The Negative Effects of Urbanization on People and their Environment
As our world becomes increasingly globalized, numerous people travel to urban areas in search of economic prosperity. As a consequence of this cities in periphery countries expand at rates of 4 to 7 percent annually. Many cities offer entrepreneurs the potential for resources, labor, and resources. With prosperity cities also allow the freedom to of a diversity of way of life and manners (Knox & Marston, 2012). However, in the quest to be prosperous, increasing burdens are placed on our health and the condition of our environment. These burdens are amplified as the area is further urbanized; increasing demands for fossilized fuels, food, water, and property for additional urban construction. The impact of industrialization has transformed human life and produced extensive ecological deviations. In order to understand how the environmental impacts of ever expanding industrialized technology might linger to impact our health and that of our environment, offers facts that should be studied. This paper suggests that extra research be conducted to enhance perception concerning advancing modern technology disadvantageous consequences on the safety of humans and their surrounding environment.
Manufacturing of Energy Resources.
Contamination of Water and Air. Urbanization enhances the proliferation of industries, automobiles, and agricultural practices. Most toxic air contaminants are produced as we endeavor to fuel our homes, automobiles, factories, energy production facilities, and might also be discovered in indoor cleansing mixtures, and construction supplies. Furthermore pollutants found in gasoline, dry cleaning services, and paint thinners and strippers; som...
... middle of paper ...
...Retrieved May 22, 2014 from http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/toxic-waste-overview/
Onishi, N. & Wollan, M. (2014, January 17). Severe drought grows worse in california. The New York Times. Retrieved fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/us/as-californias-drought-deepens-a-sense-of-dread-grows.html?_r=0
Saier, M. H., Jr. (2010). Desertification and migration. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, 205(1-4), S31+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA359852755&v=2.1&u=oran95108&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=d58e000340b9e00632d610b6b1c2b1e4
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA). (2012, June 21). Toxic air pollutants. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/air/toxicair/newtoxics.html
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, (FWS). (2014, January 15). Pesticides and wild life. Retrieved form http://www.fws.gov/contaminants/info/ddt.html
The pesticide DDT banned in 1987 was a detrimental to the environment leading to it to be banned in 1987. DDT remains in the soils for a long period of time. The chemicals affect the ecology of the soil and water run off causing contamination of livestock and native animals and aquatic species. Studies indicated a range of human health impacts from DDT including cancers, infertility, miscarriage and nervous system impairment. The social and economic impact of DDT use in viticulture was significant.
On the heart (center) of California is a flat area with miles and miles of farms and up to 230 different crops. The central valley agriculture is essential to the United States; it not only delivers almost half of the produce but also helps the economy by also giving more job opportunities (California Department of food and agriculture, 2014). Many families depend on the central valley agriculture to survive economically in the United States. It is a well-known fact that rain and snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains are a very important element in the central valley. No rain in the central valley can cause many devastating issues to occur quickly. Recently in the year of 2013 California received less rainfall than years before. The small amount of water the central valley is receiving is harming not only to the land but humans and animals as well. It’s destroying the habitats of animals with forest fires caused from the dry spells occurring. The central valley is going through a drought, so much that around this time of year the central valley usually accumulates enough rain for the necessities in the valley, agriculture for example. This year, however, has been different, the central valley hasn’t received enough water and this has caused a drought in the valley. Water is an important element in this world for not only human life, but for the environment in general, a shortage of water supply can bring issues to the environment and those living in it. The central valley holds the largest percent of class one soil, not only that, the valley grows a third of all the produce being grown in the United States, that’s more than 230 crops that are being grown in the central valley. However, this drought isn’t only affecting the resident...
Climate Change in California is a book written by Fredrich Kahrl and David W. Roland-Holst. Through scientific facts and statistics, the book focuses on the negative influence climate change has, and will continue to exhibit, on California regarding its economy, natural resources, public health, and agriculture. All of these aspects ultimately come together to affect the overall livelihood of its residents. Similar to Tanaka’s Climate Change, the book also heavily stresses the idea that society needs to first recognize the magnitude of the risk climate change poses on humanity before any major improvement occurs. Unless that recognition happens soon, our generation might just be the last to witness the prosperity and natural beauty California is known for.
Pollutants are contaminants that enter and affect the natural environment which can cause negative changes. There are two main types of pollution, air and water, which occur from different sources and have different effects. Air pollution is the main cause of “dirty air” in the United States. Suburban areas suffer from outdoor air pollutants as well as indoor air pollutants. Indoor air pollutants are caused by the burning of coal and wood, which are used for heating. Outdoor air pollutants are caused by chimneys, in which smoke is released into the air, and crop fertilizers, which are generally used in rural areas. The impact air pollution has on humans are large cases of health defects in rural areas: such as cancer, tuberculosis, heart diseases, and low birth weights. J.P Majra, author of “Air Quality In Rural Areas” states that, “This leads various health problems, mainly affecting the respiratory and cardiovascular system...” (Majra, 2). This shows that if the United States alone uses this much fertilizer, in which affects our health, imagine how much the world will be affected. Kirk Smith, professor of environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health states that ”nearly 10% of all lost-life years worldwide” has been due to air pollution (COEH
Zara Beadle METR 113 16 December 2015 Final paper California Drought The California drought has been extremely harmful to the states’ air quality. Since 2012, California has seen the worst drought conditions in 1,200 years and it is severely affecting air quality (California’s drought, 2015). As of 2015, the cities of Hanford, Merced, Modesto, Fresno, Yuba City, Lancaster-Palmdale, Chico, Sacramento, and Bakersfield have experienced exceptional drought coverage (Pestano, 2015).
Thesis: It is very important to know that California drought leaves many bad effects on our community and environment by causing the plants, animals, electricity, and we humans.
Drought is no stranger to the state of California especially is the southern part of the state. California has been a technological creation since the first American settlers starting migrating from the east. It naturally has a semi-arid climate. It was inevitable that prolonged severe drought would occur in such a climatic region from time to time. California has depended on redirecting natural waterways and investing an incredible amount of money into pumping water to Southern California. This is not only a California debacle but a global one as well. According to the World health Organization, 1 billion people do not have access to clean, piped water. A world Resources Institute analysis adds that 2.3 billion people, 41% of Earth’s population, live in water-stressed areas, a number expected to climb to 3.5 billion by 2025. To make matters worse, global population is rising by 80 million a year, and with it the demand for new sources of fresh water (7 pg. 1). Water affects everyone and everything including the economies of both developing and industrialized nations. “The current situation has heightened the need for reliable sources of water, especially in these type of times when there is rationing across the state, “said Paul Shoenberger, assistant general manager with the West Basin Municipal Water District in Carson and chair of a desalination subcommittee for the Association of California Water Agencies. “ Desalination is more available and isn’t linked to rain or snow pack.” The only methods to increase water supply beyond what is available from the hydrological cycle are desalination and water reuse (8).
Every day when looking out a window, people see a beautiful earth. The earth is intriguing, but hinges on a delicate balance. Many natural resources keep the grass green and the sky blue. Man has made quite an impression on our world, and has transformed the earth's resources into tools to make life easy. However, mans' manipulation on earth has become detrimental to the health of our planet and the safety of mankind. Through the use and production of resources such as oil and energy, man is gradually poisoning the earth. Pollution has become such a dilemma in society; there is no real control or a feasible solution to society's recklessness. Without complete change, our system will collapse. The earth will eventually retaliate with disaster, or corporate control of our economy will cause hysteria and depression. Evaluation of the consequences and repercussion of worldwide pollution, may give people a better idea of what the future holds.
The Effects of Rapid Urbanisation on Urban Areas Urbanisation is the growth in the proportion of people living in urban areas compared to rural areas and has rapidly taken place over the last 200 years, particularly between 1800 and 1850, where there was a population explosion. Also, more recently, between 1950 and 1990, the proportion of people in the world living in urban areas increased by 20%. Currently the rate of urbanisation is much less rapid in MEDC’s than LEDC’s as a large majority of the population are already living in urban areas. The two main factors affecting urbanisation are migration, and natural growth. Firstly, the main reason for migration is ‘push and pull’ factors, and these in this case are things that attract them to urban areas, and things that push them away from the rural areas.
First of all, overpopulation drastically affects the land. Possibly the most prominent example of the depreciating health and amount of land is the need for developments. Due to the exploding population in the United States, about 1.2 million acres of land every year is being converted to subdivisions, malls, workplaces, roads, parking lots, resorts, and many other developments (“Overpopulation,” Internet). That is a substantial amount of land being overturned to satisfy human desires. To put it in better perspective, between 1982 and 1997, the land mass lost to development is equal to the size of Maine and New Hampshire combined, which is approximately 25 million acres (“Overpopulation,” Internet). While soil is being ruptured for human preference, the number of cities has remarkably modified. In 1975, Mexico City, Tokyo, and New York City were the only cities considered as megacities (“Special,” Internet). In today’s world, that number is considerably small. Now, there are 21 megacities in the world. A megacity is when the population of that city becomes greater than 10 million people (“Special,” Internet). Therefore, the 21 megacities that are currently in the world holds more than 21...
There are several kinds of toxins and pollutants in the air, which contribute to the serious environmental issue of air pollution. One of those major toxins is dioxin, a highly toxic compound...
Many villagers and small town dwellers want a living in big cities. With some expectations, they make a movement from villages to big cities. This migration from rural areas to big cities is called urbanization.
According to a statement made by UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) on December 10, 1993, “Desertification is ‘one of the most serious global environmental problems’” (“Desertification: Not About, 1994). When discussing the topic of desertification, two common questions are, “What is desertification exactly, and how is it possible for the desert to advance?” Desertification is a term that describes “the loss of productive land to desert” (“Desertification”, 2013). It’s a common, innocent public misconception that the desert is advancing; however, this in fact is not the case. When an area u...
Urban sprawl or urbanization is the migration of people from big towns or cities to more rural areas . One of the main reasons why people do this because of over crowded places or want to move to different areas to live . Urban sprawl is not a new concept even back to the ancient cities , people would move out into more rural areas in the country instead of living in over populated towns . But when people moved out into the country they wanted to build more houses and build roads , so they had to build over certain places and dig up resources to build . this created a shift in some areas of urbanization making some animals and plants to go extinct . The overuse of Urbanization is more than present in the 21st century , like China and India
We all know the urbanization rate is an index to value the development of a country. However, though urbanization provides great convenience to some individuals, it also brings about negative effects. Problems such as pollution, overcrowded and the high unemployment appear during the process of urbanization and they are hard to cope with. In face of the sequence of problems, a new way of development ----sustainable development was put forward. Just like its literal meaning, the word sustainability has something to do with continuity. It was used since 1980s and first appeared in Britain law in 1993. Sustainable development can help solve parts of the problem caused by urbanization, including environmental damage, overuse of resources, and natural disasters.