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The background of environmental problems
The effects of industrialization on the environment
The effects of industrialization on the environment
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Since the beginning of human history, each new generation has been plagued with an issue unknown, or unsolved, by their predecessors. In the past century, American generations have had to face issues that did not even exist one hundred years prior. Issues, such as the Great Depression, both World Wars, racial equality, gender equality, rebellion against traditional values, and the AIDS epidemic. Each generation was defined by how well they, as a whole, handled the given situation. The current problem that bedevils the modern generation is sustainability and its effect on the environment. This issue has been festering since the dawn of industrialization, but only now have its effects truly threated the survival of humanity. According to thwink.org, …show more content…
This word refers to the act of purposefully deceiving the public into thinking that a specific product is environmentally friendly, “green”, when in actuality it is not. Greenwashing has been used by such companies as Ford and McDonalds (Business Ethics). There are several issues with greenwashing besides the blatant lying to the masses. For one it encourages consumer and regulator complacency. If one corporation gets away with greenwashing, others will also follow which would feed into this illusion of sustainability. Greenwashing also gives rise to cynicism in that consumers would grow to find all corporations untrustworthy (Davis, J). One of the worst instances of greenwashing has been committed by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy. The Coalition pooled money from coal and utility industries to fund propaganda that stated that coal can be used in a way that is not harmful to the environment (webecoist). However, the Union of Concerned Scientists published research that states that coal plants are the nation’s top source of carbon dioxide emissions. It is a known fact that these emissions are a major factor in global warming. During 2011, U.S. utility coal plants emitted 1.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide. In addition, burning coal is the main cause of acid rain, smog, and toxic air pollution. Most of these emissions could be significantly reduced with the addition of advanced technologies. …show more content…
One solution is to reevaluate what constitutes as local food. If society focused more on consuming food that grew naturally, with very little support, within the confines of the community, there would be little need to create farmland and spray insecticides (Tverberg). Another way to be truly sustainable is to move away from using automobiles. Carbon emissions would be vastly reduced if humans cut their consumption of gasoline, even a small amount. A major issue in the United States in the waste produced. The average American generate four and a half pounds of waste every day, most of which is not recycled. This waste that is being discarded could be put to better use. In Sweden, the waste that cannot be recycled is being converted into energy, enough to power close to one million homes. The country even imports garbage from other nations to help fuel this process (biofriendly). According to the calculations, three tons of burned waste contains as much fuel as one ton of oil. The trash is separated into categories based on amount of energy given off when burned. The Swedish people also are taught the importance of recycling early on (World Bulletin). One major form of sustainability is education. If sustainability is taught to young children, early on, they will put these practices in use and teach it to their own children. The examples listed are small tasks
Green washing: The disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image. In order for big companies to stay on top of the market today, they are forced to think of advertising strategies to help their public image and advertise their product. Over the years the system has become very complex and also very questionable. Companies are willing to lie, change their logo, and sometimes even their company name just to keep their name and image clean in front of the public just to make sure that they are making their money. Green washing helps this by advertising to the public that they are environmentally supportive and responsible. Most people that are into buying “green products” do not even realize that the company they are buying from is green washing in some sort of way just so that they can attract attention to the public. Green washing companies may advertise that they are “eco-friendly”, but when it comes down to it, the facts hidden behind the curtains beg to differ. Just like in the green washing video we watched in class, the companies may look great compared to the worst companies, but that does not mean what they are doing is still productive for our environmental movement. One company that has been notorious for their green washing efforts for the past couple of decades is the Oil/energy company: British Petroleum a.k.a. Beyond Petroleum. They are one of the world’s largest leading oil companies who has also becoming a large energy supplying company with presence in petrochemicals, gas, and solar divisions. Over the past twenty years BP has been the cause of several deadly disasters in the oil business in the U.S. and around the world. Despite their green washing effor...
In 1989, seventy five percent of Americans identified themselves as environmentalists, and the number has continued to grow since then (Walls 1). Environmentalism is now the most popular social movement in the United States, with over five million American families donating regularly to environmental organizations (Walls 1). Environmentalists today focus on what kind of world they hope to see in the future, and largely deal with limiting pollution and changing consumption rates (Kent 1 and 9). Modern environmentalists also have much different issues than those Carson’s America faced. With climate change becoming more threatening each year, protection of the natural world is needed more than ever. Pollution has caused the warmest decade in history, the deterioration of the ozone layer, and species extinction in extreme numbers (Hunter 2). It not only threatens nature, but also human populations, who already suffer from lack of clean water and poisoning from toxic chemicals (Hunter 16). Unlike environmental actions in the 1960’s, which were mostly focused on protection, a massive increase in pollution has caused efforts to be focused on environmental restoration (Hunter 16). Like in the time of Silent Spring, environmentalists are not only concerned with one country. Protecting the environment remains a global issue, and every nation is threatened by the
The world in which we live in at the moment has become poisonous. It has been poisoned by the human species’ daily survival activities. Humans around the world have taken for granted the daily impact that we have on the natural world. It all boil down to each and every breath that we take. Each and every breath that we exhale releases poisonous chemicals into the atmosphere. Until when our existence becomes absent, the world will remain poisoned.
(7) Adams, W. M. The Future of Sustainability: Re-thinking Environment and Development in the Twenty-first Century. Rep. The World Conservation Union, 22 May 2006. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
The number one thing you complain about most while watching television is how many commercials come on and interrupt the show you are watching. When a company makes a commercial, their whole objective is to get you to buy their product. There are many different strategies that companies use to get you interested in the product that is in their commercial. One of the main strategies today is called green washing. Green washing is when a company puts nature in to their commercial to make it seems environmentally friendly.
Imagine a world where everybody gets food. This way, no single person starves wanting food. Every year, food is wasted by the people that are fortunate enough to have and afford food. If people did stop wasting as much food, the people that are not so fortunate can have the food they need. The articles “Ending world hunger by stopping food waste in the fields” and “U.S. throws away half of all food produce” show how food is wasted around the world and how food waste should be reduced around the world. Food waste is a great problem and obstacle in today’s society and should immediately be stopped. Although others may disagree, it clear that food waste can easily be reduced and solved if humans did not buy an ample amount of food and donated
Water is essential for humanity’s survival, and even though the world is largely covered by water, only a small percentage is only usable for human consumption. Approximately, on average, 120,000 gallons of water are used annually for a single-family household (Galbraith). This alarming number could be reduced dramatically for the efforts of water conserving and lower water bill prices for families and subsequently saving money that could be used for other expenses. Thus, conserving water would prove beneficial and advantageous to not just Texas, but for everyone else as well. Although environmental policies have been not as popular with Congress and the state legislature, it is still an important problem to consider since there are only a limited amount of resources for public use, such as water.
The modern day environmental movement in the United States has been a significant social movement for decades. It is quite possibly one of the longest running and more complex social movements the US has seen. The fight for a clean and safe environment has been an ongoing struggle. It encompasses multiple layers including the sustainability movement, environmental justice, and conservation movement. It is not just only a social movement but also a scientific and political movement as well. While my focus is on the United States this is a movement on an international scale with support on all levels from large organizations to private citizens.
“Going Green” means to pursue knowledge and practices that can lead to more environmentally friendly and ecologically responsible decisions and lifestyle. It is a movement that many participate in to help improve the environment. Technology improves the “Going Green” movement since machines can help one save money, energy, and resources from being wasted (i.e. using hand dryers in replacement of having paper towels exchange periodically). There are many ways the society pursues “Going Green” such as going paperless, carpooling, and using solar panels. “Going Green” affects human behavior because it involves technological advancement, sometimes resulting in job loss.
But, some companies go to great lengths to deceive their consumers. According to TerraChoice Environmental Marketing, there are seven sins of greenwashing. They are the sins of the hidden trade-off, no proof, vagueness, irrelevance, lesser of two evils, fibbing, and false labels. The sin of the hidden trade-off is when a product is labeled as “green,” yet it doesn’t mention the possibly hurtful processes it took to make the product. The sin of no proof is when a product is labeled “green” without any supporting information.
A. Attention Getter: “The U.S. buried or burned more than 166 million tons of resources—paper, plastic, metals, glass and organic materials—in landfills and incinerators in 2008. We recycled and composted only one-third of our discards. U.S. EPA, 2009. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States, Detailed Tables and Figures for 2008.” (Environmental Facts 2011)
Although more people are aware of the impacts we have on our environment, there are still people that choose to ignore scientific evidence, or do not fully understand the consequences. Further education and research are critical components in an effort to become more sustainable. Fortunately, younger generations are learning about the need to address environmental issues so that changes can be made to ensure our way of life is sustainable.
Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia - The sun is peeking from over the horizon, greeting early morning beach-dwellers to the sounds of crashing waves, the feel of tropical humidity and the sight of an entire beach covered in trash. While seemingly idyllic, the coastline of Kuta is in reality cluttered with plastic bottles, packaging, straws, cans, old shoes and plastic bags. Tourists who fly in from across the globe to visit the tourist paradise, walk or jog through the harmful waste as it washes in with the waves from the ocean. On the same island, on Friday, scientists, CEOs, entrepreneurs and leaders from public and private sectors began gathering for a conference on the ocean.
With the development of the science and technology, more and more people are going for healthy and green products. According to this situation, there are many companies claim their products are “green”. However, there are thousands of so-called “green” products, but not all of them live up to their claims, a considerable part of products not only damage the human’s body, but also pollute the environment. People called these companies “greenwashing”. Greenwashing refers to the practice of deceiving consumers into believing that a company is practicing environmentally friendly policies and procedures. Seems like anything and everything has “gone green” these days. Such as airlines, car companies, retailers, restaurants, even networks and stadiums. Thankfully, more often than not, that’s a good thing. It is only bad if it is greenwashing — that is bad for the environment and consumers, because of businesses doing the greenwashing.
Our planet is suffering from severe pollution, which ranges from contaminated air, water and soil as well. Humans are doing nothing to reduce the amount of pollution that is harming our earth. To understand how pollution works first you must understand that there are different types of pollution. The most common types of pollution and the ones that I will be focusing on which are the ones doing the most harm to our planet are air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination and littering. In order to help out and reduce pollution in our planet people need to be more aware of what these problems are and about the severe damages that they are causing our planet. Before industrialization really jumped into place and had an effect on large cities, nature had its own way of cleaning up its own air and itself. Wind scattered gases, rain washed many substances and the rest dissolved into the ground; while plants absorbed carbon dioxide and made it into oxygen. With big cities growing more every time and with more towns that were becoming more industrialized a lot of more waste began to be released into the environment and the atmosphere and soon this was more than enough for nature to handle. In order to stop and reduce pollution people need to understand the damage that it is causing our environment and our planet as well. People need to be more aware of how they can help out and do their part in reducing these problems that are causing our planet to die slowly with people not even noticing it.