Identification and Visualization of Key Ecological Indicators

Inhaltsangabe:Introduction:Our planet with its life friendly environment is the foundation of our lives. Without it we and all living things wouldn?t exist, so one could say it is the most important basis for our existence, and thus should be one of the most relevant subjects in our society. But if you face reality Mother Nature is exploited and destroyed by men and corporations for resources, money and profits, as could be seen in contemporary events, like the oil spill of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, or the nuclear disaster at the atomic plant in Fukushima. These events showed us, very obviously, how easy corporations could harm the vulnerable eco-system in a sustainable way. Moreover they pollute the environment with all their activities not only with serious accidents or scandals that are reported by the media, and thereby are in the awareness of a huge variety of people. Almost everything corporations do, more or less, will have an impact on our ecological system, as our own behavior will influence it as well.In the last centuries though, more and more people began to question those reckless methods that violate our nature. They start to wonder how such an attitude would influence our future. Could it lead to an unlivable planet, so that following generations will not be able to live anymore? In deed this question targets a very pessimistic scenario, but is illustrating importance, as well as necessity of ecological health for humankind and all living creatures on planet earth. It is resulting in further questions, like which impact does our present behavior have on our environment, and how will it develop in the following years. Or in which way do we have to change our manner to ensure a healthy and livable environment in future. Additionally there are the so called ?what if scenarios?, which ask for instance, what environmental pollution would be if all developing countries behaved the way we do. As one can see, there are plenty of problems our society has to think about. Some of the biggest issues scientists have recognized are the greenhouse effect associated with the global warming problem, the limited amount of non-renewable resources like carbon, oil or gas, the urbanization of our planet and the shrinking biosphere for other creatures. These issues show the need keeping track of our influence on Mother Nature and the urgency reducing it to a non-critical amount. Therefore the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has […]