Environmental Issues – Mini-Project
Your task is to research the following topics and give the
issue a ranking from 1-10 based on the severity of the issue. (1 being a minor concern – 10 being the most
serious concern) You must have a
paragraph explanation of why you ranked each where you did. It should also include the impact on humans.
1. Nuclear
disaster/accidents- Nuclear power plants are not considered a large threat to the environment. When large scale accidents do occur, they can cause severe property damage, small mutations of organism, mostly plant life, along with contamination of water sources. In the U.S there have been 56 nuclear power plant accidents, but only a small portion of them have resulted in fatalities. The most disastrous nuclear disaster occurred in Chernobyl, which killed 31 people, and caused wide spread evacuation in the Ukrainian town and the areas surrounding it.
2. Air pollution –
Acid Rain- Air pollution typically refers to the release of carbon dioxide or other types of smog or smoke released into the air. The 2 main gasses being emitted into the air are carbon dioxide, which is heavily released by cars and other vehicles and methane, which is produced by animals and swamps. These gasses have dissolved sections of the earths o-zone layer, which allows much more heat to enter the earth; one of the main factors of global warming. Acid rain is an effect of what happens when power plants and other factories burn minerals, like coal and their gas flows upwards into the sky. The resulting rain comes down like normal, but the gasses leftover in the water can poison and kill crops, and even cause damage to humans over long periods of time.
3. Global
Warming/Climate Change- Global warming refers to what happens as the earth's atmosphere increases in temperature. Although global warming in refuted by some, science has shown that the effect is noticeable. For example, the entire planets temperature has risen by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880, due the burning of fossil fuels, and gasses released into the air by them. Another major concern of global warming is the melting of ice caps, specifically the ones in the antarctic. Ice caps in the antarctic are melting at an astonishing rate, and the area is expected to have its first ice free summer by the 2040.
4. Water
Pollution/Fresh Water- Dirty, polluted water is a very severe problem in the world today. This problem not only is created by the obvious throwing trash, food, etc. into water, but also by melted snow. The snow that is on the ground melts, and when it moves downwards to the nearest water source, it picks up dirt and chemicals along the way, before depositing itself in rivers or streams. This leads to a contaminated supply of drinking water. Although this problem can be easily remedied in advanced countries like the U.S, other countries are not so lucky. 11% or 783 million people world wide do not have the luxury of clean drinking water, which results in diseases like cholera, fluorosis, and even death.
5. Invasive Species- Invasive species are species which are brought to places that are not their land of origin. One the most famous examples of this is the Australian rabbit plague. Rabbits were brought to Australia from England by Thomas Austin in the 18th century, who requested them for hunting. The rabbits soon began to breed and today, outnumber humans 15 to 1, with over 300 million rabbits inhabiting Australia. Rabbits are now the number 1 cause of plant and animal extinction in the continent, along with causing 600 million dollars of damage annually, due to mass crop eating and soil erosion.
6. Extinction of
plants, animals/Deforestation- Deforestation occurs mainly due to the logging and wood producing business, but also has other reasons, such as farming, city building, and large scale fires. Deforestation occurs in many of the worlds largest forests, such as the Amazon rain forest. When trees are cut down, they cause many of the local species to lose their homes and decrease biodiversity by rates of up to 80%. Animals also suffer from increased soil erosion and disrupted water cycles, which can cause rivers to either run dry or flood. Lastly, trees being cut down also severely heightens the amount of greenhouse gasses being released. Deforestation results for 15% of the worlds greenhouse gas emission.
7. Mining and drilling /Oil Spills- The 2 largest concerns of oil drilling are fracking and oil spills. Fracking is process where oil companies shoot high pressure air or water streams down into rock formations in order to open up more room for drilling. This has sparked disapproval and banning of the process across the nation, although most companies are unaffected. The primary concern behind fracking a fear that the liquid will emit toxic fluids which will be released in to the local water supply. Oil spills are also an important issue in the drilling business. The most recent and largest oil spill occurred on a BP oil rig in the gulf of Mexico in 2010. This had a catastrophic effect on the surrounding environment. The 170 million gallons of spilled gas caused wounding or death in over 8000 sea creatures in the area. Due to damaging of sea life, many seafood businesses, including the capturing and selling of sea food were forced temporarily stop business for months until the water was deemed safe again. An estimated 250,000 were lost during the oil spill.
8. Land
Contamination/Loss of usable land- Soil contamination is typically caused by land pollution. Land contamination refers to when chemicals are deposited into the the ground by trash and garbage stored in landfills, or just simply left around everyday urban areas. In Europe, land contamination has accounted for a loss of 30% of the countries agricultural land. Agricultural land is damaged from hazardous wastes, such as those from oils, greases, and chemicals. Pollution has many short term effects, like death and decay of crops, but it also has long term effects, such as seeds getting contaminated and producing weaker, less nutritious, and sometimes even infertile offspring.
4 points for each topic
3 points for evidence that supports reasoning
1 point for multimedia presentation
