Environmental Effects of Fossil Fuel Exploration and Extraction

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As the fossil fuels, such as coal, gas, LPG and coal mixed gas and so on, has been used in the modern production process since the industrial revolution happened, the environment effects of fossil fuels’ exploration and extraction is the biggest concerns for public life. To illustrate this, data collected by Marland, Boden, Andres, Brenkert and Johnston (2003) points out that the fossil fuels industry has caused the release of approximately 337 billion metric tons of carbon to atmosphere since 1751, and the greenhouse gases’ accumulation caused by the industry can increase the risk of heat waves, droughts, malnutrition and other disasters (Haines, Kovats, Campbell-Lendrum and Corvalán, 2006), leading to social panic and complaints. Fossil fuels’ exploration and extraction in this essay refers to an industrial process of prospecting the petrochemical resources and transferring it to consumable goods. The environmental effects of this process could be varied; this essay will focus on air pollution, land subsidence and the degradation of water quality.

Initially, air pollution is considered as a negative effect of exploring and extracting the fossil fuels due to the increasing content of carbon dioxide and air dust. Since fossil resources were found and applied, the global warming issues become worse due to the increasing content of carbon dioxide. For instance, Arup(2013) states that 759 million tons more carbon dioxide will be produced if coal production keeps expanding over the level of 2011 and this will push emissions over carbon budget, causing the failure to control the climate change. Moreover, the increasing content of solid particles or air dust during this procedure may also a threat to general air quality. According to G...

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...& Johnston, C. A. (2003). Global, regional, and national fossil fuel CO2 emissions. Trends: A compendium of data on global change, 34-43. http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/emis/overview
Moffatt, S., & Pless-Mulloli, T. (2003). “It wasn’t the plague we expected.” Parents’ perceptions of the health and environmental impact of opencast coal mining. Social science & medicine, 57(3), 437-451. doi: 10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00369-6
Shi, T. G., Jiang, L. G., Li, Y., & Yang, Y. L. (2013). Disaster Analysis and Countermeasures of Land Subsidence caused by Coal Cutting in China. Chinese Geographical Science, 13(2), 130-133. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11769-003-0006-7#

Tiwary, R. K. (2001). Environmental impact of coal mining on water regime and its management. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 132(1-2), 185-199. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1012083519667#

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