by DK
Tidal power is based on the same principle: moving water turns turbines, which drive electricity generators. The source of energy from a tidal scheme is reliable, generating power each time the tide ebbs and flows, but such schemes are expensive to construct. At present, the largest is the Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station in South Korea, which was completed in 2011 and has reduced the annual amount of CO2 the nation generates by 315,000 tons (286,000 tonnes). Wave power involves the capture of wave energy through a converter. The first commercial wave power scheme began off the west coast of Scotland in 2000, and the first multi-generator wave farm opened at Aguçadoura in Portugal in 2008.
China’s Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric dam, was completed in 2012. Critics point to its ecological impact on the Yangtze River’s habitat and biodiversity, and the risk for local people of flooding and landslides.
“… someday, renewable energy will be the only way for people to satisfy their energy needs.”
Hermann Scheer
President, European Association for Renewable Energy
Biomass
Organic matter from plants or animals is known as biomass. It contains stored energy because plants absorb the solar power they need for growth via photosynthesis, and creatures absorb that energy either from the plants they eat or from what their prey consumes. Creating a renewable fuel from plant, animal, and human waste products such as straw, dung, and garbage may seem an attractive option, and some coal-fired power stations have been converted to wood-burners. Burning biomass produces heat, electricity, and transport fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel. However, biomass energy is not necessarily “clean.” Burned as a fuel, biomass releases CO2, and creates air and particle pollution. Clearing prime forest for its wood or to cultivate biomass crops, such as grain for biofuels, can also damage the environment. Perhaps because of this, biomass is a more common fuel in nations that cannot afford other renewable options. According to the IEA, the majority of solid biofuel supply in 2016 took place in Africa, accounting for 33.2 percent.
A pie chart illustrating the sources for the total energy produced and supplied throughout the world in 2016, according to data published by the IEA. “Others” includes nonrenewable wastes and other sources not included elsewhere such as fuel cells.
The future
As growth in renewables increases, the advantages of each type must be balanced against their adverse effects—from biomass pollution to the reported role of wind turbine blades in the deaths of migrating birds. In 2014, the IEA predicted that renewables would provide 40 percent of global energy needs by 2040. In 2018, the IEA further predicted that renewables would account for almost a third of all world electricity by 2023, with solar power taking the biggest share. Energy from ocean currents could also generate huge amounts of electricity, as could large arrays of solar panels in space or floating on the seas.
Hot-dry-rock energy
Natural rock fractures that bring hot water to the surface from deep underground have been described as the “low-hanging fruit” of geothermal energy because they are easy to exploit. However, they are rare in most parts of the world. The vast majority of geothermal energy locked beneath Earth’s surface is in dry, nonporous rock.
The enhanced geothermal system (EGS), a similar process to fracking for natural gas and oil, aims to overcome this problem by fracturing rock strata and injecting water into it at a great depth. The water is heated by contact with the rock, then returns to the surface through production wells. Depending on the economic limits of drill depth, the technology might be feasible across many parts of the world, but there are risks. Like fracking, EGS can cause small earth tremors, so it should not be conducted near populated areas or power stations.
See also: Global warming • Pollution • Ozone depletion • Depletion of natural resources • Waste disposal
IN CONTEXT
KEY FIGURE
Aldo Leopold (1887–1948)
BEFORE
1894 In The Mountains of California, Scottish–American naturalist John Muir describes his travels through wild places in California, evoking the deep spirituality and adventure he feels when in the wilderness.
1909 Gifford Pinchot’s The ABC of Conservation argues that future generations should be able to utilize Earth’s natural resources.
AFTER
1968 US academic Paul R. Erlich and his wife, Anne, publish The Population Bomb, warning of the dangers of human population growth.
1970 On April 22, the first Earth Day is celebrated in the US. It becomes an annual global celebration of environmental education and reform.
At its heart, the discipline of environmental ethics extends the boundaries of ethics beyond humans, and into the natural world. It forces humans to question their role in the environment, their responsibility to the planet itself, and their duty to future generations.
The field of environmental ethics grew out of an urgent sense of encroaching crisis, expressed in both popular and academic writings. In 1962, the book Silent Spring, written by US biologist and conservationist Rachel Carson, documented the serious impact of pesticides on the environment, and brought these issues to the forefront of American public debate. Six years later, US ecologist Garett Hardin’s article “The Tragedy of the Commons” outlined the danger of overusing shared resources and allowing the human population to grow unchecked.
Other writers viewed the impending crisis from a more philosophical perspective. Aldo Leopold’s “land ethic,” outlined in A Sand County Almanac (1949), placed human beings on an equal footing with other species in a wider ecosystem. As one part of a larger whole, our ethical concerns should be with the healthy functioning of the entire ecosystem, rather than simply the advancement of human health and happiness.
In his seminal 1966 lecture “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis,” later published as an article, the US historian Lynn White claimed that the environmental crisis was the fault of Western society’s worldview. In particular, he blamed the Christian thinking that promoted anthropocentrism—the idea that humans are superior to all other creatures, leading to the view that nature was created for humanity’s use and exploitation.
“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
Aldo Leopold
Ethical dilemmas
Environmental ethics questions the moral imperatives behind sustainability and stewardship by asking if the motivations are grounded in anthropocentrism, or in the protection of the natural world because it inherently deserves protection. These questions have played out not only in philosophical arenas, but also in the legal and political spheres.
In 1969, the Sierra Club, an environmental lobbying group, challenged a US Forest Service permit allowing Walt Disney Enterprises to survey the Mineral King Valley in California—Disney wanted to build a ski resort there. The Valley had no official protected designation beyond that of a game refuge, but the Sierra Club argued that the area should be preserved in its original state for its own sake. The suit went to the Supreme Court, which in 1974 ruled in favor of the Forest Service and Disney. By then, however, Disney’s interest had waned; today the Valley is part of Sequoia National Park.
The battle between those who follow anthropocentric ethics and those who argue for ecocentric approaches has continued. It often takes place in political arenas, particularly with the increased prominence of globally sensitive issues such as climate change. Sustainable development has generally been an anthropocentric endeavor, to ensure future generations have their needs met. Environmental ethicists tend to argue that sustainability is only viable if it preserves the future of all members of the ecosystem.
The remote, subalpine Mineral King Valley has survived the threat of development. It remains an ecosystem that aims to benefit all—following Aldo Leopold’s “land ethic” principle.
ALDO LEOPOLD
Born in 1887, Aldo Leop
old grew up in Burlington, Iowa. He received his degree from the Yale School of Forestry, after which he took a job with the US Forest Service. While there he was instrumental in the proposal to manage the Gila National Forest as a wilderness area, and in 1924 it became the first official Wilderness Area in the US. Leopold then moved to Wisconsin to continue his work in the Forest Service, and in 1933 became a Professor of Game Management at the University of Wisconsin. Leopold died in 1948 while helping fight a grass fire. Most of his many essays on natural history and conservation were published posthumously in collections, such as A Sand County Almanac, that greatly influenced the emerging environmental movement.
Key works
1933 Game Management
1949 A Sand County Almanac
1953 Round River: From the Journals of Aldo Leopold
1991 The River of the Mother of God: and Other Essays
See also: Endangered habitats • The legacy of pesticides • Depletion of natural resources • Ecosystem services
IN CONTEXT
KEY FIGURES
David Brower (1912–2000), Petra Kelly (1947–92)
BEFORE
1892 The Sierra Club is founded in San Francisco, California, by the Scottish–American conservationist John Muir.
1958 Environmentalists protest against proposals for a nuclear power plant at Bodega Bay, California.
AFTER
1970 On April 22, the first Earth Day is held across the US.
1972 Environmentalist candidates stand for election in Tasmania, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
1996 Ralph Nader stands as candidate for President of the US on the Green Party ticket.
The roots of the modern “green movement” developed in organizations established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as the Sierra Club. Faced with the threat of increasing urbanization and industrialization, the Sierra Club sought to protect the natural environment for people’s enjoyment.
A greater awareness of humans’ relationship with the environment led to the emergence of a more politically active environmental movement in the second half of the 20th century. This took off in the 1960s, when the Cold War was at its height and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 brought the US and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war, galvanizing calls for nuclear disarmament among many campaigners.
In this atmosphere, the idea of conserving particular natural sites, as in the national parks system in the US and the UK, gave way to a much broader concept of environmentalism. Several organizations emerged with a strong activist agenda involving mass protests and direct action.
“Only through care for the environment can the livelihoods of those most dependent on it be sustained.”
Petra Kelly
Organized protest
One of the first of the activist organizations was Friends of the Earth. It was founded in the US in 1969 by a group that included conservationist David Brower, a former leader of the Sierra Club, with the aim of preventing the building of nuclear power plants. Politically active from the outset, Friends of the Earth continues to lobby governments across the world and campaigns on a broad range of environmental issues, emphasizing the importance of sustainable economic development. In 1971, a small group of activists in North America formed the Don’t Make a Wave Committee to protest against nuclear bomb testing by the US on the island of Amchitka, Alaska. The organization favored direct action rather than political lobbying and chartered a boat to sail to the island in protest. The publicity generated by the group swayed public opinion and halted the tests. This was the first action of what was to become Greenpeace, an organization that continues to use direct action to challenge those engaged in environmentally damaging activities.
Activists in a dinghy patrol in front of two ships from the UK carrying illegal toxic substances as part of regular Greenpeace protests.
Green politics
During the 1970s, political parties with dedicated environmentalist manifestos emerged in several countries. For example, The Ecology Party was established in the UK in 1975, and the Green Party formed in Germany in 1979. As the movement gained momentum, many smaller parties began to coalesce to form national, unified Green Parties.
In recent years, as issues such as pollution and climate change have risen up the news agenda, other established political parties have adopted environmentally friendly policies.
“We have everything we need, save perhaps, political will. But, you know what … political will is a renewable resource.”
Al Gore
PETRA KELLY
Born Petra Lehmann in Günzburg, West Germany, in 1947, Kelly later adopted the surname of her stepfather, an American army officer. When she was 12, the family moved to the US, where Kelly studied political science in Washington, D.C.
In 1970, Kelly returned to Europe. While working at the European Commission in Brussels, she joined Germany’s Social Democratic Party, but grew disillusioned with traditional politics. She joined Germany’s newly formed Green Party in 1979, and in 1983 was one of 28 members to be elected to parliament. Kelly campaigned on issues of environmentalism and human rights. In 1992, she and her companion, Green politician Gert Bastian, were found dead at her home in Bonn, apparently the result of a suicide pact.
Key works
1984 Fighting for Hope
1992 Nonviolence Speaks to Power
1994 Thinking Green: Essays on Environmentalism, Feminism, and Nonviolence
See also: Citizen science • The legacy of pesticides • Human devastation of Earth • Halting climate change
IN CONTEXT
KEY ORGANIZATION
UNESCO
BEFORE
1925 The International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation—which aims to exchange intellectual ideas and improve quality of life—is set up in Paris, France.
1945 The United Nations Conference establishes the constitution of UNESCO.
AFTER
1983 First International Biosphere Reserve Congress takes place in Minsk, Belarus.
1995 Statutory framework of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves is agreed.
2015 The UN launches its 17 Sustainable Goals initiative.
2017 The US withdraws 17 sites from the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves, but 23 new sites are added elsewhere.
During the second half of the 20th century, there was an increasing global awareness of the importance of the relationship between humans and the natural world. This led, in 1971, to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launching the Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB). This is an intergovernmental program devoted to encouraging environmentally sustainable and equitable economic development, while protecting natural ecosystems.
UNESCO was founded after World War II with the aim of fostering “the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information.” As such, it was in a unique position to examine carefully the relationship between people and the environment.
Global network
The organization began by setting up a number of internationally recognized protected sites, known as the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR). These set out to show how human cultural and biological diversity are mutually beneficial and encourage the balanced integration of people with their natural environment. They also sought to find ways to manage natural resources efficiently for the benefit of the environment as well as its inhabitants.
There are now over 650 sites around the world, providing a platform for collaborative scientific and cultural research in a range of marine, coastal, and terrestrial ecosystems. Through the network, the program monitors the effects of human activity on the biosphere, particularly examining climate change, and fosters the exchange of information.
Local knowledge
The MAB program recognizes three interconnected functions of a biosphere reserve: conservation; sust
ainable development; and support though education and training. These objectives are achieved by zoning areas within the reserve to protect core locations, whilst simultaneously providing places for appropriate and sustainable development by local inhabitants.
To this end, communities are encouraged to participate in the management of the reserve, and use their local knowledge of the area to make the best use of natural resources. The idea of educating people about the environment and sharing knowledge across the World Network is key to the success of the project as a whole.
Moroccan women gather the health-giving fruits of the argan tree. These trees in the Arganeraie Biosphere Reserve are carefully sustained by the local population.
Conflicting opinions
The sites of the WBNR, as well as being of international scientific significance, are often culturally important to the host state. They are not nominated by UNESCO, but by national governments, and they remain under the jurisdiction of the states they are in. International recognition of their status does not impinge upon the rights of those states over the Biosphere Reserves.
In recent years, some states have chosen to manage certain sites as national rather than international reserves and have withdrawn them from the program. Nevertheless, there has been a steady increase in sites nominated for the program from governments around the world.