Eventually, people aren’t able to meet their basic needs because people don’t have
The way hydraulic fracturing is affecting the environment is too harmful for it to be a sustainable option. It contaminates drinking water, turns unused lands into industrial dumps. They pollute the air and with global warming emissions and create earthquakes. People’s right to clean water is being compromised by fracking industries, not being careful enough and their lack of regulations enforced on them. There are numerous occasions in
The theory of catastrophism states that once every ‘n’ amount of years, there is a major catastrophe, initiated by God, that wipes out all life and completely and destroys the surface features of the Earth causing plates to move, mountains to form and volcanoes to erupt. This is the explanation for the fact that the Earth looked different in the past (Cuvier, 1796). As Lyell explains the changing of the surface of the Earth through gradual natural processes, and not through the actions of a God, which Cuvier did, Lyell’s theory was seen as very controversial. To prove his theory, Lyell needed to find evidence that features in the Earth’s surface such as mountains and volcanoes, can be explained through the natural processes that are acknowledged now. To find this evidence Lyell made several trips through Europe to observe soil and rock formations.
Animals are being forced to move further away and adapt new regions or die
Wildfires can destroy entire habitats of plants and wipe out life over miles of land. Once these fires clear large areas of vegetation the loss of plants can heighten the risk of significant erosion and landslides. In sudden rainfall these cleared areas become extremely dangerous and some observers have even reported soil “glassification,” where the silica in the soils become melted and fused, forming an impermeable layer in the soil. This impermeable layer can make it very difficult for future plants to grow back and for animals to re-inhabit the area. Although many don’t think of a benefit to wildfires in the biosphere, there are some positive outcomes of wildfires.
Landslides may cause the loss of lives and properties. Deforestation causes the soil to lose its stability. Decreasing of trees causes there is lack of tree leaves to protect the soil from the collision of raindrops and also causes the lack of tree roots to hold the soil. Thus, the soil is exposed directly to the raindrop. The top layer of soil is easily washed away by the heavy rainfall.
Thus, when forests are removed, it is less likely to rain. There will also be lesser trees to facilitate more water to infiltrate the ground and funnel water into underground aquifers where it is stored to supply during droughts. Hence, deforestation has resulted in flash flood during heavy rainfall, and without the roots holding the soil, it will eventually lead to soil erosion. Furthermore, the soil will be washed away into rivers when there is heavy rainfall, causing river carrying capacity to be reduced and thus, increasing the risk of floods. Both droughts and floods carry severe consequences as eroding topsoil, flooding rice fields and filling in irrigation canals will constrain food production.
Miller (2017) reports that deforestation contributes to global warming by increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, which will cause the heat to rise to an unbearable rate especially in the Middle East and African countries. That will make those places uninhabitable and force people and animals to immigrate to places nearer to the poles. Having an immense number of people and animals in one place can result in food and water shortage and inner conflicts. Also, having people neglecting their countries and culture can lead to a loss of identity and individuality. Another effect will be that wood will be expansive because of its rareness, and that will trigger criminal to illegal cut the remaining trees for profits.
Unfortunately exploiting the earth's petroleum resources has a serious environmental impact as the water gets contaminated and unfit for drinking until purified and oil reserves decrease which leads to scarcity of oil based products . Mining creates shocks and vibrations due to drilling and blasting activities which will lead to noise, dust and collapse of structures in surrounding inhabited areas. The ecology around the mining site will be disturbed causing loss of
When coal and other minerals were extracted from underground, they emited several metal waste which was harmful for the water. It is evident that the Indutrial Revolution caused a lot of evnviromental problems for individuals. Without social protest it is doubtful politicians would have responded to the environmental crisis…in the late 1960’s and ealry 1970’s (Halbert, par. 1). Individuals were conserned about their health and congress decided to pass the Clean Water Act of 1972 to reduce water
Climate change is more serious than we take it. If it continues, everyone will parish. Climate change affects us in many different ways. It causes animal population numbers to decrease, slows down transportation to the north, and causes flooding and the rise of the sea level. Global warming exists, and it is not only affecting the environment.
Mount St. Helens is a massive active volcano right in the heart of Washington. During 1980 from March-May the volcano showed signs of an impending eruption. On March 27, a preliminary thick cloud of steam shot out of the volcano, throughout the following months a visually apparent bulge begin to form on the side of the mountain. On May 18, the volcano erupted with a lateral blast that was the largest in recorded history, and produced a 5.1 magnitude earthquake. The earthquake initiated a flank collapse that caused a landslide producing enough debris to fill 1 million Olympic sized swimming pools.
Hydraulic Fracturing, otherwise known as fracking is the process of injecting large amounts of sand, water, and other chemicals into the shale rocks deep beneath the ground in order to flow natural gas back onto the surface of the well. This process was invented in the early 1900s, and has been controversial ever since. There are two sides to the debate, one being that fracking is known to be horrible for the environment. Fracking has caused families to need to be displaced, and emitted thousands of toxic chemicals into the air causing major public health issues. At the same time, fracking has reduced the reliability on coal, which is known to be horrible for the environment; it has also brought hundreds of thousands of gallons of natural gas
Subsidence is the process of land sinking down further into the Earth and is currently a serious concern in California 's Central Valley. According to data from NASA and California, land is sinking throughout the valley at a rate of up to two inches per month, which is quite drastic and poses a grave threat to infrastructure as well as the environment. Roads and bridges are being ripped apart by the ground while canals and wells are cracking. The problem is so serious that railway lines and houses are feared to be damaged next. Natural landscape is being torn apart, large rifts in the land are being formed, and aquifers are suffering permanent and irreversible harm.
After watching the documentary, there is no doubt that natural gas drilling is destroying our environment. For instance, hydraulic fracturing produces large amounts of wastewater, which may contain dissolved chemicals and other contaminants that require treatment before disposal or reuse (EIA, 2014). Furthermore, the chemicals used in the process can contaminate surrounding areas if they are released by spills, leaks, faulty well construction, or other exposure