Mans Quest for Energy Leads to Environmental Destruction - Essay Example

Mans quest for energy leads to environmental destruction Name: Instructor’s Name: Course: Institution: Date: Introduction The term energy has no particular definition but various explanations have been put forward to define the notion. Many definitions tend to be too technical and they entail equations of physics. Energy can be defined as ability to cause change or do work or the aptitude of a physical structure to execute work. There are diverse forms of energy which include potential energy, kinetic energy, chemical energy, thermal energy, nuclear energy and electric energy. Energy is lost when it is transferred from one form to another and this is termed as a necessary evil and therefore energy efficient designs are required (Swain, 1996). The sources of energy comprise of alternative (renewable) and convectional (non-renewable) energy sources. Convectional energy sources are the widely used contemporarily and they harm the environment. They include: fossil fuels-crude oil or petroleum, coal, natural gas; and nuclear power while renewable energy resources are not harmful to the environment and they include bio fuels, geothermal energy, solar power, wind power and hydroelectric energy. As a result of mans quest for energy, environment is suffering and as a result, in future years, its natural habitants are going to be damaged. We are destroying the earth that our future generations are going to live on. In our discussion, we will focus on various sources of energy that has led to environmental destruction, current energy issues that has led to environmental destruction and various ways of mitigating environmental degradation (John, 2004). Adequate and reliable sources of energy are a necessity for industrialized nations. Energy is used for cooking, heating, manufacturing and transportation. Generally energy can be classified as renewable and non- renewable (Corrêa, 2010). More than 85 percent of the energy used internationally comes from non renewable sources such as fossils fuels and nuclear power. Non renewable energy sources are mostly used by the developed country (like UK and others) and they are incapable of being generated quickly enough to keep rapidity with their usage while the developing countries make use of renewable resources such as solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, biomass, and wind energy (Swain, 1996). No country is responsible for nearly all of the use, damage and loss of the environment, which is getting into disaster proportions in the way of pollution and the loss of fertile soils, freshwater, and fisheries. The earth’s natural ecology and rejuvenating bio-capacity are being sternly degraded and this lessens the earth’s capacity to sustain life. Air water and land are getting increasingly polluted, species are dying faster than their natural pace of extinction, there is desertification and global warming is on the increase (John, 2004). Forest land is lost at the rate of 375 kilometres square every day and this is greater than the entire area of United Kingdom (UK), United State of America (US), to name a few. The planet has by now lost 80 percent of its real forests. Between the years 1960 and 1990, the worlds 1.1 billion acres of tropical forests were cut down. At the global currents rates, about five to ten percent of tropical forests habitants will become extinct each decade (Bent, 2004). Deforestation also comes as a result of clearing forests in search of energy sources and poses a great threat causing extreme weather conditions. Urban growth and heavy industrial needs large amounts of energy. In some countries such as China, approximately 100 percent of industrial work uses the most dangerous forms of energy, coal. The globe appears lesser to everyone as scientists reveal meteorological findings in universal air movement. Nitrogen oxides and Sulphur dioxide are discharged by China’s coal power-driven plants fall as acid rain in South Korea, Seoul, and Tokyo. Heavy industry requires a large amount of energy. Actually, most of UK pollution air pollution instigates in China (Corrêa, 2010). Mans quest for energy has also led to increased air, water and land pollution because until lately, most of our activities for energy creation has resulted to hurting the environment. Energy used to be almost totally produced using fossils fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. Together with hurting the environment and polluting it in the course of mining the fossil fuels, their burning to produce electricity also harms the environment in that they produces ridiculous amounts of gases such as carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide and other forms of toxic compounds which are dangerous to the lives of human beings and animals and can also result to global warming. As a result, private and public sectors should take desirable measures like using alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar energy which are renewable and don’t harm the environment through pollution (Swain, 1996). Oil spillage is another problem caused by mans quest for energy. Oil spillage refers to discharge of liquid petroleum hydrocarbon in to the atmosphere as a result of mans activity and is a kind of pollution. Marine oil spills are when oil is discharged to the coastal or ocean waters. Spills take months or years to clean up. The Exxon Valdez disaster spread out of management with a pale lustre washing ashore along the Gulf coast. David Kennedy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that necessary measures are required as the spill had started spreading to the Mississippi river. He said that, the oil spill can result to be the states most horrible environmental adversity in decades, threatening many species such as birds, fish, including other wildlife alongside the Gulf coast, one of the global affluent sea food grounds, swarming with oyster, shrimp and several other marine lives (Alonso and Maciel, 2010). President Obama has urged the officials to assertively deal with the spill, while the White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said that the price of the cleaning will fall on BP. In terms of the amount of oil spilled in the Valdez disaster was significantly smaller than the recent Deep Water Horizon spill of 2010, spilling for three months it has been the biggest accidental spill in the history of the petroleum industry costing not only environmental damage but several human lives also. They had collected 4,676 birds of which 3,634 were dead and 1,226 of the dead ones were evidently oiled. Global warming exists and is a serious problem that requires to be addressed. Every individual can assist to lessen the demand for fossil fuels, which in turn decreases global warming, by utilizing energy more intelligently. The Americans electricity system menaces the health of our societies by polluting the air and leading to global warming (Schwartz, 1998). Heat trapping emissions, for instance carbon dioxide can cause irreversible harm to societies throughout the UK, US and the globe at large. The damage comprises of augmented air pollution, and infectious diseases such as West Nile Virus, flooding and erosion in the coastal communities as a result of sea level rising, extreme weather conditions, declined productivity, and loss of species. Global warming is expected to reduce Chinas annual grain harvest by 10 percent by the year 2030 as a result of increased pests and insects (due to warmer weather conditions) that usually consumes crops as a source of food (Schwartz, 1998). The landmark report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, entitled "Our Common Future", cautioned that unless we modify most of our lifestyle patterns, the globe will face undesirable levels of environmental harm and human suffering. The Commission said that Humanity has the aptitude to make development sustainable and to guarantee that it meets the requirements of the current without compromising the capacity of future generations to meet their requirements (Bent, 2004). Energy effect to environmental destruction is a global threat and this requires to be addressed so as to save the planet. Various efforts have been put forward to deal with the predicaments that result from energy consumption. For instance, in China, change is mandatory and although market based incentives doesn’t exist; the Communist Party Leaders have mandated a decline in emissions. This year, China has set an objective of 20 percent less energy use and 10 percent reduction in sulphur dioxide, mercury amid other pollutants. It is true that such countries as Japan, United Kingdom and United States polluted their way to riches and got troubled about the consequences after the maturity of their economies and better living conditions for their middle class population. China would also like to employ this as a gratis bypass to pollution, although the New York Times states that China is like an adolescent smoker with emphysema. The state has not attained economic stability and has attained environmental crisis (John, 2004). In order to reduce global warming, both developed and developing countries need to lower their energy use and use cleaner or alternative sources of energy such as wind, solar or geothermal energy (Bent, 2004). These forms of energy are very expensive hence cannot be used as alternative sources. The most significant element in fighting global warming is reducing the amount of hazardous green house emissions that are discharged into the environment as a result of burning fossil fuels and natural gas. Every year, each country should reduce about 17500 to 20000kwh per capital of energy consumption without affecting the quality of life. In the United Kingdom, most of institutions and heavy industries have acknowledged a renewable electricity set -a policy that entails suppliers of electricity to raise the usage of renewable energy such as solar, wind and geothermal. These co-operates have expressed that these renewable resources have lessened CO2 and the effects of fossil fuels extraction on water and land resources (Corrêa, 2010). Deforestation can also result from energy use. Deforestation threatens the lives of wild animals, leads to extreme weather conditions and can also result to global warming. States should encourage individuals to plant trees and use alternative renewable sources of energy as this will also reduce global warming as trees will give off oxygen and utilize carbon dioxide (Hadrich and Wolf, 2010). Conclusion Energy is the livelihood of every economy. Adequate and predictable access to energy is required to ensure social and economic growth. Globally, most of mans activities such as heating, cooking, transportation and manufacturing requires use of energy and therefore, energy use cannot be avoided (Bent, 2004). The industrialized states use non-renewable sources of energy such as natural gas and fossil fuels and these pose a great danger to the environment. In our discussion, we have seen that, use of non-renewable sources of energy has resulted to global warming, oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, deforestation and increased pollution (Schwartz, 1998). All these effects affect the environment negatively and therefore, nations should encourage both the private and public users of energy to use alternative renewable sources such as wind, geothermal and solar energy though expensive as they do not pose a great danger to the environment and they are capable of being regenerated. Governments should therefore give incentives and subsidies to private and public companies to enable them use alternative sources of energy. Work Cited Angela Alonso and Débora Maciel. From Protest to Professionalization: Brazilian Environmental Activism after Rio-92. 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Oil spill environmental forensics: fingerprinting and source identification; Academic Press, 2007. ISBN 0123695236, 9780123695239. Read More