There are many charities in the UK whose sole purpose is to provide awareness and help with the implementation of plans to help improve the environment both locally and globally. One of the most prominent charities in the UK is the Global Action Plan. Formed in 1993, Global Action Plan has helped schools, businesses, communities and individuals lower their global footprint. The less impact we have on the Earth, the longer it will be around and the better the conditions will be for generations beyond our own. Unlike many charities, the Global Action Plan is supported by the United Nations and its Environment Programme.

There are many ways that Global Action Plan advises people and companies on the ways they can reduce their global footprint. From plans of action, to training businesses and its staff, there are so many cost-effective ways to change the way people operate and positively impact the local and global community.

An example of where Global Action Plan can impact a new or existing business is advising a company on economically friendly IT systems. Global Action Plan holds workshops where new and existing businesses can learn about the best ways to implement low impact yet efficient IT systems.

Global Action Plan also has initiatives that include the young people of local communities and gives them the opportunities to speak their mind and have a say in the ways their communities can better impact the environment. Greenprint 2020 along with members of the Global Action Plan staff collaborates to create ideas and present them to local authorities to help create sustainable options for their communities.

Deforestation consists of the removal of a forest or a group of trees from a land which is then converted to farms, ranches or urban use. Forests' soil erosion rates generally increase because of deforestation as it raises the amount of runoff and reduces the protection of the soil from tree litter. As well, the subsequent development of roads and the use of mechanized equipment further the erosion of the soil in the area.

According to several studies carried out throughout the years, deforestation in steep slopes can cause landslides. The mass removal of large tress and vegetation has had a drastic increase on the probability of landslides occurring. This is because tree roots bind soil together, and if the soil is sufficiently shallow they act to keep the soil in place by also binding with underlying bedrock and anchor the soil.

In fact, according to a study conducted by Richard, the frequency of mass erosion and subsequent landslides is strongly connected to the type and intensity of land treatment in the basin. Even when most mass movements are associated with roads and their drainage systems, many initiate on open slopes after logging has raised soil water tables and decreased root strength. “The increase in mass movement due to clear cutting varies widely, ranging from 2 to 4 times in Oregon and Washington… to 31 times in the Queen Charlotte Islands… An increase of 6.6 times… is probably closer to the norm,” he concluded.

Global Warming is a phrase that nearly everybody worldwide is familiar with. Whether you are a stout proponent of it, or just a passive observer, it is clear that the environment is being affected by the activities of human beings. Toxic gases, waste and negligence are causing major changes in the planet's atmosphere.

Here are some of facts about Global Warming, what is affecting the planet and some of the ways in which human beings can make a concerted effort to change the course of history for future generations.

Extinction of Animals

Due to the fact that our planet is getting slightly warmer globally, there are many animals that are slowly but surely becoming extinct. Animals are finely tuned to the slightest changes in atmosphere and warmer climates are causing animals such as polar bears to dwindle in numbers. It is estimated that there are now less that 25,000 polar bears in existence and that number is dropping year by year.

Flooding

With ocean temperatures rising with the temperature of the atmosphere, there has been an increase of flooding globally. Parts of the world not suited for these rises in water levels have not been able to combat the increase of floods and areas are being destroyed and people are being displaced or killed in the millions.

Deforestation

With the amount of trees being cut down at such an alarming rate, the levels of CO2 has risen dramatically and although there have been efforts by governments and companies to replace trees being cut down, deforestation coupled with the effect of pollution from cars has left the atmosphere severely damaged.

History has taught one civilization after another that its survival is highly dependent on nature's doing. Indubitably, the existence of Planet Earth is vulnerable to a series of possible calamities. Nuclear war for long has been the most common worst case scenario that pops to mind when we talk about Apocalypse. However, there are a number of natural disasters humans cannot control and that could actually end the world and everything we know.

Some extremely severe scenarios could cause the extinction of all life on the planet Earth, the destruction of the planet Earth, the annihilation of the Solar system, to the annihilation of our galaxy or even the entire universe. These include super volcanoes, asteroids, solar flares, gamma-ray bursts, black hole explosions or mergers, galactic centre outbursts and global warming.
Super volcanoes could cause real wide spread destruction on the planet. According to studies, earth is expected to experience the eruption of a super volcano once every 50,000 years. The eruption of a super volcano might cause more than 1,000 square kilometres of land to be suddenly obliterated by pyroclastic ash flows, leading to the so called Volcanic Winter. Also, the surrounding continent would be layered in ash while sulphur gases would be injected into the atmosphere. This would make a thin veil of sulphuric acid all around the global and would reflect back sunlight the following years. Daytime would be no brighter than a moonlit night. Outrageously, the probability of a super volcano happening is much higher than a meteor impact and super volcano has a 0.15% chance of going off within your lifetime.

The movie Armageddon made use of the image of a comet or asteroid strike ramming into earth. Indeed, it is one of the events that comes to mind when we think of the end of the world. It involves a huge piece of rock or ice travelling through space and then slamming into the planet at tens of thousands of miles an hour. If it slams into land, tones of dirt would be thrown kilometres up into the atmosphere and move across the planet destroying everything in its path. This dirt would block out the light from the sun and trap heat like a greenhouse; this would be devastating for life on earth. Instead, if it hits the sea, which is more probable given the water area on earth, it would result in a huge 2 kilometre tidal wave moving across the globe at hundreds of kilometres per hour.

Ten months ago, the world watched with terrified eyes as Japanese shores were battered by a devastating earthquake and tsunami – measuring a gigantic 9.0 on the Richter scale. 15, 845 people were confirmed dead, with thousands injured or missing, and over 125, 000 buildings were destroyed or damaged.

With so many lives lost or ripped apart in the disaster, there can be no underestimating the impact to the country. But what of the worldwide effects?
The initial obvious impact is one of cost. The earthquake displaced around 300, 000 people. These refugees required food, fuel and water and shelter. As a result, donations flooded into the country via the Japanese Red Cross, and the World Bank – which hoards donations for catastrophes such as these – estimated the economic cost at US$235 billion. This makes the earthquake the most expensive natural disaster in human history.

But perhaps the most ominous and wide-spread impact came from the events which followed at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Following the initial earthquake, the three active reactors at the plant were shut down, and the diesel back-ups suffered a failure, causing the site to be without power. This resulted in a lack of cooling to the reactors, leading to explosions and meltdowns within the facility.

The disaster led to an evacuation of all citizens at a radius of 3km from the power plant, and authorities estimate that it will take decades to clean the surrounding area and decommission the reactors. But the disaster also had some unprecedented global effects. Very much like the earthquake which caused the disaster, a shockwave travelled quickly throughout the world. All over the planet, nuclear power plants went dark as governments realised that, once again, the nuclear board game had changed. A UBS study claimed that around 30 nuclear plants were closed worldwide. Increased anti-nuclear feelings were evident in many countries, including India, Spain and perhaps most significantly in the USA.

There are a lot of myths surrounding earthquakes. Once upon a time, people thought that earthquakes were caused by the Gods getting angry. Thanks to science, we now know they're caused because of friction, caused when two of the Earth's massive tectonic plates slide up against one another. Here, we take a look at a few other ‘facts' which are a bit out of date.

You are safer if you stand under a doorframe. When the earthquake hits, that is. In a Hollywood film, people always seem to end up riding out earthquakes underneath door frames. This is only true if you happen to live in an unreinforced house, and these days, those are few and far between, especially in frequent quake zones. In real life, you're actually more likely to end up with a broken nose, because the door might be swinging wildly on its hinges. Better advice would be to hang onto a desk or another relatively solid piece of furniture.

Seismologists measure earthquakes with the Richter scale. This one hasn't been true for about thirty years now, so why it's still being taught in geography classes is something of a mystery. Journalists often use the Richter scale which is why it appears in the papers and on the news, but seismologists use the Moment of Magnitude scale (MMS). This is because the Richter scale becomes unreliable at distances of more than 600km from the epicentre, and so MMS was developed to replace it.

Natural disasters are tragedies resulting from otherwise extreme natural occurrences and are hardly ever human induced. Some of these natural disasters have been discovered to be amplified by human interference. An example is apparent in cases of floods and tsunamis that are as a result of shifts in the planes of the continental shelf of oceans and tremors. Global warming has been an issue of global debate and concern for over two decades now. One of the attendant consequences of global warming has been the rapid meltdown of ice in the arctic and Polar Regions of the earth. This has increased the volume of water in the ocean and an otherwise slight tremor in the ocean belt could prove devastating because of the increased volume of water.

Floods are natural disasters that are unavoidable by humans and so it is pertinent to put in place measures that aim at minimising the risks and destructions that is wrought on humans and the environment as a whole. These measures include evacuation, rescue and finding temporary shelter for victims that may be displaced.

In developed countries of the west, the first antidote to the perceived damages is the accurate weather forecast systems. With knowledge of an impending disaster beforehand, people are prepared emotionally and psychologically as they brace themselves for possible impact. The major advantage at this stage is that evacuation can be more orderly and hence, more effective. With weather forecasts, people can also minimise their losses as moveable and precious belongings could be rescued long before impact. There is enough sensitisation of the general public on how to handle these emergencies and what they need to do until rescue arrives.

Some are taught in practical terms how they can help rescuers to find them easily. There have been cases where engineers will manipulate dams to serve as hastening the recession of the flood by channeling existing drainages into the ocean.

Floods are usually caused by excessive volume of water finding its way onto dry land that leaves destruction in their wake. Nature has its drainage system just like we humans do. Some of these floods are as a result of the natural drainages- the rivers, streams, creeks, tributaries and the ocean- being overwhelmed by excessive volume of water than they could normally handle. When natural drainages are overwhelmed and overflow their banks to cause flooding, it is usually because of natural occurrences such as heavy and torrential rainfall and tropical storms; and hurricanes which are usually above the normal rainfall indices that these drainages can handle.

Environmental disasters are manmade and are tragic consequences of environmental degradation due to human actions and activities. Biologists and Ecologists have long discovered that the earth has always hung in a delicate and intricate balance that must be maintained if the equilibrium is not to be disturbed or altered completely. This delicate balance is governed by what we may call laws of nature which among other things reveal that there is an interdependence between all living creatures of which the human race is but a part. The present environment disasters are of grave concern and consequences that if left unresolved or unchecked, could prove fatal for the human race and indeed the whole planet's ecosystem.