These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Assessing the planet's condition.
    Author: Brown LR.
    Journal: Epa J; 1990; 16(4):2-6. PubMed ID: 12285798.
    Abstract:
    The destruction of the environment has accelerated since the Earth Day of 1970, the world's population has increased by another 1.6 billion, and over 500 million acres of forest have been lost. Carbon dioxide levels, greenhouse gases, and chlorofluorocarbons have increased in the atmosphere with evidence that global warming has started. The ozone hole has appeared, acid rain has destroyed forests, air pollution in major northern hemisphere cities has worsened, and species are disappearing, while toxic chemicals have been dumped indiscriminately. World grain production has fallen while population has increased. In Europe 14 countries have stabilized their population, and Japan, France, and Finland are on the way to zero growth. Reduction of high fertility in 1/2 could halt the deterioration of living conditions. Japan and China achieved this within a decade. Energy efficiency has to be attained; US cars still consume too much gas. Solar energy with photovoltaic cells to provide power, fuel alcohol from plants, and solar thermal power plants have potential. Semiarid regions, such as northern Africa, could become major producers of solar energy. Various measures are mandatory to cut down on waste: to recycle paper bags, to use standardized glasses for beverages, and to utilize scrap metal in electric arc steel furnaces. Reforestation is also on the agenda, as major deforestation has occurred in the Brazilian Amazon region, in India, and in Europe because of acid rain. Australia's national plan envisions planting 1 billion trees, and the US project is of similar magnitude during the 1990s. Only the US has succeeded in erosion control and topsoil stabilization when it converted erodible cropland into grassland or woodland during 1986-90.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]