Some major current issues in the environment include:
Chemical waste
Rapid energy and food consumption
Massive global deforestation
Environmental degradation from big cities
Threats to wildlife
1962 Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring (many people mark this as the beginning of the modern environmentalist movement)--> this book said that each year, new chemicals are emitted into the environment, and they are responsible for contaminating the environment and possilby even altering genes. She was particularly wary of the pesticide DDT, which was being used to get rid of malaria. Since then, DDT has been banned, but malaria has also become much more common.
By the 1970s, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth were formed, and were trying to "preserve, restore, and enhance" the environment.
Conservation movement: protects biodiverstiy and emphasizes spiritual and aesthetic qualities of nature (ex. Carson, Sierra Club, Audubon Society)
Ecology movement: different groups with similar agendas (Greenpeace, Green Party) united to discuss issues including: global warming, toxic chemicals, nuclear energy and weapons, genetically modified food, recycling, saving the whales, sustainable agriculture, protecting ancient forests.
1980s: US starts a campaign for environmental justice:
Love Canal tragedy--in 1978, residents of this neighbohood in NY discovered that their houses and school had been constructed on a chemical dumping site that had been covered up by the Hooker CHemical Company in 1953. this land had then been sold to the city of NY for $1. the toxic chemicals eventually seeped through the earth and into the houses and school.
Union Carbide Factory (India): in 1984, poison gas leaked from this factory in the middle of the night, and, as the safety systems were not functioning, thousands of people died from breathing the gas. HOWEVER, even after this, chemicals that were left abandoned at the factory continued to poison the drinking water in this area. it was not until 2004 that it was cleaned up.
1986: Chernobyl-->this nuclear power plant exploded in the Ukraine, causing an unknown number of deaths and spraying nuclear fallout throughout several states in Europe.
Global Warming:
1990s were the warmest decade in history
fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) have greenhouse effect
Greenland could melt-->water goes into Atlantic, gulf stream that warms Europe and N.E. America shuts down, causing an ice age in the North Atlantic.
Rise in sea levels (cities and islands submerged)
Ecosystem changes (threatens species)
Extreme and abnormal weather
Destroyed ozone (no shield left from solar radiation)
DEcline in agriculture
1997: Kyoto Protocol added to UN. member countries try to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and 5 other greenhouse gases. they have an emission limit but these limits can be traded among the countries. 128 countries involved, not including US or Australia.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Summary of Pages 1086-1090
In some of the developing countries, it was discovered that there were limitations to the amount of industrializing they could do, and therefore they began to take a renewed interest in agriculture.
Why had agriculture been neglected in the first place??
Agricultural economy=colonial servitude
Low food prices squeezed agriculture and farmers
Too many obstacles to industrialized agriculture: farms too small and fragmented, peasants too stubborn to change their ways, landless laborers and peasants who had to work the land had no incentives to work harder, land reform was needed, and this was too radical of a measure (often brought violence and civil war).
Most countries had plenty of food before the mid-1960s and the US always sent cheap food to countries whose crops had failed.
HOWEVER, then, people started to worry that with population increase there wouldnt be enough food to go around. What did they do to counter this??
They made hybrid seeds to grow in tropical climates and to produce higher yields. For example, "miracle rice" produced 2-4 crops per year.
This transformarion of agriculture in poor countries became known as the GREEN REVOLUTION:
At first, it only benefitted only those that could afford irrigation and fertilizer investments, but it eventually started to help others, especially in China under Deng Xiaoping. In addition, though, it really only spread and took root in places where peasants owned a substantial amount of the overall land. For this reason, it failed in Latin America for the most part, because 3-4% of the population owned 60-80% of the land. Also, it did not really spread in drier regions like Africa, as there wasn't really any extensive irrigation. Africa is better suited for dry farming and farming of root crops, whereas the Green Revolution was more geared toward irrigation and farming of grain.
Currently, there are some fears about genetically modified crops:
It is unknown as to what effects they can have on the body
They could cause a loss of biodiversity (if all plants are the same, all are suceptible to the same pests and climate changes, so the entire crop would fail instead of only some if disaster struck.)
Corporate ownership of different seeds meant farmers would be dependent on a few multinational businesses. since seeds could only be used for one year, they would have to keep returning to these companies for a new stock
Gap between rich and poor would widen: as genetically modified foods became cheaper and more accessible to poor, rich would move on to buy "healthier" organic, chemically-free foods.
Why had agriculture been neglected in the first place??
Agricultural economy=colonial servitude
Low food prices squeezed agriculture and farmers
Too many obstacles to industrialized agriculture: farms too small and fragmented, peasants too stubborn to change their ways, landless laborers and peasants who had to work the land had no incentives to work harder, land reform was needed, and this was too radical of a measure (often brought violence and civil war).
Most countries had plenty of food before the mid-1960s and the US always sent cheap food to countries whose crops had failed.
HOWEVER, then, people started to worry that with population increase there wouldnt be enough food to go around. What did they do to counter this??
They made hybrid seeds to grow in tropical climates and to produce higher yields. For example, "miracle rice" produced 2-4 crops per year.
This transformarion of agriculture in poor countries became known as the GREEN REVOLUTION:
At first, it only benefitted only those that could afford irrigation and fertilizer investments, but it eventually started to help others, especially in China under Deng Xiaoping. In addition, though, it really only spread and took root in places where peasants owned a substantial amount of the overall land. For this reason, it failed in Latin America for the most part, because 3-4% of the population owned 60-80% of the land. Also, it did not really spread in drier regions like Africa, as there wasn't really any extensive irrigation. Africa is better suited for dry farming and farming of root crops, whereas the Green Revolution was more geared toward irrigation and farming of grain.
Currently, there are some fears about genetically modified crops:
It is unknown as to what effects they can have on the body
They could cause a loss of biodiversity (if all plants are the same, all are suceptible to the same pests and climate changes, so the entire crop would fail instead of only some if disaster struck.)
Corporate ownership of different seeds meant farmers would be dependent on a few multinational businesses. since seeds could only be used for one year, they would have to keep returning to these companies for a new stock
Gap between rich and poor would widen: as genetically modified foods became cheaper and more accessible to poor, rich would move on to buy "healthier" organic, chemically-free foods.
The Green Issue of Elle
How stars are getting involved:
Orlando Bloom--building a house in London that is solar powered and donating money toward planting trees to make up for the carbon emissions he causes when he travels.
Julia Roberts--has petitioned the government to not drill for oil in the unspoiled wilderness of New Mexico, and has spoken on Oprah about the harm that school buses can do to children that are repeatedly exposed to their toxic gas emissions: 70% of the cancer risk in California is a result of breathing the emissions from diesel engines. Also, these schoolbuses that kids ride daily have poor air circulation and little ventiliation, escalating this risk. In other words, that "school bus smell" is really just a combination of toxic gases. After she was featured on Oprah, Senator Dean Florez (CA) created a bill to ensure that every school bus has to run (at least for some part) on plant-based biodiesel. this diesel is clean and is four times as energy efficient as regular ethanol that is used in cars. In addition, instead of getting plastic bags at the grocery store, she takes tupperware containers.
Some new "Green" ideas and inventions
The CF bulb: it is a small flourescent light bulb that uses only 25% of the energy of a regular incandescent bulb but lasts for 10,000 hours.
Polymer Plastic: it is a plastic that is made from a corn-based polymer and therefore is made of a renewable source and is biodegradable.
InterfaceFLOR carpet tiles: carpet made from recycled material that contains no toxic glues or dyes. By 2050, this industry hopes to be neutral in terms of carbon.
Renewable Fabrics: Linda Loudermilk has produced fabrics and clothes that are composed of milk, corn polymer, seaweed, and bamboo.
Environmentalism is even currently being given a religious spin: religion and science can work simultaneously and in unison to save the world.
Some ideas about how you can help from Al Gores's website, www.climatecrisis.net:
If you put your thermostat down 2 in the winter and up 2 in the summer, you can save 2000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
You can save 1000 pounds a year by wrapping your water heater in an insulated blanket.
Don't use hot water to wash your clothes.
Air dry your clothes instead of using a dryer.
Unplug things when you're not using them...even if you have already turned them off..."the energy used to keep display clocks lit and memory chips working accounts for 5 percent of total domestic energy consumption and spews 18 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year!"
Only run your dishwasher when it's completely full.
Buy locally grown foods--this will save fuel consumption used to transport produce.
Eat less meat, especially beef: cows produce a TON of methane because they have more than one stomach.
Keep your tires fully inflated: they will be more gas efficient and get more miles per gallon.
Orlando Bloom--building a house in London that is solar powered and donating money toward planting trees to make up for the carbon emissions he causes when he travels.
Julia Roberts--has petitioned the government to not drill for oil in the unspoiled wilderness of New Mexico, and has spoken on Oprah about the harm that school buses can do to children that are repeatedly exposed to their toxic gas emissions: 70% of the cancer risk in California is a result of breathing the emissions from diesel engines. Also, these schoolbuses that kids ride daily have poor air circulation and little ventiliation, escalating this risk. In other words, that "school bus smell" is really just a combination of toxic gases. After she was featured on Oprah, Senator Dean Florez (CA) created a bill to ensure that every school bus has to run (at least for some part) on plant-based biodiesel. this diesel is clean and is four times as energy efficient as regular ethanol that is used in cars. In addition, instead of getting plastic bags at the grocery store, she takes tupperware containers.
Some new "Green" ideas and inventions
The CF bulb: it is a small flourescent light bulb that uses only 25% of the energy of a regular incandescent bulb but lasts for 10,000 hours.
Polymer Plastic: it is a plastic that is made from a corn-based polymer and therefore is made of a renewable source and is biodegradable.
InterfaceFLOR carpet tiles: carpet made from recycled material that contains no toxic glues or dyes. By 2050, this industry hopes to be neutral in terms of carbon.
Renewable Fabrics: Linda Loudermilk has produced fabrics and clothes that are composed of milk, corn polymer, seaweed, and bamboo.
Environmentalism is even currently being given a religious spin: religion and science can work simultaneously and in unison to save the world.
Some ideas about how you can help from Al Gores's website, www.climatecrisis.net:
If you put your thermostat down 2 in the winter and up 2 in the summer, you can save 2000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
You can save 1000 pounds a year by wrapping your water heater in an insulated blanket.
Don't use hot water to wash your clothes.
Air dry your clothes instead of using a dryer.
Unplug things when you're not using them...even if you have already turned them off..."the energy used to keep display clocks lit and memory chips working accounts for 5 percent of total domestic energy consumption and spews 18 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year!"
Only run your dishwasher when it's completely full.
Buy locally grown foods--this will save fuel consumption used to transport produce.
Eat less meat, especially beef: cows produce a TON of methane because they have more than one stomach.
Keep your tires fully inflated: they will be more gas efficient and get more miles per gallon.
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