Assignment 3: Environmental Issues and the Industrial Revolution * Identify three of the most environmentally negative impacts of the Industrial Revolution and justify your choices. Air Pollution: According to the reading Hiwarale, 2015, said, “The pollution that has resulted from factories involves not only airborne emissions but land and water pollution as well. The primary issue resulting from pollution and carbon emissions is that of global warming. As the temperature rises, the glaciers are melting and oceans are rising. More animal species are becoming endangered or extinct as a result of global warming.” “The carbon emissions, pollution and human health problems that have resulted directly from the Industrial Revolution’s accomplishments have only been disastrous for the world environment.
The mountain pine beetle epidemic is causing environmental and social impacts to much of British Columbia. Our forests are very important and will no longer be able to maintain their role if changes are not made. The devastation has had a sweeping impact on B.C.’s ecological, and economical well-being. Additionally, recent studies are drawing attention to the carbon-emitting properties of the dead forests, which is a global concern. A popular misconception developed that the current provincial mountain pine beetle epidemic began in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park.
There are many different reasons why extinction happens, some of these cause are natural but the majority of them are due to human activity such as deforestation and an increased amount of fossil fuels being used which then leads to global warming. Extinction has increased 100,000 times more than before humans were on earth. There currently is a mass extinction of species since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, some of the main causes of this are habitat destruction, invasive animals, population growth, pollution and over exploitation. Biodiversity is the variety of plants and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat which are affected negatively due to some activities that humans are causing such as climate change. My first piece of evidence in favour of human activity leading to extinction is ‘humans are driving animals to extinction faster than they can evolve ‘written by Juliette Jowit, (on Sunday the 7th of March 2010), the guardian newspaper, 15/01/15.
In order for us, the consumers, to get all of our fancy products and up-to-date technologies, a process that we turn a blind eye to takes place. At the source of the process, there is natural resource exploitation. “We chop down the trees, blow up mountains to get the metals inside, use up all the water, and wipe out all the animals.” As consumers, we are running out of resources because we have too much stuff! In the past three decades alone, one third of the planet’s natural resource space has been consumed. We are undermining the planets very ability for people to live here.
As a result of this, plants and animals are forced to adapt to significant changes that threaten their way of life. As explained by Suzuki in the article, every year at least twenty thousand species disappear forever and the rate of extinction is speeding up largely due to human activity. Many living things are now paying the price for all the man made pollution that has been created as a result of global warming. Furthermore we as a community do nothing to stop global warming and feel no sense of responsibility or duty to care for the overall well being of our world. Big businesses are releasing harmful chemicals into the atmosphere and oceans.
Our Planet is doomed to Extinction Norman Myers wrote this shocking article “Tropical Forests and their Species” to inform people of what is happening to our planet. Our planet is doomed to extinction because the human race is thinking only of economic benefits. Draining, bulldozing and paving the land for housing complexes, roads and malls all destroy wildlife habitat. In “Tropical Forests and their species” Myers stated, “Of all species that have ever existed, possibly half a billion or more, there now remain only a few million. But the natural background rate of extinction during the past 600 million years, the period of major life, has been on the order of only one species every year or so.
Firstly, the Everglades are an important ecosystem which reduces flooding and replenish aquifers but human actions are having a huge impact on the landscape. The rapid urban and agricultural development in the area has decreased the size of the wetlands dramatically which affects the organisms found there. This is especially important as it is home to several endangered species. Not only that, but invasive species that threaten existing wildlife by preying on or competing with them. According to Everglades.org, they’ve “contributed to nearly 70 percent of extinctions in the United States” and are the “primary cause of species endangerment.” The water itself is a major cause of decline to the area, firstly because of poor water management leading to water levels being too low or too high at the wrong times has caused a decline in many species.
1b)Coal is a fossil fuel, which means when it is burnt it releases unwanted pollutants which have a negative and harmful impact on our environment. These pollutants are: Carbon Dioxide- This gas is considered to be the most harmful pollutant as it contributes to global warming. Coal is attributed to approximately 20% of the total pollution globally per year of all the fossil fuels. Sulfur emissions- when sulfur mixes with oxygen a harmful substance is formed. SO2, sulfur dioxide effects our trees and water systems and is the prominent cause of acid rain.
Global Irregularities are more common because of the green house gasses that are being released into the atmosphere (Chandler 4) Although this disaster of fluctuating temperatures is most commonly known as Global Warming, it really just depletes the natural insulation of earth. This lack of insulation and fluctuating temperatures, have been considered signs of the end of the world in 2012. Another current problem for humanity is the disappearance of bees. Albert Einstein once said: ‘If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.’...On the West Coast keepers have seen bee population losses in the 30 to 60 percent range.
The main way these creatures damage the economy is through chipping bark from trees, thus suppressing the forests ability to naturally regenerate (Kenward and Holm, 1993; Bertolino and Genovesi, 2003; Bertolino, 2008). All this stripping forces the government to pay for damaged property and invest in timber protection programs. Some records state that grey squirrels cost the timber industries in the UK and Ireland over €20 million each year. Additionally, the replacement trees that are funded by grants also become destroyed, and must be payed for at an additional cost to each taxpayer in Ireland (Huxley 2003). Aside from bark stripping, these invasive species also cost the Irish economy millions as they destroy insulation, wires, and stored goods.