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The importance of environmental protection
The importance of environmental protection
Environment regulations consequences
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Environmental law is a broad form of law developed to regulate how human activities affect the physical and biological environment (Doremus et al 2008, 2). Environmental law can be large scale or small scale, global or local; but it takes the cooperation of many different agencies to be successful. Overall, environmental law has contributed to a healthier environment in many ways. Since the beginning of environmental law and regulation, society has seen advancements in sanitation, pollution, air and water quality disease control and prevention, and ultimately in quality of life. Before the 1970s, when environmental regulation became commonplace in the United States, environmental health was not a main priority. Sanitation infrastructure was lackluster, high levels of air and water pollution was normal and disease outbreaks were common. These environmental health problems were not new and were not unique to the United States; they were present on a global scale. Cholera outbreaks in London, typhoid fever outbreaks in Chicago and New York were all a result of weak environmental laws. Rodent infestations in the fourteenth century riddled …show more content…
Regulations provide the baseline environmental standards that industry is required to follow. Without environmental regulations, industry would not be able to meet the same standards by themselves. Environmental regulations may not always be in the best interest of the industry due to their costly and sometimes prohibitive nature. In response to these concerns, the establishment of incentive programs increases the likelihood of industry complying with and potentially exceeding the minimum environmental standard. Incentive programs motivate industry to meet and exceed environmental standards by allowing them to benefit financially by aiming for higher than regulation
There were “regulations against people washing clothes in or near waters used for drink, or against washing the entrails of beasts after slaughter”(Rowse 156). “…it is evident from innumerable documents how frequently they were broken” (Rowse 156). As long as people lived in small groups, isolated from each other, there were not many incidents of widespread disease. But as civilization progressed, people began clustering into cities. As the cities grew and became crowded, they also became the nesting places of water-borne, insect-borne, and skin-to-skin infectious diseases.
The rail market continued to grow and by the 1860’s all major cities within the United States were connected by rail. The main diseases that showed the most virulence during the time were cholera, yellow fever and consumption, now known as tuberculosis. The 9th census mortality data showed that 1 out 7 deaths from disease were caused by tuberculosis and 1 out of 24 disease deaths were resulting from cholera. . Until the 1870s the general consensus of the spread of disease through population was still the primitive idea that it came from the individual and not specifically the pathogen.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The EPA operates from a number of laws and regulations designed to function as its foundation for protecting the environment and the health of the public. Congress allows the EPA to write regulations in order to support the ideas for implementing these regulations. For that reason they are known as a regulatory agency. These regulations fall under two categories: Laws and Executive Orders (EOs) that influence environmental protection and Laws and EOs that Influence the Regulatory Process.
By the 1840’s high rates of disease were ascribed to the housing many of New York’s poverty-stricken immigrants lived in. Fear spread that while disease was rooted in the polluted living conditions of New York’s poorer communities, disease could easily spread to the more well off citizens too. Public health officials realized that the city’s soiled streets and polluted sewers were a health risk to all New Yorkers. In the mid-nineteenth century, New York possessed a primitive sewage system. Poorly planned sewers spanned the city, but most citizens’ homes did not connect to these pipes. Instead, most New Yorkers relied on outdoor outhouses and privies. Because of the high levels of unmanaged waste, epidemics of infectious diseases were commonplace in New York. The city battled outbreaks of smallpox, typhoid, malaria, yellow fever, cholera, and tuberculosis. In 1849, a rash of cholera struck the city, killing more than five thousand people. A wave of typhoid in the mid-1860’s resulted in a similar amount of deaths. Port cities and transportation hubs, like New York, were especially prone to outbursts of infectious diseases because of the high volume of travelers that passed through the city. Americans realized that they were contracting and dying from infectious diseases at an alarming rate, but weren’t entirely sure of why or how. (Web, par. 17,
American towns industrialized all throughout the nineteenth century, irresistible ailments developed as a genuine danger. The presentation of new workers and the development of vast urban zones permitted already confined sicknesses to spread rapidly and contaminate larger populations. As industrialization occurred, towns developed into cities, and people relocated to them. The expanded interest for shoddy lodging by urban vagrants prompted ineffectively assembled homes that poorly accommodated individual cleanliness. Outside laborers in the nineteenth century frequently lived in cramped dwellings that consistently lacked fundamental comforts, for example, running water, ventilation, and toilets. These conditions were perfect for the spread
The problem with pollution prevention is that it requires people to understand more than the intimate details of the production process; they must also understand the technical possibilities. Many corporations have environmental managers, which are generally responsible for helping corporations comply with the law. According to the case study, the work of environmental managers often expose them to many pollution prevention solutions, but they often have trouble getting access to production areas. Production often sees Environmental Managers as "the compliance police".
The Criminal Process in Environmental Regulation. (n.d.). UH Law. Retrieved April 6, 2014, from http://www.law.uh.edu/faculty/thester/courses/Environmental-Practicum-2014/syllabus/chap6.pdf
The case is Nollan versus the California Coastal Commission. The Nollans were the appellates against a decision made by the California Coastal Commission (CCC).
Due to more crowded conditions, epidemic diseases spread extremely quickly during in Victorian England. The life expectancy in Surrey at the time was 45, while in London it was 47 (“Health and Hygiene”). One major problem was poor waste removal: increased urbanization led to an increased flow of sewage, which flowed into over 200,000 waste pits and eventually, the Thames, a major source of drinking water. Charles Dickens said “We pour it (the filth) into the rivers flowing through our towns, and pollute them as never before…” (Allingham). Polluted water led to cholera and typhoid, which at the time was thought to be caused by bad smells. Increasing pollution of the Thames led to the “Great Stink” of 1858, which not only stunk but caused rapid bacteria growth and thus rapid spread of disease (“Health and Hygiene”). However, cholera and typhoid were not the worst of the epidemics as they were typically limited to contaminated water and poorer neighborhoods; diseases such as tuberculosis, typhus, and influenza had no geographical barriers. E...
At the beginning of the semester, I thought that environmental justice was justice for the environment, which is true to a point, but I now know that it is justice for the people. Only when there is a people that have been wronged, usually using the environment as the the method of delivery, does it become an environmental justice case. Environmental justice ensures that all people, regardless of income level or race, have a say in the development and enforcement of environmental laws. It acts on the philosophy that anyone living on and in the land should have a say on how it is treated and used. Sometimes when developing legislature, the populations in mind are not all affected equally, and if said population
The poisons that we are introducing into our environment is causing us a new slew of health problems. We once had to worry about things such as the bubonic plague, but now, we have to worry about what Rachel refers to as “environmental disease” (p.169).
In rejection of Snow’s germ theory, an advocator of the Poor Law – Edwin Chadwick (1800-1890) became committed to proving that poor living conditions, including poor sanitation, caused certain diseases such as cholera. It was his research and appointment as The Public Health Director which brought about the first Public Health Act to effect major reform towards the prevention of public ill-health. His proposal to improve drainage and water supplies has contributed to the UK’s excellent sanitation standard...
Passing of the years, development and growth of the planet have been guided to create and produce new things to satisfy human needs with industrialization and modernization regardless the consequences that occurred in the environment. Once, the environment was evaluated, and analysed the impact of people in it, all the effects were vast, for example weakening of the ozone layer, acid rain, decreased natural resources like water, the exploitation of natural resources, effects on air quality, contamination of rivers, deforestation; we realize the damage, we 've been defiling our planet and therefore our quality of life. Some says that engineers don’t have to be worried about the consequences of their acts in the ecological or social field, but the environment 's ability to renew itself is minimized compared to the high values of consumption and human growth we are generating. Bell (2011), engineers have a main roll to generated process and designs according to decrease those high values thinking in sustainable development according to approach lower levels.
Efforts to improve the standard of living for humans--through the control of nature and the development of new products--have also resulted in the pollution, or contamination, of the environment. Much of the world's air, water, and land is now partially poisoned by chemical wastes. Some places have become uninhabitable. This pollution exposes people all around the globe to new risks from disease. Many species of plants and animals have become endangered or are now extinct. As a result of these developments, governments have passed laws to limit or reverse the threat of environmental pollution.
Are you aware of the detrimental impacts that we have had on our environment? Every second, the Earth is being polluted by poisonous gases, waste products and due to human activities, the world’s climate is dramatically changing. In other words, these impacts do not only harm our environment but also our health. It has been scientifically proven that air pollution causes respiratory diseases and cancer, due to the inhalation of all the harmful chemicals. Water pollution can also lead to typhoid, diarrheal diseases and other waterborne disease, due to the intake of bacteria and parasites. Many people have died due to these health-related illnesses. So why are we still living in this awful condition? Air sustains us and water is a basic necessity, so we should do what we can to prevent pollution. In short, we should protect our environment to ensure a healthy life a...