*** environmental issues








Evironmenal Issues


Figure 1.--Pollution causes serious health problem especially with children. Communist countries as well as developing counries in the singled minded effort to increaase production, just ignored the enviroment. The result was terrible air quality in cities like Peking and Bombay. The result is that these countries are for the first time actually beginning to address the pollution problem.

Environmental issues have assumed increasing atention around the world in recent years. The world population is growing and is having harmful impacts on the environment, meaning the biophysical environment. As result, there is growing interest in environmental protection, meaning protecting the natural environment. In the 20th century the primary issue was pollution with many people facing poor air and water quality. In the 21st century the emphasis has shifted to first global warming and then redefined to climate change. Climate change is hardly new. In fact, our species developed in large as a response to climate change some 2 million years ago. Since the earth developed oceans and atmosphere there has been climate change, much more drastic common change than is the case in modern time. An important part of the climate issue is energy policy. Energy is acritical part of the economy and human well-being. It is only with the move of society beyond man power that human civilization developed and only with the develooment of mechanical power using fosil fuels was the industrail revolution possible meaning the ability of large numbers of humans tomlive prosperous lives. Many today see energy, especially fossil fuels, as a threat to the enviornment. The issue today is the climatic changes have human agency and the rate of change is disturbing. The major concern is greenhouse gases leading to global warming. Another major issue is habitat loss which affects wildlife leading to species extinctions, but also has consequences for climate change and pollution.

Population

The world populpation is growing and is having harmful impacts on the environment, meaning the biophysical environment. As result, there is growing interest in environmental protection, meaning protecting the natural environment.

Climate Change

In the 21st century the emphasis has shifted to first global warming and then redefined to climate change. Climate change is hardly new. In fact, our species developed in large as a response to climate change some 2 million years ago. Since the earth developed oceans and atmosphere there has been climate change, much more drastic common change than is the case in modern time. An imprtant part of the climate issue is energy policy. Energy is a critical part of the economy and human well-being. It is only with the move of society beyond man power that human civilization debeloped and only with the develooment of mechanical power using fosil fuels was the industrial revolution possible meaning the ability of large numbers of humans tomlive prosperous lives. Many today see energy, especially fossil fuels, as a threat to the enviornment. The issue today is the climatic changes have human agency and the rate of change is disturbing. The major concern is greenhouse gases leading to global warming.

Pollution

Pollution is a much more modern problm because it is almost by defiition a product of human socirty. In the 20th century the primary issue was pollution with many people facing poor air and water quality. It should be noted that pollution eas not a new problem. Europe by the medieval era had polluted waterways, not only pollutants but disease acusing organisms. Drinking water was actually dangerous. That is one reason why beer was so important. and the problems were not addressed until the rise of public health reforms (19th century). Water is still not safe in many developing countries. And by that time as a result of the Industrail Revolution air pollution became a problem. Smoestacks all mover Europe bellowed out vast amounts of toxic smoke. London was famous for its smog. The American Boy Scout movement was begun in that smog. America industrial cities and southern California developed smog problems. The use of coal in both indutry and home heating was a maor problem made worse by the intrnal combustiin engine and popuarity of cars. Huge improvements were made after World War II. Today more people enjoy clean air and water than ever before in history. In the United States in the Clear Air and Waters Acts (1970-72) and bew tecnologies have made a huge difference. Especially important has been the shift from coal to natural gas. While the Europeans talk about reducing pollution and spend a great deal of money, it is in America that the most progress as been made. Since 1970 based on 2017 data, the primary pollutents (nitric oxide, ozone particulant matter, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and lead) have been reduced over 70 percent. [Rahn] One reason that the public debate focuses so extensively on carbon today, is the huge success in reducing the major pollutants. An ambient concentatiins of these pollutants have declined nearly 65 percent since 1990. And all of this has been accomplished even though the real GDP has increased massively from $5 billion in 1970 to $19 billion in 2018. [Amadeo]. One author tells us, "Each year, most of the country [the United States] has fewer days with 'hazardous air' and, in many places, it is now zero. Fifty years ago, many of America’s rivers and waterways were unsafe to swim in or to consume the fish from — including the Potomac. That has all changed; most rivers have been cleaned up, and seafood from the nation’s waterways is normally safe to eat, not the other way around. The Untied States has made much greater progress than Europe and most of Asia in cleaning up air and water — despite having engaged is less micro-management insisting on un-economic solar or wind farms, etc. " [Rahn] Not only has America made more progress than Western Europe, but after the fall of Communism (1989-91), a carefully guarded secret emerged--the environmental disaters created by Communist authorities ignoring environmental issues.

Habitat Loss

Another major issue is habitat loss which affects wildlife leading to species extinctions, but also has consequences for climate change and pollution.

Endagered Species

An endangered species is an organism that is threatened by extinction. Species become endangered for several reasons, particularly important are climate change and loss of habitat. These factors are related. Another issue is loss of genetic variation. Countless species have come and gone since life appeared on earth (3.5-2.7 billion years BP--before present). Major causes were extraterrestrial events, such as pulsars or collisions, the most famous being the Chicxulub asteroid collision off Yucatan that killed the dinosaurs (66 million BP). All this had nothing to do with humans. Modern humans only appeared very recently in geological terms (about 315 thousand years BP). Astronomically modern human with advanced brain shapes are even more recent (about 100 thousand years BP). Organisms have played important roles in extinctions as evolution crafted species that could better compete. Humans are no exception. Today the primary focus is on human activity, especially loss of habitat and technology. It should not be thought, however, that industrial technology is the only threat. It is likely that humans are responsible for the disappearance of mega-fauna (50-10 thousand years BP). This occurred at the end of the last Ice Age. All at about the same time as the human colonization of the farthest regions in the human migration out of Africa. The last step was the destruction of mega-fauna in the Americas by Proto-Indians (20-10 thousand BP). The reason for these mass extinctions are controversial, but include climate change and human interactions, probably a combination of the two. Humans did this with what we would consider basis technology, but actually very advanced technology at the time. As human technology advanced, so did impacts on the environment with potentially devastating consequences. The Maya are believed to have declined because they destroyed their environment (1,000-800 AD). Humans only began noting extinctions recently. The most noted was the dodo (1681). Major Human impacts on the environment increased with the Industrial Revolution beginning in England (mid-18th century). America as in other areas like democracy, religious freedom, individual rights, ethnic diversity, economics, and feminism, led thinking on environmental issues. (Something Marxist professors in universities seek to hide.) The United States at the dawn of the 19th century was a very young country facing a vast largely unsettled country. Americans led in many ways by President Jefferson began thinking about made their new country unique from their European origins--the beginning of American exceptionalism. Many ideas were discussed, especially democracy and liberty, but the landscape also emerged, most clearly expressed in art--beginning with the Hudson River School. The focus of course as on settlement, but a critical early step was actions by President Lincoln and the Republican Congress to protect natural treasures. Lincoln signed legislation formally handing Yosemite Valley and the nearby giant sequoia groves to the state government of California, forbidding private ownership of that land (1864). It was a precedent setting step. The first state park was Yosemite. Supreme Court decisions were needed to address the issue of private property. Congress created Yellowstone as the first national park (1872). Of course this was not species protection, but habitat protection was vital for species protection. One of the greatest symbols of the American frontier was the buffalo, more correctly the bison, driven to near-extinction by hunters and the railways. The Government made no attempt to save the buffalo, but fortunately James 'Scotty' Philip, a Dakota rancher built up a heard (late-19th century). A species with caused particular concern was the slaughter of Florida egrets to near extinction in the name of fashionable women's hats (late-19th century). This in part helped launch the modern environmental movement--often called conservation at the time. The Audubon Society was the first important environmental group. President Theodore Roosevelt took a special interest in conservation. He created the national park system and set restrictions on the use of natural resources. Thus was part of his progressive agenda. The first critical steps in protecting species were also taken by America. An important early step was the International Fur Seal Treaty protecting fur seals and otters (1911). President Nixon signed the Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972) and the Endangered Species Act (1973). These acts were important not only for American wildlife, but wildlife worldwide because endangered species products like ivory and products damaging wildlife like tuna being sold in America. Since then other countries have followed suit, especially Britain and the European Union. Other countries like China have resisted adopting needed policies.

Sources

Amadeo, Kimberley. "U.S. GDP by year compared to recession and events," June 25, 2019. Ms. Amadeo uses real (inflatiin netral) BEA data. There are decimal issues with the vdata because BEA constantly refines their dat, sometimes going back several years.

Rahn, Richard W. "Where have all the smokestacks gone?" Washington Tines (July 16, 2019), p. B3.











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Created: 4:19 PM 7/16/2019
Last updated: 4:19 PM 7/16/2019