lake Powell, seen on March 25, 1999, and May 13, 2014. ( NASA, Images of Change )

The Colorado River begins in the Rocky Mountains and courses through the American Southwest. During the 20th century, Americans built a complex system of dams and reservoirs to tame the river, providing a steady source of fresh water for farms and cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas. Water from the river is divvied up among states under an elaborate set of rules .

But we can’t entirely control nature. The images above show Lake Powell, a reservoir on the border of Arizona and Utah that was created after the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam. Back in 1999, the lake was filled high, with plenty of water for nearby counties. But in the early 2000s a brutal drought arrived, and water levels began dropping . As of May 2014, the lake was only at 42 percent capacity.

The communities around the region have tried to adapt through efficiency and conservation. Still, some experts have argued that the Southwest is unprepared for future droughts — which are expected to become more frequent with global warming. That will raise the risk of shortages in reservoirs like Lake Powell.

8) The Aral Sea, once massive, nearly vanishes

The Aral Sea, seen in 2000 and 2014. ( NASA, Images of Change )

The Aral Sea, tucked between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, was once the fourth-largest lake in the world. Today, after decades of being drained for irrigation, it’s nearly gone .

What happened? In the 1960s, the Soviet Union diverted the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers that fed the lake — via a network of dams and canals — for use in cotton fields and other agriculture. The surrounding desert bloomed for a period, but it eventually led to disaster.

Here’s NASA : “As the lake dried up, fisheries and the communities that depended on them collapsed. The increasingly salty water became polluted with fertilizer and pesticides. Blowing, salty dust from the exposed lakebed became a public health hazard and degraded the soil. Croplands had to be flushed with larger and larger volumes of river water.”

By the 2000s, the Aral Sea was roughly 10 percent of its original size. The area's once-vital fishing industry had been eradicated, leaving entire communities unemployed .

9) Alaska’s Columbia Glacier recedes rapidly

Alaska's Columbia Glacier, seen on July 28, 1986, and July 2, 2014. ( NASA, Images of Change )

One of the most dramatic ways we’re transforming the planet is through global warming . And a great place to see its effects is through the melting of glaciers and ice sheets around the world.

The images above show the Columbia Glacier in Alaska, which flows directly into the sea. The glacier had stayed more or less fixed in place between its discovery in 1794 and 1980, but then suddenly began shrinking. Between 1986 and 2014, its nose had retreated 12 miles north , making it one of the fastest-receding glaciers in the world.

NASA’s Earth Observatory explains that the retreat of Columbia Glacier is only partly a result of warmer air and water temperatures: “Climate change may have given the Columbia an initial nudge off of the moraine, but what has accelerated its disintegration has more to do with mechanical processes than warming temperatures.” Global warming is having a similar impact elsewhere: All told, the world’s glaciers are now losing 226 gigatons of ice per year .

10) Antarctica’s Larsen B ice shelf disintegrates

Larsen-B ice shelf in Antarctica, seen on January 31, 2002 and February 17, 2002. ( NASA, World of Change )

Receding glaciers are one thing. But the massive ice sheets atop Greenland and Antarctica are an even bigger deal. As the world keeps warming, these ice sheets are starting to melt into the ocean, a change that is expected to raise global sea levels significantly .

Scientists witnessed a dramatic example of this in 2002, when a huge chunk of the Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica — an area of 1,250 square miles — simply disintegrated into the ocean in the span of a month. The collapse was precipitated by a series of unusually warm summers, which created melt ponds during the warmer months that acted as wedges, hastening the shelf’s disintegration.

By itself, the collapse of an ice shelf won’t raise global sea levels, since ice shelves are already floating in the sea. But those shelves do help contain the massive ice sheets on the land behind them, so when a shelf disintegrates, all that ice can flow to the sea more quickly. And that helps raise sea levels.

You can see that flow of land ice in these images after the collapse of Larsen B. And here’s troubling news: Scientists have found that a number of Antarctica’s other ice shelves are also rapidly thinning.

11) The US cleans up its air pollution

Images show concentrations of nitrogen dioxide in 2005 and 2011, from low (blue) to high (red). ( NASA, Images of Change )

Not all the ways we’re transforming the planet are negative. Here’s some good news: Satellite data from NASA, shown above, revealed a huge reduction in nitrogen dioxide pollution from cars, trucks, and power plants in the United States between 2005 and 2011.

Nitrogen dioxide is produced when gasoline gets burned in cars or coal gets burned in power plants. It’s been linked to a variety of respiratory problems, and can combine with other pollutants to form smog . It’s also a good proxy for pollution more generally.

The EPA first began cracking down on nitrogen dioxide in 1971, and concentrations have fallen sharply over time . Power plant operators have installed scrubbers to remove pollutants from their smokestacks, and car manufacturers have adopted catalytic converters to curtail nitrogen oxides and other emissions. More recently, since 2005, many electric utilities have been switching from coal to natural gas in order to generate electricity.

12) Iraq’s marshes recover after Saddam Hussein

The wetlands of Mesopotamia in 2000 and 2006. The map shows standing irrigated crops (light green), standing water (dark blue), vegetation (dark green), and bare ground (brown). ( NASA, World of Change )

Here’s a change that actually restored nature — at least temporarily. During the 20th century, Iraq’s lush wetlands between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers had mostly dried up because of a series of dams that had been constructed for electricity, as well as a deliberate strategy by Saddam Hussein to drain the wetlands and punish the region’s Marsh Arabs for rebelling.

But as the images above show, things changed significantly after the second Gulf War. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraqis tore down many of the canals that had drained the marshes. The wetlands were once again fed by the rivers in the spring, and vegetation had returned by 2006 — shown in dark green on the right-hand side. The UN found that the marshes were back up to around 58 percent of their historic levels, and native birds and fish were rebounding.

But it’s not clear if the wetlands will survive in the future. NASA explains that new dams were being built upstream as of 2010. The fate of nature is, once again, largely in our hands.

13) The ozone layer thins — but then starts healing

( NASA Earth Observatory )

Sometimes it’s possible to stop an environmental catastrophe before it’s too late. Back in the 1970s, scientists first realized that we were rapidly depleting Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer, which protects us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. The culprit? Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) — chemicals that were widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners.

As the NASA images above show, between 1979 and 2013 these chemicals had chewed a massive “hole” in the ozone layer above Antarctica, and the damage was poised to spread further north. Without the ozone layer’s protection, more and more people would be exposed to UV rays, and skin cancer rates in many places might have soared.

Happily, this apocalyptic scenario never came to pass. Scientists uncovered the problem in time. Under the 1987 Montreal Protocol , world leaders agreed to phase out CFCs, and eventually the hole in the ozone layer stopped expanding. In 2014, a UN assessment found that the ozone layer is just now starting to heal — and should be back to its 1980 levels by 2050 or so.

14) Solar farms sprout up in California

The Topaz Solar Farm in California, seen in 2011 and 2015. ( NASA, World of Change)

The next big environmental challenge is global warming, which will likely prove much harder to stop than the hole in the ozone layer. It will entail revamping our entire energy system ; switching away from fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas; and seeking out cleaner sources.

Some places are already taking steps along those lines. The image above shows the growth of the Topaz Solar Farm in central California, a 550-megawatt plant consisting of 9 million panels across 9.5 square miles. It’s a modest step in shifting the state toward cleaner energy.

Even so, some environmentalists have opposed the project , arguing that solar farms need a lot of land and fences, hindering the movement of the federally protected San Joaquin kit fox. It’s a reminder that even efforts to reduce our environmental footprint in one area can lead to unexpected impacts elsewhere.

Further reading:

• A guide to the debate over when, exactly, the “Anthropocene” began
• We’re damming up every last big river on Earth . Is that really a good idea?
• Deforestation in Brazil is rising again — after years of decline
• The oceans are acidifying at the fastest rate in 300 million years . How bad could it get?
• The world is on the brink of a mass extinction. Here’s how to avoid that .

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Storm tracker

How our planet has changed over time

By Judson Jones and Brandon Miller , CNN Imagery from NASA Earth Observatory

Published September 2, 2019

It can be challenging to visualize the effects of climate change when it happens over time and on such a large scale.

However, NASA has been snapping images of the Earth from space for decades now. With these images compared over time, you can see the toll the warming of the Earth is taking on the planet.

Below are some examples from NASA’s Images of Change project, which shows areas that have been directly affected by the climate crisis.

Neumayer Glacier, South Georgia Island

The Neumayer Glacier, on the east coast of this small island in the southern Atlantic, has shrunk more than 2.5 miles this century, according to NASA. The glacier flows into the ocean, so even a tiny change in the ocean’s temperature can have a significant effect on it.

Warmer sea-surface temperatures can expedite the retreat of tidewater glaciers by melting and calving icebergs. As this fresh water enters the ocean, it contributes to sea-level rise.

Lake Powell, Arizona and Utah

Prolonged drought coupled with water withdrawals have caused a dramatic drop in Lake Powell's water level, NASA says. These images show the northern part of the lake, which is actually a manmade reservoir extending from Arizona into southern Utah. In 1999, water levels were almost at full capacity. By May 2014, it had dropped to 42% of capacity.

Although records show droughts are a part of this region’s climate variability, the droughts are becoming more severe.

Even in “low-emission” climate scenarios (forecasts that are based on the assumption that humans’ ever-growing dependence on fossil fuels will begin to slow down and even decrease in the future), models predict precipitation may decline by 20-25% over most of California, southern Nevada and Arizona by the end of this century.

Camp Fire, California

The Camp Fire, in California’s Butte County, became the state’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire last year. It left 85 people dead and destroyed almost 14,000 homes.

Climate change caused an increase in the amount of land burned by wildfires across California in the last 50 years, according to a new study published earlier this year in the journal Earth's Future.

The cause of the increase is simple. Hotter temperatures cause drier land, which creates a parched atmosphere.

"The clearest link between California wildfire and anthropogenic climate change thus far has been via warming-driven increases in atmospheric aridity, which works to dry fuels and promote summer forest fire," the study said.

Northern Europe

These images show how a persistent heat wave in 2018 turned typically green areas brown. According to the European Space Agency, much of this region turned brown in just a month as several countries experienced record-high temperatures and low precipitation.

Heat waves like this one are just going to increase. Parts of Europe and North America could experience an extra 10 to 15 heat-wave days per degree of global warming, according to a study published in Nature .

Tigris River, Iraq

The 2019 image shows the Tigris River swollen and filled with suspended sediment, the result of an unusually wet winter and spring, NASA says. The surrounding land is also much greener than it was in 2015.

Climate change doesn’t just make everything hotter and drier. Extreme rainfall events will become more frequent and severe as the planet warms. This can lead to cases of “weather whiplash,” where extreme dry years are followed by extremely wet ones, according to scientists . That was the case in Iraq in 2019, which had far above average rainfall after years of extreme drought, causing rivers to swell well beyond their banks.

Columbia Glacier, Alaska

These images show how much the glacier has retreated over nearly three decades. The Columbia Glacier descends through the Chugach Mountains into Prince William Sound.

The retreat of the Columbia Glacier contributes to global sea-level rise, as the glacier melts and creates icebergs. This one glacier accounts for nearly half of the ice loss in the Chugach Mountains, says NASA.

Theewaterskloof reservoir, South Africa

Theewaterskloof, the largest reservoir in South Africa’s Western Cape province, was at full capacity in October 2014. But because of a drought, it plummeted to 27% of capacity in October 2017.

Speaking to CNN in 2017, Cape Town Executive Mayor Patricia de Lille explained her concerns about the water crisis: “Climate change is a reality and we cannot depend on rainwater alone to fill our dams, but must look at alternative sources like desalination and underground aquifers."

Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica

Iceberg B-46 started breaking off of the Pine Island Glacier in October 2018. It may look small here in the second photo, but it’s actually 115 square miles. The glacier has been calving more and more icebergs in recent years, NASA says.

Scientists are watching Pine Island Glacier closely because of its thinning, retreat and contribution to sea-level rise.

Lake Aculeo, Chile

This lake in central Chile dried up last year. By March 2019, it consisted of dried mud and green vegetation. Scientists attribute it to a decade-long drought coupled with increased water consumption from a growing population.

This megadrought had many contributing factors, but scientists say that about a quarter of its severity and intensity can be attributed to global warming.

Hurricane Harvey aftermath, Houston

The second image here shows the extensive flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. Both images were made with a combination of visible and infrared light that highlights the presence of water on the ground.

Human-caused climate change made the rainfall from Harvey, which dumped more than 19 trillion gallons of water and brought devastating floods to the Houston area, roughly three times more likely to occur and 15% more intense, according to World Weather Attribution, an international coalition of scientists led by nonprofit scientific research group Climate Central.

Sudirman Range, New Guinea

The tallest peaks of this mountain range have been cold enough to support glaciers, NASA says, but the ice has diminished dramatically over the years.

Tropical glaciers like this one are shrinking across the world. Scientists estimate these glaciers could be gone within about a decade.

Okjökull glacier, Iceland

This once-iconic glacier, seen on the far left, was declared dead in 2014, NASA says. Only small patches of thin ice remain.

Scientists bid farewell to Okjökull , the first Icelandic glacier lost to climate change, in a funeral of sorts earlier this year.

The inscription on the monument, "A letter to the future," paints a bleak picture.

"Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years, all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and know what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it," the plaque reads in English and Icelandic.

Photo editors: Kyle Almond, Brett Roegiers, Bernadette Tuazon

Design and development: Curt Merrill, Sean O'Key

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What do you think? Leave a respectful comment.

Andrea Thompson, Scientific American Andrea Thompson, Scientific American

• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/these-charts-show-how-the-environment-has-changed-since-the-first-earth-day

These charts show how the environment has changed since the first Earth Day

On April 22, 1970, millions of Americans took part in demonstrations, cleanups and other activities to make the first Earth Day. The event was the brainchild of then Democratic Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, and it was a watershed moment for the growing U.S. environmental movement: Americans had become increasingly aware that the same industrialization that had made the country wealthy was having an impact on the environment and their own health. As famed anchorman Walter Cronkite put it in a special CBS News broadcast, Earth Day participants had a “common cause of saving life from the deadly by-products of that bounty: the fouled skies, the filthy waters, the littered earth.”

That same year would see the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the first in a series of important environmental laws. Since then efforts to tackle various environmental ills have waxed and waned: while enormous strides have been made in curbing air pollution, the threat of climate change has emerged and mushroomed. Here we take a look at a few environmental indicators to see what progress has—or has not—been made since that inaugural Earth Day 50 years ago.

The clear, inexorable rises of the curves in the two graphs below are at the heart of the global warming problem. As humans have piled more cars onto roads and burned more coal and natural gas for electricity, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has steadily ticked upward. The average atmospheric CO2 concentration now stands above 410 parts per million (ppm), compared with about 325 ppm in 1970 (and 280 ppm before the industrial revolution in the 19th century). The excess heat trapped by that CO2 has already raised global temperatures by about one degree Celsius since preindustrial times. Under the 2015 Paris climate accord, nations have agreed to limit total warming to no more than 2 degrees C above preindustrial levels—with a preferred goal of staying below 1.5 degrees C. To date, emissions-curbing efforts have been unable to put the brakes on quickly enough to meet those targets.

Credit: Amanda Montañez, Scientific American; Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Air pollution

Among the fundamental issues that drove Nelson and his colleagues to hold the first Earth Day was the rampant, deadly pollution clogging U.S. skies. One of the worst air pollution disasters in the nation’s history came in the fall of 1948, when weather conditions caused a stew of smog to build up in the industrial town of Donora, Pennsylvania, sickening thousands and killing 20 people. Congress passed various laws to limit air pollution in the ensuing years, but the Clean Air Act of 1970 was the landmark legislation that truly ushered in the stringent and comprehensive regulation of emissions from power plants, factories and cars.

The graphs below show how the law and its subsequent revisions have led to notable nationwide drops in three major pollutants: nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and lead. Nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide can be harmful to human health when breathed in, and both react with other chemicals in the atmosphere to create the particles that contribute to smog. Lead is highly toxic and can cause neurological and cardiovascular problems. One of the key sources of airborne lead pollution in the mid-20th century was leaded gasoline; since it was phased out, beginning in the mid-1970s, lead levels have plummeted. Many environmentalists and scientists who study air pollution are concerned that the considerable progress over the past 50 years might be stalled—or even reversed—by actions the EPA has taken during the Trump administration to weaken air pollution rules and enforcement.

Credit: Amanda Montañez, Scientific American; Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Water pollution

Perhaps the most emblematic moment of the crisis that afflicted U.S. waterways was the fire that erupted on the Cuyahoga River on June 22, 1969. Effluent from industrial activity along the river, running from Akron, Ohio, to Cleveland, had provided fuel for more than a dozen fires since the mid-19th century and killed off the waterway’s fish. The 1969 event helped lead to the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. Another landmark law, this act addressed pollution entering waterways from industry, sewage facilities and agriculture.

The graphs below highlights measurements from two major U.S. water bodies: Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. The first of them shows the change in levels of phosphorus—one of the key nutrients that fuel toxic algal blooms—carried into Lake Erie by the Maumee River, which flows into the lake in Toledo. Runoff from agricultural fields is the main contributor to the phosphorus load in the lake, which supplies drinking water to 11 million people. Researchers are actively working to figure out how farming practices might be changed to reduce the amount of phosphorus pouring in.

The graph for Lake Michigan shows a different type of pollutant: polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which can cause cancer as well as other health effects. PCB production was banned in 1979. And although levels of the compounds in the air (from which these chemicals fall into the water) and in fish have declined, their presence is still high enough that some states warn people to limit consumption of fish from the lakes.

Credit: Amanda Montañez, Scientific American; Source: National Center for Water Quality Research, Heidelberg University (phosphorus data); Great Lakes Fish Monitoring and Surveillance Program and Great Lakes Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (PCB data)

Americans are producing a lot more garbage than they did 50 years ago—and not just because the country’s population has risen: Each person in the U.S. generates an average of 4.5 pounds of waste a day, compared with just 3.25 pounds in 1970. What they throw away has also changed, with plastic waste making up a larger percentage than in the past. That change reflects the explosion of plastic products over the past few decades, from less than 50 million tons of the material produced in 1970 to more than 320 million tons today. And though the recycling and composting of some materials have grown, a large chunk of trash still ends up in landfills: 139.6 million of the 267.8 million tons generated in 2017 (the last year for which data is available). That amount is, at least, a slight decline from the 145.3 million tons dumped in landfills in 1990.

It is clear that the U.S. and the world have made strides in realizing humanity’s impact and the need to safeguard the environment. But there is still a long way to go. As Nelson wrote in 1984, “The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”

This article is reproduced with permission from Scientific American. It was first published on April 22, 2020 by Andrea Thompson . Find the original story here .

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• THE BIG IDEA

Climate Change First Became News 30 Years Ago. Why Haven’t We Fixed It?

In the time it took to build the case that climate change is a pollution problem, it’s become unnervingly more than that.

Thirty years ago, the potentially disruptive impact of heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels and rain forests became front-page news.

It had taken a century of accumulating science, and a big shift in perceptions, for that to happen. Indeed, Svante Arrhenius, the pioneering Swedish scientist who in 1896 first estimated the scope of warming from widespread coal burning, mainly foresaw this as a boon , both in agricultural bounty and “more equable and better climates, especially as regards the colder regions of the Earth.”

There were scattered news reports through the decades, including a remarkably clear 1956 article in the New York Times that conveyed how accumulating greenhouse gas emissions from energy production would lead to long-lasting environmental changes. In its closing the article foresaw what’s become the main impediment to tackling harmful emissions: the abundance of fossil fuels. “Coal and oil are still plentiful and cheap in many parts of the world, and there is every reason to believe that both will be consumed by industry so long as it pays to do so.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established in late 1988, after a variety of factors had pushed the greenhouse effect into the spotlight. That year there was severe drought and heat in the United States and vast fires in the Amazon rain forest and in Yellowstone National Park . The outline of a solution had been forged just one year earlier as the world’s nations agreed on the Montreal Protocol, which set steps to eliminate certain synthetic compounds imperiling the atmosphere’s protective ozone layer.

The crystallizing moment came on June 23 , in unnerving Senate testimony. James E. Hansen—a climate scientist who’d turned his attention from studying the searing conditions on Venus to Earth’s human-changed atmosphere—concluded bluntly that “the greenhouse effect has been detected and is changing our climate now.”

My journalistic journey to learn about climate change science, impacts, and related energy choices began in earnest later that month in Toronto, at the first World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere. It’s never stopped , weaving from the North Pole to the White House, from solar-tech labs and nuclear plant fuel pools to the Vatican . Details changed, but in many ways the main issues remain roughly as I and other journalists found them in 1988.

In 1988 a variety of factors —including severe drought and heat and vast fires in parts of the world—had pushed the greenhouse effect into the spotlight.

That October, my Discover magazine cover story touched on the flooding threat to Miami, the potential amped-up power of hurricanes, China’s predicted emissions surge, the vulnerability of California’s snowpack and thus its water supply, and more. It also described vexing uncertainties in warming projections that remain today. It ended with this quote from Michael B. McElroy, then, as now, a Harvard University professor: “If we choose to take on this challenge, it appears that we can slow the rate of change substantially, giving us time to develop mechanisms so that the cost to society and the damage to ecosystems can be minimized. We could alternatively close our eyes, hope for the best, and pay the cost when the bill comes due.”

That warning probably sounds familiar. Scientists, climate campaigners, and concerned politicians have been making similar statements ever since. Their warnings have not kept emissions from increasing. Glen Peters, a scientist at the Center for International Climate Research in Oslo, Norway, charted the rise of the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere from the year 1870—and found that nearly half that rise has come from human emissions in the past 30 years.

Plenty is happening with renewable energy technologies, with soaring growth in solar and wind systems and in performance of the batteries necessary to keep lights on when the sun is down and the air is still. But the world remains more than 85 percent reliant on fossil fuels to satisfy its thirst for energy. Gains in energy efficiency and renewable energy have been swamped by rising demand for fossil energy as poverty ebbs. In the U.S. and much of Europe, low-carbon nuclear power is in retreat as communities, recalling past scares, press to close aging plants, and high costs hinder the development of new ones.

What explains the lack of decisive progress on human-driven climate change? Having invested half of my 62 years in reporting and writing climate-related stories, blog posts, and books, I’ve lately found it useful—if sometimes uncomfortable—to look back for misperceptions or missed opportunities that let the problem worsen.

The Force of Climate Change

To explain how the enormity of climate change affects our grasp of it, Rice University’s Tim Morton cites a scene from the Star Wars movie The Empire Strikes Back where the Millennium Falcon flies into a “cave” that’s actually a giant worm’s maw. Living with climate change is like that, he says : “Because the worm is ‘everywhere’ in your field of vision, you can’t really tell the difference between it and the asteroid you think you landed on. For a while, you can kid yourself that you’re not inside a gigantic worm—until it starts digesting you.” —AR

Can we name the main culprits? There are almost as many theories and targets as there are advocates of one stripe or another. Among them: lack of basic research funding (I was often in that camp), industry influence on politics, poor media coverage, and doubt-sowing by those invested in fossil fuels or opposed to government intervention. There’s also our “inconvenient mind”—my description for a host of human behavioral traits and social norms that cut against getting climate change right.

For years I thought the answer was like the conclusion in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express: that all suspects were guilty. But there’s another possibility. Maybe climate change is less an environmental wrong to be set right and more an emerging source of risk—a case of humanity’s planet-scale power outrunning, at least for now, our capacity for containing our momentous impacts. In a 2009 piece called “Puberty on the Scale of a Planet,” I toyed with this notion, suggesting that our species was in a turbulent transition from adolescence to adulthood, resisting admonitions to grow up—with fossil fuels standing in for testosterone.

But the situation is even more tangled. The more I reported in unlit Kenyan slums and Indian villages where people cook on illicit charcoal or hand-gathered twigs, the clearer it became that there’s no single “we” when it comes to energy, nor for vulnerability to climate hazards. The rich “we” can afford to convert to clean energy and cut vulnerability to heat, floods, and more. But the rest of humanity is still struggling to get the basic economic benefits that we’ve gotten from burning fossil fuels.

Climate change is unlike any environmental problem we’ve faced. We can’t ‘fix’ it the way we’ve started to fix smog or the ozone hole.

Research by an array of scientists and scholars supports a daunting conclusion: Climate change is unlike any environmental problem we’ve ever faced. We can’t “fix” it the way we’ve started to fix smog or the ozone hole, with circumscribed regulations and treaties and limited technological changes. Climate change is too big in space, time, and complexity; the emissions that cause it are too central a consequence of the effort of some 7.5 billion people now, and some 10 billion within several decades, to prosper on Earth.

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The real shape of what’s happening to Earth emerges only when the greenhouse emissions surge is considered alongside other metrics for human activity. A 2015 scientific report titled “ The Great Acceleration ” included a planetary dashboard of graphs charting signals of human activity, from tropical forest loss to paper manufacturing to water use. Most have the same shape as the curve for CO2 emissions. Pollution and climate impacts, then, are symptoms of a broader situation: the human-Earth mash-up moment that’s increasingly called the Anthropocene.

Adam Frank , an astrophysicist at the University of Rochester, has begun assessing possible outcomes for our planet under different scenarios. He draws on the rapidly expanding body of knowledge about other planets outside our solar system that could harbor life and plots possible trajectories for Earth-like planets inhabited by sentient species.

While the mathematical models are fairly simple, three broad scenarios emerge, which Frank describes in a new book called Light of the Stars. The first scenario is the “soft landing,” in which a civilization and its planet come smoothly to a new, steady state. The second is “die off,” in which a planet’s environmental conditions degrade and populations drop precipitously but seem to survive. “It’s hard to know if a technological civilization could survive losing something like 70 percent of its population,” Frank says.

And there’s a third scenario: collapse. “The population rises, the planetary state ‘heats up,’ and at some point the population crashes down to zero,” Frank says. “We even found solutions where the collapse could happen after the population changed from a high-impact energy source—fossil fuels—to a lower-impact one, solar.”

Related: Photos of Extreme Weather

Frank’s interplanetary perspective makes clear that the climate crisis is really more of a grand challenge, like the wars on cancer or poverty, that people work on over a lifetime, even generations, with a mix of urgency and patience. The change in perspective is troubling but also liberating: It means anyone with motivation and perseverance can make a difference—as a teacher or engineer, an artist or investor, or simply as an engaged planetary citizen.

In looking into space to assess Earth’s prospects, Frank has circled back to James Hansen’s starting point—his early research on our superhot neighbor, Venus. Earlier this year, I asked Frank what he sees in Earth’s future: Are we destined to be more like a struck match, flaring bright but briefly? Or could we glow on, like, say, a solar-powered LED?

Frank thinks it may be hard for any biosphere that evolves a planet-scale industrial civilization to avoid great disruption. “The question is, how often does the civilization make it through the transition to emerge as a still important part of the now changed biosphere,” Frank said. “Much may depend on the evolutionary heritage the species gets,” he says—whether populations can think and act as needed to adapt to, and responsibly manage, a new reality.

It’s a question for Earth, he says: “Do we have what it takes? I hope so, but I guess we’ll see pretty soon.”

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Mimio Educator

My classroom: then and now.

It’s hard to believe that I am celebrating my twentieth “Teacher Appreciation Week” this year. It seems like just yesterday I began my teaching career fresh out of college. Although my intention was to only teach for a few years and then pursue a more lucrative career in law, my first years in the classroom revealed the zeal I had inside for teaching social studies. Within a few years, I had found my calling as a classroom teacher—and have never looked back. Now, twenty years later, I still retain that passion and enthusiasm for teaching. However, I am astonished to see how much my classroom has changed since I began my career, and what a much better teacher I have become.

My Introduction to Teaching

As a twenty-one-year-old first-year teacher, I worked harder than I had ever worked before. I arrived at school early in the morning, sometimes before the custodian had even turned off the alarm system. Who could forget that cold February morning when the police came into the building looking for an intruder, but instead found me grading and sorting papers at my desk? Throughout the day, I taught my lessons, tutored my students, and stayed long after most of the veteran teachers had gone home. Each night, I would take piles of papers home to grade, and spent hours planning the next day’s lesson.

My first few years of teaching included many amazing lesson plans. I say that in jest, because a typical day in my classroom mostly involved notes on the chalkboard  (yes, the chalkboard!), which went along with a twenty- to thirty-minute lecture. At some point, I graduated to the more sophisticated transparency on the over-head projector. Typically, a blurry worksheet from the textbook teacher’s guide would follow to reinforce the lesson objectives. Occasionally, I would even use the one teacher computer in the workroom to create my own materials. Few teachers even attempted to use it at the time, so it was frequently available. For homework, students would then be assigned to write a paragraph summarizing the lesson’s objective. Their compositions basically spit back the notes I had scribbled in chalk dust. My units concluded every two weeks or so with an old-fashioned recall test, which I spent hours grading and analyzing by hand.

Getting a Taste of Classroom Technology

At the start of my third year of teaching, my school finally began to purchase some instructional technology. A few times a year, I was able to check out a digital projector and a “state-of-the-art” interactive whiteboard from the media specialist. I can still remember wheeling the rusty cart with the one staff desktop computer down to my classroom. From there, I had to push the giant, cumbersome interactive whiteboard with the tiniest wheels down to my room as well. Everything was connected by a web of wires that I feared students would accidentally trip on coming into the classroom. Once I had set everything up, I was ready to teach what I thought was my most amazing lesson ever taught! It included a PowerPoint presentation I had created, which had pictures and animations. Even if I was able to work out the technical glitches—like the flashing light on the serial port that would not stop blinking—I was basically using it as a screen with a fancy mouse to advance the slides. My principal at the time observed my lesson and had nothing but praise for how well it went. In the weeks that followed, I began to create more of these lessons. I was even inspired to build a simple website, where I began posting notes and a list of assignments for students and parents, even though most of them did not yet have Internet access.

In those early years, I felt like I was doing a great job in the classroom—perhaps I was for the time. I was working very hard in my students’ best interest and using all of the resources, including technology, that were available to me. I often received praise from my administrators and parents for my efforts. I even won several awards! However, looking back and reflecting on those early years, I realize my lessons lacked the use of “effective instructional technology.” My lessons were also typically low-level, one-size-fits-all, drill-and-kill endeavors that failed to challenge my students to discover new knowledge, collaborate with one another, interact with content, or create their own work products.  

Today’s Classroom Looks Very Different

Today, all of that has changed. Over the years, I have become a much different and—dare I say—much better teacher! My classroom has evolved into a “paperless” student-centered, technology-based learning experience. Students are able to work on technology-based differentiated lessons at their own pace. Each of these lessons challenges students to discover new information for themselves, interact with the content, and create their own multimedia work to showcase what they have learned. Learning thrives in my classroom by providing students with opportunities to collaborate, create, and share what they have learned with others. Today’s students have grown up with technology and are able to use it more successfully than many traditional classroom resources.

A typical lesson in my classroom today begins with students logging onto my website. My classroom website has grown over the years from a way to post information into an interactive learning community. From my website, students can access every lesson and activity online, both inside and outside of my classroom. This provides many opportunities to flip my classroom instruction with ease. Students enjoy working at their own pace on activities and quickly become comfortable with our classroom procedures. When students arrive in my classroom, they typically begin working even before I go over the daily directions. I recently had to attend to an altercation in the hallway and was worried about the students who were in my classroom. When I returned, I found my students working diligently and engaged in the daily lesson!

Engaging Students With Technology

Each one of my web-based lessons is based on a carefully composed learning target written to challenge students to use high-level skills and technology to increase their depth of knowledge. For example, a learning target might say something like: “I can predict the challenges George Washington faced as the first President of the United States.” The learning target requires students to go beyond simple recall in order to complete the assignment. Students then go through the lesson directions found on my website—they are able to utilize links to additional materials and explore embedded multimedia to gather the information needed to reach the learning target. Each student is assigned a differentiated lesson based on his or her aptitude and previous performance.

As students complete the assignment, they create their own multimedia digital notebook. Being able to create their own digital binder to showcase their work forces students to retain a greater depth of knowledge. It also frees students to work within their own strengths, rather than predetermined pathways. Students are then able to share their work with other students in the class. Throughout the process, teachers and parents can monitor student progress at any time. They can also add scaffolding and support to assignments for students with special needs.

Looking Ahead

My current classroom also includes collaboration spaces in which students work together to complete additional material. Students engage in interactive lessons using my interactive whiteboard and touch table. I am also able to push out engaging collaborative activities to students’ mobile devices from my classroom computer. Assignments such as these give me the opportunity to get every student involved in content reinforcement and constant assessment. My classroom setup also allows me to place my students in the center of a dynamic learning environment created to meet each of their specific needs. While in the past I would have spent hours grading such assignments, my software allows me to gather real-time data on student performance during activities and assessments. Rather than spending time “grading” papers, I can now use that time to analyze items of difficulty, create follow-up activities for at-risk students, and contact parents.

Over the past twenty years, many things in my classroom have changed. The infusion of instructional technology has made my teaching more engaging, effective, and dynamic. As the years pass, educators must continue to evolve in order the meet the changing academic needs of our students and our society. I look forward to seeing what the next twenty years will bring to education—and how I will adapt to become an even better teacher!

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Environmental Issues Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on environmental issues.

The environment plays a significant role to support life on earth. But there are some issues that are causing damages to life and the ecosystem of the earth. It is related to the not only environment but with everyone that lives on the planet. Besides, its main source is pollution , global warming, greenhouse gas , and many others. The everyday activities of human are constantly degrading the quality of the environment which ultimately results in the loss of survival condition from the earth.

Source of Environment Issue

There are hundreds of issue that causing damage to the environment. But in this, we are going to discuss the main causes of environmental issues because they are very dangerous to life and the ecosystem.

Pollution – It is one of the main causes of an environmental issue because it poisons the air , water , soil , and noise. As we know that in the past few decades the numbers of industries have rapidly increased. Moreover, these industries discharge their untreated waste into the water bodies, on soil, and in air. Most of these wastes contain harmful and poisonous materials that spread very easily because of the movement of water bodies and wind.

Greenhouse Gases – These are the gases which are responsible for the increase in the temperature of the earth surface. This gases directly relates to air pollution because of the pollution produced by the vehicle and factories which contains a toxic chemical that harms the life and environment of earth.

Climate Changes – Due to environmental issue the climate is changing rapidly and things like smog, acid rains are getting common. Also, the number of natural calamities is also increasing and almost every year there is flood, famine, drought , landslides, earthquakes, and many more calamities are increasing.

Above all, human being and their greed for more is the ultimate cause of all the environmental issue.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

How to Minimize Environment Issue?

Now we know the major issues which are causing damage to the environment. So, now we can discuss the ways by which we can save our environment. For doing so we have to take some measures that will help us in fighting environmental issues .

Moreover, these issues will not only save the environment but also save the life and ecosystem of the planet. Some of the ways of minimizing environmental threat are discussed below:

Reforestation – It will not only help in maintaining the balance of the ecosystem but also help in restoring the natural cycles that work with it. Also, it will help in recharge of groundwater, maintaining the monsoon cycle , decreasing the number of carbons from the air, and many more.

The 3 R’s principle – For contributing to the environment one should have to use the 3 R’s principle that is Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Moreover, it helps the environment in a lot of ways.

To conclude, we can say that humans are a major source of environmental issues. Likewise, our activities are the major reason that the level of harmful gases and pollutants have increased in the environment. But now the humans have taken this problem seriously and now working to eradicate it. Above all, if all humans contribute equally to the environment then this issue can be fight backed. The natural balance can once again be restored.

FAQs about Environmental Issue

Q.1 Name the major environmental issues. A.1 The major environmental issues are pollution, environmental degradation, resource depletion, and climate change. Besides, there are several other environmental issues that also need attention.

Q.2 What is the cause of environmental change? A.2 Human activities are the main cause of environmental change. Moreover, due to our activities, the amount of greenhouse gases has rapidly increased over the past few decades.

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Swimmer is removed from Paris Olympics village for creating 'inappropriate environment'

The paraguayan female swimmer was accused of creating an 'inappropriate environment' after announcing her retirement.

Joshua Nair

A swimmer has been kicked out of the Paris Olympics village after she was said to be creating an 'inappropriate environment'.

Luana Alonso was part of the majority of athletes who had been staying in the Olympic Village for the duration of the games - it's where competitors from all over eat , train and spend time with each other.

However, it has recently been announced by team Paraguay that she had been asked to leave as they are no longer letting her stay until the competition closes on Sunday (11 August), as per The Daily Mail.

Swimmer Alonso may not have performed to her best at the games, finishing sixth in her heat with a time of 1:03.09 and failing to qualify for the semi finals by a long way after swimming more than three seconds slower than her personal best.

The 20-year-old then abruptly announced her retirement from the sport on social media to her 500,000 Instagram followers.

She wrote: "Swimming: thank you for allowing me to dream, you taught me to fight, to try, perseverance, sacrifice, discipline and many more.

"I gave you part of my life and I don't change it for anything in the world because I lived the best experiences of my life, you gave me thousands of joys, friends from other countries that I will always carry them in my heart, unique opportunities.

"It’s not goodbye, it’s see you soon," she concluded.

However, team Paraguay announced that due to 'inappropriate behaviour', Alonso had been kicked out of the village in the competition's final week.

Larissa Schaerer, the head of the COP mission, said: "Her presence is creating an inappropriate atmosphere within Team Paraguay.

"We thank her for proceeding as instructed, as it was of her own free will that she did not spend the night in the Athletes' Village."

It didn't expand any further on what the 'inappropriate' behaviour was, but the 20-year-old has returned to the US , where she goes to university in Dallas, Texas.

Alonso posted videos on her Instagram account which suggested that she touched down recently, as she could be seen driving towards a border control crossing - however, she has not yet addressed the statement.

Alonso may have had a short career, but she impressively holds the Paraguayan records in the 50m, 100m and 200m Butterfly events.

The swimmer made her Olympic debut aged just 17 at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and is one of the youngest in the sport to call their time.

After being sent several messages of support on social media, she clarified that her decision to retire had nothing to do with these games, as she made the decision 'a long time ago'.

Speaking to Claro Sports, Alonso revealed: "People, my decision was made a long time ago! It wasn't because of the games! So nothing, I just have to thank everyone who always supported me." she said.

"It didn’t happen the way I wanted it to. I sincerely apologise to Paraguay, but I did what I could, despite several things that happened to me before. So, I’m happy and also to retire here with a full stadium and finally have the Olympic Games."

LADbible has reached out to Alonso and POC for comment.

Team GB's current medal count - 40

Gold medallists

• Rosalind Canter, Laura Collett, Tom McEwen: Equestrian - Eventing team
• Tom Pidcock: Mountain Bike - Men's cross country
• Nathan Hales: Shooting - Men's trap
• Tom Dean, Kieran Bird, James Guy, Jack McMillan, Matthew Richards, Duncan Scott: Swimming - Men's 4x200m freestyle
• Alex Yee: Men's triathlon
• Lauren Henry, Lola Anderson, Hannah Scott and Georgina Brayshaw: Rowing - Women's quadruple sculls
• Bryony Page: Gymnastics - Women's individual trampoline
• Emily Craig and Imogen Grant: Rowing - Women's lightweight double sculls
• Ben Maher, Harry Charles and Scott Brash: Equestrian - Team jumping
• Sholto Carnegie, Rory Gibbs, Morgan Bolding, Jacob Dawson, Charlie Elwes, Tom Digby, James Rudkin and Tom Ford: Rowing: Men's eight

Silver medallists

• Anna Henderson: Cycling - Women's individual time trial
• Adam Peaty: Swimming - Men's 100m breaststroke
• Tom Daley and Noah Williams: Diving - Men's synchronised 10m platform
• Adam Burgess: Canoe Slalom - Men's canoe single
• Matthew Richards: Swimming - Men's 200m freestyle
• Kieran Reilly: Cycling - Men's BMX Freestyle
• Helen Glover, Esme Booth, Sam Redgrave and Rebecca Shorten: Rowing - Women's coxless four
• Oliver Wynne-Griffith and Thomas George: Rowing - Men's pair
• Benjamin Proud: Swimming - Men's 50m freestyle
• Duncan Scott: Swimming - Men's 200m individual medley
• Amber Rutter: Shooting - Women's skeet
• Tommy Fleetwood: Golf - Men's individual stroke play
• Joe Clarke: Canoe slalom - Men's kayak cross

Bronze medallists

• Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen: Diving - Women's synchronised 3m springboard
• Kimberley Woods: Canoe - Women's slalom
• Laura Collett: Equestrian - Eventing individual
• Beth Potter: Women's triathlon
• Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson: Diving - Women's synchronised 10m platform
• Oliver Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson: Rowing - Men's coxless four
• Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne and Becky Wilde: Rowing - Women's double sculls
• Jack Laugher and Anthony Harding: Diving - men's synchronised 3m springboard
• Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar, Holly Dunford, Emily Ford, Lauren Irwin, Eve Stewart, Harriet Taylor and Annie Campbell-Orde - Rowing: Women's eight
• Emma Wilson: Sailing: Women's windsurfing
• Jake Jarman: Artistic gymnastics - Men's floor exercise
• Lottie Fry, Becky Moody and Carl Hester: Equestrian - Team Grand Prix Special
• Alex Wilson-Haydock, Laviai Nielsen, Samuel Reardon, Nicole Yeargin: Athletics - Mixed 4x400m relay
• Lottie Fry and Glamourdale: Equestrian - Individual dressage
• Harry Hepworth: Artistic gymnastics - Men's vault
• Alex Yee, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Samuel Dickinson and Beth Potter: Triathlon - Mixed relay
• Kimberley Woods: Canoe slalom - Women's kayak cross

Topics:  Olympics , Social Media , Instagram , Sport

Joshua Nair is a journalist at LADbible. Born in Malaysia and raised in Dubai, he has always been interested in writing about a range of subjects, from sports to trending pop culture news. After graduating from Oxford Brookes University with a BA in Media, Journalism and Publishing, he got a job freelance writing for SPORTbible while working in marketing before landing a full-time role at LADbible. Unfortunately, he's unhealthily obsessed with Manchester United, which takes its toll on his mental and physical health. Daily.

@ joshnair10

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Simone Biles speaks out after being furious at crowd when she missed out on gold medal

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• Ryanair hack to pay nothing for carry-on luggage this summer
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An Olympics Scene Draws Scorn. Did It Really Parody ‘The Last Supper’?

Some church leaders and politicians have condemned the performance from the opening ceremony for mocking Christianity. Art historians are divided.

• Share full article

By Yan Zhuang

A performance during the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony on Friday has drawn criticism from church leaders and conservative politicians for a perceived likeness to Leonardo da Vinci’s depiction of a biblical scene in “The Last Supper,” with some calling it a “mockery” of Christianity.

The event’s planners and organizers have denied that the sequence was inspired by “The Last Supper,” or that it intended to mock or offend.

In the performance broadcast during the ceremony, a woman wearing a silver, halo-like headdress stood at the center of a long table, with drag queens posing on either side of her. Later, at the same table, a giant cloche lifted, revealing a man, nearly naked and painted blue, on a dinner plate surrounded by fruit. He broke into a song as, behind him, the drag queens danced.

The tableaux drew condemnation among people who saw the images as a parody of “The Last Supper,” the New Testament scene depicted in da Vinci’s painting by the same name. The French Bishops’ Conference, which represents the country’s Catholic bishops, said in a statement that the opening ceremony included “scenes of mockery and derision of Christianity,” and an influential American Catholic, Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota, called it a “gross mockery.”

The performance at the opening ceremony, which took place on and along the Seine on Friday, also prompted a Mississippi-based telecommunications provider, C Spire, to announce that it would pull its advertisements from Olympics broadcasts. Speaker Mike Johnson described the scene as “shocking and insulting to Christian people.”

The opening ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, said at the Games’ daily news conference on Saturday that the event was not meant to “be subversive, or shock people, or mock people.” On Sunday, Anne Descamps, the Paris 2024 spokeswoman, said at the daily news conference, “If people have taken any offense, we are, of course, really, really sorry.”

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Watch CBS News

The Federal Reserve will make an interest rate decision this week. Here's what to expect.

By Aimee Picchi

Edited By Alain Sherter

Updated on: July 30, 2024 / 12:09 PM EDT / CBS News

This month marks the one-year anniversary of the Federal Reserve's most recent interest rate hike, which pushed rates to their highest point in 23 years. Now, with inflation continuing to cool, economists are making predictions about when the central bank will begin cutting.

The Fed is scheduled to meet on July 30-31, with Chair Jerome Powell set to discuss the bank's rate decision at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday. After this week's session, the Fed will next discuss its benchmark federal funds rate at its September 17-18 meeting. 

Wednesday's announcement is likely to offer a mixed bag for consumers and businesses grappling with the highest borrowing costs in years, experts say. 

First, economists say it's unlikely the Fed will announce a rate cut this week because Powell has signaled he wants to see more proof that inflation is closer to the bank's goal of a 2% annual rate before trimming. But Powell is also expected to offer a hint on when the bank will start cutting, with about 9 in 10 economists pegging the September meeting for the Fed's first rate reduction since 2020, according to financial data company FactSet.

"The case to cut is already strong, and the Fed will likely use the July meeting to plant a seed that a cut in September is on the table," predicted Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, in a Friday research report. 

The markets are still betting on more than a single rate cut in 2024, even though Fed officials earlier this year projected just one rate cut later in the year. But with inflation easing faster than projected in June, futures markets have priced in a 64% likelihood that the Fed will cut rates three times this year — in September, November and December, according  to CME FedWatch .

What is the Fed's current interest rate?

The federal funds rate — what banks charge each other for short-term loans — now sits in a range of 5.25% to 5.5%. Most economists polled by FactSet expect the Fed to leave that rate unchanged until its September meeting. 

The Fed's last hike was in July 2023, when the benchmark rate was brought to its current level. Starting in early 2022, the central bank ratcheted up interest rates to combat the hottest inflation in 40 years, which hit a peak of 9.1% in June 2022. Since then, inflation has fallen to about 3% on an annual basis .  

How much could interest rates be cut in 2024? 

That will depend on economic trends over the next weeks and months, with the Fed monitoring numerous data points, ranging from inflation to the monthly jobs report.

Economists are penciling in a Fed rate cut of 0.25 of a percentage point in September, which would trim the benchmark rate to a range of 5% to 5.25%.

"At the moment, a modest cut of 25 basis points in September seems likely. If that goes well, we could even see two additional 25 basis point cuts before 2024 comes to an end," said Jacob Channel, chief economist at LendingTree, in an email. "Cuts are far from guaranteed, however. Remember, the Fed is designed to pivot quickly should something unexpected happen."

Slightly more than half economists are predicting the benchmark rate will be cut to a range of 4.5% to 4.75% by December, according to FactSet. 

What is the Fed's rate decision based on?

The Fed has a twofold policy goal, also called the dual mandate — to keep prices stable and to ensure maximum employment. 

Inflation continues to cool, reflecting that the prices of goods and services are rising at a progressively slower rate since their 2022 peak. At the same time, the Fed is closely watching employment data. Because rate hikes are designed to slow the economy and tame inflation, they can also cast a pall over hiring. 

And there are signs the labor market is cooling, as the Fed has intended. Job growth has averaged a solid, but unspectacular, 177,000 a month for the past three months, down from a red-hot three-month average of 275,000 a year ago. 

Powell and other Fed officials have underscored that they're paying nearly as much attention to the threat posed by a hiring slowdown as they are to inflation pressures. That shift in the Fed's emphasis toward ensuring that the job market doesn't weaken too much has likely boosted market expectations for a rate cut.

But some economists and policy experts believe the Fed has already waited too long to cut rates, citing weakening job numbers and cooling inflation. Some also say that high interest rates are making affordable housing out of reach for many.

"The Fed should start cutting rates this week — any delay risks damaging the labor market," said Bharat Ramamurti, senior advisor for economic strategy at the American Economic Liberties Project and former deputy director of the National Economic Council, on a conference call with reporters to discuss the Fed's meeting this week.

And some experts are urging the Fed to cut by 0.5 percentage points, which would be a reduction that's twice as large as most economists are forecasting. 

"They can bring down costs for American families," said Kitty Richards, senior fellow at the Groundwork Collaborative and a former Treasury official, on the same call. "I would go further than 50 basis points — if you think the Fed went too high, they can cut more aggressively as well."

What would a rate cut mean for your money?

There could be some relief for borrowers in the months ahead, experts say. Already, mortgage rates have downshifted to just under 6.8% today after hitting 7.2% in May.

"At first glance, a decline of 0.44 percentage points may not seem like a big deal. But, in mortgage land, a 44 basis-point drop is nothing to scoff at," saving about $100 a month in payments for buyers of a $350,000 home, Channel noted.  

Rates could trend toward the 2024 lows, ending the year closer to 6% for a 30-year fixed mortgage, he predicted. 

Credit card companies could lower their APRs in response to cuts from the Fed, said LendingTree credit analyst Matt Schulz. The average interest rate on a new credit card now at 24.84%, the highest since LendingTree started tracking rates in 2019. 

"If the Fed cuts rates by a quarter-point, dropping the APR to 24.59%, you'll save $21 and take 1 less month to pay off," he said. "That's not nothing, but it is far less than what you could save with a 0% balance transfer credit card."

—The Associated Press contributed to this report

• Interest Rates
• Federal Reserve

Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.

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