Environmental Science

With over seven billion people on planet earth, we, as humans have contributed to the largest and fastest global change in last century. These negative changes are due to the paradigm that most humans live by. The paradigm that as humans, we are above all animals and plants, that we can control the system as we are not a part of it. This thought process is actually the cause of many global-scale crises because most of us do not see that the health and stability of human populations is inextricably connected to the health and stability of the ecosystems of which we are a part.

Environmental factors play a role in more than 80 percent of the diseases reported to the World Health Organization, and the WHO considers that a quarter of the global diseases can be connected to preventable environmental health hazards. The World Health Organization stated that estimates for Canada indicate that adverse environmental exposures are associated with up to 25,000 deaths, 194,000 hospitalizations and 24,000 new cases of cancer each year, costing the economy as much as $9.1 billion.

By reducing consumption, changing farming techniques and protecting trees we can enhance our planet, which in return will benefit the entire human race. 

Today, over-consumption is draining the planet of its natural resources at a terrifying rate. Humans today extract and use around 50% more natural resources than only 30 years ago, at about 60 billion tons of raw materials a year. These alarming numbers should raise concern, but most consumers disregard them.

There are many problems that got us to where we are now. Since waste is hidden from consumer, they do not see the full cost of their actions. This is the prominent reason to why consumers do not seem to care about their extensive consumption habits. Since most consumers don't actually know how they are adding to this problem, they cannot make the connection between the effects over consumption on the environment. One of the most used and thrown out products in the world is technology. 20 to 50 million metric tons of e-waste are disposed worldwide every year. Due to the large amount of e-waste generated throughout the world, and the ineffective recycling methods used, pollutants such as heavy metals and other dangerous toxins are released into the air, land and consequently into our bodies. Electronic waste is responsible for 70% of the toxic chemicals found in landfills. When e-waste is sent to landfills, the toxic chemicals leach into the ground, contaminating soil and water around the area. This causes serious issue to land and water in the surrounding area because dangerous chemicals such as mercury, lead  and cadmium are related into the ecosystem which negatively effects the animals that live there and contaminate the land that may be used for food production. Not to mention the amount of resources is needed to create these electric products. It takes 530 pounds of fossil fuel, 48 pounds of chemicals, and 1.5 tons of water to manufacture one computer and monitor. Increasing resource extraction and creation of waste doesn’t just lead to environ mental problems, but is often also linked to social problems such as human rights violations and poor working conditions. Since consumers just throw out there products, the governments must find a way to get rid of them. Electronic waste from North America that is being dumped in India and other developing countries has become an issue in need of a worldwide solution. This creates unhealthy workplace when metals that are being inhaled and ingested when unwanted electronics are melted and burned. To solve this problem, consumers need to change the way the view leisure and appearance and governments should stop sending waste overseas in order to make consumers aware of this growing epidemic.

As the population of humans continues to rise, the demand for food also increases. Big food corporation use this to their advantage by find ways to create the largest amount of food in the cheapest and fastest way. One way farmer produce large amounts have products is by farming in monoculture. Monoculture is the cultivation of a single crop in a large area. Monoculture agriculture has significant negative impacts on soil and biodiversity. When a single crop is planted over a large field for many years the soil loses nutrients. Each type of crop needs different types of nutrients from the soil when farmers plant only one kind of plant then it only absorbs certain nutrients. This completely strips the soil of the nutrient needed because the soil is not given any time to replenish itself because the same crop will be planted again the following season. After many years of this cycle the farmers can no longer produce this crop therefor they leave the land and find new land to repeat the process. By stripping the soil of a nutrient, farmers are making that particular system weak and vulnerable, because if there was stress on that field that needed that certain type of nutrient to survive, all the crops would die because they are not resilient. In order to continue planting a single crop on the same land, these nutrients must be replaced some way which created the need to apply various chemical fertilizers. Using chemicals on plants doesn't only effect the plant, but it greatly effects the people who eat it. The chemical methanol is used in a wide variety of chemical fertilizers. Methanol is known to cause permeant blindness and hypoxia. To avoid this, farmer can use polyculture technique, by using multiple crops in the same space, in imitation of the diversity of natural ecosystems, and avoiding large stands of single crops. Polyculture reduces susceptibility to disease and increase biodiversity.