Impact of Modern Consumption on the Environment and Human Health
Our planet is being heavily used by the modernization of the growing population. The natural environment has been dominated by artificial commodities. Human consumption of natural resources, including food, water, energy, land, and vegetation, are increasing with the growing population, technological advancement, economic growth, and the rapid industrialization. Here, I focus on the consumption of fossil fuel and oil by human beings and its impacts. I also compare two major man-made environmental disasters: the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the BP oil spill.
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| BP Oil spill one of the most devastating environmental disasters Photo from: Deep Water Horizon Explosion |
Oil is a non-renewable natural resource which is being drilled recklessly by oil companies and is used in excess by human beings. If we observe our surroundings, we see many modern commodities that consume oil. We use oil as fuel for vehicles and other machinery, as an ingredient in pesticides, fertilizers, and other products like plastics and rubber. Industrialized countries with strong economies consume the highest percentages of oil. According to hydrocarbons-technology.com, the United States was the world's biggest oil-consuming country in 2012. The U.S. alone consumes 18.5 million barrels of oil per day, which is nearly 20% of the world's total consumption per day. China comes in second place with 11.7%, followed by Japan with 5.3% of the world's total oil consumption.
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| The Parking place at Keene State College (There cars are the big consumer of oil) Photo by: Benajil |
Impact of BP Oil Spill on the Environment
Oil use is also contributing to the degradation of the natural environment and affecting human health. For example, the BP oil spill of April 2010, according to a report from HARPER'S Magazine, resulted in an estimated 30 million gallons of oil being released into the Gulf of Mexico. This caused coastal erosion, harmed the ocean's ecosystem, limited biodiversity, and directly impacted several organisms. The HARPER'S report also says, "By May 2011, BP's oil had sickened or killed more than 10,000 Gulf animals: 28,500 sea turtles, 82,000 birds, and more than 26,000 marine mammals, including several sperm whales. "This is definitely a mass extinction of animals. Another kind of organism that was directly affected was phytoplankton, which is one of the most important sea vegetation because it produces about half of the planet's oxygen. Essentially, the spill affected the source of oxygen for ocean life, and for human beings as well.
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| The brown pelicans were heavily oiled and affected by the spill Photo from: flicker.com |
According to the MSNBC YouTube channel, the Barrier Islands off the coast of Louisiana provide a sanctuary for wildlife. The Mangrove trees and seagrasses on the islands are used by pelicans and various endangered species to nest. When the oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico, it destroyed much vegetation on the island, including the Mangrove trees and seagrass. When the root systems of Mangrove trees and other vegetation died, erosion intensified.
Impact of BP Oil Spill on Human Health
Source
Additionally, the BP oil spill affected human health. The spill resulted to crude-oil contamination, which caused different health problems, including headaches, respiratory and gastrointestinal problems, eye and skin related irritation, cancer, birth defects, and developmental and neurological disorders, such as dementia. This wasn't only a concern for cleanup workers and local residents, but also for anyone consumed fish, shrimp, crabs, or oysters that were caught in the contaminated water.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch and its impact on the Environment and Human Health
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| According to the Vimeo, 8% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch's plastics come from the land Photo from: flicker.com |
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is another man-made disaster that impacts the environment and human health. Founder of Algalita Marine Research Foundation Charlie Moore discovered the environmental disaster. He in his TED talk, he says, "Only we humans make waste that nature can't digest." What he calls "Throwaway Living" is one of the major cause of the environmental pollution. Throwaway plastics made of polyethylene terephthalate are non-degradable and can remain forever. Bottles of beverages are mostly found floating in the sea. The United States consumes two million bottled beverages every five minutes. He gave examples of some of the places which are full of plastic bottles. Baja California, Isla San Roque, Long Beach, and the beach of Kailua are some of the most highly polluted. He further states that bottle caps, which can neither degrade nor be recycled, are covering the oceans. He predicts a future where plastic bottles and caps can pollute the entire Pacific Ocean from the U.S.A. to Japan and from Japan to the Philippines.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is killing terrestrial and marine animals. According to Moore, hundreds and thousands of albatrosses are dying because of the consumption of plastic bottle caps and rubbish like the cigarette lighters in the Hawaiian Islands. It is equally harmful to aquatic animals like turtles and fish. When Moore did necropsies on fish, he found three in five have non-degradable plastic fragments in their stomach. When humans consume seafood that has swallowed these plastic fragments, it's obviously detrimental to their health. Moore suggests stopping the plastic pollution at its root level. He said, "stop it on land before it falls into the ocean." If we stop the production of plastic, we can finally unwrap the world from its web.
Comparison of BP Oil Spill and the Great Pacific Garbage Path
Both the BP oil spill and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch have had tremendous effects on the environment, ecosystem, wildlife, and human health. The devastation of the BP oil spill was a waste of nonrenewable energy that greatly damaged the environment. In a sense, so is the excessive production of plastic. Take bottled water for example. Many of us consume bottled water in our daily life. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, Americans bought a total of 31.2 billion liters of water in 2006, sold in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, which are produced from fossil fuels, oil, and gas. According to the Pacific Institute, in 2006, more than 17 million barrels of oil were required to produce bottled water for American consumption. The total amount of energy invested in our use of bottled water is the equivalent of filling a plastic bottle one-quarter full of oil because bottled water needs time, effort, and energy to produce in factories that need fuel to run. It is distributed in vehicles that also run on fuel and is even stored in refrigerators that require energy.
Use of Bottled Water at Keene State College
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| Water Fountain on the fifth floor of the LLC Photo by: Benajil Rai |
Keene State College considered a green college, but it never stops using bottled water. Students, staffs and faculty members drink bottled water and are contributing to the environmental pollution directly or indirectly. We see bottled water in Hoot and Scoot, Bean's and Bagel, Elliot which provides access to the people at KSC. I remember getting a refillable water bottle during my orientation of freshmen year in college. I think it was a great non-verbal awareness for students not to use bottled water. We have water fountains on every floor in every building, but still many people tend to use bottled water.
The college has a separate trash bin for only bottles and cans for recycling. But I believe, if we stop consuming bottled water on campus, and start using a refillable water bottle, we don't even need that separate trash bin. If we all students, faculty, and staffs make our decision mindfully on consuming bottled water, we would be responsible humans on earth.
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| You decide! Photo by: Benajil Rai |
Citation
“BP Oil Spill 5 Years Later: Wildlife Still Suffering.” YouTube, uploaded by MSNBC, 22 February 2015,
“Bottled Water and Energy Fact Sheet.” The Pacific Institute. The Pacific Institute. Web. 11 Feb.2018.
“The Great Pacific Garbage Path.” YouTube, uploaded by Nick Simpson, 5 August 2005,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7K-nq0xkWY
Juhasz, Antonia. “Thirty Million Gallons Under the Sea Following the trail of BP’s oil in the Gulf of Mexico.” HARPER’S Magazine, June 2015, harpers.org/report. Accessed 8 February 2018.
I thought this post was really interesting and informational. The post was very organized and clear which made it much easier to read. I really enjoyed how you connected a personal experience with the re-usable water bottles. I completely agree with this quote that you said about Keene State College, "The college has a separate trash bin for only bottles and cans for recycling. But I believe, if we stop consuming bottled water on campus, and start using a refillable water bottle, we don't even need that separate trash bin." This could be a real helpful task that could eventually change the world in a significant way. Something that was new to me was the quote "The spill resulted to crude-oil contamination, which caused different health problems, including headaches, respiratory and gastrointestinal problems, eye and skin related irritation, cancer, birth defects, and developmental and neurological disorders, such as dementia." I never knew oil had such a health impact that could lead to dementia so that was really interesting to me. What i suggest for your future post would be to keep your sections organized, like you already have done, because it makes the reading much clearer to understand.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that caught my eye in this post was the fact that you used pictures from Keene State, it made it easier to connect to the post. I really liked how you stated that we are a “green college” because personally, to me it doesn’t really seem like we are. I definitely think that there are people who dedicate their time to helping the environment by recycling and such which is great, but you made a good point when you said we still have recycling bins for water bottles. We really need to start enforcing the use of reusable water bottles. Personally, I always use mine. It keeps my water cold and I know it’s helping the environment. Even if it’s only the smallest percentage, I still think it counts.
ReplyDelete“The devastation of the BP oil spill was a waste of nonrenewable energy that greatly damaged the environment. In a sense, so is the excessive production of plastic” - I really liked this connection. Plastic is made from oil, and it’s important that we see how these two issues connect to one another.
Great post!
I really liked this particular post because it touched on several of the same points that I had also thought were important in my same blog post. Like how the phytoplankton were affected by the oil spill and damage it had done to the circle of life and our supply of oxygen. But was not aware of the study done about the amount of our oil consumption in 2012, 20% in the United States is quite a large amount compared to the rest of the earth for oil consumption. About the blog itself I liked the setup of the post and the picture layout. I liked the it wasn't just these large pictures that took up the whole space of the post but they were weaved into the writing very nicely. One thing I would change would be the multiple titles throughout the post, they're nice but I don't think they are needed in a blogpost.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that resonates with me most from this post is when you talk about receiving a reusable water bottle your freshman year and how it replaces plastic water bottles. I myself have stopped using plastic water bottles and use my reusable water bottle everyday. The numerous dents in it from me dropping it are proof of that. What was most new to me in this post was when you talked about how the BP oil spill destroyed vegetation on the barrier islands off the coast of Louisiana, I was unaware that the Mangroves were affected by the spill. I also never thought of how that would affect the animals who call the Mangroves home. What I like most about your blog post, in the technical component aspect, is how your pictures are off to the side and not just centered after each paragraph. It adds a very cool dynamic to the post. One suggestion that I have is that on the first picture the caption is a bit too close to your paragraph and I was a bit confused for a second on where to continue reading. If you could figure out a way to separate the caption from the reading a bit more I think that would help.
ReplyDeleteI thought this post was really impressive, it was very organized and had thorough information. Your main points were very clear and enjoyable to read. I liked how you gave percentages of each fact, and cited your sources when needed. I am defiantly thinking about my water bottle use more after reading this post. I like how you made it a point that we don't need a separate barrel for plastic bottles, and everyone should just use reusable bottles. I liked how you had titles at the beginning of a new point, it made the post more organized.
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