ENVIRONMENT IMPACT + SOLUTIONS

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Environmental assessment is a procedure that ensures that the environmental implications of decisions are taken into account before the decisions are made.

ENVIRONMENT REPERCUSSIONS

1.Coal :

The use of coal and other fossil fuels have only increased since they were discovered. Their excessive extraction and use has resulted in degradation of environment and ecological imbalance. Though coal is still available in big quantity on this earth but it is predicted that it won’t last for more than 40-50 years if switch is not made to green or clean energy.

2. Oil :

Wide usage of oil and oil related products has resulted in massive air pollution. It is a major source of fuel that is used in vehicles. Due to the process of combustion, harmful gases like carbon dioxide are released when oil is burnt.

Oil is transported to other nations using pipelines or ships. Leakage in ships leads to oil spill which affects animals and plants that live inside or around the sea. Just couple of years back, a ship containing oil of British Petroleum (BP) caused oil leakage which resulted in killing of many whales, fishes and small animals that live inside the sea.

3. Nuclear Energy :

Nuclear power plants produce some sort of nuclear waste called radioactive elements. These elements emit strong radiations and must be buried deep underground so that they don’t affect human life. Couple of nuclear disasters has already occurred in past including Chernobyl and Island Three Miles. In the recent past, there is the case of the disaster, which happened in Japan back in 2010.

4. Hydroelctric power plants:
Flooding land for a hydroelectric reservoir has an extreme environmental impact: it destroys forest, wildlife habitat, agricultural land, and scenic lands.

It has major impact on aquatic ecosystems. For example, , fish and other organisms can be injured and killed by turbine blades.


5. Thermal power plants. Produce iar-pollution, give off large amounts if CO2, wich increaes the geenhouse effect and emit gases that causes acid-rain

GreenHouse effect: The Earth gets energy from the sun in the form of sunlight. The Earth's surface absorbs some of this energy and heats up. The Earth cools down by giving off a different form of energy, called infrared radiation. But before all this radiation can escape to outer space, greenhouse gases in the atmosphere absorb some of it, which makes the atmosphere warmer. As the atmosphere gets warmer, it makes the Earth's surface warmer, too.

Acid-Rain: Acid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids.

SOLUTIONS

• Energy efficiency is "using less energy to provide the same service"
• You ought to reduce the consumption of all forms of energy, for example, turn the lights on only when you need it or use the shower instead of the bath.
• You should adopt habits that are more respectful for the environment, like using public transport or recycling your rubbish.
• And you must use renewable energy sources.

This video shows you what we are doing to the Earth.