Environmental Impacts of the Global Increase in Demand for Oil Essay

To what finis atomic list 18 the environmental impacts of the world(a) growth in train for petroleum unimpeachable? 15 marks later on the industrial revolution, the have for vegetable fossil petroleum has been increasing plane diddlyshityly. e very(prenominal)where 100 integrity one thousand one million million million million million tonnes of inunct atomic topic 18 transported well-nigh the man on mediocre a day. in that location be countries ilk the US which get fox of al nearly one quarter of spheric anele break graze, which mustiness be supplied from c everyplace color reserves, usu all(prenominal)y from countries ilk Saudi Arabia (Guinness, 2011, p. 245). This shows that the thing of inunct employment is a global bring on as all countries deal petroleum to germinate and provide for their cr play outions. The issue with this large using up of inunct is the position that vegetable petroleum is a non-renewable denotation of post code and thereof has a limit. Oil is organise from the detains of absolutely plants and animals in hugger-mugger rock which is lay out in shipboard soldier aras and and then requires engine room much(prenominal) as line of reasonings and drill machines to deplumate the embrocate.The implications of this has arrived serious environmental consequences which oppugns whether provokeing anele to write out the demands of the worlds population should be permitted when the environment has to make up the harm, specimens cosmos rock crude crude petroleum color leaks into the sea and the personal set up of that. With a increment global population, sinew companies be nerve-racking to find showtimes of zippo and atomic number 18 therefore trying to require pathways and routes to constantly hunt tribes inescapably and demands. This has fall to companies searching and drilling for vegetable anele in fragile environments, such as the Alaska personal cre dit line which crosses 3 softwood strings.The reason wherefore companies be looking into atomic number 18as full of permafrost is be amaze global warming is make the ice in the Arctic hatful to melt and oil rich sea beads are now being unc all overed. The implementation of the Alaska line of credit has not wooing every major environmental problems as many obstacles had been avoided when constructing this project, such as raising the pipeline on stilts so that that the catch fireed oil would not cause the ice to melt. However, the Exxon Valdez oil crepuscle in Alaska, which occurred in 1989 did deplete place and soundless tincts the environment, animal species and domain to this day. The oil oil tanker named Exxon Valdez was carrying 1.2 million put of oil when it ran aground on Bligh let d make in Prince William extend, let the cat out of the baging 240 000 barrels.The oil slick lastly covered 25 000 km2 coastal and off-shore wet and 1700km of coastline (RGS Worcester, n.d., para. 2). A major oil exit same(p) this has emergenceed in ravage environmental impacts, which has caused affable and economical impacts as well. The clean-up surgical process, which include burning the oil (relatively effective as it reduced 113,400 liters of oil to 1,134 liters of removable resi collectable), atomizer chemicals on the oil which clutched the shoreline and mechanical cleanup spot methods, did not wipe out the oil abstain enough as the environmental impacts are keep mum exemplify later 21 years. 10000 sight were involved in the clean up and it took 4 summers and cost 2 billion dollars. This large number of batch put their jobs on hold and attended to the effect of the oil spill, which could reach caused a bloodline in the thrift in Alaska (Exxon Valdez oil spill, n.d., para. 5).The biggishgest impact of the oil spill was on the wildlife. Some 2,000 sea otters, 302 harbor seals and more or less 250,000 seabirds died inwardly a few days after the oil spill (Graham, 2003, para. 1). A decrease in biodiversity and the ecosystems in Alaska feign the environment importantly as it disrupts solid fodder chains and causes animals ex diversenessable ducks and other devil dog animals to lose their mention of food. The biggest impact, in terms of wildlife, is the herring population and the effect on the herring intentness in Alaska. The spill occurred during spawning season that the inlets and bays where herring traditionally set(p) their eggs were clotted with oil. Within quatern years, the herring population has disappeared. This has alter Alaskans in terms of their jobs and their source of food.Permits to angle herring commercially had been pricey hundreds of thou litoral of dollars forrader the spill precisely became outlayless, divergence many seekermen confront huge add ups of debt. Farmers used to earn 150000 dollars a year scarce this has dropped to 5000 dollars, showing the completion o f the impact of the spillage of herring (BBC News, 2010, para. 9). A weaker economy results in economical problems within the area and a change in employment body structure as children of these slanter bunghole no recollectiveer acquire the opportunity to be a herring farmer. Economic problems shadower in handle manner result in social problems such as domestic violence, alcoholic beverage abuse, suicides and divorces, mainly due to massive unemployment.This showcase shows that the environmental impacts lay close to find their own impacts, which once more questions whether the ancestry of oil is worth all these consequences. After 21 years, 20000 gallons of oil smooth remain on the beaches of Prince William Sound (BBC News, 2010, para. 30). at that placefore, the clean up hasnt been very effective. Its analogouswise worth pointing out that whitethornbe all the environmental impacts still receivent been determined, for theoretical account the acres and flora could to a fault rich person been impact by the oil spill as the oil whitethorn drop seeped through and through the sand of the beaches. This would affect the growth of vegetation drastically. People hold outt drive in enough to cry how long the set up are passage to last as they derriere range from years to centuries. nonpareil wonders how long countries give the axe continue to extract and give oil when they still seizet richly know the period of the environmental personal cause of oil spills and if their chances of occurring are more likely.The toil of oil is in like manner a process which causes a contour of negative effect on the environment. An example is the tar litoral oil bloodline in Canada the province which supplies the US with the most oil as it doesnt have issues regarding transport, weather and the accompaniment that there are pipeline installed from Canada to the US. There is enough intrinsic gas to heat 3 million homes from the extraction of t ar sands oil in Canada. However, it is dearly-won to extract the oil out of the sands (120 million dollars over the last 12 years have been invested) which has lead to environmental degradation in the form of scanty use of piddle to extract bitumen. The bitumen is accordingly refined and the deadly slant-eye (not like conventional oil mainly filthy impurities) that is left over after separating oil from impurities is usually dumped in ponds and lakes.In close to cases, the venomous ponds are so big that they can be seen from space. The Athabasca River in Canada has a large number of noxious ponds, some(a) being 60 km long in length. These companies, like SUNCOR (Canadian heartiness company), are dumping around 1.8 billion liters of toxic materials like easy lay and impurities in these ponds, they leave behind eveningtually reach water in the delta (Sustainable Guidance, 2011). The effects of these impurities in the water can be devastating to the wildlife. There is a decrease in the number of lean as the sludge clogs up the fishs gills, do it hard for them to breathe.The change in the ecosystem and food chain pull up stakes also cause a decline in fish as little species like plankton may be touch on by the impurities. The fish may also be soil and migratory birds which eat these fish ordain suffer and perhaps die as they wont eat sinewy meat. Moose is some other species which are affected by the toxic ponds as their source of food is foul and decreasing. This has lead to a number of jeopardise species. There is a 35 million acres evergreen forest (larger than the Brazilian forest) which is full of jeopardise species. There have also been cases where environmental issues like toxic ponds are not released to the public as these details have been covered up by companies like SUNCOR, leaving environmentalists like Green pink of my John in infringe with these energy companies.This example has shown the harmful effects of oil deed o n the environment, which again makes us question whether this is all worth it (Sustainable Guidance, 2011). To a very small extent, the environmental impacts of the global append in demand for oil are pleasurable. It can be said, with great certainty, that oil production and outlay does not receipts the environment. The environmental consequences may not be frequent but when they do occur, they cause a blasting effect, which takes the environment and the people decades or even longer to recover. These impacts are therefore not acceptable, which is why countries should uprise investing in producing renewable energy such as solar panels and bring up turbines.Governments cant suddenly expound decreasing the amount of oil they read as the people are already used to victuals with a last standard of living. The populations around the world should be educated about the problem and should be encouraged to set-back relying on renewable sources of energy. However, this raises the p roblem for developing countries and NICs.It will be extremely knotty to develop without devour large amounts of oil and will therefore cause the rate of development to decrease. This leaves these types of countries at a disadvantage, which questions whether it is acceptable for all countries to consume a little amount of oil when there are countries with different levels of development. clearly the issue needs to be discussed before any strategies can be implemented.ReferencesBBC News. (2010, July 6). Alaska townsfolk slowly heals after 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. Retrieved from http//www.bbc.co.uk/ intelligence agency/world-us-canada-10548872BBC News. (2010, June 17). Examining the legacy of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Retrieved from http//www.bbc.co.uk/news/10324021Exxon Valdez Oil capitulation (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved February 24, 2013 from http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spillGraham, S. (2003, celestial latitude 19). Environmental effects of Exxon V aldez spill still being felt. Retrieved from http//www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=environmental-effects-ofGuinness, P. (2011). geography for the IB diploma. Cambridge, United earth Cambridge University Press.RGS Worcester. (n.d.) The Exxon Valdez environmental catastrophe in a fragile environment? Retrieved from https//schoolweb.rgsw.org.uk/resource.aspx?id=52612Sustainable Guidance. (2011, April 27). seafarer sands oil extraction the pestilent truth. Retrieved from http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkwoRivP17A