Environmental Problems (Mooney,
Linda, Knox, David, and Schacht)
Over the past 50 years,
humans have altered ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any other
comparable period of time in history (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). As
a result, humans have created environmental problems, including depletion of
natural resources; air, land and water pollution; global warming and climate
change; environmental illness; threats to biodiversity; and light pollution.
Because many of these environmental problems are related to the ways that
humans produce and consume energy, we will begin with global energy use.
Water Pollution
Our water is being polluted by a number of harmful
substances, including plastics, pesticides, vehicle exhaust, acid rain, oil
spills, sewage, and industrial, military, and agricultural waste. Water
pollution is most severe in developing countries, where more than 1 billion
people lack access to clean water. In developing nations, more than 80 percent
of untreated sewage is dumped directly into rivers, lakes, and seas that are
also used for drinking and bathing (World Water Assessment Program 2009).
In the United States, one indicator of water pollution is
the thousands of fish advisories issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) that warn against the consumption of certain fish caught in local
waters because of contamination with pollutants such as mercury and dioxin. The
EPA advises women who may become pregnant, pregnant women and nursing mothers,
and young children to avoid eating certain fish altogether (swordfish, shark, king
mackerel, and tilefish) because of the high levels of mercury (EPA 2004).
Pollutants in drinking water can cause serious health
problems and even death. At Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base in Onslow County,
North Carolina, as many as 1 million people were exposed to water contaminated
with trichloroethylene (TCE), an industrial degreasing solvent, and
perchloroethylene (PCE), a dry-cleaning agent from 1957 until 1987 (Sinks
2007). Exposure to these chemicals has been linked to a number of health problem,
including kidney, liver, and lung damage, as well as cancer, childhood
leukemia, and birth defects.
Water pollution also affects the health and survival of fish
and other marine life. In the Gulf of Mexico, as well as in the Chesapeake Bay
and Lake Erie, there are areas known as “dead zones” that due to pollution
runoff from agricultural uses of fertilizer have oxygen levels so low they
cannot support life (Scavia 2011)
In recent years, there has been increasing public concern
about the effects of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking-a process used in
natural gas production that involves injecting at high pressure a mixture of
water, sand, and chemicals into deep underground wells to break apart shale
rock and release gas. Opponents of fracking cite a number of concerns about the
damaging impacts to the environment and to human health, including the
production of toxic wastewater and contamination of drinking water, air
pollution, land damage, and global warming emissions (Ridlington & Rumpler
2013).
Another growing concern surrounds the increasing amount of
plastic pollution found in the world’s oceans: There is not a single cubic
meter of ocean water that does not contain some plastic. Much of this plastic
is difficult to see because of its small size. Microplastics, which fragments
of plastic that measure less than 5 mm, come from the degradation of plastic
products and from small pellets that are used to make plastic products such as
bottles, bags, and packaging. Some of these pellets are accidentally spilled
into the environment and have been found on beaches and in ocean water around
the world (Takada 2013) These plastic pellets and other plastic debris contain
high concentration of hazardous chemicals that can have adverse effects on
marine life and humans that consume seafood.
Sources
Mooney, Linda, Knox, David, and Schacht, Caroline 2015.
Understanding Social Problems. Cengage Learning: Boston, MA.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Synthesis. Washington. DC: Island
Press.
World Water Assessment Program, 2009. World Water Development Report 3: Water In a Changing World.
Available at www.unesco.org
Sinks, Thomas. 2007 (June 12). Statement by Thomas Sinks,
PhD, Deputy Director, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry on
ATSDR’s Activities at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune before Committee on
Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations United States
House of Representatives. Available at www.hhs.gov
Scavia, Donald. 2011 (September 2). “Dead Zones in Gulf of
Mexico and Other Waters Require a Tougher Approach: Donald Scavia.” Nola.com Available at www.nola.com
Ridlington, Elizabeth, and John Rumpler. 2013. Fracking by the Numbers: Key Impacts of
Dirty Drilling at the State and National Level. Environment America
Research & Policy Center. Available at www.environmentamerica.org
Takada, Dr. Hideshige. 2013 (May 10). Microplastics and the
Threat to Our Seafood. Ocean Health Index. Available at www.oceanhealthindex.org
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