Oil Sands Impact Alberta’s oils Sands are very influential towards Alberta’s and even the world’s social, economic and environmental structure. They are the second largest oil sands area next to those of Saudi Arabia’s. But they are also very harmful to our environment. What Are Oil Sands? Oil Sand is a naturally occurring mixture of sand, water, clay, bitumen and other minerals.
To add to this these methods need vast amounts of energy for extraction, causing the high extraction cost and with this also pollute greatly as the oil is extracted and so raise CO2 and other GHG emissions before the fuel is even burnt. Some of the environmental cost in these areas would be evident. The Canadian Tar Sands, Arctic and the marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico are rich in biodiversity and pristine areas of wildlife and any spills of oil in these areas could be disastrous. The Arctic tundra is very sensitive to human interference and the Canadian Tar Sands is home to thousands of species of animals and is one of the largest bird migration centres in the world, millions of birds use this areas every year and groundwater depletion is another major problem as groundwater needs to be pumped out during mining operations otherwise flooding will occur. Reducing ground water levels will have consequences on the wider ecosystem and it will affect wetlands.
Many of the aquatic invertebrates are responsible for keeping the ecosystem clean by feeding on litters. Extinction of theses invertebrates would totally disrupt the balance of the ecosystem. The aim of this study is to bring awareness about the harmful impact global warming has on the local aquatic invertebrates and on the ecosystem at a global scale. The hypothesis for this study is that the biotic diversity of the slow moving water and fast moving water are driven by abiotic factors. To support this hypothesis, three predictions were made.
TMA 01, QUESTION1. Some of the most serious environmental issues today are climate change, air issue, waste and land pollution, over population and water issue. 1. Climate Change, is undeniable a global environmental concern that is triggering a rise in the amount of major natural disasters like floods and hurricanes; which causes destruction in societies and the regions which they effect. Global warming will only cause an increase in these issues along with additional problems that could eventually end this civilization, if we don’t work hard on improving our efforts on managing all the different types of pollution and waste that contributes to this major concern.
All in all, we are really putting the environment and our lives in danger by using fracking. There can be cleaner alternative fuel sources that we could use rather than fracking. Also, the chemicals and water used in the fracking process can be used for better purposes than harming the environment, such as hydroelectric energy. Fracking poses as a serious threat and if it continues, America will be in a very dangerous
“While [hydraulic fracturing] can help provide energy for America's future, it also poses a new dangerous threat to wildlife and the environment. Toxic chemicals are used during fracking that can infiltrate and contaminate habitat, waterways, and even the drinking water that people and wildlife depend on” (1996-2013). Evidently, “some opponents of oil and natural gas production claim that fracking has serious environmental consequences. The truth is, while all development has challenges, hydraulic fracturing technology has a strong environmental track record and is employed under close supervision by state, local and federal regulators. Studies by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) have confirmed no direct link between hydraulic fracturing operations and groundwater contamination.
Biodiversity may also be reduced if invasive species, such as the zebra mussel or golden algae, are introduced into a waterbody during the drilling process. During the drilling process, wells for drinking water may become polluted with a variety of contaminants, such as methane gas. Here I have a video showing exactly what the drilling is doing to peoples water supply. Gas wells require miles of roads and pipelines to move the natural gas from the drilling site to the market. Construction of these transportation corridors can break up the natural landscape and impact wildlife habitat.
Conversely, Chemical plants can contaminate the pure water or create harmful diseases to humans and the Earth. The West Virginia chemical spill demonstrates the dangers chemical plants pose to our environment, and it is important to understand the devastating
Benzene has been known to be a carcinogen, while the rest of the chemicals are unknown what long term damage it could cause. Another danger of fracking are spills. Spills occur during the adding of the fluids as well as during the results of the flow back. Drill operators will eventually have spills throughout this process. Hoses can be undone, gaskets can fail, pits leak and liquids always hit the ground, repeatedly in large quantities.
Gore also asserts that global warming is caused by over population. Toxins and chemicals in the atmosphere impact each individual in the world. Because of the effects of global warming, the strength of hurricanes can change easily and cause an enormous amount of