Q1. What is Environmental Impact Assessment?

“An important procedure for ensuring that the likely effects of new development on the environment are fully understood and taken into account before the development is allowed to go ahead”

Environmental Impact Assessment is a process, set down as a repeatable series of steps to be taken, to allow the environmental consequences of a proposed development to be assessed.

The environmental consequences have to be those incremental effects which are due to the proposed development, and not those which are due to the passage of time or other developments not included in the proposal.

First formal system of EIA established in the US following the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. Organisations / firms are required to prepare a detailed statement on the environmental impact of “proposals for legislation and other major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment”

The detailed statement – referred to as an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) - should include details on

any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented alternatives to the proposed action

Since 1969, a host of other countries have adopted EIA legislation. The EIA Directive requires projects likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue of their nature, size or location to undergo an environmental assessment before the competent authority in question grants consent. The EIA Directive was amended in 1997 (Directive 97/11/EC). Following signature of the ‘Aarhus Convention’ on 25 June 1998, directive was adopted which amends amongst others the EIA Directive and brings it into line with the public participation requirements of the Aarhus Convention. The EIA Directive defines a project as

the execution of construction works or of other installations or schemes, other interventions in the natural surroundings and landscape including those involving the extraction of mineral resources

The EIA should identify, describe and assess the direct and indirect effects of a project on the following factors:

human beings, fauna and flora soil, water, air, climate and the landscape material assets and cultural heritage the interaction between the above factors

EIA should therefore have a strong social dimension

The flow chart for conduct of an EIA is as shown:

Screening – Does the project require EIA? (Mandatory for projects listed in Annexure 1 of EIA directives.)

Scoping – What issues and impact should the EIA assess? An EIA should focus only on the significant issues and impacts. Scoping is carried out in

discussions between the developer, the competent authority, relevant agencies and, ideally, the public. Scoping is not mandatory under the EIA

Directive.

Baseline Studies – it is essential to assemble all the relevant information on the current status of the environment. baseline study should anticipate the

future state of the environment assuming the project is not undertaken - the ‘no action alternative’. This provides the ‘baseline’ against which future

impacts can be assessed. Baseline studies should be undertaken for each alternative site so that the relative severity of the impacts for each alternative

can be assessed

Alternatives - EIA is ideally undertaken for a project and its alternatives (e.g. different locations, scales, designs). Alternatives are the ‘raw material’ of EIA. US Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has described the discussion of

alternatives as the ‘heart’ of the EIS

Impact Prediction & Assessment – Whilst prediction involves forecasting environmental impacts, Impact assessment involves evaluating the

significance of the impacts identified. Significance can be determined through professional judgement, reference to regulations etc. Their exists a Potential for bias in determining what is significant. The conclusions of the

impact assessment can ultimately be used by decision-makers when determining the fate of the project application

Mitigation - Negative impacts on the environment identified during the EIA can be alleviated through mitigation measures. The mitigation hierarchy: Avoid - Reduce - Remedy - Compensate – Enhance. Impacts remaining

after mitigation are known as residual impacts

EIS Preparation / Review - Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is a formal document which includes information on the development and

information relating to screening, scoping, baseline studies, alternatives etc. Once complete, EIS is submitted to competent authority.

Public consultation - The EIA Directive provides for public consultation on the application for development and the EIS.

Project Monitoring - Monitoring should determine the accuracy of the original predictions, degree of deviation from the predictions, possible

reasons for any deviations and extent to which mitigation measures have achieved their objectives.

Q2. Kyoto Protocol

Over a decade ago, most countries joined an international treaty -- the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) -- to begin to consider what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever temperature increases are inevitable. More recently, a number of nations approved an addition to the treaty: the Kyoto Protocol, which has more powerful (and legally binding) measures.

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.These amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012.

The major distinction between the Protocol and the Convention is that while the Convention encouraged industrialised countries to stabilize GHG emissions, the Protocol commits them to do so.

Recognizing that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity, the Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities.” The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. 184 Parties of the Convention have ratified its Protocol to date.

The Protocol’s rules focus on:● Commitments, including legally binding emissions targets and general commitments● Implementation, including domestic steps and three novel implementing mechanisms● Minimizing impacts on developing countries, including use of an Adaptation Fund● Accounting, reporting and review, including in-depth review of national reporting● Compliance, including a Compliance Committee to assess and deal with problem cases.

The Kyoto mechanisms Under the Treaty, countries must meet their targets primarily through national measures. However, the Kyoto Protocol offers them an additional means of meeting their targets by way of three market-based mechanisms. The Kyoto mechanisms are:

Emissions trading – known as “the carbon market". Emissions trading enables Annex I Parties to acquire assigned amount units (AAUs) from other Annex I Parties that are able to more easily reduce emissions. It enables Parties to pursue cheaper opportunities to curb emissions or increase removals wherever those opportunities exist, in

order to reduce the overall cost of mitigating climate change. To answer concerns that some Parties could ‘oversell’ and then be unable to meet their own targets, each Annex I Party is required to hold a minimum level of credits at all times. This is known as the Commitment period reserve. It is calculated as 90 per cent of the Party’s assigned amount, or as the amount of emissions reported in its most recent emissions inventory (multiplied by five, for the five years of the commitment period), whichever figure is the lower. If a Party’s credits fall below its commitment period reserve, it must restore the reserve to its required level within 30 days.

Clean development mechanism (CDM) The CDM allows emission-reduction (or emission removal) projects in developing countries to earn certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2. These CERs can be traded and sold, and used by industrialized countries to a meet a part of their emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol. The mechanism stimulates sustainable development and emission reductions, while giving industrialized countries some flexibility in how they meet their emission reduction limitation targets. The projects must qualify through a rigorous and public registration and issuance process designed to ensure real, measurable and verifiable emission reductions that are additional to what would have occurred without the project. The mechanism is overseen by the CDM Executive Board, answerable ultimately to the countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol. The CDM is expected to generate investment in developing countries, especially from the private sector, enhance the transfer of environmentally friendly technologies and promote sustainable development in general.

Joint implementation (JI) . Joint implementation allows Annex I Parties (Developed countries) to implement projects that reduce emissions, or increase removals using sinks, in other Annex I countries. Emission reduction units (ERUs) generated by such projects can then be used by investing Annex I Parties to help meet their emissions targets. Joint implementation projects must have the approval of all Parties involved and must lead to emission reductions or removals that are additional to any that would have occurred without the project.

The mechanisms help stimulate green investment and help Parties meet their emission targets in a cost-effective way.

Monitoring emission targets Under the Protocol, countries’ actual emissions have to be monitored and precise records have to be kept of the trades carried out. Registry systems track and record transactions by Parties under the mechanisms. The UN Climate Change Secretariat, based in Bonn, Germany, keeps an international transaction log to verify that transactions are consistent with the rules of the Protocol.

Reporting is done by Parties by way of submitting annual emission inventories and national reports under the Protocol at regular intervals.

A compliance system ensures that Parties are meeting their commitments and helps them to meet their commitments if they have problems doing so.

Adaptation The Kyoto Protocol, like the Convention, is also designed to assist countries in adapting to the adverse effects of climate change. It facilitates the development and deployment of techniques that can help increase resilience to the impacts of climate change.

The Adaptation Fund was established to finance adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The Fund is financed mainly with a share of proceeds from CDM project activities.

The road ahead The Kyoto Protocol is generally seen as an important first step towards a truly global emission reduction regime that will stabilize GHG emissions, and provides the essential architecture for any future international agreement on climate change.

By the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, a new international framework needs to have been negotiated and ratified that can deliver the stringent emission reductions the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has clearly indicated are needed.

Q3. Agenda 21

The Five Rio Documents Rio summit produced two international agreements, two statements of principles and a major action agenda on world wide sustainable development. The five are:

(a) The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Its 27 principles define the rights and responsibilities of nations as they pursue human development and well-being.(b) Agenda 21 , a blueprint on how make development socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.(c) A statement of principles to guide the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests, which are essential to economic development and the maintenance of all forms of life.

Two major international Conventions were negotiated separately from but parallel to preparations for the Earth Summit and were signed by most governments meeting at Rio.

(a) The aim of the “United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change” is to stabilize greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at levels that will not dangerously upset the global climate system. This will require a reduction in our emissions of such gases as carbon dioxide, a by-product of the use of burning fuels for energy.

(b) The “Convention on Biological Diversity” requires that countries adopt ways and means to conserve the variety of living species, and ensure that the benefits from using biological diversity are equitably shared.

Agenda 21 is a guide for business and government policies and for personal choices into the next century. It was endorsed by the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the largest-ever meeting of world leaders. This meeting took place during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, which brought together the heads or senior officials of 179 governments. They were joined by hundreds of officials from United Nations organizations, municipal governments, business, scientific, non-government and other groups.

Agenda 21 explains that population, consumption and technology are the primary driving forces of environmental change. It lays out what needs to be done to reduce wasteful and inefficient consumption patterns in some parts of the world while encouraging increased but sustainable development in others. It offers policies and programmes to achieve a sustainable balance between consumption, population and the Earth’s life-supporting capacity. It describes some of technologies and techniques that need to be developed to provide for human needs while carefully managing natural resources.

Agenda 21 provides options for combating degradation of the land, air and water, conserving forests and the diversity of species of life. It deals with poverty and excessive consumption, health and education, cities and farmers. There are roles for everyone: governments, business people, trade unions, scientists, teachers, indigenous people, women, youth and children. Agenda 21 does not shun business. It says that sustainable development is the way to reverse both poverty and environmental destruction.

We currently gauge the success of economic development mainly by the amount of money it produces. Accounting systems that measure the wealth of nations also need to count the full value of natural resources and the full cost of environmental degradation. The polluter should, in principle, bear the costs of pollution. To reduce the risk of causing damage, environmental assessment should be carried out before starting projects that carry the risk of adverse impacts. Governments should reduce or eliminate subsidies that are not consistent with sustainable development.

A major theme of Agenda 21 is the need to eradicate poverty by giving poor people more access to the resources they need to live sustainably. By adopting Agenda 21, industrialized countries recognized that they have a greater role in cleaning up the environment than poor nations, who produce relatively less pollution. The richer nations also promised more funding to help other nations develop in ways that have lower environmental impacts. Beyond funding, nations need help in building the expertise— the capacity— to plan and carry out sustainable development decisions. This will require the transfer of information and skills.

Agenda 21 calls on governments to adopt national strategies for sustainable development. These should be developed with wide participation, including non-government organizations and the public. Agenda 21 puts most of the responsibility for leading change on national governments, but says they need to work in a broad series of partnerships with international organizations, business, regional, state, provincial and local governments, non-governmental and citizens’ groups.

As Agenda 21 says, only a global partnership will ensure that all nations will have a safer and more prosperous future.

Q4. NIMBY

The present lifestyle encourages excessive consumption and waste-generation. Every bit of wrapping, binding, packaging, covering and casing that you tear away usually finds its way to landfills all over the world. Yes, all over the world, except in the northern countries from where they are usually sent to developing countries or hidden in deep-earth landfills. They've even invented a term for this kind of waste management. It's called Nimby-ism – “Not In My Backyard”.

Scale economy in the construction and operation of public facilities, such as land fills, call for cooperation among communities to build a common facility. Such a facility is a mixture of a public good and a private bad and, hence, leads to strong opposition by communities to locate it in their vicinity. This is one of the most serious environmental concerns of recent years, and is known as NIMBY: "not in my back yard."

Developing nations do bear the brunt of global NIMBY. Batteries, PVC plastics, genetically modified foods, multilayer packaging, obsolete weapons, and even ships are sent overseas to poor countries to be broken down and recycled in horrendous conditions. Obsolete technology that has been discarded in the West tries surreptitiously to resuscitate itself in a climate that is environmentally less rigorous. In the 1970's trash was dumped in Africa with the help of local middlemen until an international outcry stopped the trade. More recently studies have shown that electronic wastes from phones and computers are being sent to India, Pakistan, and China where they are disposed of in highly dangerous conditions.

At least 30,000 tons of scrap from the World Trade Center wreckage has been exported from the United States to Sabari Exim Pvt. Ltd. in India, raising concerns in Greenpeace, India, and other NGOs, but the Basel convention which has banned hazardous exports from the developed nations has so far not been signed by the US.

The annual production of hazardous wastes which was less than 10 million metric tonnes in the 1940s is now in excess of 320 million metric tonnes. These wastes are, in the main, by-products of industrial processes that have contributed significantly to the economic development of many countries which, in turn, has led to lifestyles that also generate hazardous wastes. The phenomenal increase in the generation of hazardous wastes

coupled with various barriers to local disposal has led to the thriving international trade in these environmentally hazardous substances.

The export of hazardous wastes by the more developed countries to the lesser developed nations is escalating beyond control. The ethical implications and environmental consequences of this trade in hazardous wastes highlight the need for international controls and regulations in the conduct of business by corporations in the more developed countries. In the late 1970's, the Love Canal environmental tragedy awakened the world to the effects of ill conceived and irresponsible disposal of hazardous by-products of industries. Today, the media focuses its attention on the alleged illegal dumping of hazardous wastes in the lesser developed countries. The most recent dramatic case so far is that of Koko, Nigeria where more than eight thousand drums of hazardous wastes were dumped, some of which contained polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), a highly carcinogenic compound and one of the world's most toxic wastes defined hazardous waste as any material that may pose a substantial threat or potential hazard to human health or the environment when managed improperly.

Solid waste constitutes one of the most visible and pressing of these urban environmental concerns due to the high concentration, volume, and inorganic content of urban wastes.

The idea of waste recycling has been suggested by urban ecologists as a way to simultaneously alleviate modern pollution pressures and address resource conservation concerns. While inorganic recycling of plastics, glass and metals has given rise to a whole sector of recycling plants, dealers and employees around the world, the recycling of organic waste has been much more limited despite its importance in traditional waste management. Organic materials, however, form the bulk of waste in most developing countries; organic waste recycling therefore has the potential to drastically reduce the need for solid waste disposal while simultaneously recovering agriculturally-crucial nutrients.

Problems associated with waste recycling methods The problem with landfills Landfills take up a lot of valuable space that we cannot afford. Putting up landfills and open dumps that compete with the space demands of people to live and work in is an unacceptable proposition. Besides, the location of dumpsites near and around major urban areas often creates problems associated with this worst form of urban sprawl.

Garbage landfills leach out toxic substances that could contaminate water supplies, both surface and groundwater. Though the effects of such contamination may not be immediately evident, it could severely compromise both environmental and public health. Landfills are designed to serve as sinkholes for the refuse of the present generation. Thus, they unjustly become veritable graves for the resources that are valuable for re-use, and use by future generations.

The problem with incinerators Incinerators are known to severely pollute the environment both locally and globally. Existing data shows that burning hazardous waste, even in "state-of-the-art" incinerators, leads to the release of dioxins, a human carcinogen. Once emitted into the environment, dioxins are transported over long distances along air and ocean currents. Dioxins are known to bio-accumulate in the fatty tissue of living beings, and also bio-magnify as they move up the food chain. They are associated with a wide range of health problems including altered sexual development, male and female reproductive problems, suppression of the immune system, diabetes, organ toxicity and hormonal disturbances.

Incinerator promoters would like people to believe that they can make garbage disappear. This is not true. Incinerators transform garbage into toxic ash and emit large volumes of toxic air and water. All incinerators also require a highly specialised hazardous-waste landfill to contain the toxic ash generated. Typically, an incinerator produces around one tonne of toxic ash for every three tonnes of garbage burned.

Waste reduction strategies In recent years, two key activities have produced astonishing results with respect to waste reduction. First is the use of waste audits for industry. When local manufacturers are required to locate points in their processes where they generate waste, they come up with a number of areas where they could produce less waste and also save money.

Second is the use of "volume-based charging systems" for households and institutions. Simply put, the more waste you generate the more you pay. The city of Seattle has a monthly garbage fee which is based on the size of container used for the non-recyclable fraction of the waste stream. Other communities require a pre-paid coupon to be used on every bag of non-recyclable trash put out at the curb. These are often referred to as "pay-by-bag" schemes.

Re-use and repair centres Many households and communities around the world have developed both formal and informal means of getting re-usable objects moving from one owner to the next. These include garage sales, yard sales, jumble sales, flea markets and thrift shops. While re-useables represent a small fraction of the waste stream, it is a highly valuable one.

Composting and vermiculture Composting can be run on almost any scale. It can be carried out in the backyard or basement (vermiculture), in the community or in a centralised facility. However, a key principle is to maintain tight control over the material entering the composting operation, because the ability to use the material could be compromised if unsuitable material, like non-source separated material, is composted.

After source separation, composting is the most important step in the alternatives scenario, because it is the organic material in landfills that causes so many problems. When organic waste rots underground it generates methane which contributes to global warming. Organic acids are formed which dissolve the metals in the waste stream and get into surface and

groundwater. Organic waste also gives off awful odours. Thus, a key objective of composting is to keep organic waste out of the landfill.

The answer to the burgeoning waste problem lies neither in sophisticated landfills nor in expensive machines to burn garbage. Garbage is a social problem. Any solution must rely more on social intervention than technological invention. The government needs to invest money and effort into educating citizens about waste segregation, and setting up the infrastructure to promote segregation, waste reduction, recycling and re-use.

Q5. ISO 14000

ISO 14000 is a series of international standards on environmental management. It provides a framework for the development of an environmental management system and the supporting audit programme. The main thrust for its development came as a result of the Rio Summit on the Environment held in 1992.

As a number of national standards emerged (BS 7750 being the first), the International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) created a group to investigate how such standards might benefit business and industry. As a result this group recommended that an ISO committee be created to create an international standard.

ISO 14001 is the corner stone standard of the ISO 14000 series. It specifies a framework of control for an Environmental Management System against which an organization can be certified by a third party.

Other ISO14000 Series Standards

Other standards in the series are actually guidelines, many to help you achieve registration to ISO 14001. These include the following:

ISO 14004 provides guidance on the development and implementation of environmental management systems ISO 19011 provides general principles of environmental auditing and guidance on environmental management system. It provides guidance on qualification criteria for environmental auditors and lead auditors. ISO 14013/5 provides audit program review and assessment material. ISO 14020 - labeling issues ISO 14030 - provides guidance on performance targets and monitoring within an Environmental Management System ISO 14040+ covers life cycle issues

Of all these, ISO14001 is not only the most well known, but is the only ISO 14000 standard against which it is currently possible to be certified by an external certification authority.

Certifying your company's environmental management system to ISO 14001 means that a third party, such as BSI, has assessed that it meets the requirements set out in the standard.

Certification to ISO 14001 allows you to: Demonstrate a commitment to achieving legal and regulatory compliance to regulators and government Demonstrate your environmental commitment to stakeholders Demonstrate an innovative and forward thinking approach to customers and prospective employees Increase your access to new customers and business partners Better manage your environmental risks, now and in the future Potentially reduce public liability insurance costs Enhance your reputation

For particular industries, pressure is now being exerted by many large organizations, such as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who expect their suppliers to adopt environmentally-friendly practices and may mandate ISO 14001 certification as a licence to operate.

Steps to certification Implementing a management system of any kind is a significant undertaking for any organization. However, there are some common tools you can use and a common process to follow during implementation and the route towards certification.1. Choose the standard Initially you should read ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management Systems - Specification with guidance for use. Download our free guidance document for your immediate reference.

2. Develop your environmental policy Your environmental policy will state your commitment to compliance with legal and regulatory demands, continual improvement and the prevention of pollution. You should make this policy available to your customers and the public.

3. Review and produce objectives At this stage you should identify the elements of your business that impact on the environment, establish access to relevant environmental legislation and regulations and produce objectives and targets for environmental improvement and a management programme to achieve them.4. Training Once you have assembled a team and agreed your strategy it’s crucial to get understanding and involvement from the top down.

5. Implementation and assessment The initial registration to ISO 14001 involves a two-stage assessment process, including a document review and a site visit.  6. Certification and beyond Once the assessment has been successfully completed, certificate of registration is issued, clearly explaining the scope of your management system. The certificate is valid for three years, and assessor will visit regularly to make sure you remain compliant, and support you in the continual improvement of your systems. 

Integrated management systems ISO 14001 is designed to be compatible with other management systems standards and specifications which you might already have or plan to implement, such as:

ISO 9001 Quality OHSAS 1800 Occupational Health and Safety ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security

Q6. What is a fuel cell?

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, with water and heat as its by-product.  As long as fuel is supplied, the fuel cell will continue to generate power.  Since the conversion of the fuel to energy takes place via an electrochemical process, not combustion, the process is clean, quiet and highly efficient – two to three times more efficient than fuel burning.

No other energy generation technology offers the combination of benefits that fuel cells do.  In addition to low or zero emissions, benefits include high efficiency and reliability, multi-fuel capability, siting flexibility, durability, scalability and ease of maintenance.  Fuel cells operate silently, so they reduce noise pollution as well as air pollution and the waste heat from a fuel cell can be used to provide hot water or space heating for a home or office. 

Fuel cells run on hydrogen, the simplest element and most plentiful gas in the universe. Hydrogen is colorless, odorless and tasteless. Each hydrogen molecule has two atoms of hydrogen, which accounts for the H 2 we often see. Hydrogen is the lightest element, with a density of 0.08988 grams per liter at standard pressure, yet it has the highest energy content per unit weight of all the fuels – 52,000 Btu/lb, or three times the energy of a pound of gasoline. Hydrogen is never found alone on earth — it is always combined with other elements such as oxygen and carbon. Hydrogen can be extracted from virtually any hydrogen compound and is the ultimate clean energy carrier. It is safe to manufacture. And hydrogen's chemical energy can be harnessed in pollution-free ways.

Because of its high energy content, hydrogen must be handled properly, just as gasoline and natural gas today require careful handling. Hydrogen is no more dangerous than other fuels, just different. Hydrogen is made, shipped and used safely today in many industries worldwide. Hydrogen producers and users have generated an impeccable safety record over the last half-century. Fuel Flexibility means Energy Security. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of sources:

Traditional: natural gas, gasoline, diesel, propane Renewable/alternative fuels: methanol, ethanol, landfill gas, bio-gas,

methane

Water: using electrolysis, solar or wind power Innovative: sodium borohydride, algae, peanut shells

Environmental benefits Fuel cells currently rely primarily on natural gas, a fossil fuel, to create the hydrogen need to produce electricity and heat. However, because this technology uses its fuel so efficiently, it is widely considered a clean energy technology. Current research into the use of solar, wind, and water power to create hydrogen may eventually make this technology completely renewable.

Even though fossil fuels are consumed in the electrochemical reaction inside of a fuel cell, fuel cells do not do not produce the same unhealthy air pollution emissions that are generated by burning gasoline in cars or burning coal and other fossil fuels in power plants. With fuel cells, there is no combustion, so fewer gases are released into the environment. The greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) is an additional byproduct, but the high electrical efficiency of fuel cells provides much more electricity per unit of carbon released than conventional generators of similar size. Because these emissions are so low, certifications and permits are rarely needed to install commercial fuel cell systems.

Current research indicates that fuel cells could use hydrogen produced by electrolysis that is powered by electricity from renewable wind, solar, and water sources. If these solutions are implemented in the long run, the environmental benefits would be even greater. In that case, the only outputs of fuel cells would be electricity, heat, and water vapor (produced when the hydrogen and oxygen combine in the fuel cell).

Environmental drawbacks

While fuel cells have the potential to be a very clean source of energy if the hydrogen generation process uses renewable sources, current government-funded research requires the use of fossil fuels to produce the vast majority of hydrogen for fuel cells. Without a trend towards increased use of renewables for hydrogen production, the technology’s environmental benefits will continue to be somewhat offset by its reliance on fossil fuels.

There are also concerns that, in a large-scale hydrogen economy where hydrogen is used to power fuel cells and related technologies in a variety of applications, manufacturing, storing, and transporting hydrogen would result in leaks that could accumulate in the upper atmosphere, and potentially deplete polar ozone layers. Infrastructure designs that carefully eliminate the potential for leaks can minimize this risk.

Q. Acid Rain

Acid rain is a result of air pollution. When any type of fuel is burnt, lots of different chemicals are produced. The smoke that comes from a fire or the fumes that come out of a car exhaust don't just contain the sooty grey particles that you can see - they also contains lots of invisible gases that can be even more harmful to our environment.

Power stations, factories and cars all burn fuels and therefore they all produce polluting gases. Some of these gases (especially nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide) react with the tiny droplets of water in clouds to form sulphuric and nitric acids. The rain from these clouds then falls as very weak acid - which is why it is known as "acid rain".

How acidic is acid rain?Acidity is measured using a scale called the pH scale. This scale goes from 0 to 14. 0 is the most acidic and 14 is the most alkaline (opposite of acidic). Something with a pH value of 7, we call neutral, this means that it is neither acidic nor alkaline. Acid rain is much, much weaker than this, never acidic enough to burn your skin. Rain is always slightly acidic because it mixes with naturally occurring oxides in the air. Unpolluted rain would have a pH value of between 5 and 6. When the air becomes more polluted with nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide the acidity can increase to a pH value of 4. Some rain has even been recorded as being pH2.

The Effects of Acid RainAcid rain can be carried great distances in the atmosphere, not just between countries but also from continent to continent. The acid can also take the form of snow, mists and dry dusts. The rain sometimes falls many miles from the source of pollution but wherever it falls it can have a serious effect on soil, trees, buildings and water.

Forests all over the world are dying, fish are dying. In Scandinavia there are dead lakes, which are crystal clear and contain no living creatures or plant life. Many of Britain's freshwater fish are threatened, there have been reports of deformed fish being hatched. This leads to fish-eating birds and animals being affected also.

ForestsIt is thought that acid rain can cause trees to grow more slowly or even to die but scientists have found that it is not the only cause. The same amount of acid rain seems to have more effect in some areas than it does in others. As acid rain falls on a forest it trickles through the leaves of the trees and runs down into the soil below. Some of it finds its way into streams and then on into rivers and lakes. Some types of soil can help to neutralise the acid - they have what is called a "buffering capacity". Other soils are already slightly acidic and these are particularly susceptible to the effects of acid rain.

Acid rain can effect trees in several different ways, it may:• dissolve and wash away the nutrients and minerals in the soil which help the trees to grow.• cause the release of harmful substances such as aluminium into the soil.• wear away the waxy protective coating of leaves, damaging them and preventing them from being able to photosynthesise properly.

A combination of these effects weakens the trees which means that they can be more easily attacked by diseases and insects or injured by bad

weather. It is not just trees that are affected by acid rain, other plants may also suffer.

Lakes and RiversIt is in aquatic habitats that the effects of acid rain are most obvious. Acid rain runs off the land and ends up in streams, lakes and marshes - the rain also falls directly on these areas. As the acidity of a lake increases, the water becomes clearer and the numbers of fish and other water animals decline. Some species of plant and animal are better able to survive in acidic water than others. Freshwater shrimps, snails, mussels are the most quickly affected by acidification followed by fish such as minnows, salmon and roach. The roe and fry (eggs and young) of the fish are the worst affected, the acidity of the water can cause deformity in young fish and can prevent eggs from hatching properly.

The acidity of the water does not just affect species directly, it also causes toxic substances like aluminium to be released into the water from the soil, harming fish and other aquatic animals.Lakes, rivers and marshes each have their own fragile ecosystem with many different species of plants and animals all depending on one another to survive. If a species of fish disappears, the animals which feed on it will gradually disappear too. If the extinct fish used to feed on a particular species of large insect, that insect population will start to grow, this in turn will affect the smaller insects or plankton on which the larger insect feeds.

BuildingsEvery type of material will become eroded sooner or later by the effects of the climate. Water, wind, ice and snow all help in the erosion process but unfortunately, acid rain can help to make this natural process even quicker. Statues, buildings, vehicles, pipes and cables can all suffer. The worst affected are things made from limestone or sandstone as these types of rock are particularly susceptible and can be affected by air pollution in gaseous form as well as by acid rain.

Acid rain is damaging India's famed Taj Mahal but is becoming less of a threat to Europe's cultural monuments, scientists reported on Thursday at an international conference in Prague. However, while India's 17th century landmark is under attack, Europe's historic structures are faring better thanks to air pollution controls enacted over the past 50 years. A steady reduction in sulphate emissions from coal burning and other sources was credited with cutting the acid rain-related corrosion of building materials such as stone in statues, castles, churches and concert halls.

Where is it coming from?Until relatively recently air pollution has been seen as a local issue. It was in southern Scandinavia in the late 1950's that the problems of acid rain were first observed and it was then that people began to realise that the origins of this pollution were far away in Britain and Northern Europe. One early answer to industrial air pollution was to build very tall chimneys. Unfortunately all this does is push the polluting gases up into the clouds allowing emissions to float away on the wind. The wind carries the pollution many hundreds of miles

away where it eventually falls as acid rain. In this way Britain has contributed at least 16% of the acid deposition in Norway. Over ninety percent of Norway's acid pollution comes from other countries. The worst European polluters are Germany, UK, Poland and Spain, each of them producing over a million tons of sulphur emissions in 1994. Governments are now beginning to admit that acid rain is a serious environmental problem and many countries are now taking steps to reduce the amount of sulphur and nitrogen emissions.

What can be done to reduce acid rains? Reduce emissions:

• Burning fossil fuels is still one of the cheapest ways to produce electricity so people are now researching new ways to burn fuel which don't produce so much pollution.• Governments need to spend more money on pollution control even if it does mean an increase in the price of electricity.• Sulphur can also be 'washed' out of smoke by spraying a mixture of water and powdered limestone into the smokestack.• Cars are now fitted with catalytic converters which remove three dangerous chemicals from exhaust gases.

Find alternative sources of energy• Governments need to invest in researching different ways to produce energy.• Two other sources that are currently used are hydroelectric and nuclear power. These are 'clean' as far as acid rain goes but what other impact do they have on our environment?• Other sources could be solar energy or windmills but how reliable would these be in places where it is not very windy or sunny?• All energy sources have different benefits and costs and all theses have to be weighed up before any government decides which of them it is going to use.

Conserving Resources• Greater subsidies of public transport by the government to encourage people to use public transport rather than always travelling by car.• Every individual can make an effort to save energy by switching off lights when they are not being used and using energy-saving appliances - when less electricity is being used, pollution from power plants decreases.• Walking, cycling and sharing cars all reduce the pollution from vehicles

Restoring the Damage done by Acid RainLakes and rivers can have powdered limestone added to them to neutralise the water - this is called "liming". Liming, however, is expensive and its effects are only temporary - it needs to be continued until the acid rain stops. The people of Norway and Sweden have successfully used liming to help restore lakes and streams in their countries. A major liming programme is currently taking place in Wales

Q. Carbon Cycle

Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe, and is absolutely essential to life on earth. In fact, carbon constitutes the very definition of life, as its presence or absence helps define whether a molecule is considered to be organic or inorganic. Every organism on Earth needs carbon either for structure, energy, or, as in the case of humans, for both. Discounting water, you are about half carbon. Additionally, carbon is found in forms as diverse as the gas carbon dioxide (CO2), and in solids like limestone (CaCO3), wood, plastic, diamonds, and graphite.

The movement of carbon, in its many forms, between the biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and geosphere is described by the carbon cycle, illustrated in the adjacent diagram. The carbon cycle is one of the biogeochemical cycles. In the cycle there are various sinks, or stores, of carbon (represented by the boxes) and processes by which the various sinks exchange carbon (the arrows).

Plants absorb CO2 from the atmosphere during photosynthesis, also called primary production, and release CO2 back in to the atmosphere during respiration. Another major exchange of CO2 occurs between the oceans and the atmosphere. The dissolved CO2 in the oceans is used by marine biota in photosynthesis.

Two other important processes are fossil fuel burning and changing land use. In fossil fuel burning, coal, oil, natural gas, and gasoline are consumed by industry, power plants, and automobiles. Notice that the arrow goes only one way: from industry to the atmosphere. Changing land use is a broad term which encompasses a host of essentially human activities. They include agriculture, deforestation, and reforestation.

Two other important processes are fossil fuel burning and changing land use. In fossil fuel burning, coal, oil, natural gas, and gasoline are consumed by industry, power plants, and automobiles. Notice that the arrow goes only one way: from industry to the atmosphere. Changing land use is a broad term which encompasses a host of essentially human activities. They include agriculture, deforestation, and reforestation.

The adjacent diagram shows the carbon cycle with the mass of carbon, in gigatons of carbon (Gt C), in each sink and for each process, if known. The

amount of carbon being exchanged in each process determines whether the specific sink is growing or shrinking. For instance, the ocean absorbs 2.5 Gt C more from the atmosphere than it gives off to the atmosphere. All other things being equal, the ocean sink is growing at a rate of 2.5 Gt C per year and the atmospheric sink is decreasing at an equal rate. But other things are not equal. Fossil fuel burning is increasing the atmosphere's store of carbon by 6.1 Gt C each year, and the atmosphere is also interacting with vegetation and soil. Furthermore, there is changing land use.

The carbon cycle is obviously very complex, and each process has an impact on the other processes. If primary production drops, then decay to the soil drops. But does this mean that decay from the soil to the atmosphere will also drop and thus balance out the cycle so that the store of carbon in the atmosphere will remain constant? Not necessarily; it could continue at its current rate for a number of years, and thus the atmosphere would have to absorb the excess carbon being released from the soil. But this increase of atmospheric carbon (in the form of CO2) may stimulate the ocean to increase its uptake of CO2 .

What is known is that the carbon cycle must be a closed system; in other words, there is a fixed amount of carbon in the world and it must be somewhere. Scientists are actively investigating the carbon cycle to see if their data does indeed indicate a balancing of the cycle. These types of investigations have led many scientists to believe that the forests of the Northern Hemisphere are, in fact, absorbing 3.5 Gt C per year, and so changing land use is actually removing carbon from the atmosphere (~2 Gt C/year), not increasing it as the diagram shows. Experiments are ongoing to confirm this information.

Q. Ecological Deficit

Ecological Deficit is the level of resource consumption and waste discharge by a population in excess of locally sustainable natural production and assimilative capacity. In spatial terms, the ecological deficit is the difference between that population's effective ecological footprint and the geographic area it actually occupies.

"The difference between the biocapacity and Ecological Footprint of a region or country. An ecological deficit occurs when the Footprint of a population

exceeds the biocapacity of the area available to that population. Conversely, an ecological reserve exists when the biocapacity of a region exceeds its population's Footprint.

Since time immemorial, man has been depending on the environment for most of his basic needs. But, because of the industrial revolution, technological explosion that followed coupled with globalisation, machines and factories have become omnipresent and they have metamorphosed human life and life supporting activities forever. This has led to an over consumption of resources. According to Worldwide Fund for Nature’s bi-annual report, our over consumption is threatening all species including ourselves with extinction.

There is a decline in the planet’s capacity to provide food, fibre and timber and absorb carbon dioxide. We are using 25 per cent more resources than are renewed naturally in a year. Uncontrolled deforestation and habitat destruction are the causes for man-animal conflicts the world around. This growing pressure on the ecosystem may threaten both biodiversity and human life. For example, deforestation has endangered the biodiversity of the Amazon rain forests. According to an environmental group’s latest findings, the ecological ‘overshoot’ will be 100 per cent by 2050, making the likelihood of large-scale ecosystem collapse likely, and conflicts and political tensions certain. War on ecological claims may not be an exaggeration in the coming years.

As per a study report by WWF Global demand for energy, water and other natural resources is pushing humanity towards an "ecological credit crunch" with Canadians among the biggest culprits. The report says humanity is already consuming its resources 30 per cent faster than the planet can replenish them, and it could need the equivalent of two planets by the mid-2030s to maintain existing lifestyles. The United Arab Emirates had the largest ecological footprint, according to the survey, followed closely by the United States, Kuwait, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand and then Canada with the seventh largest footprint. Other countries in the Top 10 were Norway, Estonia and Ireland.

According to the report, Canada also has the 12th largest water footprint. It estimates the average Canadian consumes more than two million litres of water per year - the equivalent of flushing a toilet 1,000 times per day or keeping a kitchen tap running for more than 10 hours per day.

The way out: There are many ways to cut down on this ecological deficit. Having smaller families can slow down population growth. Thus we can improve the quality of life and reduce consumption. Using excessive resources for the production of luxury goods should be prevented. Reclamation of land through better management and protection of soils, fisheries and forest will help a lot.  Encroachment on rivers and riverbeds, filling and reinforcing of marsh lands need to be controlled and sand mining, which kills rivers, should be banned outright. In short, organs of our Mother Nature need to be kept as they are

and we have to facilitate their well being by fitting ourselves to our surroundings and not the other way round, which is usually the case. We change things to suit us. That is not the nature’s way and would be disastrous to us. Participation: An all out effort to offset this burgeoning threat needs to be taken up by every individual in an impeccable and uncompromising manner. There has to be an attitude, an attitude to one’s surroundings. NGOs, cooperative societies, SHGs (Self Help Groups) and similar social organs can do a great service by way of educating the public and encouraging what is called ‘minimum utilisation of available facilities’ and maximum re-utilisation of spent facilities and resources.  Homework: Life style changes need to be initiated from the school level itself. If we could catch our young when they are at school, they could be assiduously taught what ecological deficit is and how best they themselves can contribute to contain this issue. And coming back to our indoors, we all should learn to live with minimum food and facilities. Instead of demanding exotic dishes and similar extravaganzas, we have to develop a food-to-be-fit and fit-to-be-fed diet culture that promotes what is absolutely needed and discourages what is extraneous and unwanted.

Development: Yes, we cannot do without development. Therefore, all development initiatives need to be studied threadbare to understand whether they are going to contribute to what ecologists call ‘ecological overshoot’ in the immediate or distant future. When our very sustenance is at the brink of collapse, any new project that does some harm to the ecological balance is better kept back or shelved.  In short, all growth must be sustainable keeping our environment in the picture and brought about in a manner that seeks to nurture nature. This can be achieved by factoring the environment primarily in all our projects, and a proper assessment of the environmental impact of all such ventures. Let us not expect our government to take initiatives. Rather we should jump into the ecological bandwagon so the rest of the world follows our example.

Q. Ecotel Hotels

The Ecotel Certification is based on five areas of environmentalism, each of which is designated by a Globe award. These five areas are referred to as the ‘cornerstones of environmental responsibility’ or simply as ‘Globes’. These 5 Globes are:

1. Energy Conservation. Hotel has to be designed and constructed keeping in mind maximum energy conservation, e.g. using minimum lighting, involving guests as well as the employees in the conservation.2. Water Conservation. There should be effective conservation of water in all departments at all levels. Water is to be recycled and utilized as an important resource. Guests and employees are also involved in the water conservation operations of the hotel.

3. Solid Waste Management. The hotel must effectively recycle and manage waste wherever generated. There should be proper systems for collection, recycling and disposal of these wastes. The employees of the hotel also should be trained in the waste management techniques.4. Employee Environmental Education. The hotel should have training modules for employees at all levels to familarise them with the eco-friendly routines.5. Environmental Commitment. The hotel must communicate its commitment to the environment. e.g. the mission statement of the hotel must include its environmental dedication. The hotel should put a senior member of management, to ensure that all departments are fulfilling environmental commitment.

The Ecotel® Certification Program provides the structural guidance and marketing reach for member hotels to achieve sustainability goals and effectively communicate their environmental commitment to guests and meeting planners.

The collection began in 1994 with the New York Vista Hotel, which re-opened as the world's first ECOTEL® Certified hotel after having been closed since the 1991 bombing of the World Trade Center. Since then over 1000 hotels, resorts, and inns have applied for the certification.

Hotels can apply for 1 to 5 Globe awards, although all hotels certified or recertified after 1999 must achieve at least two globe awards to be certified as an ECOTEL.

The Benefits of Membership

Members of the ECOTEL® Collection realize a number of benefits. Primarily the value of the business will improve due to increased exposure in the marketplace, higher staff morale, and better control of operating expenses. We have discovered that the ECOTEL® Collection of hotels caters to a variety of groups, including not only traditional ecotourists, but also discerning business travelers with interest in the environment, Fortune 500 companies with advanced environmental programs as part of their own corporate cultures, corporate meeting planners, travel agents, eco-friendly vacationers, and of course business, travel, and environmental media.

Because of the integrity of the ECOTEL® certification and inspection system, travelers and the media rely on this endorsement of a hotel's environmental performance. When presented properly, the certification can be a powerful marketing advantage and motivator of sales.

Another major benefit realized by hoteliers is increased staff morale with a sense of belonging and pride which translates into minimum staff turnover.

Green Hotels are constructed using environment-friendly materials like PPC cement (Portland Pozzalana cement), which last long, are energy saving (almost 40 per cent) and insulate against extremities of weather. Their

windows are thermally sealed and double-glazed preventing heat and noise from entering the room. These measures lower air-conditioning or room heating costs and save electricity.

They use low energy lamps (compact fluorescent lamps) for all lighting. For most such hotels room lights and A/C are switched on only when we insert the key. The interactive TV in the rooms of some such hotels can be used to send/receive messages and clear bills, thereby saving paper/ phone costs.

The hotels work with NGOs, corporate groups and educational institutions to conduct environmental community awareness programs.

Green Hotels preserve and recycle water. All taps in the guest rooms, toilets, cafeteria and the kitchen contain special devices that increase force and decrease water outflow, saving nearly 50 per cent water. The toilets use concealed cisterns, which consume only seven litres of water as compared to the ordinary cistern that flushes out almost 20! Mini tanks (3.5 litres) are used for a quick flush. Recycled water is used for gardening and air-conditioning. Some Green Hotels capture rainwater into rain-harvesting wells which helps restore the water table.

Bio-degradable kitchen, toilet and garden waste is decomposed in decompost pits and used as manure. Non-bio-degradable waste is segregated and sent to recycling centres.

Q. Montreal Protocol

In 1973 Chemists at the University of California, Irvine, began studying the impacts of CFCs in the earth's atmosphere. They discovered that CFC molecules were stable enough to remain in the atmosphere until they got up into the middle of the stratosphere where they would finally (after an average of 50–100 years for two common CFCs) be broken down by ultraviolet radiation releasing a chlorine atom. Scientists then proposed that these chlorine atoms might be expected to cause the breakdown of large amounts of ozone (O3) in the stratosphere. Crutzen, Molina and Rowland were awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their work on this problem.

The environmental consequence of this discovery was that, since stratospheric ozone absorbs most of the ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation reaching the surface of the planet, depletion of the ozone layer by CFCs would lead to an in increase in UV-B radiation at the surface, resulting in an increase in skin cancer and other impacts such as damage to crops and to marine phytoplankton. In 1985, 20 nations, including most of the major CFC producers, signed the Vienna Convention, which established a framework for negotiating international regulations on ozone-depleting substances.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of a number of substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion. The treaty was opened for signature on September 16, 1987 and

entered into force on January 1, 1989 followed by a first meeting in Helsinki, May 1989. Since then, it has undergone seven revisions, in 1990 (London), 1991 (Nairobi), 1992 (Copenhagen), 1993 (Bangkok), 1995 (Vienna), 1997 (Montreal), and 1999 (Beijing). It is believed that if the international agreement is adhered to, the ozone layer is expected to recover by 2050. Due to its widespread adoption and implementation it has been hailed as an example of exceptional international co-operation with Kofi Annan quoted as saying that "perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date has been the Montreal Protocol".

The stated purpose of the treaty is that the signatory states:

: ...Recognizing that world-wide emissions of certain substances can significantly deplete and otherwise modify the ozone layer in a manner that is likely to result in adverse effects on human health and the environment, ... Determined to protect the ozone layer by taking precautionary measures to control equitably total global emissions of substances that deplete it, with the ultimate objective of their elimination on the basis of developments in scientific knowledge ... Acknowledging that special provision is required to meet the needs of developing countries...

The treaty is structured around several groups of halogenated hydrocarbons that have been shown to play a role in ozone depletion. All of these ozone depleting substances contain either chlorine or bromine (substances containing fluorine-only do not harm the ozone layer). For each group, the treaty provides a timetable on which the production of those substances must be phased out and eventually eliminated.

There is a slower phase-out (to zero by 2010) of other substances and some chemicals get individual attention. The phasing-out of the less active Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) started only in 1996 and will go on until a complete phasing-out is achieved in 2030.

Under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, Parties to this Protocol agreed to set year 2013 as the time to freeze the consumption and production of HCFCs. They also agreed to start reducing its consumption and production in 2015. The time of freezing and reducing HCFCs is then known as 2013/2015.

The provisions of the Protocol include the requirement that the Parties to the Protocol base their future decisions on the current scientific, environmental, technical, and economic information that is assessed through panels drawn from the worldwide expert communities.

Since the Montreal Protocol came into effect, the atmospheric concentrations of the most important chlorofluorocarbons and related chlorinated hydrocarbons have either leveled off or decreased. Halon concentrations have continued to increase, as the halons presently stored in fire extinguishers are released, but their rate of increase has slowed and their abundances are expected to begin to decline by about 2020. Also, the concentration of the HCFCs increased drastically at least partly because for

many uses CFCs (e.g. used as solvents or refrigerating agents) were substituted with HCFCs. While there have been reports of attempts by individuals to circumvent the ban, e.g. by smuggling CFCs from undeveloped to developed nations, the overall level of compliance has been high. In consequence, the Montreal Protocol has often been called the most successful international environmental agreement to date. In a 2001 report, NASA found the ozone thinning over Antarctica had remained the same thickness for the previous three years.

Unfortunately, the hydrochlorofluorocarbons, or HCFCs, and hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, are now thought to contribute to anthropogenic global warming. On a molecule-for-molecule basis, these compounds are up to 10,000 times more potent greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. The Montreal Protocol currently calls for a complete phase-out of HCFCs by 2030, but does not place any restriction on HFCs. Since the CFCs themselves are equally powerful as greenhouse gases, the mere substitution of HFCs for CFCs does not significantly increase the rate of anthropogenic global warming, but over time a steady increase in their use could increase the danger that human activity will change the climate.

Q. Nitrogen Cycle

The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle that describes the transformations of nitrogen and nitrogen-containing compounds in nature. It is a cycle which includes gaseous components.

Earth's atmosphere is approximately 78.08% nitrogen, making it the largest pool of nitrogen. Nitrogen is essential for many biological processes; it is crucial for any life here on Earth. It is in all amino acids, is incorporated into proteins, and is present in the bases that make up nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA. In plants, much of the nitrogen is used in chlorophyll molecules which are essential for photosynthesis and further growth.

Processing, or fixation, is necessary to convert gaseous nitrogen into forms usable by living organisms. Some fixation occurs in lightning strikes, but most fixation is done by free-living or symbiotic bacteria. These bacteria have the nitrogenase enzyme that combines gaseous nitrogen with hydrogen to produce ammonia, which is then further converted by the bacteria to make its own organic compounds. Some nitrogen fixing bacteria, such as Rhizobium, live in the root nodules of legumes (such as peas or beans). Here they form a mutualistic relationship with the plant, producing ammonia in exchange for carbohydrates. Nutrient-poor soils can be planted with legumes to enrich them with nitrogen. A few other plants can form such symbioses. Nowadays, a very considerable portion of nitrogen is fixated in ammonia chemical plants.

Other plants get nitrogen from the soil, and by absorption of their roots in the form of either nitrate ions or ammonium ions. All nitrogen obtained by animals can be traced back to the eating of plants at some stage of the food chain.

Due to their very high solubility, nitrates can enter groundwater. Elevated nitrate in groundwater is a concern for drinking water use because nitrate can

interfere with blood-oxygen levels in infants and cause methemoglobinemia or blue-baby syndrome. Where groundwater recharges stream flow, nitrate-enriched groundwater can contribute to eutrophication, a process leading to high algal, especially blue-green algal populations and the death of aquatic life due to excessive demand for oxygen. While not directly toxic to fish life like ammonia, nitrate can have indirect effects on fish if it contributes to this eutrophication. Nitrogen has contributed to severe eutrophication problems in some water bodies. As of 2006, the application of nitrogen fertilizer is being increasingly controlled in Britain and the United States. This is occurring along the same lines as control of phosphorus fertilizer, restriction of which is normally considered essential to the recovery of eutrophied waterbodies.

Ammonia is highly toxic to fish and the water discharge level of ammonia from wastewater treatment plants must often be closely monitored. To prevent loss of fish, nitrification prior to discharge is often desirable. Land application can be an attractive alternative to the mechanical aeration needed for nitrification.During anaerobic (low oxygen) conditions, denitrification by bacteria occurs. This results in nitrates being converted to nitrogen gases (NO, N2O, N2) and returned to the atmosphere. Nitrate can also be reduced to nitrite and subsequently combine with ammonium in the anammox process, which also results in the production of dinitrogen gas.

Within the last century, humans have become as important a source of fixed nitrogen as all natural sources combined. Burning fossil fuels, using synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, and cultivation of legumes all fix nitrogen. Through these activities, humans have more than doubled the amount of fixed nitrogen is pumped into the biosphere every year.

Early in the 20th century, a German scientist named Fritz Haber figured out how to short circuit the nitrogen cycle by fixing nitrogen chemically at high temperatures and pressures, creating fertilizers that could be added directly to soil. This technology has spread rapidly over the past century, and, along with the advent of new crop varieties, the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers has led to an enormous boom in agricultural productivity. This agricultural productivity has helped us to feed a rapidly growing world population, but the increase in nitrogen fixation has had some negative consequences as well. While the consequences are perhaps not as obvious as an increase in global temperatures or a hole in the ozone layer, they are just as serious and potentially harmful for humans and other organisms. Not all of the nitrogen fertilizer applied to agricultural fields stays to nourish crops. Some is washed off of agricultural fields by rain or irrigation water, where it leaches into surface or ground water and can accumulate. In groundwater that is used as a drinking water source, excess nitrogen can lead to cancer in humans and respiratory distress in infants.