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Effects of fossil fuels on the environment
Effects of fossil fuels on the environment
Negative effects of fossil fuels
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After reading the report titled “Coal Blooded: Putting Profits before People.” I agree that some coal-fired power plants do represent a health issue for those around them. I take exception to the generalization that all coal-fired power plants are unhealthy. The Executive Director of the Indigenous Environment Network, Tom Goldtooth boldly stated: “Clean coal is an oxymoron.” However, one only needs to look at Appendix III of the report. It indicates the exclusion of plants fired by “Anthracite/Bituminous Coal,” “Lignite Coal,” “Subbituminous Coal,” “Waste/Other Coal,” and “Coal Synfuel,” This exclusion shows your bias of the coal industry in general and coal-fired plants specifically. There is also the implication that coal-fired plants are
the primary reason for the health issues for the communities they are in without addressing other environmental issues seems short sited. Further, the blame for all the problems at these plants lay at the feet of the plant owners only reasons of greed. Perhaps the NAACP should look at the reasons the plants in the study remain in their original configuration or lack upgrades to make them cleaner. Federal, State, and local regulations have become overwhelming and cost prohibitive. Also as the report states, most of these plants serve low-income communities that can ill afford the cost of a new facility or power source or the cost to purchase electricity these new sources would demand. Finally, It would appear the NAACP had a theory, and the sought out facts to support that theory to the exclusion of other possibilities represented by the facts.
In his article “Boss Hog: The Dark Side of America’s Top Pork Producer,” (Rolling Stone Magazine, December 14, 2006) Jeff Teitz reports that not only are millions upon millions of pigs being abused and slaughtered each year by America’s largest pork producer, but, in turn, the waste produced by those pigs is polluting, destroying, and even killing others. Teitz begins by revealing that Smithfield Foods, the world’s most profitable pork processor, killed 27 million hogs last year, which is roughly equivalent to the entire human populations of America’s thirty-two largest cities. As Teitz delves deeper into statistics, he explains that more fecal matter is produced from half a million pigs at one Smithfield subsidiary than the 1.5 million residents of Manhattan, and in just one year Smithfield’s total waste discharge is enough to fill four Yankee Stadiums.
Rebecca Harding Davis wrote “Life in the Iron Mills” in the mid-nineteenth century in part to raise awareness about working conditions in industrial mills. With the goal of presenting the reality of the mills’ environment and the lives of the mill workers, Davis employs vivid and concrete descriptions of the mills, the workers’ homes, and the workers themselves. Yet her story’s realism is not objective; Davis has a reformer’s agenda, and her word-pictures are colored accordingly. One theme that receives a particularly negative shading in the story is big business and the money associated with it. Davis uses this negative portrayal of money to emphasize the damage that the single-minded pursuit of wealth works upon the humanity of those who desire it.
Throughout the 19th century, industrialization was a turning point in the United States that led to huge changes in society, economics and politics. The incoming growth of factories had positives and negatives effects. Two specific changes were the new government regulations and the increasing immigration. These changes were extremely important because they settled the bases of the country.
“The Jungle” novel was written by an American journalist/ novelist name Upton Sinclair in 1906. “The Jungle” made a big hit and became his best-selling novel because it revealed so well about the economical and social reality during that time. The book mainly described about how unsanitary the meat packing industry was operated in Chicago and the miserable life of the immigrants going along with the industry. Through the story around the life and family of Jurgis Rudjus, a Lithuanian immigrant who comes to America with the belief to change their life and live in a better condition, Sinclair expresses that “The Jungle” is a symbol of capitalism. Sinclair’s contempt for capitalist society is present throughout the novel, demonstrated in the eagerness of Jurgis to work, the constant struggle for survival of the workers in Packing town and the corruption of the man at all levels of the society. Also, the author promotes socialism as a standard political society to replace capitalism.
The period in American history between 1900 and 1920 was a very turbulent one. Civil unrest was brewing as a result of many pressures placed upon the working class. Although wealth was accumulating at an astonishing rate in America, most people at the lower economic levels were not benefiting from any of it. Worst of all for them, the federal government seemed to be on the side of the corporations. Their helpless situation and limited options is why the coal strike of 1902 is so important.
"The Toll from Coal." Catf.us. Clean Air Task Force, Sept. 2010. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
Although coal mining is important to local and global economies, there are many environmental impacts of both the mining and use of coal that must be considered. Actions can be taken to mitigate these environmental impacts but it is up to scientists to identify these potential problems and put plans into action before it is too late.
American history between 1865 and 1900 is characterized as the Gilded Age. Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner coined this term; it means that this era, from the outside, appeared prosperous, but with a closer look, one could discover the corruption that lay beneath the thin layer of gold. This era was filled with urbanization, industrialization, and immigration; these three things gave the Gilded Age the appearance of being a prosperous time filled with progress. However, the American industrial worker, the bulwark of the age, did not prosper as much as one may have thought. American industrial workers faced extremely difficult lives, working very hard to receive little reward, and it did not take very long before they wanted reform. The industrial workers banded together, forming labor unions, in order to try to negotiate with their employers to have some of their demands met. Labor unions are generally thought of as having positive effects on workers, which certainly was true, but only to an extent. Labor unions also had some very negative effects on workers, specifically when their demands were not met, or when they were seen negatively by the government and the public. Immigration rates during the Gilded Age were extremely high, because the United States had great opportunities, especially in available jobs, which were greatly desirable to foreign people. Immigration generally had negative effects on American industrial workers. With large numbers of immigrants coming from foreign countries, there was a surplus of labor which caused unemployment and wages to remain low. Also, immigration had great effects on labor unions, generally negative as well, which would then in turn negatively affect the workers in that union. Last...
During the late 1700’s, the United States was no longer a possession of Britain, instead it was a market for industrial goods and the world’s major source for tobacco, cotton, and other agricultural products. A labor revolution started to occur in the United States throughout the early 1800’s. There was a shift from an agricultural economy to an industrial market system. After the War of 1812, the domestic marketplace changed due to the strong pressure of social and economic forces. Major innovations in transportation allowed the movement of information, people, and merchandise. Textile mills and factories became an important base for jobs, especially for women. There was also widespread economic growth during this time period (Roark, 260). The market revolution brought about economic growth through new modes of transportation, an abundance of natural resources, factory production, and banking and legal practices.
The rising of the market economy occurred between the end of the War of 1812 and the Civil War. It was a time of uprising for Americans of the United States. There were changes in the vast improvement in transportation, the growth of factories, and there were important developments of new technology that increased agricultural production. Americans advanced into new areas and produced an agricultural surplus that went to market farming. In the nineteenth century, manufacturing was the most important factor because it brought about industrialization. The expansion of both economic and technological advances also brought about the changes in American society. The growth and eventual dominance of market capitalism in the United States changed the lives of all Americans fundamentally. The Market Revolution and the rise of market capitalism influenced the working class because of new inventions, like the cotton gin, and it encouraged farmers to raise more cotton in the South, and brought people in the North greater opportunities in the work field.
The Chinese Republic of Coal: Why the excessive combustion of coal in China poses detrimental impacts on its environment and society, as well as the rest of the world.
What comes to mind when you think of coal mining? If you're like me, coal mining means living in darkness and a cold hearted industry. Other words that come to mind are poverty and oppression. Coal mining is not a job that you dream about or get a degree for. People who are coal miners do not chose a life full of danger and repression, they get stuck with it. There are many dangers that come along with coal mining, not only for the workers, but for the environment. Coal mining and the coal industry have caused irreversible damage to our environment and has killed innocent miners.
Impacts of coal mining are visible by landscapes that lack the beauty of a mountainous backdrop and landscapes that are void of any trees or plants. These areas are left barren by the excavating of the earth in order to reveal the coal hidden underneath (Theilmann, 2015). In conjunction with the impact on the environment, various health issues have arisen, along with the heightened issues of safety. Black lung, a respiratory disease, and mine accidents are responsible for thousands of mine workers being injured or even killed every year. These deaths are a result of suffocation from poisonous gases found within the mines and explosions that lead to the collapsing of mines roofs. The mortality rates of workers in the coal mining industry has one of the highest ranks in the industrial sector of mining (Joyce, 1998). As evident, the destruction left behind by the mining of coal is detrimental to the environment and has a huge impact on the welfare of the mine workers employed by the coal mining
In conclusion, coal fired power plants provide electricity for millions of people, however there are many disadvantages of the use of these plants. Mercury that is released by these power plants contributes to air pollution that also collects in the water supply. These power plants, although they enriched the United States socioeconomic environment, have very negative consequences. Based on the evidence shown throughout the articles and data collected, mercury poisoning generates toxic environments for marine life, humans, and the ecosystems of the earth. Many people in the U.S. and other regions of the world experience negative health effects and problems from mercury pollution, and although the illnesses or impairments that come from the exposure cannot be reversed, they can be monitored and decreased for future generations.
Fuels like coal, and oil that once were a fine innovation in creating energy are now rapidly deleting and one day will be gone forever; energy that won’t last is often referred to as non-renewable energy. Besides being set up to fail and become inefficient in the future, fossil fuel energy is not clean to use and poses several environmental complications. Coal, for instance is “the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. Coal combustion not only produces sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides that contribute to acid rain and snow, it generates millions of tons of particulates that cause asthma and other respiratory diseases.” As with all usage of fossil fuels, it creates enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, which contributes to greenhouse gas. Not only are fossil fuels dirty, they also pose as a security risk and unforgiving on the American wallet. (Saini)