eChapters

5.1 Waste Treatment and Disposal

Source reduction and feeding the hungry are significant considerations for decreasing avoidable food waste. However, non-edible wastes like livestock manure, agricultural wastes, and unusable food wastes are also classified as organic wastes. The environment and general public’s health may be seriously endangered by improper treatment of these wastes. Wastes can contaminate surface and ground waterways by runoff or leaching if they contain pathogens, chemicals, antibiotics, and nutrients. The breakdown of organic waste also results in the production of methane. As is well known, methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that captures more heat into the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. It is possible to remove organic waste and turn it into biogas, a sustainable energy source that can be utilised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the likelihood of stream pollution. Further emission reductions are made possible by replacing fossil fuels with biogas, sometimes leading to carbon-negative systems.

4.1 Biomass Energy Resource

Among the various methods for producing electricity, biomass is one of the most common. This method uses animal waste, wood pellets, etc. to produce electricity. The use of biomass energy has proven beneficial over time and has the potential to be both reliable and consistent as an alternative energy source.

Organic matter is simply referred to as biomass. Or, to put it another way, biomass is anything living or ever living, including animal waste, crop waste, garden trash, etc. As a result, biomass renewable energy is the energy produced during the use of biomass. Biomass derives and stores its energy from the sun, which is absorbed by plants through a process known as photosynthesis. Plants contain chemical energy that is passed to animals and then eaten by people. Various plant and animal products, including sugarcane, corn crops, wood chips, and even dung, can be utilised. These substances, also referred to as feedstocks, are converted into a biomass fuel.

Wastewater is defined as water that has been altered by certain substances, resulting in changes in its physical, chemical, or biological properties. These changes render it unfit for certain uses, such as the purpose of drinking. Since almost all of man’s daily activities are dependent on water, therefore ‘waste’ is discharged into the surroundings as a result of these actions. There are a number of substances that can be harmful to the environment and make people sick, including chemicals, detergents, household cleaners, dirt, microorganisms (germs), and body wastes. The water supply generates a great deal of wastewater, so it is essential that it is treated in order to reduce the amount of waste that it generates. Essentially, wastewater treatment ensures that a healthy environment is created and public health is protected by removing the majority of pollutants found in wastewater through the treatment process. Consequently, wastewater management plays an important role in protecting the planet, and public and economic health, as well as social, economic, and political stability.

The basic methods for wastewater sewerage (collection, treatment, and disposal) are as follows:

• Off-site sewerage
• Separate sewerage system
• Combined sewerage system
• On-site sewerage

Many nations have implemented separate sewage systems that transmit sewage and storm water through separate pipelines in order to separate the two. Storm water often does not contribute to a wastewater treatment facility (WWTP). Domestic sewage contains 99.9% or more water. The remaining portion is made up of bacteria

Industrial waste can be solid, liquid, or gaseous in type and is generated by industrial activities throughout a manufacturing process. Depending on its nature, it can be hazardous or non-hazardous. It is important to note that hazardous wastes can be ignitable, toxic, reactive, corrosive, or radioactive and can pose a threat to the environment. Industrial waste includes, among other things, paints, concrete, paper goods, sandpaper, metals and chemical solvents. Most industries face a significant problem associated with the disposal of waste. Due to the significant expenses involved, it is not feasible to collect and treat all of the waste due to the sizeable volume of waste produced by numerous businesses. As a result, especially in developing nations, the majority of industrial wastes are illegally deposited on wastelands like deserted fields

Sustainability does not denote a fixed state of things. It is a dynamic phenomenon: a phenomenon that tends to advance towards a higher state of being. The range of a journey of sustainability extends from nothing to everything, from a simple system to a more complex system, or from an unstable or less stable system to a stable or more stable system. Speaking in ecological terms, the transformation of unproductive desert land into a forest in ecological climax over time is how the phenomenon of sustainability works.

The term ‘sustainable development’ was first of all used in 1980 in the World Conservation Strategy (IUCN-UNEP-WWF 1980). However, this term was brought into the focus of the world for the first time in the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) Report, popularly known as the Brundtland Commission Report Our Common Future in 1987. Sustainable Development in the WCED Report has been defined as Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.

Most of the ecosystems prevailing on Earth have ceased to be virgin. They are now modified following anthropogenic designs. The Blossoming of a community in its climax stage is a rare sight. As human intervention with nature has gone on increasing, all types of biodiversity - genetic, species and community, and alpha, beta, and gamma - have been put under stress. The Earth has already lost much of its diversity due to anthropogenic factors and now it seems to be under severe stress due to climate change, which is also largely due to human-induced environmental disruptions.

Continuous loss of biodiversity at an alarming rate is posing a serious threat to life on earth. With this dismal state of the environment, we cannot usher in a sustainable future. We do not have the right to snatch the future from our younger generations. The Earth belongs to our children more than it does to us. The Earth belongs to future generations more than it does to present generations. Conservation of biodiversity is a matter of ethics. Ethics has the human face of biodiversity. Economic attributes of biodiversity have importance, but ethics of life 

A large number of genetic resources, species, and ecosystems are under severe threat. Many species have gone extinct and many more are being pushed towards extinction. Most of the ecosystems have also gone into what we can call functional extinction. The major factors becoming threats to biodiversity are anthropogenic. Human activities, in essence, are not benevolent for biodiversity to flourish in natural systems. Burgeoning human populations are the root cause of biodiversity destruction. Changing human lifestyles fed by a materialistic economy are further acting as catalysts for the ever-increasing human populations to destroy biodiversity evolved over millions of years amid terrestrial conditions favorable for the origin and prevalence of an astonishing variety of life forms on Earth.

There is hardly any threat to biodiversity due to natural factors except those inherent in the designs of natural evolution. A species at a certain point of time in its evolutionary history is destined to vanish, but the void in nature created due to this loss is filled by the evolution of new life forms. Not only the void is filled, the nature gradually goes on enriching itself 

Nutrition is the basis for life to prosper and sustain in the biosphere. There are two modes of nutrition in all species: self-nourishment and crossnourishment. Self-nourishment goes on in the category of organisms known as autotrophs. Cross-nutrition is maintained by the category of consumers categorized as heterotrophs. The autotrophs nourish themselves by utilizing inorganic molecules and energy available in nature, while the heterotrophs derive the nutrients that the autotrophs ‘manufacture’ for themselves. In other words, the heterotrophs derive nutrients from organic molecules. These organic molecules are derived either from the autotrophs directly or from the consumers dependent on autotrophs.

Autotrophs derive energy in its free form (e.g. light) or that available in inorganic molecules (e.g., CO, 

All of nature’s biodiversity is not visible. Biodiversity can also not be studied and/ or understood by looking at and analyzing it with the naked eye. A great proportion of the planet’s biodiversity flourishes in the ecosystems not directly accessible to us and the organisms in the sizes our eyes cannot record. The soil biodiversity is more interesting and more varied than we have understood and appreciated. The biodiversity in the soil - together with the physical environment - constitutes what we can call the pedosphere. Biodiversity in the pedosphere is distinguishable from that of the biodiversity above the soil surface. One is nonplussed by an understanding of some of the unbelievable features and functions of the pedosphere biodiversity.

The Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) held on the occasion of the historical Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 underlined the significance of biodiversity conservation for various tangible and non-tangible benefits as well as one of the key factors for sustainability. However, the conservation of soil biodiversity for realizing sustainability

Agrobiodiversity is a key resource for humanity. All of the food retirements humanity depends on are fulfilled by agrobiodiversity. Not only this, fodder, fiber, firewood, and many other basic needs of humankind are also met by agrobiodiversity. Human’s dependence on agriculture - not only for survival and sustenance but also for socioeconomic progress, maintenance and celebration of cultural ethos, physical, intellectual, emotional, ethical, and aesthetic development, and psychological contentment and happiness - is inevitable.

Agrobiodiversity is critical for food security for the entire humanity as well as for the food sovereignty of a country. If we are to usher in a sustainable future - that is, a future to be witnessed by healthy, vibrant, and happy humanity (Singh 2019) - there is no choice other than protecting, conserving, and augmenting agrobiodiversity.

The history of evolution reveals that life on Earth has gradually gone enriching itself by adding more and more varieties to it. A variety of organisms as of today exhilaratingly blossoms in the biosphere. The organisms are divided into three broad categories based on their distinctive characteristics, viz. plants, animals, and microorganisms. The other broad categories all the organisms on Earth are placed in are the five kingdoms, viz. Protista, Monera, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia. These kingdoms encompass living organisms based on their cell type (prokaryotic or eukaryotic), cell number (unicellular or multicellular), genetic recombination type (binary fission, asexual or sexual type), or feeding behavior or mode of nourishment (autotrophic or heterotrophic).

Global warming is the hottest issue facing life in our times. The gradual average increase in air temperatures near Earth’s surface over the past one to two centuries is leading to the phenomenon called global warming. It is this global phenomenon that triggers climate change, threatening the entire life on Earth. Earth’s climate has changed over all conceivable geological timescales, but that was all on account of the natural phenomenon. But, human activities are making the phenomenon more pronounced since the beginning of the Industrial Age, now emerging as a dominant triggering factor in influencing the overall climate fabric of the planet.

Radioactive pollution is largely attributable to radioactivity, a natural property of certain elements, such as radium, uranium, thorium, etc. of spontaneously emitting protons (alpha particles), electrons (beta particles), and gamma rays (short-wave electromagnetic waves) through the disintegration of their atomic nuclei (nuclides).

An alpha particle consists of two protons and two neutrons, which is akin to a helium nucleus. Alpha particles travel at a very slow speed, whereas gamma rays propagate at the speed of light. The alpha particles have less penetration power than the beta and gamma rays. In human tissues, alpha particles can penetrate up to a depth of about 0.005 to 0.008 cm. The gamma rays, on the other hand, are the most penetrating and can easily pass through a human body without striking anything in between. The high penetration power of gamma rays is because they have no charge; therefore, they do not interact with anything as the charged alpha particles would do

A sound is a form or energy. Therefore, it has to have an impact on life in one way or the other. Most of the organisms of Kingdom Animalia communicate with each other creating a peculiar sound. Creating sound is inevitable for performing various life activities. Every animal species has the characteristic sound it reflects through its behavior. Whatever all the animals communicate through creating specific sounds is all-natural. Nature, as such is a stupendous repository of a diversity of sounds, all being specific characteristics of life.

Human behavior, however, is highly evolved in terms of creating a variety of sounds. Communication, entertainment, and many behavioral activities are expressed through creating distinctive sounds. There is a difference between natural sounds and the ones human beings create or can create. Humans often generate sounds, not just in a natural manner, but also with various technical aids, that often become unpleasant what we call noise. Creating noise, or noise pollution, seems to be an exclusive characteristic of the human species. Of course, there could be some natural sounds that might occasionally cause havoc to life. Examples are the sounds generated at the time of the volcanic eruption, during an earthquake

Life on Earth is rooted in soil. Soil is not just a substratum anchoring the plants and giving a base for all terrestrial animals. It is the largest terrestrial ecosystem, and one of the most wonderful ecosystems on Earth. It inhabits most microorganisms. Microbial populations flourishing within the soil have greater biomass than all the human beings, elephants, and whales put together. It is due to the microorganisms that the soil constitutes the most active ecosystem on Earth.

The health of the soil is crucial for the health of all the plants growing on it and for all the animals dependent on it for their inhabitation and nourishment. Soil health is also critical for the well-being of numerous microorganisms, detritivores, and several other organisms. Soil is composed of all essential nutrients/ minerals, air, water, and organisms in a proportion that strikes its ecological balance and maintains its structure and functions revealed through its productive potential.

Soil, like all other ecosystems, is itself a dynamic ecosystem. Its composition keeps changing but natural inbuilt mechanisms help strike a balance and recover 

Ours is a Living Planet because ours is a Water Planet. The health of the Living Planet depends on the health of its water resources. Ironically, the health of its water resources is at stake. And so of its life! The waters of the Earth are in the grips of pollution. Much of the water is already polluted and the rest is increasingly becoming polluted. Water pollution, indeed, is one of the worst problems life on Earth is faced with. Water pollution is halting human progress and is phenomenally affecting all walks of human civilization. Water pollution is even putting a question mark on our sustainable future. This chapter presents the causes, magnitude, and consequences of water pollution and also suggests ways and means to prevent and control water pollution and also attempts to manage water resources.

Air or atmosphere constitutes one of the integral components of the environment. Among all the environmental components, the air has the highest fluidity. Therefore, the entry of a foreign substance into the air imparts a quick and severe effect on the health of the organisms. Air in the biosphere has a mixture of various gases in a dynamic proportion which is conducive to maintaining the health and sustenance of all living organisms. An alteration in the composition of the atmosphere beyond a certain limit adversely affects organisms’ health, and might even be of more serious consequences for life.

Air pollution, thus, is defined as the occurrence of undesirable gases (e.g., carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, etc.) or particles (e.g., suspended particulate matter) in such concentrations that are deleterious to terrestrial life (vegetation, animals, and human beings) and some physical assets, like buildings, statues, and monuments. Air pollution especially affects the health of human beings living in highly modified (anthropogenic) ecosystems, e.g., cities and industrial areas.

We are living in a world that is in a grim state of environmental disruptions. Callous developmental activities resulting in pollution of all environmental components and gradually culminating in global warming, climate change, and species extinction are responsible for triggering the processes of environmental disruption. Pollution of air, water, and soil is rapidly assuming alarming proportions.

The very processes of socioeconomic development are now posing threat to economic progress as well as to human health. Ominous changes in global climate are posing threat to life on Earth. The irony is that the major cause of environmental disruptions is anthropogenic rather than natural. Human’s materialistic progress and environmental pollution in our contemporary world go hand in hand.

With the invention of bitcoin in 2008, the world was exposed to a new technology paradigm called blockchain. Blockchain was conceptualized by an unknown person named as Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is still not known. Nakamoto proposed the design of blockchain which uses digital signature and timestamps to enable secure and trusted online transaction without the need of any trusted regulatory or third party.