Humans & the Biosphere

• Population explosion in the XX century. Reasons and causes of this explosion. Demographic transition. Links between demographic explosion and social, political and environmental problems;
• Environmental indicators. Pressure-State-Response scheme and its modifications. Use of indicators for
description of various environmental issues. Consumption and technology factors;
• Atmospheric Transformations. Atmospheric Lifetime and Fates of Airborne Chemicals. Peculiarities of air
pollution at different scales;
• Local issues: problems associated with urban air pollution, major types of urban pollutants, Health effects of urban air pollution;
• Regional issues: acid deposition, problems associated with acidification in Europe, ways to diminish acidic
loads on the environment;
• Global issues: evidence of current climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion, climate change in the past, possible environmental consequences of changes in atmosphere at the global level;
• Ways to meet the challenge of atmospheric pollution: existing international agreements and their
implementation, current negotiations and debates on new agreements;
• Studying and constructing possible future scenarios (based on group exercise with the “World 3” model)
• Key environmental and social issues associated with agriculture and food security;