Environmental issues

Air pollution history

Industrialization and globalization have been a large historical reason for the rising amounts of air pollution. The key difference is the two have different emitters during the industrial revolution the mass burning of coal caused a spike in global emissions. Globalization the usage of oil is the main emitter and thanks to this we have seen lowered amounts of global emission. Mind you both of these events have been triggers for worldwide issues with emission and regardless of the switch from coal to oil, this issue will continue to impact all humans on earth.

Effects

Short term

Health concerns, the major issue is the impact air pollutants have on the population, countries with high amounts of pollution have issues with high levels of pneumonia or bronchitis and many citizens have issues with overall irritation to the eyes throat and skin

Long term

similar to short term issues the health concerns for long term exposure to pollutants in the air are heart diseases, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases such as emphysema, in addition, reports of birth defects are common in these countries. Nearly 2.5 million people die worldwide each year from the effects of outdoor or indoor air pollution.

Types of harmful pollutants

sulphur dioxide (SO2),

nitrogen oxides (NOx),

ozone (O3),

particulate matter (small suspended particles of varying sizes)

carbon monoxide (CO)

and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Air pollution: the release of harmful emission into Earths atmosphere

Types and impacts

Renewable Energy

Wind power

Impact on birds and bats have been a concern as propellers have been known to kill flying animals colliding into them, while it may seem like a minor issue impact on bird populations can have adverse affects on the ecosystem they come from.

Solar power

Production of solar panels is an issue due to the usage of hazardous material, Thin-film PV cells (the main component to solar panels) if not disposed of correctly can impact the environment drastically by killing nearby life due to the poisonous material

Geothermal power

The process and end result of geothermal power is quite concerning, with high amounts of water usage ( 1,700 and 4,000 gallons of water per megawatt-hour) and introduction of pollutants in the water after it has been pumped (sulphur, salt, and other minerals.) the impact it can has can outweigh the benefit, as well the steam produces contains sulphur which is a major issue for air pollution as SO2 is one of the many chemicals causing global warming.

Biomass power

The concerning issue with the burning biomass is the high demand for water and land. Since the power created in this process requires mass or any natural substance leading to the practice of deforestation to produce energy crop impacts the worldwide greenhouse gas emission. Additionally the need for water can put a strain on local communities and damage ecosystems .(20,000 and 50,000 gallons per megawatt-hour)

Non-Renewable Energy

Fosil fuels

The impact fossil fuel has had on humanity is massive from water, land and global warming as the whole earth has suffered majorly due to coal, oil and natural gas. From the mere gathering of these fuels, the impact it has had on land is major since the process of collecting impacts ecosystems and exporting it through pipelines which leak or break to roads for trucks to transport it out which adds to the overall CO2 emmisons. Acquiring it isnt the only issue the buring of these fuels is the worse part as the smoke it produces contains high amounts of co2 which is one of the many pollutants which add to higher than natural greenhouse gases which causes UV rays to stay inside the earth atmosphere which in turn lead to higher temperatures worldwide which then increases hurricanes and heatwaves as the world increases in heat and causes the ice caps to melt which leads to higher ocean temperature, so all in all the fuels we currently use are the Mike Tyson of pollutants hitting us so hard that we are seeing faster than normal global and consequently all the issues that follow

Nuclear energy

Nuclear energy, no need to beat around the bush with this energy source the impact is terrible but the amount of energy is amazing but with the nuclear waste, it creates it's not ideal for humanity if we want to be around forever. The biggest affect nuclear energy has is its waste, spent nuclear fuel can be radioactive thus deadly to humans and all living matters for thousands of year and although proper storage can help environmental impact the actual process of collecting consumes the same amount as fossil fuel if not more due to high amounts of lead and other minerals needed to hold and gather said element. Not only is getting it hard creating nuclear plants requires vast amounts of concrete and metals and land which as we have learnt are not something eath is in surplus of and regardless of this cost the waste still needs to be stored for thousands of years. So for the short term impacts one can consider the cost of making plants and gathering uranium as well as creating proper storage facilities to deal with waste but on the larger scale, humans will be stuck with the waste for thousands of years

Usinig the graph above one can see the high relaince on fossil fuels humanity has and forcastes showing the demand to increase the side effects are becoming more imminent, currently all across the world nations have seen extreme heats with some temperatures in North America going up to 42C and with worldwide population increases the need for energy is not gonna decrease and the key issue with energy consumption is the impact it has on all forms of life from land to water. Things we must do include being more mindful in energy usuage rather then wasting , as well as educating the public of impacts and how to be more resourceful with energy as well as funding renewable energy sources rather sticking to oil and gas.

Degradation of land

Causes

Deforestation

Over usage of Fertilizers and Pesticides

Mismanagement of land

impact

Thanks to land degradation over 2 billion people will be forced to relocate along with the destruction of the ecosystem which animals and humans relly on. The simple idea that we only have so much should be influential enough to force people to be more mindful but unfortunately it is not, since 12 million hectares of natural forest is lost every year and with that goes many animals and plant life with it, essentially we are taking a vast amount of land for food production and housing and thanks to that we are crowding ourselves more. With urbanization increasing by 30% in Ontario alone and with population growth increasing in much of the world the demands we will and now have are killing the earth and us with it.

Not only is this killing the earth the issues concerning land degradation will hit whole nations, as they fight to sustain our population with food and water become more challenging as we run out of land to produce it. As we continue to grow an ecological plan must be set in place te ensure our stability on thins planet.

Water poultion

water pollution is caused by runoff or introductions of harmful chemicals which in turn makes it toxic. Toxic and unsafe water kills more people each year than war and all other forms of violence combined which is quite substantial. As stated before the population growth is leading to increase in demand from agriculture, manufacturing, housing and energy and in turn leading to more waste runoff.

lack of fresh water

With 70% of the earth covered in water many assume water is no issue but in fact, it s since out of that 70% only 2.5% is drinkable and the rest is salted which takes loads of energy to desalinate. With misuse and high demands, the worry is we might all face a shortage and already 1.1 billion people lack access to water and another 2.7 billion lack water one month a year so with population increase the amount lacking water shall increase.

Impact

Lack of water is a ticking time bomb and as we increase in demand like all resources the fact is we will run have shortage worldwide and the impacts of that are a large scale from conflict to droughts, and with global ice caps melting containing almost two thirds of the 2.5% of freshwater countries with high heat and humidity will be the first to fee the heat of lack of water (South Africa one of the first to be hit with water shortages. )