Page - 29 - in Water, Energy, and Environment - A Primer

Chapter4 Energyproductionand its consequences forwater and theenvironment 4.1 IMPACTS Environmental issues arise from harmful effects of human activity on the biosphere, the part of theworld inwhich life can exist. A significant number of these impacts are associatedwith energyproduction and they come inmany forms. Globalwarmingandclimate change: the result of introducing largequantitiesofCO2,CH4,andothergreenhousegases into the atmosphere.Adverse impactsofclimatechangearealreadybeing felt, for example, changes in rainfall patterns, droughts, intense storms, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and migration of disease carriers. Many scientists and others believe that addressing climate change on a coordinated global basis is the most critical challenge currently facing theworld. The basics of global warming will be discussed in this chapter; its potential impactsandrelatedpolicy issueswillbediscussed inChapter10. Air, water, and soil pollution: arising from the combustion of fossil fuels, heavy use of nitrogen-rich fertilizers, and ©2019TheAuthor. This isanOpenAccessbookchapter distributedunder the termsof the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits copying and redistribution for non-commercial purposeswith noderivatives, provided theoriginalwork is properly cited (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). This does not affect the rights licensed or assigned from any third party in this book. The chapter is from the bookWater,Energy, andEnvironment:APrimer, AllanR.Hoffman (Author). doi: 10.2166/9781780409658_0029