ABSTRACT
The most damaging industries tend to be in the primary sector: agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining and the extraction of oil and gas, along with the initial processing of the products concerned. The biggest and most intractable problem suppliers face is arguably climate change. The science behind climate change–that the accumulation of man-made greenhouse gases is leading to more heat trapped in the atmosphere – is well established. Regional impacts on certain resources can be severe too, for example, irrigation and industry often compete for water in arid areas, leaving even less for natural eco-systems and for drinking water for local populations. Geographically limited impacts are complicated by the sensitivity of the locality to the problem. The basis of nature's sustainability is materials flowing in continuous loops – the carbon cycle, the water cycle, the nitrogen cycle. As well as global problems such as climate change or ozone depletion, there is a wide range of local or regional pollution risks.
