It entails lots of destructive multistep processes which can result in displacement of communities, pollution of water and land with toxic chemicals such as mercury, devastating effects on workers’ health and destruction of virgin environments. The use of the cyanide leaching technique in extraction has resulted in series of negative environmental impacts. Large quantities of water and energy are being used up and there is distinct changes in topography, hydrology, stability of the landscape and accumulation of pollutant in the environment. Emission of hydrogen cyanide, global warming and generation of hazardous wastes that endangers the health of people and ecosystems (Hilson, 2002 ; Bakatula et al. 2012).
Companies producing products must get their materials from somewhere. Often if they must mine these materials, it’s done in a poor country where they can get away with unethical working conditions. Unethical working conditions are described as exposing workers to hazardous conditions (the mine could collapse, they breathe in toxic chemicals, etc. ), Many mining chains use child labor and put these children at risk, also chemicals released from mining cobalt get put into the atmosphere and are eventually absorbed into the soil or water around the mining site. It’s important for companies to prove that their product is or isn’t ethical because companies should be transparent about how their products are made.
Accidents are a detrimental factor in many different industries and constitute a potential source of human loss, equipment damage and environmental impact. As the Petroleum refineries are generally acknowledged to be high hazard sites (Wood and Guenes, 2015) it is important to take into consideration that in a number of cases, the resulting fatalities and serious injuries can cost millions of dollars. The risk of accidents is associated with the presence of thousands of tonnes of oil into various product lines each year many of which are flammable, toxic to human health or toxic to the environment and under such conditions that an uncontrolled accident could have significant consequences to the immediate area (Christou, 1999). The consequences of such accidents cover various levels and may affect not only the industrial sites, but also have environmental and socio-economic impacts (Kadri, 2013). Every year, industrial accidents causes a number of deaths, injuries and property loss due to petroleum refining operations.
Among all heavy metals cadmium is one such heavy metal that is most hazardous 3 and has deleterious effects on agricultural ecosystem, environment and human health. There are many sources are reported for cadmium contamination including, use of Cd-containing sewage sludge, industrial emission, application of phosphate fertilizers and municipal waste disposal4 especially in urban areas. Acute poisoning of cadmium in human beings causes shortness of breath, general weakness, fever, pulmonary edema,
The environment is at a horrible state right now because of the way humans are taking advantage of it. People are responsible for climate change, deforestation, pollution, and over-fishing. Humans are constantly taking the earth and its natural resources for granted. Because humans over-fish and take advantage of the vastness of the ocean, there is now a loss of biodiversity. This means that certain species are becoming extinct and this is a very serious problem because this could have a domino affect of the rest of the ecosystem and affect even humans.
Studies at the individual or molecular level tend to focus the research hypotheses and subsequent interventions at that level, even when research and interventions at other levels may be more appropriate. Thus, only by starting from the population and ecosystem levels can we ensure that these are given appropriate consideration. Although better research is needed at all levels, it is crucially important to choose the most appropriate level, or levels, of research for a particular problem. Only by conducting research at all these levels and by developing further methods to combine evidence from these different levels can we hope to address the challenges facing environmental epidemiology
A project of this magnitude will always have an environmental impact, this is unavoidable, The Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) was established to do what are called Environmental Impact Assessments for projects such as these. Projects that have high impacts are abandoned or ways of mitigating such impacts. Had the ECZ been in existence then, the damage to the Zambezi valley would at least been mitigated. The villagers displaced should have been compensated to help them rebuild elsewhere. The domestic consumers who use very little of the power produced by the dam, should be better protected by their government which owns the power supply company.
Governmental policy or economic forces have promoted similar inappropriate forms of production in many parts of the world, which set in motion processes of soil erosion, desertification, and deforestation and produce conditions of extreme environmental vulnerability to natural hazards. In effect, such processes are creating both vulnerability and the preconditions of a disaster agent (Oliver-Smith 1996:315). These problems mainly occur in developing countries where resources are limited and economical or political influence is less noticeable. Structural forces, like the poverty and racism that heighten vulnerability by preventing the poor from receiving education and health care access, the multinational greed that prevents life-prolonging treatment drugs from reaching the poor, and neo-liberal economic policies that force governments to slash safety nets and reduce spending on crucial social services (Doug 2005:5), are especially noticeable in high-risk countries. All these can be prevented or reduce social vulnerability by different methods, but unstable economy, energy crises and recession over the world from the beginning of 21st century have
Heavy metal pollution of soil is usually related to human activities. Sites near mining activities or heavy industry are often highly contaminated with toxic metals. Besides, application of low-quality fertilizers contaminated with heavy metals, e.g. cadmium, increased metal content in top-soils (Lado et al., 2008). Such highly polluted soils are hardly usable for agricultural purposes, because the pollution can be transferred into the food chain.
The depletion of resources and the damage to both underground and surface environments (e.g. produced water, coal slag, strip mining) the danger posed to men engaged in mining (cave-ins, explosions, gas, black-lung disease, asbestosis, silicosis, and radiation sickness) Ordinarily, mining practices are controversial. Mountaintop-removal mining, for example, allows mining companies to extract a significant amount of coal at a far lower cost, but its destructiveness has led to protections for the environment. Traditional forms of mining can be unsafe for workers. Fires and collapses can be deadly, and the health effects of mining can be devastating.