page_title: Natural environment
section_title: Challenges
hierarchical_section_title: Natural environment / Challenges
caption_attribution_description: English: Four Corners Generating Station, San Juan County, New Mexico, USA. Caption:"Power plant, NW corner of New Mexico. Photo was taken prior to installation of emission controls equipment for removal of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter.
context_page_description: The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses the interaction of all living species, climate, weather and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity.
  The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished as components.That is given below:
  First one-Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive civilized human intervention, including all vegetation, microorganisms, soil, rocks, atmosphere, and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries and their nature.
  Second one- Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from civilized human actions.
  In contrast to the natural environment is the built environment.
context_section_description: It is the common understanding of natural environment that underlies environmentalism — a broad political, social, and philosophical movement that advocates various actions and policies in the interest of protecting what nature remains in the natural environment, or restoring or expanding the role of nature in this environment. While true wilderness is increasingly rare, wild nature (e.g., unmanaged forests, uncultivated grasslands, wildlife, wildflowers) can be found in many locations previously inhabited by humans.
  Goals for the benefit of people and natural systems, commonly expressed by environmental scientists and environmentalists include:
  Elimination of pollution and toxicants in air, water, soil, buildings, manufactured goods, and food.
  Preservation of biodiversity and protection of endangered species.
  Conservation and sustainable use of resources such as water, land, air, energy, raw materials, and natural resources.
  Halting human-induced global warming, which represents pollution, a threat to biodiversity, and a threat to human populations.
  Shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy in electricity, heating and cooling, and transportation, which addresses pollution, global warming, and sustainability. This may include public transportation and distributed generation, which have benefits for traffic congestion and electric reliability.
  Shifting from meat-intensive diets to largely plant-based diets in order to help mitigate biodiversity loss and climate change.
  Establishment of nature reserves for recreational purposes and ecosystem preservation.
  Sustainable and less polluting waste management including waste reduction (or even zero waste), reuse, recycling, composting, waste-to-energy, and anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge.
  Reducing profligate consumption and clamping down on illegal fishing and logging.
  Slowing and stabilisation of human population growth.
caption: Before flue-gas desulfurization was installed, the air-polluting emissions from this power plant in New Mexico contained excessive amounts of sulfur dioxide.
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