30 November 2009

Population and Pollution

Cities across Africa have been expanding at a rapid pace. Over the past two to three decades, fertility rates of African women have remained at "about 6.3 to 6.6 children per woman," which is noticeably higher than most other geographical regions worldwide (Arku 256). High birth rates within the population remained in check with high death rates, but due to modern medicine, nutrition, and hygiene practices, mortality rates among their people have been reduced. Yes, this rapid population growth may be seen as progressive, but only if the larger population can be safely maintained.

Growth has been so rapid in African cities that their government has not been able to fully regulate and manage the urban environment. There are many problems raised by this uncontrolled urban population growth such as "traffic congestion, atmospheric pollution, depletion of natural resources, increase of natural and man made risks, urban sprawl, and other negative environmental and social effects" (Arku 263). The relationship between population growth and environmental pollution is inevitable. The more people that live in a given area the more water, resources, and energy they need and the more "pollutants, garbage, and solid wastes" they pump out (McNeil 287).

African cities are now attempting to solve problems caused by their rapid population boom and adopting ideas to better manage their environment. If the population cannot be controlled then at least there are steps being taken to better manage it. Extensive public transportation systems, water treatment plants, and sewage systems are all crucial in maintaining large populations. Regardless of all policies and plans, however, rapid population growth has far-reaching detrimental effects on the environment in Africa and across the world.


Arku, Godwin. "Rapidly Growing African Cities Need to Adopt Smart Growth Policies to Solve Urban Development Concerns." Urban Forum 20.3 (2009): 253-270. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 23 Nov 2009.

McNeil, J.R. "Something New Under The Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth Century World." W.W. Norton: New York, 2001. Print.

29 November 2009

Another Look at Sustainability

As human society seeks to clean its urban centers and adopt more sustainable technology, it fails at addressing the problem of pollution entirely. It is often the assumption that dense urban areas are the source of pollution worldwide. Instead of being measured by the amount of pollution generated within it, a city should be measured by the amount of pollution generated for it.

J.R. McNeill asserts that rapid urbanization is the source of human stress on the environment. Yet, to many city dwellers in the rich nations of Western Europe and North America, cities have dramatically reduced their environmental impact on the local community. McNeill explains that “urban impacts [extend] beyond city limits to hinterlands, to downwind and downstream communities, and in some respects, the whole globe” (McNeill, p 287). Waste disposal and power generation have been relocated far away from their users. The materials used to build and manage cities are also being created elsewhere in cities with less strict regulations. Externalization of pollution allows city dwellers to experience the benefits of pollution caps, but only sweeps the problem under the carpet.

David Satterthwaite writes about the correlation between pollution management and urbanization. The most polluted cities, “are the smaller and less-prosperous cities in lower-income countries or in the lower-income regions of middle-income countries” (Satterthwaite, p 217). He questions the assumption that growth means more pollution and reveals that current pollution regulations lead to “transferring costs to other people or ecosystems” (Satterthwaite, p 216). These lower income cities lack political will to regulate polluters due to a focus on rapid industrialization or capital (Satterthwaite, p 222). Wealthier cities develop more strict regulations than lower income cities in developing countries. The latter manage and create the pollution for the former.

Wealthy cities, such as San Jose, need to stop externalizing pollution. Cities need to bring back their industries—not so that they have to deal with air and water pollution again, but that their pollution is regulated to their own standard and the lower income cities will not bear these burdens for them.

Sources
  • McNeill, J. R. Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World. W. W. Norton & Company Inc. 2000
  • Satterthwaite, David. "Environmental Transformations in Cities as They Get Larger, Wealthier and Better Managed". The Geographical Journal, Vol. 163, No. 2, Environmental Transformations in Developing Countries (Jul., 1997), pp.216-224

24 November 2009

Animal related diseases

     Incidences of animal related diseases being spread to humans are not a new development, but the frequency that they are being detected and diagnosed is (Outbreaks, 2003).  According to McNeil, (2000) many human diseases are derived from animals the causes linked to human surges into the tropics bringing humans in closer contact with new species, more domesticated animals as well as synanthropes non-domesticated animals that live in close proximity to humans, and more people.  According to scientific estimates, as many as 75 percent of all emerging infectious diseases are (zoonotic) passed from animals to humans (Outbreaks ,2003).  Clearly there will be mounting problems if necessary measures are not taken to alleviate the rate at which animal to human diseases are being produced and spread.

     Through human interactions with our biosphere we cultivate the ground for further animal to human diseases.  Humans around the globe have increased their geographic range and the ability to transport goods and people to vast locations in record time (Outbreaks, 2003).  Due to these changes in human activity conditions are becoming more favorable for animal related diseases to spread (Outbreaks, 2003).  A recent illness in the U.S. is the West Nile virus, vectorborne it is passed from animals (birds) to humans by way of insects (mosquitoes) (Outbreaks, 2003).  The H1N1 flu a new influenza virus that spreads from person-to-person through sneezing, coughing, and physical contact is thought to have originated in pigs (H1N1 Flu, 2009).  Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) is a neurodegenerative, fatal brain disease of cattle a form of which can be passed to humans through beef consumption (BSE, 2002). These examples serve to demonstrate that animals have become a primary source for modern day emerging infectious diseases (Outbreaks, 2009). 

     With the possibility for more animal related diseases like the fore mentioned to appear, interactions abroad and goods distribution strategies need to be closely monitored and specifically formulated to prevent unwarranted dissemination of new animal to human illnesses.  The behaviors in which humans have chosen to live with animals has strongly influenced our experience with animal related diseases (McNeil, 2000). 

 

 References

 McNeil, J.R., 2000: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World: Something New Under the Sun. Norton & Company, Inc., New York

 (2003) Outbreaks of animal related illnesses – a trend in infectious diseases. Journal of environmental health. 66,4, p35

 (November 5, 2009). H1N1 Flu ("Swine Flu") and You. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/qa.htm

 (November 2002 ). Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs113/en/

Free Willy!


For 50 million years, the whale has been free to roam the depths of the sea with little to no predators. However, with the arrival of the human species, certain groups of whales are getting close to disappearing due to the once widely popularity of whaling. What began in early prehistoric times with the Vikings and Basques has extended into 19th century where the Dutch, the English, Americans, Norwegians, Icelanders, Japanese and Russians all partake in the business of whaling (McNeill 238).

The market for whale products was big and the rise of the Industrial Revolution made whaling that much more relevant. Sperm oil was essential in lubricating machinery while baleen (or whalebone) acted as plastic in things like corsets and umbrellas. The biggest profit to be made from whaling, beside selling the meat, was the use of the whale oil. A fatty acid, whale oil had three main uses: margarine, dynamite and soap (McNeill 241).

With the money to be made and the amount of whaling being done through out the world, it is no surprise that a noticeable drop in the number of whales swimming the oceans occurred. Between 1610 and 1840 bowhead whale populations were brought to close extinction and by 1860 most of the sperm and right whales were gone. New technologies allowed for the hunting of the faster and the hard to find whales and as a result the blue whale population was down from 150,000 to 500. (McNeill 242)

As the world began to see the effect on whale population, regulations were put into place. At first, these restrictions protected the whale by products and not the whales themselves. But in 1982 the International Whaling Commission IWC passed an act that suspended all commercial whaling (HSUS). Today, 191 nations abide by this act while 3, Japan, Iceland and Norway, continue to kill whales claiming “scientific” reasons (HSC). The problem with this claim is that much of the data Japan acquires has already been collected and does not call for lethal action (Greenpeace). There is much talk about lifting the restrictions on whaling based on the claim that whale populations have been restocked and that there is no longer a threat of extinction. However, because of their constant migration, counting whales can be difficult and if wrong, can result in extinction (HSUS).

The time for whaling to stop is long overdue and despite the majority of the world realizing this, whales are still dying in the name of “science”. What discoveries will be made from a dead whale that will outshine what we can learn from a live, ever-changing mammal that has successfully survived all these years. What can we learn of the whales in the future if there are no more left to be seen?
________________________________________________
McNeil, J.R., 2000: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World: Something New Under the Sun. Norton & Company, Inc., New York

"Whaling | The Humane Society of the United States." The Humane Society of the United States : The Humane Society of the United States. Web. 23 Nov. 2009. http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/what_are_the_issues/whaling/

Vanessa. "THREE NATIONS KILL WHALES VS THE 191 NATIONS WHO DO NOT SAYS THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF CANADA (HSC)." Welcome to the Humane Society of Canada. Web. 24 Nov. 2009. http://www.humanesociety.com/news-releases/1042-three-nations-kill-whales-vs-the-191-nations-who-do-not-says-the-humane-society-of-canada-hsc.html

"Scientific Whaling." Iceland Whaling. Web. 23 Nov. 2009. http://archive.greenpeace.org/whales/iceland/Scientific.htm

23 November 2009

In The End, We’re No Better Than Blue-Green Bacteria


McNeil states that we may be in the early stage of the Sixth Mass Extinction Event on Earth, but the bright side is that there are always some survivors of mass extinctions. McNeil tells us of the 1/10 of marine life which survived the Greatest Extinction Event on the planet; reminding us that all life which is supported by oxygen owes its existence to the cyanobacteria that increased oxygen concentration in the air from 1 part per trillion to the 1 in 5 we currently enjoy. Humans may have improved life for 40 animals and 100 plant species, but we’ve instigated the most substantial Extinction Event to date, probably. The experts are laying their bets on viruses and bacteria, and maybe some cockroaches as the future inhabitants of Earth.

As chapter 7 and 8 takes us on a tour of the known causes of the destruction of the Biosphere, we learn that one of humanities major challenges has been disease and developing immunities. One of the reasons that viruses may succeed us as the dominant species on the planet is the ability to make rapid evolutionary changes to survive.

“It is possible that the prevalence of influenza in recent centuries derives from the close quarters kept by ever more ducks, pigs, and people, mainly in China.” (McNeil 210)

Before the recent outbreak and health concern over the H1N1 virus was dominating the headlines, the H5N1 avian flu virus stopped traffic into and out of China. Influenza viruses effected the duck population across Asia. Viruses seen in the avian population have crossed over to swine, in the past, (1979, 1998), and then crossed the species barrier once again to humans.

“From late 2003 through January 2004, H5N1 influenza viruses spread in an unprecedented manner across Asia, affecting poultry in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, and Laos. Hundreds of millions of chickens and ducks were culled in an effort to stop the spread. The outbreak appeared largely under control in March 2004. The available evidence shows that H5N1 infection is widespread among domestic ducks in southern China and may therefore be endemic in domestic ducks throughout Southeast Asia.” (Huise-Post 1)

Researchers believe that it is the virus’ ability to evolve and change mode of transmission as well as changing infection cycles that have contributed to the widespread problem.

“Wild waterfowl are generally thought to transmit influenza viruses primarily through fecal contamination of water. However, ducks inoculated with the 2002 H5N1 influenza viruses shed more virus from the trachea than from the cloaca. This property was retained in all of the viruses we tested.” (Huise-Post 3)

McNeil points out that “by 1990 some 25,000 antibiotics existed, curtailing microbial careers and improving human and animal health.” (McNeil 199) Without public health measures, many more masses of people could have perished in the modern era, as we have seen in the past when native populations have encountered colonialists and foreign germs. Public health measures may not be enough to stop MDR viruses and other strains that evolve in one transmission cycle.

“Highly pathogenic H5N1 viruses in our study became nonpathogenic to ducks after extended shedding shows that these viruses are moving toward stability in this host. Because this mechanism increases the potential for spread of these viruses, it is biologically significant, helping to explain the origin of new H5N1 viruses and the manner in which they become the dominant viruses in a quasi-species population.” (Huise-Post 4)

As each day passes we become more and more interconnected due to the decrease in available resources and necessities of life, McNeil asserts that if we don’t make major changes in our aggregate behavior, (on the scale of billions of people), “30-50 percent of terrestrial species may disappear in the next century or two.” (McNeil 263) Wade explained to us that rapid evolutionary change has never been adaptive for humans because our environments, (umbworlds), do not change rapidly, usually. With something new under the sun, it maybe that the organism, (virus), best equipped to change with a rapidly changing environment will be the most fit of them all.

Works Cited:

Huise-Post, D., Sturm-Ramirez, K., Humberd, J., Seiler, P., Govorkova, E., Krauss, S., et al. (2005). Role of domestic ducks in the propagation and biological evolution of highly pathogenic H5NI influenza viruses in Asia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(30), 10682-10687. doi:10.1073/pnas.0504662102.

McNeil, J.R. Something New Under The Sun. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2000. Print.

22 November 2009

The Green Revolution

No other activity has transformed humanity, and the Earth, as much as agriculture, but the environmental effects of high-intensity farming increasingly haunt us. In a small world awash with the waste products of humanity, there is a great need to find new approaches to agriculture.” ~David Tilman


The Green Revolution made its greatest impact during the 1960’s and the 1970’s. International teams of scientists worked together to create high-yielding varieties of crops in order to increase the quantity, quality and sustainability of the species. Their early focus was on the staple crops of wheat, maize, and rice (McNeill 219). The varieties created by the scientists were ones that were responsive to fertilizers, resistant to pests and in the United States and other developed countries, it was important for the variety to be easily harvested by machinery (McNeill 219). With a rapidly increasing population it was imminent for the scientists to create a higher volume of food within the same parameters of land. The new and unknown consequences of mass farmed, single cropped land was a challenge unforeseen by the scientists and is still something that agriculturalists and scientists are dealing with today. New techniques of farming have emerged that have fewer environmental consequences however, not all farmers have adopted these new practices.



The first two major international agricultural research centers created in the 1950’s are the International Center for wheat and Maize Improvement in Mexico (CIM-MYT) and the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines (IRRI). Today there are 16 centers that all operate together supporting over 8500 scientists and staff with a budget around $340 million (Everson 2). The greatest accomplishment of the “Green Revolution” came with the development of dwarf wheat and rice. The variety created was able to produce a heavy grain-packed head with a strong stalk thus yielding “substantially more grain than previous varieties” (Everson 2). This new variety also responded better to fertilizer than the traditional varieties. The institutes also released varieties of sorghum, millet and barley that could be grown in primarily semi-arid and dry-land conditions in the 1980’s (Everson 3). The scientist’s first goal was to derive a productive “plant type” and their second goal was to breed the variety with specific traits for survival in different locations. These traits include disease resistance, responsiveness to fertilizers and resistance to abiotic stresses (Everson 3). With the creation of these varieties farmers had to purchase their seeds, they could no longer cultivate their own. These costs were offset by the reduced amount of fertilizer needed to maintain the crops. However, farmers would often choose just one crop to purchase and grow in order to keep their costs down, creating what is known as a monoculture. “Monocultures invite pest problems” and often end up becoming resistant to the pest it was designed resist (McNeill 224). This lead to increased use of pesticides which lead to unintended consequences such as; intrusion of the water supply, human tissues and other unwanted places. “The World Health Organization estimated in 1990 that pesticide poisoning killed about 20,000 people per year, mostly in cotton fields” (McNeill 224).



Advances have been made to reduce the incidences of poisoning and to create varieties that are less dependent on purchased inputs as well as research on “farming systems, agronomic practices, integrated pest management and other ‘environment-friendly’ technologies” (Everson 7). In the end it is up to the farmer to decide which technology he or she wants to use. The greater the responsiveness to chemical fertilizers the greater the profitability of the crop and with the average caloric intake rising and food prices lowering it has become a challenge for many farmers in underdeveloped countries to turn a profit (Everson 6). With the ever-present budget cuts of the past decade many agencies have had to cut funding to their science and technology developments. This funding crunch has left farmers to rely on the private sector for advances in biotechnology.



“The welfare of farmers and farm workers not reached by the Green Revolution ultimately depends on the extending the Green Revolution beyond present boundaries” (Everson 7). Everson believes that the Green Revolution in on the right track but fears that all have not benefited from the biotechnological advances made by the agro scientists. Is there a better solution than one that relies on greater chemical fertilizer pest-resistant varieties of sustainable crops needed for human survival? According to David Tilman, author of The Greening of the Green Revolution there have been shown two alternative practices for growing maize that have maintained their yields while increasing soil fertility (Tilman 211). These two methods used “organic” alternatives and no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides were used. One method involved using a manure based system where legumes and grasses were fed to the cattle that in turn ‘fed’ the land with their manure. The second system did not use cattle but instead incorporated nitrogen into the soil with a variety of legumes (Tilman 211). “Amazingly, ten-year-average maize yields differed by less than 1% among the three cropping systems (Tilman 211). With continued efforts among scientists it is possible that the use of pesticides harmful not only to humans but to the environment as well as all living creatures, may someday become extinct.




Works Cited


Evenson, R. E., and D. Gollin. "Assessing the Impact of the Green Revolution, 1960 to 2000." Science 300.5620 (2003): 758. <http://search.ebscohost.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9848525&loginpage=Login.asp&site=ehost-live>.


McNeill, J.R. “Something New Under the Sun” New York. 2000.


Tilman, David. "The Greening of the Green Revolution." Nature 396.6708 (1998): 211. <http://search.ebscohost.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=1337996&loginpage=Login.asp&site=ehost-live>.


The Green Revolution

19 November 2009

Dumping and its Impact


Societies have gradually changed their environment to fit the needs and wants of their culture. They have changed their environment to produce goods and or services that will accumulate income. Many societies have undergone changes to urbanize their cities, so that they could increase their income per capita. Population growth has also cause a change in the environment, because it has increase production and consumption of natural resources. The increase of population lead many water bodies to become polluted, because people are using water for energy, agriculture and to dump their toxic waste into. The Industrial Revolution caused societies to believe it is alright for them to dump their toxic waste into the water. Factories were dumping huge amounts of toxic waste in to the waters, and caused the water to become contaminated with high levels of mercury. Dumping has lead the body of water to become undrinkable, unusable and unlivable for species.


An example of the destruction of a land due to industrialization is the Rhine. The Rhine's water was once so clean it accommodate salmon. The water was fresh and abundant. People were able to drink it with out the fear of becoming ill. But since the Industrial Revolution swept the nation, the Rhine become a prime area to industrialize. The German chemical industry threw its toxic waste in to the waters. They dumped harmful chemicals such as sulfur and nitrogen oxides. The Rhine was filled with high levels of mercury, zinc and other toxic chemicals. People became ill after eating fish or drinking water from the Rhine, because it was highly contaminated. Industrialization left the Rhine heavy with pollutants, salmon was rare, and the mayfish disappeared.


Companies want to gain income and will stop and nothing to have a higher net profit, even if it means destroying a land that was once fertile. They believe a body of water is their own personal waste bin, and they can throw their toxic waste into it. Throwing toxic waste into our water system is an easy way to get rid of toxic waste, but it carries out long term affects that affect everyone and everything. Although there are more enforce rules and regulations to control dumping, the condition of the contaminated water remains unchanged. Mankind must realize to preserve their natural surroundings before it is too late to change.


McNeil, J.R., 2000: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World: Something New Under the Sun. Norton & Company, Inc., New York


Anderberg Stefan (1998) Industrial Metabolism and the Linkages Between Economies, Ethics and the Environment. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VDY-3T8365G-10&_user=521825&_coverDate=02%2F03%2F1998&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000059578&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=521825&md5=10fd33aa663442ac3e948f2aff50bad9 from Business Source Complete

18 November 2009


Religion: Can it Save the Ganges River That it Destroyed?

River Pollution in the Ganges of India

The people of the Hindu religion make up a large portion of India, and along with population growth, the customs and beliefs of the Hindu religion have been destroying the water supply of the Ganges river. In J.R. McNeil’s book, Something New Under The Sun, he explains that, “in Hindu belief, gods created the Ganges to give people a chance to wash away their sins, Hindus believe that death and cremation at Varanasi (Benares) ensures liberation of the soul, so Varanasi attracts millions of elderly and sickly Indians”(McNeil129).  McNeil also explains that the population of about 10 million around the Ganges river dumps all of their waste directly into the river. The waste, bodies, cremations, animal carcasses, and the washing of sickly and elderly make the “holy waters” of the Ganges a “bacteriological nightmare” of pollution. This bleak situation does however have a possible turnaround with the use of their religion being emphasized for the preservation of the water as opposed to the destruction of it.

            To be able to make this suggestion at all there are aspects about the Hindu religion that should be emphasized. In Vasudha Narayanan’s article, Water, Wood, and Wisdom: Ecological Perspectives from the Hindu Traditions, he describes the aspects of the religious traditions that could be emphasized to turn habits of pollution around.

He explains that, “Many Hindu texts are firm in their view that human beings must enhance the quality of life. A popular blessing uttered in many Hindu temples and homes focuses on human happiness in this life, on this earth: May everyone be happy, may everyone be free of diseases! / May everyone see what is noble / May no one suffer from misery”(Narayanan 181). Perhaps these beliefs could be explained that by polluting the water supply they are in fact causing disease and suffering for many of their people. If they could perceive their beliefs in this manner, then the Ganges will have a better chance of rehabilitation. The Hindu people need to remember that, “the texts on dharma earnestly exhort people to practice nonviolence toward all beings; other texts speak of the joys of a harmonious relationship with nature”(Narayanan 183). This “harmonious relationship with nature”, needs to include not destroying the Ganges with pollution. There is nothing harmonious about dumping tons of waste, bodies, and cremations into the main water supply. It is also important to remind ourselves as outsiders looking in on the situation that they do have strong connections with the water and lasting religious beliefs in the holiness that the water possess, so it would make sense to them to dispose of loved ones’ ashes into it, or bath the sick or elderly, but they are absorbed with the holy properties of water and are not seeing what is happening to their cherished holy water.  Narayanan points out that, “the ashes of the cremated body are immersed in holy waters the same rivers that feed and irrigate paddy fields; the same water that cooks the rice and bathes the dead before cremation. From cradle to cremation, Hindus have long had a palpable, organic connection with nature. But today they must also face the reality of environmental disaster. With the population hovering around a billion in India (with eight hundred million Hindus), the use, abuse, and misuse of resources is placing India on the fast track to disaster”(Narayanan179).

   Anytime that we attempt to understand another culture, we have to be delicate and try as hard as we can to not judge or compare it to our own culture. In this case it seems all to easy to wonder how the Hindus could possibly be so naive to think that they should bath and use the same water that is so heavily polluted by their waste and deceased.  Then once we remind ourselves that this culture is very different from our own, we have to be creative and come up with possible solutions that are relative to their culture. Narayanan ponders the same questions: “What, if anything, can Hindu tradition say about this looming environmental crisis? Are there any resources in the Hindu religious and cultural traditions that can inspire and motivate Hindus to take action?”(Narayanan179).  After considering aspects of Hindu religion and culture, appealing to their sense of love and beauty in nature, the prayers to keep people healthy and free of disease and misery, then perhaps they could begin to alter their customs of abusing their water supply. The Ganges could also use the help of some waste management plans, but getting to the source for the cultural reasons that the river is polluted in the first place, and working on new understandings to change practices will help the river for centuries to come.

 

1)      McNeil, J.R., 2000: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World: Something New Under the Sun. Norton & Company, Inc., New York.

 

2)     Narayanan, Vasudha. “Water, Wood, and Wisdom: Ecological Perspectives from the Hindu Traditions” Daedalus, Vol. 130, No. 4, Religion and Ecology: Can the Climate Change? (Fall, 2001): 179-206. The MIT Press on behalf of American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 18 November 2009. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20027723

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Social Impacts of Dams

Large-scale hydrologic engineering, such as dam building, can offer many benefits. This form of clean energy can provide electricity for many homes, for example, in the 1980’s, approximately 15 million people received power from the Hoover Dam (McNeill 2000, 178). Another important benefit is the ability to have water where and when it is needed. There are also many negative effects that dam construction can cause, including both environmental and social. The environmental effects often include habitat loss and alteration. The dams create barriers for the wildlife that depend on the rivers for spawning, migrating, and much more. They also affect the land both upstream and downstream by changing the amount of water in those locations.

The social effects caused by dams can be much more difficult to measure than the environmental effects. A tool that is used to measure the social effects is called a social impact analysis (SIA). The impacts felt by dam construction can result “…in a wide array of subsequent social impacts, including changes in household size and structure; changes in employment and income-generating opportunities; alteration of access and use of land and water resources; changes in social networks and community integrity; changes in the nature and magnitude of various health risks; and often a disruption of the psycho-social wellbeing of displaced individuals” (Tilt, Braun, and He 2009). A more specific example of the types of social effects a dam can cause are those that resulted from the Manwan Dam which was built on the upper Mekong River in China. “The economy of the rural areas adjacent to the Manwan Dam experienced significant impacts, including a decline in productivity in agriculture and animal husbandry, shortages of water for irrigation, increasing costs for electricity, and depletion of forest resources” (Tilt, Braun, and He 2009).

When considering the construction of something as large as a dam, all of the impacts need to be taken into account along with the benefits. In the past this was not done, instead the dams were built hastily without much thought of the consequences. “During the 1960s, more than one large dam was completed per day on average” (McNeill 2000, 159). For future hydrologic engineering projects like dams, we need to look at the past and learn from those mistakes.

McNeil., J.R., 2000: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World: Something New Under the Sun. Norton & Company, Inc., New York.

Tilt, Bryan, Yvonne Braun, and Daming He. 2009. Social Impacts of Large Dam Projects: A Comparison of International Case Studies and Implications for Best Practice. Journal of Environmental Management 90, S3 (July): S249-S257.

Cleaning Up Our Mess for the Better Future

According to Moran (Moran 2008), urban cities have expanded worldwide. In the 1900s, there were 16 cities with more than a million occupants. The number of cities increased to at least 24 by the year 2000, with more than a dozen cities occupying at least 20 million people in each city. According to the author, the urbanization of modern cities resulted in numerous problems, such as excessive pollution, congestion, crime, and wasteful consumerism.

Earth is different from the other seven planets in our solar system due to the fact that it contains water. Because of water, our planet has the ability to sustain life. Without water, life would not exist. Currently, our water supply is facing a great crisis. According to McNeill (McNeill, 2001), urban cities pose a great threat to our water supply. First, urban cities pollute the water supply by dumping wastes into rivers and lakes, leading to the contamination of fresh water sources. Cities like Chicago experience a rapid population growth and such rapid growth threatens the water supply. An increase in population leads to an increase in water usage and water contamination due to the dumping of wastes via sewers into the water supply. As a result, water becomes unsanitary and unsuitable for drinking. Additionally, contaminated water creates waterborne diseases. Second, water pollution is seen in cities that have experienced the industrial revolution. In such cities, factories dump toxic wastes into the water supply. Toxic wastes lead to the death of aquatic animals and, in extreme cases, lead to their extinction. Toxic wastes create inconsumable water and cause sickness to people, plants, and animals that drink it. The third cause of water pollution is eutrophication, which is an increase in phosphorous and nitrogen, due to chemical fertilizer from farm runoff. Eutrophication causes algae to grow rapidly in water. When algae die, their decomposition consumes oxygen, which leads to a decrease of oxygen supply for other aquatic animals. Many of these problems are seen in places such as the Ganges River, India, the Rhine, Great Britain, the Watarase, Japan, and many other areas.
Countries such as Japan have been aware of water pollution and have taken numerous measures to take care of this problem. According to Hayashi (Hayahsi, 1980), the Japanese government enforced numerous laws in order to limit pollution and water contamination. First, the Japanese government enforced the Water Pollution Law to prevent pollution of water in public and private properties and penalizes those who violate the law. Second, The Seto Inland Sea Conservation Law provides a plan for conserving the Seto Inland Sea and reducing discharge into the sea in order to preserve the scenic beauty and fishery resources of the area. Many other laws have been enacted since then and have been proven beneficial to Japan. Japan’s water has been improving ever since the laws were enacted, making it safe for people, plants, and animals to consume.

Water conservation is important and should be acknowledged by our government in order to maintain a clean water supply for future generations. As the world’s population increases, the need for water will also increase. However, our water supply is limited. If we do not take care of our problem today, we will face a water crisis in the future, much like the oil crisis we currently face.

Hayashi, T. (1980). Water Pollution Control in Japan. Journal Water Pollution Control Federation, 52, 3.

Moran, E. F. (2008). Human adaptation. In Urban ecology and urban sustainability (pp 307-324). Boulder, Co: Westview Press.

McNeill, J. R. (2001). Something new under the sun. In The hydrosphere: The history of water use and water pollution (pp. 119-147). New York, N. Y.: Norton paperbacks.

15 November 2009

Solving the Environmental Dilemma

If you had a choice between dumping out some leftover paint down the drain or going to the nearby hazardous waste collection program for its disposal, which would you pick? Which would friends, neighbors, or people all over the world pick? I presume most are at least aware of the potential damage such actions would have in regards to water pollution. However, as recently learned, in our global society we take part in this concept of commodity fetishism where the commodity overrules everything else because as far as the individual is concerned, it is all that matters. Water pollution poses a global problem as the health, wealth, and security of societies depend on clean water. With the onset of industrialization in many regions, the notion of health is often compromised to achieve the other two. The environmental problem of water pollution is very much a prisoner’s dilemma. It cannot be solved with “selfish” big players trampling over everyone else and can only be solved with the cooperation of all its players. Serious health effects have occurred because of neglect on the part of individuals and institutions polluting local waters for their own industrializing purposes in obtaining further wealth and security which can never be solved without immense, globally scaled efforts.

The poisoning of Minamata involved dumping large amounts of mercury waste into the local Minamata Bay affecting all organisms in its wake. The company, Nippon Chisso, manufactured acetaldehyde, used to produce many products such as plastics. It made its way into the human food chain and resulted in what is known as the Minamata disease among children as well as killing off fish, a detrimental blow to their local fishing industry. After decades of mercury dumping, silencing of researchers with evidence, and protests, the Japanese government forced Nippon Chisso to cease productions and pay millions in compensation to the families. This bittersweet ending does little to alleviate the pain victims have already suffered as most face bleak futures by coping with birth defects or having no future prospects for marriage due to the risk of deformed offspring (McNeil 2000). In this instance, polluting the water for technological and economic growth was done by one region, one factory, and merely one pollutant but victims and their health are still shadowed by the enormity of its repercussions.

Elsewhere in China, a rapidly growing populating amidst a rapidly industrializing nation suffers from “critical deficits in basic water supply, sewage treatment infrastructure, and lack of coordination between environmental and public health objectives” (Wu 1999). Many of the groundwater sources do not meet government drinking standards and pollution from heavy metal and chemical industries around major rivers dump wastes and pollute the water causing liver and stomach cancer related deaths to double since the 1970s. Poor or limited infrastructures in treating sewerage wastes results in communities simply discharging increasing volumes of human excreta among other household and industry wastes into surrounding rivers and lakes. This widespread contamination leads to increasingly high rates of illnesses and death. A large percentage of rural citizens and a smaller but significant percentage of urban dwellers have been affected by water pollution and their health was sacrificed for industrialization as the country continues producing more and more commodities and goods.

Water is the most essential nutrient for all organisms in any environment and accessible drinking water is sourced by few freshwater lakes and rivers. Perhaps due to this availability for some, water is generally treated as a common property resource as humans tend to push water pollution problems to others or overlook significant effects polluting water will have especially on surrounding organisms. We see this in Chicago when they conducted a large scale sanitation project that reversed the flow of rivers to dump waste into the Mississippi River flowing South instead of their own drinking supply. As chemicals from farm runoffs find their way into bodies of water, eutrophication occurs reducing oxygen for other aquatic life. Dumping waste into larger bodies of water will allow better capacity for dilution. This is acceptable as long as it is far away from the edges. Perhaps we can relate to Freud’s theory—we only see what we want to see and so maybe when the problem disappears from sight, it is no longer our problem. Essentially we are adapting to constraints on our culture by the physical environment in that drinkable water is scarce. Every region and individual has the capacity to rethink their own water polluting ethos without compromising health, wealth or security but in order for that to happen, cooperation on all levels need to agree on stricter controls, tighter decision-making and greater respect for the world’s natural resource—if each prisoner can only solve the dilemma.



McNeil., J.R., 2000: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World: Something New Under the Sun. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 421 pp.

Wu, Changhua., 1999: Water Pollution and Human Health in China: Environmental Health Perspectives, 107, 251-256. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3434590.

14 November 2009

Water Pollution


Pollution of Water in Urbanized Cities

In America, American’s turn on the faucet and out comes water. American’s turn on the shower, take off their clothes and jump in, never imagining turning on the water and not finding water. American’s spend unlimited amounts of water feeding their plants, watching their cars, their dishes and taking endless showers. American’s never think twice about the counties in which are dying for a drop of the luxury we have here: water. It is clear that people today use a lot more water than they did in the 1700’s and waste a lot more.

People need water to live just as much as they need oxygen and food. Throughout human history humans found that water was the most important necessary, however, researchers have proven that humans have begun relying on other sources such as water irrigation for their soil to make food. As urbanization improved the water industrialization improved and dis-improved at the same time. “The health, wealth, and security of any and all societies depended upon getting sufficient supplies of sufficiently clean water to the right places at the right times, without doing too much damage in the process” (p118) doing this was important because with a terrible water supply comes a terrible economy and health. As urbanization took place, the water consumption increased as well as pollution. Cities were growing and waste was multiplying. Cities began dumping wastes in nearby watercourses and drinking from it too (p122). This causes diseases and many illnesses to form causing many deaths. Cities that developed around rivers, such as the Ganges in India also paid the price of illness, through chemical dumping miles away in rivers and hoping that down the line the water would dilute the chemicals. Not always did that work which resulted in many deaths.

Through an ecological website they list the 13 causes of water pollution:

1. Pesticides

2. Fertilizers / Nutrient Pollution

3. Oil, Gasoline and Additives

4. Mining

5. Sediment

6. Chemical and Industrial Processes

7. Plastic

8. Personal Care Products, Household Cleaning Products, and Pharmaceuticals

9. Sewage

10. Air Pollution

11. Carbon Dioxide

12. Heat

13. Noise

There are many causes to water pollution that people have discovered, it is proven that through the industrialization that poorly designed landfills, road salts, hazardous waste sites, animal droppings and cruise ships were designed all to have played an important role in water pollution. A quote by the President Lyndon B. Johnson of the Water Act of 1965 says, “No one has the right to use America’s rivers and America’s waterways, that belong to all the people, as a sewer. The banks of a river may belong to one man of one industry or one state, but the waters which flow between the banks should belong to all the people.”

“Earth is a water planet, the only place in our solar system where water exists as liquid” (p119). Water is the only reason humans developed on Earth so we need to work together to keep our Earth water clean. If it were only possible to fill up bins of water and clean soil and send them over seas to countries in need – I would do it. American’s can help by conserving, reusing, and saving: if everyone did their share that would be enough.

Are you doing your share?

Citations:

McNeill, J.R. Something New Under the Sun. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. 118-48. Print.

Jeantheau, Mark. "A List of Water Pollution Causes." Grinning Planet. 2005. Web. 14 Nov 2009. .

12 November 2009

The Health Effects of Air Pollution in Today's Urban Environment


Today, air pollution is a major challenge to those who live in urban civilization. The main causes of pollution in cities are car and airplane exhaust, the burning of fossil fuels (oil and coal) in generating stations and factories, and livestock feedlots.

In Los Angeles, transportation is the main cause of air pollution. Car exhaust creates smog that is so thick some days it looks cloudy. In 2008, Los Angeles was considered the most polluted city in the United States according to weather.com.

Living in polluted urban areas can cause many long term and short term health effects that are either caused or influenced by air pollution. A few long term conditions include lung cancer, heart disease, and chronic respiratory disease. One chronic respiratory disease called Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease develops after long-term exposure to lung irritants that damage the lungs and airways. Breathing in air pollution and chemical fumes or dust can contribute to this disease. With the continual exposure to air pollution, the lungs of growing children are affected, and medical conditions of the elderly are compromised as well. Short term effects include eye nose and throat irritation, and upper respiratory infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis. Other symptoms can include allergic reactions, headaches, and nausea.

Asthma can be triggered by allergens or a sensitivity to non-allergic types of pollutants present in the air such as smog. I just recently acquired asthma. I went through some allergy testing, but was not allergic to anything they tested me for, however they do not test to see if you are allergic to smog. Living in the polluted San Jose was the trigger for me. It is hard for me to go for a jog around my own neighborhood because my asthma acts up.

Besides these medical conditions, there are other ways humans are effected by air pollution. Medical conditions arising from air pollution can be very expensive. Air pollution is causing so many medical issues that it is forcing humans to lose more money on health care, and lost productivity in the workplace. Research into the health effects of air pollution is ongoing, but the best way to avoid air pollution is to move to a place where there is little to no pollutants.
Stay healthy, keep your money, and move to the country where a pollution-free environment is waiting for you!


Sources

McNeill, J. R., John Robert McNeill, and Paul Kennedy. Something New Under the Sun An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World (Global Century Series). Boston: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001. Print.

"What causes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)?" National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. .

"Top 10 Most Polluted U.S. Cities - weather.com." National and Local Weather Forecast, Hurricane, Radar and Report. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. .

11 November 2009

The Correlation between Economics and Population Growth: The Demographic Transition Theory


As the earth teeters on the edge of 6.5 billion inhabitants and counting, fertility rates are plummeting world wide. How is this possible, if we are still growing at an alarming rate? McNeil et al. (2000) claims the world has experienced at least two doublings of the world’s populations since 1500. Academia has used the demographic transition theory to explain the population explosion of the last century, and attribute economic growth as the cause.
The demographic transition theory separates population growth and reduction into four stages. Keyfits (1992) explains that in n the first stage a nation’s birth rates and death rates are both extremely high, keeping population growth low. The high birth rate is attributed to little family planning and the economic need for large families attributed to a primarily agricultural economy. Families need more hands in the fields. Death rates are high because of lack of adequate health care. As a nation begins to become more complex and possibly influenced by the global economy, they move into stage two. In stage two, western medicine reduces the death rate while the birth rate remains high due to the persistence of the agricultural economy. Less people are dying while still more are born. As the country industrializes, they move into stage three, where death rates continue to decline and birth rates plummet. As a society urbanizes, large families become costly. Where it used to be adaptive to have large families to cultivate farms, now urban structures make large families cumbersome, expensive, and maladaptive. As a country becomes fully industrialized, contraceptives and family planning become more available and the birth rate remains low and stable, as does the death rate.

In this transition, the nation experiences an explosion in population due to the low death rate and continued high birth rates. Although most of the developed world (ex. Sweden) has already completed the transition, many nations are still stuck in the second and third stages of the demographic transition (ex. Mexico). Some nations (ex. African nations) are still in the first stages and will be preparing to start their transition shortly (). There are some controversies over whether economic development is the cause of the population growth due to ambiguous data. However, Keyfitz asserts that the initial trigger of the decrease in death rate is most definitely due to the beginning of the country’s increased economic development (1992). Regardless, we can expect the world’s population to continue to explode for at least another century.

Keyfitz, N. “Completing the Worldwide Demographic Transition: The Relevance of Past Experience.” Ambio, 21. 1, (1992): 26-30. 10 Nov. 2009

Pluijim, B. v.d. "Population Growth over Human History Lecture" Image: "The Demographic Transition" 2000. U. Michigan.

McNeil, J. R. An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World: Something New Under the Sun. W.W. Norton&Company, Colorado, 1-17.

04 November 2009

Not just for Tarzan anymore...

From the pulp-fiction tale of the lost British noble raised by anthropoid apes, I first read about the "loyal Waziri", who lived on the west coast of Africa. Their intelligence was only exceeded by their loyalty to the protagonist. My 11-year-old eyes did not comprehend the reality represented by the depictions of tribal life, seeing only Tarzan's continued triumph.

Lately, though, I understand that while the jungles of Africa still exist, careful land management is needed to continue to use their bounty. Moran (2009) describes how swidden agriculture is actually quite effective in developing the African landscape for crops. When Nigerian locals add to the slash-and-burn methods by weeding and fertilization, the land is even more abundant with valuable harvests (Moran, 2009, p. 198). Adding years of forest lying the fallow to land can yield "up to 20 times the energy invested" in field preparation and sowing. (http://www.galtoninstitute.org.uk/Newsletters/GINL9712/crises_and_cycles.htm).

On the northern side of Nigeria, Congan grasslands stand as the demarcation between deforestation to the Saharan desert. This grassland is classified as "derived savannah", interspersed with patches of thickets and stands of trees. Use of the range management approach has begun to yield fine results, utilizing farmyard manure to enhance nutritious soil production.

Thus relying upon these farming techniques, the population of Nigeria is almost 150 million, estimated as of July 2009. As an oil-producing nation, however, the government has focused on that resource exclusively, and has mostly allowed private industry and charities to focus on farming for the good of the people. The population has been growing about 2% annually, even though the infant mortality is high and infectious respiratory diseases are common. AIDS is the huge problem that it is elsewhere in Africa, with 2.6 million people infected.

Environmental protections do not yet exist in Nigeria, even though multiple international agreements have been signed. Perhaps the coming decades will allow for progressive improvements, now that Nigerians have had 10 years to become used to the latest constitution. With its volatile history, this former British colony has a democratically elected president that claims to be sincere about improving the infrastructure, including electricity and roads.

From ancient dust to prevalent cell phones, Nigeria is making progress.



Africa: Nigeria. (2009 October 28). Retrieved November 4, 2009, from The CIA World
Factbook. website: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook
/geos/ni.html

Hossner, L. R., Juo, A.S.R. (1999, May 1). Soil nutrient management for sustained
food crop production upland farming systems in the tropics. Retrieved from Food,
Fertilizer Technology Center for the Asian and Pacific Region website.
http://www.agnet.org/library/eb/471/

McKell, C.M., & Adegbola, A.A. (1966). Need for a range management approach for
Nigerian grasslands. Kansas: Allen Press.

Palo, M., & Vanhenen, H. (2008). World forests from deforestation to transition? The
Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Russell, C., & Russell, W. M. S. (1988). Swidden farming and the Maya. Retrieved from
http://www.galtoninstitute.org.uk/Newsletters/GINL9712/crises_and_cycles.htm

Source, E.M. (1961). Selling the tropical African market. The Journal of Marketing,
25(5), 25-31.

Urban city: The other side

According to Moran (Moran 2008), an urban city is an important place for people to live in. Due to its popularity, the urban city keeps on expanding. The city is the center of economic activity; however, it is not the planet’s most environmental friendly place. The city is not self-sustainable due to overpopulation and congestion. The bigger the city is, the more problems it creates, like crimes, pollution, slums, and shortages of water and power. For a city to flourish, it needs to eat up resources from its own environment and neighboring environments. Such depletions of resources has been experienced by the City of Los Angeles. According to the New York Times (Shabecoff 1988, Los Angeles is ranked as one of the nation’s cities with the worst air quality. Because it is populated, the city has a very high demand for water. In 1941, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began to drain Mono Lake in order to meet the growing water demands of Los Angeles (Mono Lake Committee). As a result, the volume of Mono Lake decreased to a half. Unable to adapt to these changing conditions, Mono Lake’s ecosystem started to collapse.

In recent years, Los Angeles has been trying to improve its environment. In a recent study, Mee Kam Ng (Ng 2005) indicated how urban regeneration could help boost a city's quality of life as well as provide a brief overview of the practice of urban renewal in Hong Kong. Like Los Angeles, Hong Kong deals with overpopulation, crimes, slums, and many other problems. The local neighborhoods in Hong Kong lack amenities or open spaces for facilitating community involvement because social amenities are not perceived properly. It is important to bring out the history and culture of a community in the course of restructuring spaces as well as the regenerative process, by being attentive to the needs of all stakeholders, especially those who are disadvantaged. The poor perception of the environment and economy in Hong Kong show that the city has not utilized renewal opportunities to improve the quality of its environment. This problem indicates that the Urban Renewal Authority should adopt new approaches in order to boost the structure of the community and society. Another problem that Hong Kong needs to look at is the discrepancies between the perceptions of the public, private, and community sectors. Many issues regarded as priority by the private sector are disregarded by the public sector. Conversely, the private and community sectors consider a collective project as important for Hong Kong because it can strengthen citizen, democratic, and political participation. However, such projects are absent from the public sector's priority list.

Urban renewal or urban regeneration is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high-density urban land use by replacing old buildings with new ones to provide better living environments and neighborhoods. The program encourages the rehabilitation of decaying buildings, maintaining and restoring buildings of historical and architectural value, and sustaining community characteristics by strengthening the socio-economic and environmental factors in urban communities. This research indicates that Hong Kong should put more effort towards sustainable urban regeneration. Moreover, all stakeholders have to work extra hard in order to create a better and more livable urban environment.

Moran, E. F. (2008). Human Adaptability: An introduction to ecological anthropology (pp. 307). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Shabecoff, P. (1988, August 30). Los Angeles Penalized for pollution. New York Times. Retrieved November 3, 2009, from http://nytimes.com.

Mono Lake Committee. (n. d.) The Mono Lake Story. Retrieved November 3, 2009, from http://www.monolake.org/about/story.

Ng, M. K. (2005). Quality of life perceptions and directions for urban regeneration in Hong Kong. Social indicator research, 71, 441-465.