The ability to send thoughts directly to another person’s brain is the stuff of science fiction. At least, it used to be.
In recent years, physicists and neuroscientists have developed an
armory of tools that can sense certain kinds of thoughts and transmit
information about them into other brains. That has made brain-to-brain
communication a reality.
These tools include electroencephalograms (EEGs) that record
electrical activity in the brain and transcranial magnetic stimulation
(TMS), which can transmit information into the brain.
In 2015, Andrea Stocco and his colleagues at the University of
Washington in Seattle used this gear to connect two people via a
brain-to-brain interface. The people then played a 20 questions–type
game.
An obvious next step is to allow several people to join such a
conversation, and today Stocco and his colleagues announced they have
achieved this using a world-first brain-to-brain network. The network,
which they call BrainNet, allows a small group to play a collaborative
Tetris-like game.
“Our results raise the possibility of future
brain-to-brain interfaces that enable cooperative problem-solving by
humans using a ‘social network’ of connected brains,” they say.
The technology behind the network is relatively straightforward.
EEGs measure the electrical activity of the brain. They consist of a
number of electrodes placed on the skull that can pick up electrical
activity in the brain.
A key idea is that people can change the signals their brain
produces relatively easily. For example, brain signals can easily become
entrained with external ones. So watching a light flashing at 15 hertz
causes the brain to emit a strong electrical signal at the same
frequency. Switching attention to a light flashing at 17 Hz changes the
frequency of the brain signal in a way an EEG can spot relatively
easily.
TMS manipulates brain activity by inducing electrical activity in
specific brain areas. For example, a magnetic pulse focused onto the
occipital cortex triggers the sensation of seeing a flash of light,
known as a phosphene.
Together, these devices make it possible to send and receive
signals directly to and from the brain. But nobody has created a network
that allows group communication. Until now.
Stocco and his colleagues have created a network that allows three
individuals to send and receive information directly to their brains.
They say the network is easily scalable and limited only by the
availability of EEG and TMS devices.
The proof-of-principle network connects three people: two senders
and one person able to receive and transmit, all in separate rooms and
unable to communicate conventionally. The group together has to solve a
Tetris-like game in which a falling block has to be rotated so that it
fits into a space at the bottom of the screen.
The two senders, wearing EEGs, can both see the full screen. The
game is designed so the shape of the descending block fits in the bottom
row either if it is rotated by 180 degrees or if it is not rotated. The
senders have to decide which and broadcast the information to the third
member of the group.
To do this, they vary the signal their brains produce. If the EEG
picks up a 15 Hz signal from their brains, it moves a cursor toward the
right-hand side of the screen. When the cursor reaches the right-hand
side, the device sends a signal to the receiver to rotate the block.
The senders can control their brain signals by staring at LEDs on
either side of the screen—one flashing at 15 Hz and the other at 17 Hz.
The receiver, attached to an EEG and a TMS, has a different task.
The receiver can see only the top half of the Tetris screen, and so can
see the block but not how it should be rotated. However, the receiver
receives signals via the TMS from each sender, saying either “rotate” or
“do not rotate.”
The signals consist of a single phosphene to indicate the block
must be rotated or no flash of light to indicate that it should not be
rotated. So the data rate is low—just one bit per interaction.
Having received data from both senders, the receiver performs the
action. But crucially, the game allows for another round of interaction.
The senders can see the block falling and so can determine whether
the receiver has made the right call and transmit the next course of
action—either rotate or not—in another round of communication.
This allows the researchers to have some fun. In some of the trials
they deliberately change the information from one sender to see if the
receiver can determine whether to ignore it. That introduces an element
of error often reflected in real social situations.
But the question they investigate is whether humans can work out
what to do when the data rates are so low. It turns out humans, being
social animals, can distinguish between the correct and false
information using the brain-to-brain protocol alone.
That’s interesting work that paves the way for more complex
networks. The team says the information travels across a bespoke network
set up between three rooms in their labs. However, there is no reason
why the network cannot be extended to the Internet, allowing
participants around the world to collaborate.
“A cloud-based brain-to-brain interface server could direct
information transmission between any set of devices on the
brain-to-brain interface network and make it globally operable through
the Internet, thereby allowing cloud-based interactions between brains
on a global scale,” Stocco and his colleagues say. “The pursuit of such
brain-to-brain interfaces has the potential to not only open new
frontiers in human communication and collaboration but also provide us
with a deeper understanding of the human brain.”
Fascinating stuff!
Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1809.08632: BrainNet: A Multi-Person Brain-to-Brain Interface for Direct Collaboration Between Brains
Satellite image of the Sahara desert; the world's largest hot desert and third-largest desert after the polar deserts.
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses the interaction of all living species, climate, weather and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity.
The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished as components:
In contrast to the natural environment is the built environment. In such areas where man has fundamentally transformed landscapes such as urban settings and agricultural land conversion,
the natural environment is greatly modified into a simplified human
environment. Even acts which seem less extreme, such as building a mud hut or a photovoltaic system in the desert,
the modified environment becomes an artificial one. Though many
animals build things to provide a better environment for themselves,
they are not human, hence beaver dams, and the works of Mound-building termites, are thought of as natural.
People seldom find absolutely natural environments on
Earth, and naturalness usually varies in a continuum, from 100% natural
in one extreme to 0% natural in the other. More precisely, we can
consider the different aspects or components of an environment, and see
that their degree of naturalness is not uniform. If, for instance, in an agricultural field, the mineralogic composition and the structure of its soil are similar to those of an undisturbed forest soil, but the structure is quite different.
Natural environment is often used as a synonym for habitat. For instance, when we say that the natural environment of giraffes is the savanna.
Earth science generally recognizes 4 spheres, the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, and the biosphere as correspondent to rocks, water, air, and life respectively. Some scientists include, as part of the spheres of the Earth, the cryosphere (corresponding to ice) as a distinct portion of the hydrosphere, as well as the pedosphere (corresponding to soil) as an active and intermixed sphere. Earth science (also known as geoscience, the geosciences or the Earth Sciences), is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. There are four major disciplines in earth sciences, namely geography, geology, geophysics and geodesy. These major disciplines use physics, chemistry, biology, chronology and mathematics to build a qualitative and quantitative understanding of the principal areas or spheres of Earth.
Geological activity
The Earth's crust, or lithosphere, is the outermost solid surface of the planet and is chemically and mechanically different from underlying mantle. It has been generated greatly by igneous processes in which magma cools and solidifies to form solid rock. Beneath the lithosphere lies the mantle which is heated by the decay of radioactive elements. The mantle though solid is in a state of rheicconvection. This convection process causes the lithospheric plates to move, albeit slowly. The resulting process is known as plate tectonics. Volcanoes result primarily from the melting of subducted crust material or of rising mantle at mid-ocean ridges and mantle plumes.
Most water is found in one or another natural kind of body of water.
Oceans
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface (an area of some 362 million square kilometers) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand
(ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the range of 30
to 38 ppt. Though generally recognized as several 'separate' oceans,
these waters comprise one global, interconnected body of salt water
often referred to as the World Ocean or global ocean. The deep seabeds
are more than half the Earth's surface, and are among the
least-modified natural environments. The major oceanic divisions are
defined in part by the continents, various archipelagos, and other criteria: these divisions are (in descending order of size) the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean and the Arctic Ocean.
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. A few rivers simply flow into the ground and dry up completely before reaching another body of water.
The water in a river is usually in a channel, made up of a stream bed between banks. In larger rivers there is also a wider floodplain
shaped by waters over-topping the channel. Flood plains may be very
wide in relation to the size of the river channel. Rivers are a part of
the hydrological cycle. Water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through surface runoff, groundwater recharge, springs, and the release of water stored in glaciers and snowpacks.
Small rivers may also be termed by several other names, including stream, creek and brook. Their current is confined within a bed and stream banks. Streams play an important corridor role in connecting fragmented habitats and thus in conserving biodiversity. The study of streams and waterways in general is known as surface hydrology.
A lake (from Latin lacus) is a terrain feature, a body of water that is localized to the bottom of basin. A body of water is considered a lake when it is inland, is not part of an ocean, and is larger and deeper than a pond.
Natural lakes on Earth are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing or recent glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins
or along the courses of mature rivers. In some parts of the world,
there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from
the last Ice Age.
All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly
fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them.
Ponds
A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens designed for aesthetic ornamentation, fish ponds designed for commercial fish breeding, and solar ponds designed to store thermal energy. Ponds and lakes are distinguished from streams by their current speed.
While currents in streams are easily observed, ponds and lakes possess
thermally driven micro-currents and moderate wind driven currents. These
features distinguish a pond from many other aquatic terrain features,
such as stream pools and tide pools.
The atmosphere of the Earth serves as a key factor in sustaining the planetary ecosystem. The thin layer of gases that envelops the Earth is held in place by the planet's gravity. Dry air consists of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon and other inert gases, such as carbon dioxide. The remaining gases are often referred to as trace gases, among which are the greenhouse gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Filtered air includes trace amounts of many other chemical compounds. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor and suspensions of water droplets and ice crystals seen as clouds. Many natural substances may be present in tiny amounts in an unfiltered air sample, including dust, pollen and spores, sea spray, volcanic ash, and meteoroids. Various industrial pollutants also may be present, such as chlorine (elementary or in compounds), fluorine compounds, elemental mercury, and sulphur compounds such as sulphur dioxide [SO2].
The ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere plays an important role in depleting the amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation that reaches the surface. As DNA
is readily damaged by UV light, this serves to protect life at the
surface. The atmosphere also retains heat during the night, thereby
reducing the daily temperature extremes.
Layers of the Atmosphere
Principal layers
Earth's
atmosphere can be divided into five main layers. These layers are
mainly determined by whether temperature increases or decreases with
altitude. From highest to lowest, these layers are:
Exosphere: The outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere extends from the exobase upward, mainly composed of hydrogen and helium.
Thermosphere: The top of the thermosphere is the bottom of the exosphere, called the exobase. Its height varies with solar activity and ranges from about 350–800 km (220–500 mi; 1,150,000–2,620,000 ft). The International Space Station orbits in this layer, between 320 and 380 km (200 and 240 mi).
Mesosphere: The mesosphere extends from the stratopause to 80–85 km (50–53 mi; 262,000–279,000 ft). It is the layer where most meteors burn up upon entering the atmosphere.
Stratosphere: The stratosphere extends from the tropopause to about 51 km (32 mi; 167,000 ft). The stratopause,
which is the boundary between the stratosphere and mesosphere,
typically is at 50 to 55 km (31 to 34 mi; 164,000 to 180,000 ft).
Troposphere:
The troposphere begins at the surface and extends to between 7 km
(23,000 ft) at the poles and 17 km (56,000 ft) at the equator, with some
variation due to weather. The troposphere is mostly heated by transfer
of energy from the surface, so on average the lowest part of the
troposphere is warmest and temperature decreases with altitude. The tropopause is the boundary between the troposphere and stratosphere.
Other layers
Within the five principal layers determined by temperature are several layers determined by other properties.
The ozone layer
is contained within the stratosphere. It is mainly located in the lower
portion of the stratosphere from about 15–35 km (9.3–21.7 mi;
49,000–115,000 ft), though the thickness varies seasonally and
geographically. About 90% of the ozone in our atmosphere is contained in
the stratosphere.
The ionosphere,
the part of the atmosphere that is ionized by solar radiation,
stretches from 50 to 1,000 km (31 to 621 mi; 160,000 to 3,280,000 ft)
and typically overlaps both the exosphere and the thermosphere. It forms
the inner edge of the magnetosphere.
The homosphere and heterosphere:
The homosphere includes the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere.
The upper part of the heterosphere is composed almost completely of
hydrogen, the lightest element.
The potential dangers of global warming
are being increasingly studied by a wide global consortium of
scientists. These scientists are increasingly concerned about the
potential long-term effects of global warming on our natural environment
and on the planet. Of particular concern is how climate change and global warming caused by anthropogenic, or human-made releases of greenhouse gases, most notably carbon dioxide,
can act interactively, and have adverse effects upon the planet, its
natural environment and humans' existence. It is clear the planet is
warming, and warming rapidly.–This warming is also responsible for the
extinction of natural habitats, which in turn leads to a reduction in
wildlife population.The most recent report from the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (the group of the leading climate scientists in
the world) concluded that the earth will warm anywhere from 2.7 to
almost 11 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 to 6 degrees Celsius) between 1990 and
2100.
Efforts have been increasingly focused on the mitigation of greenhouse gases that are causing climatic changes, on developing adaptative strategies to global warming, to assist humans, other animal, and plant species, ecosystems, regions and nations in adjusting to the effects of global warming. Some examples of recent collaboration to address climate change and global warming include:
The Kyoto Protocol,
which is the protocol to the international Framework Convention on
Climate Change treaty, again with the objective of reducing greenhouse
gases in an effort to prevent anthropogenic climate change.
The Western Climate Initiative,
to identify, evaluate, and implement collective and cooperative ways to
reduce greenhouse gases in the region, focusing on a market-based
cap-and-trade system.
A significantly profound challenge is to identify the natural
environmental dynamics in contrast to environmental changes not within
natural variances. A common solution is to adapt a static view
neglecting natural variances to exist. Methodologically, this view could
be defended when looking at processes which change slowly and short
time series, while the problem arrives when fast processes turns
essential in the object of the study.
Climates can be classified
according to the average and typical ranges of different variables,
most commonly temperature and precipitation. The most commonly used
classification scheme is the one originally developed by Wladimir Köppen. The Thornthwaite system, in use since 1948, uses evapotranspiration as well as temperature and precipitation information to study animal species diversity and the potential impacts of climate changes.
Weather is a set of all the phenomena occurring in a given atmospheric area at a given time. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate is the term for the average atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time. When used without qualification, "weather" is understood to be the weather of Earth.
Weather occurs due to density (temperature and moisture)
differences between one place and another. These differences can occur
due to the sun angle at any particular spot, which varies by latitude
from the tropics. The strong temperature contrast between polar and
tropical air gives rise to the jet stream. Weather systems in the mid-latitudes, such as extratropical cyclones, are caused by instabilities of the jet stream flow. Because the Earth's axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane, sunlight
is incident at different angles at different times of the year. On the
Earth's surface, temperatures usually range ±40 °C (100 °F to −40 °F)
annually. Over thousands of years, changes in the Earth's orbit have
affected the amount and distribution of solar energy received by the
Earth and influence long-term climate.
Surface temperature
differences in turn cause pressure differences. Higher altitudes are
cooler than lower altitudes due to differences in compressional heating.
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to
predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location. The atmosphere is a chaotic system, and small changes to one part of the system can grow to have large effects on the system as a whole. Human attempts to control the weather have occurred throughout human history, and there is evidence that civilized human activity such as agriculture and industry has inadvertently modified weather patterns.
Evidence suggests that life on Earth has existed for about 3.7 billion years.
All known life forms share fundamental molecular mechanisms, and based
on these observations, theories on the origin of life attempt to find a
mechanism explaining the formation of a primordial single cell organism
from which all life originates. There are many different hypotheses
regarding the path that might have been taken from simple organic molecules via pre-cellular life to protocells and metabolism.
Although there is no universal agreement on the definition of
life, scientists generally accept that the biological manifestation of
life is characterized by organization, metabolism, growth, adaptation, response to stimuli and reproduction. Life may also be said to be simply the characteristic state of organisms. In biology, the science of living organisms, "life" is the condition which distinguishes active organisms from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, functional activity and the continual change preceding death.
An ecosystem (also called as environment) is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms (biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical (abiotic) factors of the environment.
Central to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms are continually engaged in a highly interrelated set of relationships with every other element constituting the environment in which they exist. Eugene Odum, one of the founders of the science of ecology,
stated: "Any unit that includes all of the organisms (ie: the
"community") in a given area interacting with the physical environment
so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure,
biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e.: exchange of materials
between living and nonliving parts) within the system is an ecosystem."
The human ecosystem concept is then grounded in the deconstruction of the human/nature dichotomy,
and the emergent premise that all species are ecologically integrated
with each other, as well as with the abiotic constituents of their biotope.
A greater number or variety of species or biological diversity
of an ecosystem may contribute to greater resilience of an ecosystem,
because there are more species present at a location to respond to
change and thus "absorb" or reduce its effects. This reduces the effect
before the ecosystem's structure is fundamentally changed to a different
state. This is not universally the case and there is no proven
relationship between the species diversity of an ecosystem and its
ability to provide goods and services on a sustainable level.
The term ecosystem can also pertain to human-made environments, such as human ecosystems
and human-influenced ecosystems, and can describe any situation where
there is relationship between living organisms and their environment.
Fewer areas on the surface of the earth today exist free from human
contact, although some genuine wilderness areas continue to exist without any forms of human intervention.
Biomes
Map of Terrestrial biomes classified by vegetation.
Biomes are terminologically similar to the concept of ecosystems, and are climatically and geographically defined areas of ecologically similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, often referred to as
ecosystems. Biomes are defined on the basis of factors such as plant
structures (such as trees, shrubs, and grasses), leaf types (such as
broadleaf and needleleaf), plant spacing (forest, woodland, savanna),
and climate. Unlike ecozones,
biomes are not defined by genetic, taxonomic, or historical
similarities. Biomes are often identified with particular patterns of ecological succession and climax vegetation.
Biogeochemical cycles
Chloroplasts conduct photosynthesis and are found in plant cells and other eukaryotic organisms. These are Chloroplasts visible in the cells of Plagiomnium affine — Many-fruited Thyme-moss.
The nitrogen cycle is the transformation of nitrogen and nitrogen-containing compounds in nature. It is a cycle which includes gaseous components.
The water cycle,
is the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of
the Earth. Water can change states among liquid, vapour, and ice at
various places in the water cycle. Although the balance of water on
Earth remains fairly constant over time, individual water molecules can
come and go.
The carbon cycle
is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the
biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the
Earth.
The oxygen cycle is the movement of oxygen within and between its three main reservoirs: the atmosphere, the biosphere, and the lithosphere. The main driving factor of the oxygen cycle is photosynthesis, which is responsible for the modern Earth's atmospheric composition and life.
The phosphorus cycle
is the movement of phosphorus through the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and
biosphere. The atmosphere does not play a significant role in the
movements of phosphorus, because phosphorus and phosphorus compounds are
usually solids at the typical ranges of temperature and pressure found
on Earth.
Wilderness is generally defined as a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human
activity. The WILD Foundation goes into more detail, defining
wilderness as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on
our planet - those last truly wild places that humans do not control and
have not developed with roads, pipelines or other industrial
infrastructure." Wilderness areas and protected parks are considered important for the survival of certain species, ecological studies, conservation, solitude, and recreation. Wilderness is deeply valued for cultural, spiritual, moral, and aesthetic reasons. Some nature writers believe wilderness areas are vital for the human spirit and creativity.
The word, "wilderness", derives from the notion of wildness; in other words that which is not controllable by humans. The word's etymology is from the Old Englishwildeornes, which in turn derives from wildeor meaning wild beast (wild + deor = beast, deer).
From this point of view, it is the wildness of a place that makes it a
wilderness. The mere presence or activity of people does not disqualify
an area from being "wilderness." Many ecosystems that are, or have been,
inhabited or influenced by activities of people may still be considered
"wild." This way of looking at wilderness includes areas within which
natural processes operate without very noticeable human interference.
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated
plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and
animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the
planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and
negative. Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, rain
forests, plains, and other areas—including the most developed urban
sites—all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term in popular
culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by civilized human
factors, most scientists agree that wildlife around the world is (now)
impacted by human activities.
Amazon Rainforest in Brazil.
The tropical rainforests of South America contain the largest diversity
of species on Earth, including some that have evolved within the past
few hundred thousand years.
It is the common understanding of natural environment that underlies environmentalism — a broad political, social, and philosophical
movement that advocates various actions and policies in the interest of
protecting what nature remains in the natural environment, or restoring
or expanding the role of nature in this environment. While true
wilderness is increasingly rare, wild nature (e.g., unmanaged forests, uncultivated grasslands, wildlife, wildflowers) can be found in many locations previously inhabited by humans.
Halting human-induced global warming, which represents pollution, a threat to biodiversity, and a threat to human populations.
Shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy
in electricity, heating and cooling, and transportation, which
addresses pollution, global warming, and sustainability. This may
include public transportation and distributed generation, which have benefits for traffic congestion and electric reliability.
Establishment of nature reserves for recreational purposes and ecosystem preservation.
In
some cultures the term environment is meaningless because there is no
separation between people and what they view as the natural world, or
their surroundings.
Specifically in the United States, many native cultures do not
recognize the "environment", or see themselves as environmentalists.
Much attention has been given to preserving the natural characteristics of Hopetoun Falls, Australia, while allowing ample access for visitors.
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal and plant species as well as their habitat for the future.
The early conservation movement included fisheries and wildlife management, water, soil conservation, and sustainable forestry.
The contemporary conservation movement has broadened from the early
movement's emphasis on use of sustainable yield of natural resources and
preservation of wilderness areas to include preservation of biodiversity. Some say the conservation movement is part of the broader and more far-reaching environmental movement,
while others argue that they differ both in ideology and practice.
Chiefly in the United States, conservation is seen as differing from environmentalism in that it aims to preserve natural resources expressly for their continued sustainable use by humans. Outside the U.S. the term conservation more broadly includes environmentalism.
History
Early history
Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesty's Dominions, title page of the first edition (1664).
The conservation movement can be traced back to John Evelyn's work Sylva, presented as a paper to the Royal Society in 1662. Published as a book two years later, it was one of the most highly influential texts on forestry ever published.
Timber resources in England were becoming dangerously depleted at the
time, and Evelyn advocated the importance of conserving the forests by
managing the rate of depletion and ensuring that the cut down trees get
replenished.
The field developed during the 18th century, especially in Prussia and France where scientific forestry methods were developed. These methods were first applied rigorously in British India from the early-19th century. The government was interested in the use of forest produce
and began managing the forests with measures to reduce the risk of
wildfire in order to protect the "household" of nature, as it was then
termed. This early ecological idea was in order to preserve the growth
of delicate teak trees, which was an important resource for the Royal Navy.
Concerns over teak depletion were raised as early as 1799 and 1805 when
the Navy was undergoing a massive expansion during the Napoleonic Wars;
this pressure led to the first formal conservation Act, which
prohibited the felling of small teak trees. The first forestry officer
was appointed in 1806 to regulate and preserve the trees necessary for
shipbuilding. This promising start received a setback in the 1820s and 30s, when laissez-faire economics and complaints from private landowners brought these early conservation attempts to an end.
Origins of the modern conservation movement
Conservation
was revived in the mid-19th century, with the first practical
application of scientific conservation principles to the forests of
India. The conservation ethic that began to evolve included three core
principles: that human activity damaged the environment, that there was a civic duty
to maintain the environment for future generations, and that
scientific, empirically based methods should be applied to ensure this
duty was carried out. Sir James Ranald Martin
was prominent in promoting this ideology, publishing many
medico-topographical reports that demonstrated the scale of damage
wrought through large-scale deforestation and desiccation, and lobbying
extensively for the institutionalization of forest conservation
activities in British India through the establishment of Forest Departments. Edward Percy Stebbing warned of desertification of India. The Madras Board of Revenue started local conservation efforts in 1842, headed by Alexander Gibson, a professional botanist
who systematically adopted a forest conservation program based on
scientific principles. This was the first case of state management of
forests in the world.
These local attempts gradually received more attention by the
British government as the unregulated felling of trees continued
unabated. In 1850, the British Association in Edinburgh formed a committee to study forest destruction at the behest of Dr. Hugh Cleghorn a pioneer in the nascent conservation movement.
He had become interested in forest conservation in Mysore
in 1847 and gave several lectures at the Association on the failure of
agriculture in India. These lectures influenced the government under Governor-GeneralLord Dalhousie to introduce the first permanent and large-scale forest conservation program in the world in 1855, a model that soon spread to other colonies, as well the United States. In the same year, Cleghorn organised the Madras Forest Department and in 1860 the Department banned the use shifting cultivation. Cleghorn's 1861 manual, The forests and gardens of South India, became the definitive work on the subject and was widely used by forest assistants in the subcontinent. In 1861, the Forest Department extended its remit into the Punjab.
Schlich,
in the middle of the seated row, with students from the forestry school
at Oxford, on a visit to the forests of Saxony in the year 1892.
Sir Dietrich Brandis, a German forester, joined the British service in 1856 as superintendent of the teak forests of Pegu division in eastern Burma. During that time Burma's teak forests were controlled by militant Karen tribals. He introduced the "taungya" system,
in which Karen villagers provided labour for clearing, planting and
weeding teak plantations. After seven years in Burma, Brandis was
appointed Inspector General of Forests in India, a position he served in
for 20 years. He formulated new forest legislation and helped establish
research and training institutions. The Imperial Forest School at Dehradun was founded by him.
Germans were prominent in the forestry administration of British India. As well as Brandis, Berthold Ribbentrop and Sir William P.D. Schlich
brought new methods to Indian conservation, the latter becoming the
Inspector-General in 1883 after Brandis stepped down. Schlich helped to
establish the journal Indian Forester in 1874, and became the founding director of the first forestry school in England at Cooper's Hill in 1885. He authored the five-volume Manual of Forestry (1889–96) on silviculture, forest management, forest protection, and forest utilisation, which became the standard and enduring textbook for forestry students.
The American movement received its inspiration from 19th century
works that exalted the inherent value of nature, quite apart from human
usage. Author Henry David Thoreau
(1817-1862) made key philosophical contributions that exalted nature.
Thoreau was interested in peoples' relationship with nature and studied
this by living close to nature in a simple life. He published his
experiences in the book Walden, which argued that people should become intimately close with nature. The ideas of Sir Brandis, Sir William P.D. Schlich and Carl A. Schenck were also very influential - Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the USDA Forest Service,
relied heavily upon Brandis' advice for introducing professional forest
management in the U.S. and on how to structure the Forest Service.
Both conservationists and preservationists appeared in political debates during the Progressive Era
(the 1890s—early 1920s). There were three main positions. The
laissez-faire position held that owners of private property—including
lumber and mining companies, should be allowed to do anything they
wished for their property.
The conservationists, led by future President Theodore Roosevelt and his close ally George Bird Grinnell, were motivated by the wanton waste that was taking place at the hand of market forces, including logging and hunting.
This practice resulted in placing a large number of North American game
species on the edge of extinction. Roosevelt recognized that the
laissez-faire approach of the U.S. Government was too wasteful and
inefficient. In any case, they noted, most of the natural resources in
the western states were already owned by the federal government. The
best course of action, they argued, was a long-term plan devised by
national experts to maximize the long-term economic benefits of natural
resources. To accomplish the mission, Roosevelt and Grinnell formed the Boone and Crockett Club in 1887. The Club was made up of the best minds and influential men of the day. The Boone and Crockett Club's
contingency of conservationists, scientists, politicians, and
intellectuals became Roosevelt's closest advisers during his march to
preserve wildlife and habitat across North America. Preservationists, led by John Muir
(1838–1914), argued that the conservation policies were not strong
enough to protect the interest of the natural world because they
continued to focus on the natural world as a source of economic
production.
The debate between conservation and preservation reached its peak in the public debates over the construction of California's Hetch Hetchy dam in Yosemite National Park which supplies the water supply of San Francisco. Muir, leading the Sierra Club,
declared that the valley must be preserved for the sake of its beauty:
"No holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man."
President Roosevelt put conservationist issue high on the national agenda. He worked with all the major figures of the movement, especially his chief advisor on the matter, Gifford Pinchot and was deeply committed to conserving natural resources. He encouraged the Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902 to promote federal construction of dams to irrigate small farms and placed 230 million acres (360,000 mi2 or 930,000 km2) under federal protection. Roosevelt set aside more federal land for national parks and nature preserves than all of his predecessors combined.
Gifford Pinchot
had been appointed by McKinley as chief of Division of Forestry in the
Department of Agriculture. In 1905, his department gained control of the
national forest reserves. Pinchot promoted private use (for a fee)
under federal supervision. In 1907, Roosevelt designated 16 million
acres (65,000 km2) of new national forests just minutes before a deadline.
In May 1908, Roosevelt sponsored the Conference of Governors
held in the White House, with a focus on natural resources and their
most efficient use. Roosevelt delivered the opening address:
"Conservation as a National Duty.".
In 1903 Roosevelt toured the Yosemite Valley with John Muir,
who had a very different view of conservation, and tried to minimize
commercial use of water resources and forests. Working through the
Sierra Club he founded, Muir succeeded in 1905 in having Congress
transfer the Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley to the federal government.
While Muir wanted nature preserved for its own sake, Roosevelt
subscribed to Pinchot's formulation, "to make the forest produce the
largest amount of whatever crop or service will be most useful, and keep
on producing it for generation after generation of men and trees."
Theodore Roosevelt's view on conservationism remained dominant for decades; - Franklin D. Roosevelt
authorised the building of many large-scale dams and water projects, as
well as the expansion of the National Forest System to buy out
sub-marginal farms. In 1937, the Pittman–Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act was signed into law, providing funding for state agencies to carry out their conservation efforts.
Since 1970
Environmental reemerged on the national agenda in 1970, with Republican Richard Nixon playing a major role, especially with his creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The debates over the public lands and environmental politics played a
supporting role in the decline of liberalism and the rise of modern
environmentalism. Although Americans consistently rank environmental
issues as "important", polling data indicates that in the voting booth
voters rank the environmental issues low relative to other political
concerns.
The growth of the Republican party's political power in the
inland West (apart from the Pacific coast) was facilitated by the rise
of popular opposition to public lands reform. Successful Democrats in
the inland West and Alaska typically take more conservative positions on
environmental issues than Democrats from the Coastal states.
Conservatives drew on new organizational networks of think tanks,
industry groups, and citizen-oriented organizations, and they began to
deploy new strategies that affirmed the rights of individuals to their
property, protection of extraction rights, to hunt and recreate, and to
pursue happiness unencumbered by the federal government at the expense
of resource conservation.
Conservation in Costa Rica
Figure 1. Costa Rica divided into different areas of conservation
Although the conservation movement developed in Europe in the 18th century, Costa Rica as a country has been heralded its champion in the current times. Costa Rica hosts an astonishing number of species, given its size, having more animal and plant species than the US and Canada combined
while being only 250 miles long and 150 miles wide. A widely accepted
theory for the origin of this unusual density of species is the free
mixing of species from both North and South America occurring on this
"inter-oceanic" and "inter-continental" landscape.
Preserving the natural environment of this fragile landscape,
therefore, has drawn the attention of many international scholars.
Costa Rica has made conservation a national priority, and has
been at the forefront of preserving its natural environment with over a
quarter of its land designated as protected in some form, which is under
the administrative control of SINAC (National System of Conservation Areas) a division of MINAE
(Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications). SINAC has
subdivided the country into various zones depending on the ecological
diversity of that region - these zones are depicted in figure 1.
The country has used this ecological diversity to its economic advantage in the form of a thriving ecotourism industry,
putting its commitment to nature, on display to visitors from across
the globe. It is estimated that a record 2.6 million foreigners visited
the country in 2015,
almost half the population of Costa Rica itself. This tourism is
facilitated by the fact that Costa Rica has a stable democracy and has a
human development index of 0.776, the highest for any country in Latin America.
It is also the only country in the world that generates more than
99% of its electricity from renewable sources, relying on hydropower
(78%), wind (10%), geothermal energy (10%), biomass and solar (1%).
Critics have pointed out however, that in achieving this milestone, the
country has built several dams (providing the bulk of its electricity)
some of which have negatively impacted indigenous communities as well as
the local flora and fauna.
Historical development
Figure 2. 16th century Spanish expansion in the Caribbean
"The Green Republic: A Conservation History of Costa Rica" by
Sterling Evans is a renowned book that traces the development of the
conservation movement in Costa Rica from the mid 1700s to present day.
Evans mentions that when the Spaniards first arrived in the Americas,
the landscape of Costa Rica did not appear particularly hospitable to
them, compared to Guatemala or Mexico which seemed more reminiscent of
the Spanish climate. Therefore, up until the 18th century, there was
very little agricultural development in the region. It also lacked gold
and other minerals that Christopher Columbus
had hoped to find in these areas (hence the name, Rich Coast). As a
result, the forest cover of Costa Rica was left more or less intact by
the European settlement in the Americas.
By the mid-19th century, it was observed that the Costa Rican
soil was particularly conducive to the growth of coffee. The global
demand for coffee was growing rapidly, fueled by the demand from the
working class in the industrializing west. The agricultural model
adopted by coffee growers in Costa Rica was of small family owned farms
known as cafeteras, and they strove to be responsible stewards of the land. This approach was in stark contrast to the coffee monoculture
that would've developed by adopting a purely capitalistic ideology. As a
result, even though the coffee production increased substantially from
1850 to 1950, there wasn't large scale deforestation in Costa Rica until
the 1950s, contrary to popular belief.
Some of the key points often overlooked in Costa Rica's
conservation history between 1850 and 2000 according to Evans, are as
follows:
1. President Bernardo Soto's government in 1888 began the process
of attracting scholars from all over the world, particularly
Switzerland and Germany in an effort to educate the locals about
agricultural practices harmonious with the environment such that by
1914, Costa Rica became a leading scientific research center in tropical
America
2. The establishment of the University of Costa Rica
(UCR) in the 1940s was a landmark event, since the university acted as a
springboard for research into tropical studies in Central America. At
the helm of UCR were many influential academics such as Rafael Lucas Rodríguez and Alexander Skutch whose forward thinking publications served as a foundation for the future policy decisions. Skutch noted,
"in the mid-1930s, Costa Rica was still largely unspoiled.
Its population of less than a half a million people . . .was
concentrated in the narrow Meseta Central. . . . Other advantages . . .
to the naturalist were its political stability and the friendliness of
its people. . . . Costa Rica has a record of continuous, orderly
constitutional government that scarcely any other country in Latin
America can match. Thus the naturalist working in some remote spot was
not likely to have his studies suddenly interrupted or his thin lines of
communication cut by a violent upheaval, as has happened to many in
Latin America. ."
3. By 1950, Costa Rica became heavily reliant on coffee exports
to Europe and the US. Around the same time, it was battling the dilemma
between increasing agricultural output on one hand and protecting
natural resources for future use on the other. In 1958, however, the
world coffee prices plummeted, and Costa Rica's main source of income
was shown to be very vulnerable to unpredictable forces. The government
responded by promoting internal manufacturing and encouraging other
industries. One such industry that emerged as a result, was the meat
industry.
The Central American valley has been described as "perfect for cattle" by Carl Hoffman.
Until 1970, the cattle raised in Costa Rica were primarily used for
domestic consumption. Around 1970, the demand for beef from the US
started showing an exponential growth due to the rise of the fast-food
industry. This robust demand, coupled with the falling coffee prices
gave the cattle industry a boost and forests started getting replaced
with pastures. At its worst, Costa Rica was losing 4% of its forested
area per year.
An alternative analysis by Julia Flagg within the framework of "process-tracing"
reveals that after gaining independence in 1821 the isolation of Costa
Rica from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua was critical
in shaping its future and served as a divergence point in the evolution
of the Central American nations. According to Mahoney “ . . . while all of the other provinces quickly became engulfed in
warfare and political chaos, Costa Rica escaped such devastation and
made tentative economic strides forward”. She also argues that the lack
of a land-owning elite class in Costa Rica was instrumental in the
development of good governance and maintaining a stable democracy in
the country. The abolishing of the military in 1948 helped free up
valuable resources that the government chose to invest into education
and resource protection.
The country entered into a positive reinforcement cycle thereafter,
where new laws enacted drew international praise which helped solidify
Costa Rica's position as global leader in resource protection .
Examples of active efforts
Environmental Services Program
To counter reducing forest area coverage in the 1980's, the Costa Rican government pioneered a scheme in 1997 known as PES,
which rewarded private land owners for keeping forests intact on their
lands in lieu of the services provided by these forests to the
environment and the economy as a whole.
The World Bank, which provided the loan initially from 2000 to 2006 to
support the payments incentivizing afforestation, viewed the program as a
success overall despite some of its shortcomings.
It is estimated that the percentage of Costa Rican land covered
by forests has gone up from around 20% in the 1980's to over 50% of the
total area in 2013 - a growth of 250%. The program has also reduced the
national carbon emissions by 11 million tons over a period of 6 years
from 1999 to 2005. Indigenous communities and women in particular, have
benefited due to this program.
Buoyed by this success, the World Bank extended its support to the
Costa Rican government's initiative by funding a new program titled
"Mainstreaming Market-Based Instruments for Environmental Management". Over the years, many international agencies have pushed the national
government to make the process of obtaining the payments easier so as to
include more underdeveloped communities and cast a wider net for the
program.
Green sea turtle conservation
A Green sea turtle
The green sea turtle is a globally endangered species and one of the most important nesting grounds for it is in Tortuguero, Costa Rica
- the word Totuguero is derived from old Spanish maps meaning "place of
turtles". After a steady global decline in its population due to
overhunting for its meat and eggs, the Tortuguero National Park was
established in 1975 in an effort to protect and save the turtle's
breeding zone. A highly cited study
by Tröeng and Rankin, investigated in 2004, the effects that this
protective measure has had on the nesting trend. Although the population
of turtles shows a large inter-annual variation thus making the task of
determining the exact number very difficult, on an average, the trend
has been positive over a long time scale of almost 35 years. The study
illustrated that the enactment of three laws by the Costa Rican
government was vital in stabilizing and increasing the population of
these green sea turtles.
1. A ban on turtle and egg collection in 1963
2. A ban on the export of calipee (a part of the turtle's head that is considered a delicacy) in 1970 and finally,
3. The creation of the Tortuguero National Park in 1975 by the legislative assembly.
The lasting impact created by such forward thinking political
decisions exhibits the necessity of meaningful governmental
intervention.
Carbon neutral goal
Classroom of Earth University in Costa Rica - a carbon neutral university
Although they contribute only 0.15% to the world's greenhouse gas emissions, the governments of New Zealand and Costa Rica
have independently expressed their intents to become carbon neutral in
the next decade, with Costa Rica aiming to achieve an ambitious target
of becoming carbon neutral by 2021.
In doing so, it would become the world's first carbon neutral country,
with the expectation of influencing policy decisions in other major
countries. The proposal hopes to ignite the interest of private
companies to engage in practices that reduce their emissions, for
example, using more fuel efficient routes in transportation, relying
more on digital documents than printed ones, adopting LED lighting in
offices and using more efficient air conditioning systems.
Criticisms of active efforts
The
government's approach to attain zero net emissions has yielded positive
results overall, but has been described as insufficient and lacking by
experts
because it neglects vehicular emissions which account for nearly 20% of
the country's total emissions. The 2021 target has also been called
"arbitrary" and "overambitious", since the efforts to reduce the
country's reliance on imported oil will take much longer to take effect.
In 2006, a study by Sierra and Russman
analyzed the additional conservation obtained through PES, over and
above the baseline conservation rate. The study concluded that the PES
program definitely affected land use decisions because land owners used
the payments for other productive activities thus keeping the forest
cover intact. However, they also concluded that this was not the most
effective use of funds because the majority of these forests would have
remained intact even without the payments. The study suggested that it
would a better strategy to engage in the protection of more critical
habitats instead.
The Reventazón Dam has come under criticism recently for the loss of habitat it has caused for many species
The jaguar is an endangered species and its habitat came under threat due to construction of the Reventazón dam in the Reventazón valley. The Reventazón dam is the largest dam in Central America with an installed capacity of 305.5 MW.
The two financiers of the project, the World Bank and the
Inter-American Development Bank, financed it on the condition that the
construction of the dam by the state-run Costa Rican Electricity
Institute (ICE) would "restore and maintain connectivity within the
Barbilla-Destierro Corridor" which is critical to the survival of the
jaguar.
Protestors of this project claim that the construction has failed to meet the expectations on the following issues:
1) The constructors did not completely clear vegetation from the
areas that would be flooded due to this project. As a result, the
uncleared vegetation in the flooded areas began to stagnate, creating
the perfect conditions for the growth of the Water Hyacinth
(an invasive species). The Water Hyacinth acted as a source for a large
amount of carbon dioxide and methane emitted into the atmosphere.
2) Reforestation around the reservoir lake to assist in the
migration of the jaguars has not been completed making their movement
more difficult.
3) Due to the removal of a lot of material to facilitate
construction, the neighboring Lancaster wetlands (home to more than 250
species of birds and 80 species of mammals, reptiles and amphibians)
have been left in a state more susceptible to landslides.
What appears to be common in these criticisms is that the
initiatives have moved things in the right direction overall, but the
implementation hasn't been as good as promised.
Areas of concern
Deforestation and overpopulation
are issues affecting all regions of the world. The consequent
destruction of wildlife habitat has prompted the creation of
conservation groups in other countries, some founded by local hunters
who have witnessed declining wildlife populations first hand. Also, it
was highly important for the conservation movement to solve problems of
living conditions in the cities and the overpopulation of such places.
Boreal forest and the Arctic
The
idea of incentive conservation is a modern one but its practice has
clearly defended some of the sub Arctic wildernesses and the wildlife in
those regions for thousands of years, especially by indigenous peoples
such as the Evenk, Yakut, Sami, Inuit and Cree. The fur trade and
hunting by these peoples have preserved these regions for thousands of
years. Ironically, the pressure now upon them comes from non-renewable
resources such as oil, sometimes to make synthetic clothing which is
advocated as a humane substitute for fur. Similarly, in the case of the beaver, hunting and fur trade were thought
to bring about the animal's demise, when in fact they were an integral
part of its conservation. For many years children's books stated and
still do, that the decline in the beaver population was due to the fur
trade. In reality however, the decline in beaver numbers was because of
habitat destruction and deforestation, as well as its continued
persecution as a pest (it causes flooding). In Cree lands however, where
the population valued the animal for meat and fur, it continued to
thrive. The Inuit defend their relationship with the seal in response to
outside critics.
Latin America (Bolivia)
The Izoceño-Guaraní of Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia
is a tribe of hunters who were influential in establishing the
Capitania del Alto y Bajo Isoso (CABI). CABI promotes economic growth
and survival of the Izoceno people while discouraging the rapid
destruction of habitat within Bolivia's Gran Chaco.
They are responsible for the creation of the 34,000 square kilometre
Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Area
(KINP). The KINP protects the most biodiverse portion of the Gran
Chaco, an ecoregion shared with Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. In 1996,
the Wildlife Conservation Society
joined forces with CABI to institute wildlife and hunting monitoring
programs in 23 Izoceño communities. The partnership combines traditional
beliefs and local knowledge with the political and administrative tools
needed to effectively manage habitats. The programs rely solely on
voluntary participation by local hunters who perform self-monitoring
techniques and keep records of their hunts. The information obtained by
the hunters participating in the program has provided CABI with
important data required to make educated decisions about the use of the
land. Hunters have been willing participants in this program because of
pride in their traditional activities, encouragement by their
communities and expectations of benefits to the area.
Africa (Botswana)
In
order to discourage illegal South African hunting parties and ensure
future local use and sustainability, indigenous hunters in Botswana
began lobbying for and implementing conservation practices in the
1960s. The Fauna Preservation Society of Ngamiland (FPS) was formed in
1962 by the husband and wife team: Robert Kay and June Kay,
environmentalists working in conjunction with the Batawana tribes to
preserve wildlife habitat.
The FPS promotes habitat conservation and provides local
education for preservation of wildlife. Conservation initiatives were
met with strong opposition from the Botswana government because of the
monies tied to big-game hunting. In 1963, BaTawanga Chiefs and tribal
hunter/adventurers in conjunction with the FPS founded Moremi National Park and Wildlife Refuge,
the first area to be set aside by tribal people rather than
governmental forces. Moremi National Park is home to a variety of
wildlife, including lions, giraffes, elephants, buffalo, zebra, cheetahs
and antelope, and covers an area of 3,000 square kilometers. Most of
the groups involved with establishing this protected land were involved
with hunting and were motivated by their personal observations of
declining wildlife and habitat.
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