Photo by CC user geralt on Pixabay.
The world’s environment is at a crossroads in the early years of the 21st century. People are aware that things aren’t right, as extreme climate disasters have become a regular item on the news, so they are looking for solutions.
What are we up against? Russ Lea knows all about these issues, as he has extensive academic experience in environmental science.
What hot button issues (besides climate change, which is a crisis that everyone knows about these days) is on his and his colleagues’ mind in 2016? This post will cover several that are of paramount importance…
1) Irresponsibly-managed mining projects
As the world continues to grow, mining companies continue to prospect for the minerals necessary to support this expansion. Unfortunately, activities that take place outside of first world countries tend to resemble those tolerated in the early days of the 20th century, with exploitation of local communities, unchecked dumping, and human rights abuses being commonplace.
However, these impacts are even being felt close to home these days, as the rise of fracking has led to an increase in hazardous side effects such as water pollution and earthquakes.
Drilling companies seem to be hiding behind the current lack of concrete scientific proof despite overwhelming circumstantial and anecdotal evidence making it appear that there is some positive correlation between fracking, compromised water, and earthquakes.
Neutral studies are desperately needed to bolster the argument that these activities do in fact pose a threat to the environment where they occur.
2) The implications of industrial agriculture
Walk into any grocery store these days and you’ll see the fruits of industrialized agriculture in the meat, produce and bakery sections. While it has scaled up humanity’s ability to feed itself, the mechanisms that power it are inherently unsustainable, and they also pose unique health concerns.
Fossil fuel inputs power much of it, which has accelerated the problem of climate change. Additionally, the feces and fertilizer runoff produced by these operations have contaminated water tables and spurred algae blooms that have triggered numerous fish kills over the years.
By continuing the shift to renewable energy for energy inputs, emphasizing more humane operations at factory farms, and encouraging the shift to more localized production, we can start the process of cleaning up our food production systems.
3) Deforestation
The loss of forests continues at a breathtaking pace in tropical developing countries around the world. Logging in nations such as Brazil and Indonesia is stripping our world of the carbon sponges that we so desperately need, to say nothing of habitat loss for endemic species in these regions.
By cutting back on the import of beef and products containing palm oil (forest is being cleared for ranching in Brazil, and palm plantations in Indonesia), we can vote with our wallet on this important issue.
4) Ocean pollution and acidification
In 2016, many of us still treat the open ocean like a trash can. Out of sight, out of mind. A blissful thought for the ignorant perhaps, but it is very much on the mind of aquatic species that consume this waste, who then suffer a terrible death shortly thereafter.
Acidification is another crisis facing the ocean, as increases in carbon emissions are decreasing PH levels worldwide. This has accelerated coral bleaching, leading to a loss of habitat for important members of the food chain.
By enacting better waste management processes on ships, and tacking our climate crisis, we can help the world’s oceans turn the corner.