The three most negative effects of the Industrial Revolution are air pollution, water pollution, and over urbanization. Ranking them from absolute worst being number one too better but still bad being number three. Number one would be air pollution two being water pollution and three being over urbanization. Air pollution is the worst because everyone needs to breath air and do not have a choice whether they breath clean air or polluted air. The second bad impact due to industrial revolution is the water pollution. The last negative impact on my list is number three over urbanization is a general category and the sub categories include but are not limited to housing and overpopulation.
What happened to the society is what made these impacts the worst. Number one, the air pollution, is the worst for many reasons. Tuberculosis can be spread by a person breathing in the air. With that being said tuberculosis (TB) killed one third of the people that died in Britain between 1800 and 1850. The way TB gets into the air is when someone who is infected exhales in close proximity to someone who is not but now soon will be infected. Many people use to believe that disease was spread by bad smells and invisible poisonous clouds known as miasmas. Industrial cities had the most deaths and were certainly plagued by poor smells from sewage and other industrial pollutants however a connection was never found between any disease and smell. The water pollution was named number two. The reason this is number two is because everyone has to drink water to survive but there were many places that had clean water.' Those who live near a river could drink river water. However, men known as "night-men" would empty their carts full of sewage and other general rubbish into these rivers. With no other running water the best people could do was leave a bucket outside and hope that it fills with water. Sewage often seeped into the town's water supply and contaminated the water. Cholera was the number one feared disease it can spread crazy fast and end with devastating consequences. Typhoid was also a feared disease and was also caused by contaminated water. There are many reasons that Over urbanization is number three. In 1695 the population of Britain was estimated to be 5.5 million by 1841 it had reached 15.9 million. That is a 60% growth rate in 40 years. Even with the growth of population the need for people in the working field is being reduced. Because of the growth in the population more homes were needed. These homes were made as cheap and quickly as possible. The Industrial Revolution saw the start of what was known as back-to-back terrace buildings. These had no gardens and were connected to all other houses with only one entrance. The cheapest slate from Wales was the most commonly used material to build these buildings. Once finished these homes were damp and the moisture would continuously seep into the lowest part of the house causing major damage. None of these homes have a bathroom, toliet, or even running water. Waste was thrown into the court yard were night-men would collect the waste and dispose of it. There was a possibility that for every 40 houses each holding 9 people there would be 6 toilets. Rounding that shows that for every 60 people there is 1 toilet. As the cities became more populated the court yards began to flood and problems would only get worse.
1970 was the year that marked the birth of the modern environmental movement that was symbolized by the first observance of "Earth Day" in April of 1970. Global population was estimated to be 3.7 billion. However in 1995 the population had reached 5.7 billion. While in 1970 about 65 percent of world population remained rural by 1995 45 percent were concentrated into towns and cities. Urbanization has been fastest in developing countries such as the U.S.With a large and wealthy population the United States agricultural changes impact the environment.Production, consumption have changed tremendously since 1970. The gross world domestic production increased about $24 trillion in 1994 which is over twice the amount in 1970. The second American concern is depletion of the ozone layer which could lead to increased exposure to the suns U.V rays which are extremely harmful to human beings. Production continues to grow steadily because the U.S banned particular uses pf CFS's (chlorofluorocarbons). In the U.S the number of people violating the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone in the lower atmosphere dropped by 10%.
The U.S and other countries have taken many steps to try and fix the enviornment. The Clean Air Act, Federal Water Pollution Control Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act are only 3 of the steps taken to improve quality of the environment. The Clean Air Act was passed in 1970 to reduce air pollution across the country. The act sets limits to the levels of pollutants allowed in the air nation wide. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act was passed in 1982 and contains provisions pertaining to oil spills and other hazardous substances in the water. Finally the Safe Drinking Water Act was passed in 1972 to assure the safety of public drinking water. The public water supply system must tell customers about any failure to meet EPA standards.
I personally believe that our environment is going up and I feel like there are many laws that need to be enforced a little better. Laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act, The Wetlands Protection, The Toxic- Substance Control Act. The Right-to-Know Act, and the Endangered Species act all need to be enforced a little more if we want our environment to continue to improve.