...Toxic Wasteland Driving down the road, a passenger is exposed to all of the enchanting sights that nature has to offer. Images of trees soaring above the roads, water rushing through the creek, and dingy trash covering the fields, fill the minds of travelers. Human waste has interrupted the beauty of nature. Beer cans, plastic bags, and McDonald’s® wrappers are dispersed throughout the environment. Trash is tucked away deep into the crevices of cities, forests, fields, and oceans. Littering affects not only the view of the beautiful environment, but it also affects animals, water systems, and plant life. The consequences of littering diminish the quality of life for all organisms in the ecosystem, and it must be stopped. Humans tend to be wasteful by nature. Almost everyone has left garbage outside, or thrown something out the window. Believe it or not, biodegradable substances such as orange peels, apple cores, and banana peels are all considered littering. While littering seems commonplace, it is disrespectful to the environment. Animals are injured, water sources are contaminated, and toxins are continually recycled into the ecosystem. State governments have been hard at work trying to find measures to decrease the amount of waste being thrown into our world. The real question is why do people continue to litter? The Scottish government provides people answers about the common issue of littering. According to the Scottish Falkirk Council, people have come up...
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...2013 Kyra Schilling, lead author of this study, was able to look at the sea floor at a depth of 365 meters, and continued to the depth of 4,000 meters. What they found was a lot of trash, one-third of the trash was plastic, of these objects half were plastic bags. Metal was the second common form of debris found, aluminum cans, steel, and tin cans were found. Other things were found as well that include rope, fishing equipment, glass bottles, paper, and cloth. Kyra made a good point, “We don’t usually think of our daily activities affecting life two miles deep in the...
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...also putting our own lives on the line. Most of the garbage is plastic from bottles, wrappers, straws, and bags. These plastic objects harm the plants and animals living in the ocean. This is one huge reason we need to recycle. Additionally, we need to recycle to protect people and the Earth. We need to recycle to protect animals. Animals are in danger because of plastic waste being dumped in the ocean. On page 29 of Protecting Our Planet, author Jilly Hunt states that, “Small bits of plastic can be eaten by fish and other sea creatures.” This proves that because of people not recycling, many animals in the ocean can get sick and...
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...materials, plastic, will cause much harm If people forget to recycle them. Plastic bags will not be disposed in soil by itselves,and it may cost hundreds of years to break down in landfill. Moreover, too much plastic bags will cause the death of animals and the contamination in oceans.(HuntMA.S, 2012) It is also said by putatunda.R in 2011 that when the plastic bags are used, thay become trushes in land. Increasingly more bags turn into rubbish every year, which make water way, parks, beaches and steet full of garbages. Even though they are burnt, they will contaminate the air condition. Due to the pollution resulted by the overuse of plastic bags, many countries began to limit the usage of them in recent years. In Ireland, a compulsive fee for plastic bags reduced the usage of plastic bags by 90%. This action made a lot of people stop to use plastic bags in shops.(HuntMA.S, 2012) China government also promulgate the law to ban the free use of plastic bags, which means people have to buy plastic bags instead of given by shops. As a result, many people are reluctant to pay an additional fee. Thanks to this law, the usage of plastic bags in China decreased by 400 million from 2008 to 2009. Another instance is about glasses, which is also non-recyclable. Glass is not absolutely harmful and poisonous things in people’s life, and the meterial it used is not expensive and rare. Whereas glass need to be quarried, it may effect the environment because they will not be decomposed in earth. The...
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...be this law because there is so much trash in the world. I also think that there should be at least one day that this is happening because then it can get away all of the trash very quickly. There is just too much trash. Supporting this because there is more than nine billion tons of plastic trash that have been produced since 1950. That to me is stargazing because it says that majority of the trash is still around. Also, there are 18,000 pounds of trash that had been produced since 1950. And again that surprises me because with all of that trash just in a landfill how is it going to go all away without destroying our earth. Last but not least, This one surprises me the most because how is that going to help make earth health again. So that leads to how there are 2.6 Trillion pounds of garbage in the world. There are a couple reasons why picking up trash is not good here is one, Picking up trash is not good because it is one of the dangerous jobs. www.rubicongobal.com...
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...You think plastic bags are harmless? Tell that to the dolphin with the plastic bag wound around its snout, slowly starving to death. You think they’re light, easily thrown out? Over one million bags a week are buried, ditched and dumped in our country. A couple of plastic bags blowing in the wind couldn’t hurt, could it? Potentially putting our environment at risk of damage, and affecting the clean green nature of New Zealand. Dangers Of Using Plastic Bags Environmental Damage Plastic bags have been known to cause a lot of environmental damage. A single plastic bag can take up to 1000 years, to decay completely. This makes the bags stay in environments longer, in turn leading to great build-up on the natural landscape (much more than degradable materials like paper). In other words, the more plastic bags you use, the greater the chances of environmental damage. Threat To Animal Life As per Marrickville Council of Australia, as many as 100,000 whales, turtles and birds die have been reported to die every year, mainly because of plastic in their environment. Plastic bags not only have adverse effects on our natural habitats, but have also been found to be responsible for the death of many animals, mainly on account of the suffocation encountered on eating them. Suffocation Not only animals, infants and young children have also been reported to have lost their life, on account of plastic bags. Since plastic bags are thin and airtight as well, children often end...
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...Courtesy of the Merriam-Webster dictionary, environment is the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded. Acts against the environment causes the ozone layer to deplete. The ozone layer is defined as a region of the upper atmosphere containing relatively high levels of ozone, located mostly within the stratosphere. The ozone absorbs large amounts of solar ultraviolet radiation, preventing it from reaching the Earth's surface. When the ozone layer is depleted, it caused the greenhouse effect, a slowdown of the rate at which the earth loses heat, resulting in an increase in the earth’s temperature like a greenhouse. Acid rain is another side effect of harming the environment. It is a by-product of nitrogen oxides or sulfur oxides mixed with rain. In order to reduce the harm that humans inflict on the environment, people can learn to save energy in their homes. When washing clothes, using warm or cold water is better than using hot water. Fluorescent lights should be used if possible. In addition, leaky faucets should be fixed. The cooks should consider using the stove top rather than the oven. During the hot seasons, remember to keep the windows and doors shut while running the air-conditioner. Clean water is a finite source that is rapidly disappearing. To help keep water clean, people should minimize chemical use such as fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. Those substances become dangerous once they reach a body of water. If it has to be used,...
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...Effects of Plastic Bags on Environmentt * | * The effects of plastic bags on the environment are really quite devastating. While there are many objections to the banning of plastic bags based solely on their convenience, the damage to the environment needs to be controlled. * There is no way to strictly limit the effects of plastic bags on the environment because there is no disposal method that will really help eliminate the problem. While reusing them is the first step, most people either don't or can't based on store policies. They are not durable enough to stand up to numerous trips to the store so often the best that citizens can do is reuse them when following pooper scooper laws. * The biggest problem with this is that once they have been soiled the end up in the trash, which then ends up in the landfill or burned. Either solution is very poor for the environment. Burning emits toxic gases that harm the atmosphere and increase the level of VOCs in the air while landfills hold them indefinitely as part of the plastic waste problem throughout the globe. * Plastic Bag Litter * Even when citizens try to manage their plastic bag disposal wind plays a role in carrying them away as litter. This litter is not biodegradable and thus where it lands it tends to stay for long period of time. A bag that is eventually ripped to shreds from high winds or other factors doesn't disappear but instead is spread in smaller amounts throughout the area. This can cause more problems...
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...microwave for short term heating purpose only. For an extended stretch of time, always use the piped natural gas (PNG) as it is more eco-friendly. Q.3)When you go to a mall for shopping do you carry a jute bag or paper bag with you? a)Yes b)No c)Sometimes d)I prefer to purchase it A.3) I carry a bag made from fabric when I go shopping since it can reused and avoids wastage of money on new carry bags on each visit. Q.4)How much water do you consume while washing your car or two wheeler? a)4 buckets b)2 buckets c)1 bucket d)I use sponge wash A.4) A bucket or half seems essential to wash the dirt away if it is done on daily basis. Q.5)Do you reuse the leftover water in any other form? a)Sometimes b)Never c)Always d)All the water is consumed A.5) Leftover water, especially that emitted from the air-conditioners serves well to flush the toilets since it is slightly acidic in nature due to the chemicals present in the air. Q.6)Are you aware about the concept Earth Hour? a)Yes b)No c)May be d)Not interested A.7) Yes, the Earth Hour is a concept which is practiced worldwide and leads to saving non-renewable resources present on the Earth. Q.7)If yes for how much time you switch off your light on Earth Hour? a)30 min b)1 hour c)50 min d)15 min A.8) The term Earth Hour...
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...Part A: Definitions 1) Extinct- When a species has died out and is no longer a living organism on earth, due to human activities or environmental forces disturbance like example : poaching, poor reproduction, global warming, etc. One example for extinction is the polar bears are highly endangered, because humans cause global warming and that causes the ice sheet to melt that supports the polar bear to survive because they depend on the ice to prey down seals(there main source of food) , therefore the polar bears are highly endangered due to human activities. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/198987/extinction) 2) Extirpated- When a specie is been completely removed from a particular area, ecosystem or habitat, as result...
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... Global Warming 1 Are Humans Causing Global Warming? The recent warming of our planet has several apparent causes. In its 2001 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on climate change stated, there is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming over the last 50 years is attributed to human activities (http://www.ucsusa.org/global). Green House Gases Green house gases act as a blanket locking in heat emissions affecting the earth’s climate. Human acts such as; burning fossil fuels and energy for deforestation is large contributors to an increase in green house gases. Humans are pouring carbon dioxide (CO2) in to the atmosphere much faster than plants and oceans can absorb it. This has been going on for years and because of the build up of emissions, it is impossible to prevent global warming. Deforestation Deforestation causes extinction in certain species. Humans are a species and we depend on other species for our survival. Land use directly leads to species extinction (Turk, J & Bensel T 2011 chapter 4). Humans should reserve biomes and aquatic zones because life is dependent upon it. An interruption to these zones causes a depleting effect creating irreversible lose of important organisms. Extinction is a natural selection process...
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...This essay establish the cause and effect relationship between the climatic change and human activity .It also gives the insight that global warming is not only caused by business activity but individuals are also responsible for it. It also outline the individuals responsibility towards saving the earth from global warming. GLOBAL WARMING IS NOT CAUSED BY BUSINESS ACTIVITY ʻ Global warming is too serious for the world any longer to ignore its danger or split into opposing factions on it. ʼ These are the golden words which are spoken by TONY BLAIR in one of his speech dated on Sept 27, 2005. (Blair,2005 ) Global warming means increase in the average temperature of the earth which in turn causes change in climate. (BBC, 2008)The Earth’s atmosphere is covered with a blanket of green house gases (carbon dioxide, methane , water vapour, nitrous oxide and CFC ) .The blanket filters the sun light (UVB radiations ) . When the concentration of these gases increases in the blanket, the temperature also rises. A warmer earth may leads to melting of glaciers, rise in the sea level, and a wide impact on living beings. India‘s annual emission of carbon dioxide is 1.34billion tones. (Filter, Ringward,2008 ) Business activities refer to those economic activities which are connected with production, purchase, sale of goods and services with the main objective of earning profit. Business activities are partially responsible for global warming. Energy is required for heating,...
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...Assignment #4 Plastics Ana Peterson Welcome to Assignment 4. Today’s assignment is about plastics, specifically about using plastics to create more environmentally friendly forms of packaging, but first…. Petersons’ Short Takes Don’t be fooled by environmentalist who post videos on YouTube designed to invoke an emotion so you will form an opinion that agrees with their agenda and at the same time offering no solution to the problem. And I quote “40 years later the future is here, and with respect to plastics it’s not so great.” Environmentalist would have you believe that plastic is the great spawn of Satan and the only solution is to completely eradicate it or tax anyone that profits from it until they can no longer afford to use it. “Those who profit from plastics are trying to dispute the harm that plastics cause.” Haven’t we all profited from plastics? Hasn’t the entire human race profited from plastics? Isn’t the button on your shirt plastic? How about the microphone you are speaking into? Isn’t the camera you are using to make your video made out of plastic? I would argue that plastic has helped the environment more than it has harmed it. It would be an easy argument to make because speaking in generalities is pointless. Saying plastic is the problem takes the human factor out of it and invokes a negative emotion in people towards plastic. Have you...
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...raised issues regarding our problematic oceans. Misguided and crucial errors humans make harm oceans using unsustainable practices which eventually eliminate many species of sea creatures and destroy the water they inhabit and we need for our survival as well. Countries around the world have been heavily positively praised while some have been lauded negatively, for instance, the United States. A crying shame how most countries on Earth seem in continuing spiraling towards ecological harm in an abundance of forms, regarding ocean garbage, coral reefs and oil spills over a twenty-five year period have caused our oceans’ ecology suffering to escalate. Incidents regarding a floating garbage patch in the Pacific, even cruise ships repeating sewage and garbage dumping are atrocious. The problem is, most people do not pay attention and take situations such as these as non-existent. Evidence documented over decades suggest our oceans’ trouble will continue unless change happens sooner rather than later. Change in how we respond to problems should not take years for resolution, because some of the damage may be minute and builds up over time, while some comes in big bunches that there is not time to waste in resolving. In some of these cases, years elapsed before any significant progress had been made, resulting in more damage than first observed. The problems have similarities and differences, while causes are mostly humans deciding to abuse the ecosystem, and solutions do not come easy. However...
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...The biggest landfill on the earth: Great Pacific Garbage Patch Can you imagine the amount of trash approximately fourteen times bigger than whole Slovakia? No? Then it is about time to make you familiar with Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This large floating landfill is the biggest one in the world. According to Charles Moore, discoverer of Great Pacific Garbage Patch (in 1977), "The ocean is downhill from everything" (as cited in Blomberg, 2011). Considering the fact that high percentage of all trash is produced on the land, it is very surprising then the biggest junk yard is actually in the water and not on the land. Even though, recently many people and companies started to care more about amount of trash in oceans, there is a lack of information about Great Pacific Garbage Patch and related issues among large number of population. First of all, Great Pacific Garbage Patch consists of two parts, Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch as mentioned in article written by Jacob Silverman (n.d.). Some sources refer to Eastern one as Great Pacific Garbage Patch and do not talk about the other one (Boudreau et al., n.d.), even though they do not deny the existence of Western Pacific Garbage Patch it can cause some misunderstanding with names. In this essay, there will be used distinction of Eastern and Western Pacific Garbage Patch as well as collective name Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Eastern one is situated between Hawaii and California, the Western...
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