European Scientific and Environmental Challenges and Issues

Seminar 13

What environmental challenges exist in Europe?

• high increase CO2 concentration and greenhouse gases

• food and water security

• energy and climate change

• health issues

• decrease of material

• housing and mobility

What services does an ecosystem provide?

• provisioning (energy, food water, crops)

• supporting (soil formation; supports provisioning)

• regulating (water and air purification; past and disease control; climate regulation)

• cultural (recreation, eco-tourism)

What shifts in mankind have happened?

• from metals to plastics

• dependence on nonrenewable materials

• increasing population

• rising CO2 concentration

• Covid as sign of loss of biodiversity

What can humans do to be more sustainable?

Use Biomass (only in sustainable way) biobased or sustainable materials

do composting

What are sustainable materials?

drawn from a vast resource that is unaffected by human use

can be recreated in perfect form after use

can regrow as fast as it is used

What are the benefits of composting?

Composting reduces biodegradable waste,

is part of the circular economy

fosters collaboration between the academic community and citizens

What are the five areas of high emission?

• energy

• mobility

• industry

• materials for building

• food and agriculture

How can these problems be solved?

• recycling of embodied energy and wind and solar power

• electric vehicles, efÏcient use of transportation modes, and shifting freight transport from roads to rail and waterway

• new technologies for industry

• using different natural materials (hemp) and recycling

• reduction of food waste