American Earth: The Worlds Oceans - Term Paper Example

Topic] American Earth: The World’s Oceans Relaxation in the 21’st Century is at times hitting the ocean, spendingsome time and going home refreshed. With the increase in environmental pollution, the beaches around us, the vast oceans are turning into sewerages. As much as we like to believe that the oceans around the world are so vast they can take anything, still end up giving us problems as we dump our waste and animal waste in the ocean. With the idea of just not being around our waste, we are contaminating something that is supposed to be around for longer than we may live, our earth. When we start to understand the issues regarding the surroundings, then only we can answer many other questions to stop these acts. The understanding then leads towards stopping such acts personally. Call it natural selection or deduction, when we become directly affected by these issues, it is then that we start looking into these matters. Oceans around the world are connecting us, the world, and keeping the right amount of balance in life all around us. Living things, humans, animals (both in the ocean and on land) need the ocean to survive. Controlling toxic wastes, garbage dumping, wastewater etc. are many of the techniques that can be used towards controlling the oceans from being less polluted (Walker 659). How does waste contribute in world’s oceans problems? Every day more than 2 million tons of sewerage waste goes through industrial, agricultural sources into the world’s which is the weight of all the people who live on Earth. The oceans take more than enough of the pressure to go through these changes around the world. Ocean’s capacity is limited as much as we fail to believe that, it may turn into a huge ocean of acids if there is no control. An estimate carried out by the UN reported that annually the wastewater produced is about 1500 km3, which is more than six times the amount of water present in all the rivers around the world. Oceans take more than 80% of the world sewerage due to systems not installed in most of the cities. We like to believe that industrialization can in return in the later years help out solving these problems but the carelessness to which the oceans take the pressure can in later years end up in environmental problems. Acid rains are caused due to extreme acid’s being dumped into the ocean which can destroy agriculture, creating extreme health problem, causing air pollution etc. Although many of the developed countries have controlled regulations about the dumping of water waste in the oceans, the developing countries constant growth to withhold the regulations in the country allow them to dump more and more waste. In result the growth of the water waste is on the rise globally. (Bothner, 1994) Should pesticides be controlled? Land erosion being carried out throughout the world due to rainstorms and takes the pesticides along into the ocean which contaminates the oceans. This non-point source pollution is the biggest carrier of pollution anywhere. Pesticides have different agents that when vaporized do kill germs while in the land but when in effect to humans can cause many allergies and skins diseases while using the same water even with boiling it shows acidic effect. Pesticides are then to be controlled through the regularizing of organic production in land. Although pesticides are protective but in many countries there are many alternatives that don’t require pesticides which can be slowed down to enhance the growth of the land without harming the ocean (Momaday 570). Deep sea mining should be stopped? Hitting the water bed and mining on the surface of the ocean although sounds great but is puncturing the surface of the ocean. Going from 1400-3700 meters under the oceans to find precious metals such as gold, copper, silver etc. is huge money making strategy while putting not just people’s life on risk but also is contributing towards having negative impacts on the ocean. The hydraulic pumps pressure with massive amount of vibration is a question because while the process happens, it can largely affect the surrounding areas as well as people. The problems and coercion is then also happening inside the ocean where problems arise for organism living in the ocean. (Halfar & Fujita, 2007) Sediment plumes are also a major problem that is caused by deep sea mining, where after finding the required material, waste is left in the water and then it starts to float on the top of the ocean. This doesn’t just have a small effect that can just be seen, these particles can start to spread around the area with their harmful properties can create problems for food webs around the countries. The size of these particles can also create problems towards the filtering process used by benthic organisms. Should plastic bags be banned around the world? Plastic bags don’t get affected by the acid present in the sewerage system. Thus, they tend to flat around, clogging everything and anything that comes in their way. By the end, like other sewerage they contribute a majority towards floating around the oceans. This is to the extent that 80% of the marine debris is plastic which mass is around one hundred million metric tons is. These six rings, plastic covers endanger the wildlife and fisheries. Ingestion of these particles affects the wildlife and rather than providing any solution end up giving them suffocation. Many of these we eat everyday day and our pollution can cause the ocean food such infection that ends up transferring to us. Plastic bags being not biodegradable also are around the Pacific’s upper water column also known as Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This problem is transferred into the animals as they fail to interpret the plastic bags and end up digesting them, clogging their insides and suffocating them to death. The world ocean’s living being then are turned into died mass of wildlife. (Sindermann, 1995) Decreasing the sound impact on the oceans In humans we see the phenomenon that to be heard one must speak louder than the other. In a public area surrounded by all the voices, one must speak out loud in order to be heard to the person directed. The similar process goes around the oceans. Sonics, the sound of boats, the sounding techniques used inside the ocean disturbs the communication that is happening between the wildlife and fish inside. Their communication is either misinterpreted or not received and in order for the living organisms to work accordingly they end up communicating louder. This elevated the problems that the living things feel inside the ocean bed. They are affected directly from the acts the humans try to implement while being outside or inside the ocean. Ships should control their dumping techniques? Most of the transferred material happens through ships, ships then are the life living above the ocean. The discharge of pollution through ships in the shape of oil, human waste is the hardest part to stop. Oil pollution is the toughest one to look by, although as devastating as it may be emotionally, physically oil leakages leave a greater mark towards the effect on the oceans than any other possible effect. Bulk carries residues end up polluting water ways and collectively the oceans around wherever they travel. Ships also end up creating problems such as noise pollution to effect wildlife and intentionally spill sewerage engine oil to avoid many legal issues. Eutrophication should be stopped? To have the world left with enough oxygen to have the humans and the animals live in the oceans require chemically clean intake. Although it is much of a dream as the nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are towards an increase. This affects the oceans in a way that the quality of the water decreases and causes problems for the living of the animals in the ocean. In this case, pesticides then again also play an important role followed by human waste and animal waste. The excess of oxygen depleting chemical can end up creating a dead zone and can lead to hypoxia. To enable this to not happen, shellfish restoration is important as shellfish such as oysters eradicate nitrogen from the ocean and ends up clearing other suspended solids. (Ryther & William, 1971) Conclusion It is necessary to understand the processes that carry around the oceans; there are waste angles to which one can find problems around the world’s ocean. The solutions are given in the world; it is restoration that is the important part. Creating a balance towards these issues is the prime need. There is the nothing that is yet to be extinct and that is the go to strategy towards compiling the solution for the better tomorrow. In order to have the oceans stay for longer and not naturally turn against us, contribution towards stopping issues that are causing problems for the oceans are to be directed. It would be only then the world’s oceans will be a safe place to go and spend a nice summer holiday. References: Sindermann, Carl J. Ocean pollution: effects on living resources and humans. CRC press, 1995. FAO. 1996. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Ricciardi, A. and J. B. Rasmussen. 1999. “Extinction Rates of North American Freshwater Fauna”. Conservation Biology 13: 1220–1222. Halfar, Jochen, and Fujita Rodney M. "Go to Science." Science Magazine: 2007 Web. 13 Mar. 2014. . Ryther, John H., and William M. Dunstan. "Nitrogen, phosphorus, and eutrophication in the coastal marine environment." Science 171.3975 (1971): 1008-1013. Bothner, M. H., et al. "Sewage contamination in sediments beneath a deep-ocean dump site off New York." Marine Environmental Research 38.1 (1994): 43-59. Walker, Alice. "Everything Is a Human Being". In McKibben, Bill. American Earth: Environmental Writing since Thoreau (Library of America). NY: Library of America, 2008. Momaday, Scott. "A First American Views His Land" in McKibben, Bill. American Earth: Environmental Writing since Thoreau (Library of America). NY: Library of America, 2008. Read More