Vital, but risky
Oil, a crucial element for factory engines and cars, is also one of the main factors that harm the enviromnent. When oil is spilled, it’s toxic wastes can damage fish populations in numerous rivers and oceans. Moreover, it threatens the lives of people by causing air pollution, that is created by the factories’ combustion engines, which is an inescapable impact on society. Furthermore, according to www.offshore-environment.com, some countires, such as Saudia Arabia and the United States produce 28.3 billions barrels everyday, which is a massive amount of oil that can have damaging consequences on the enviromnent.
However, the estimated amount that ends up in the oceans is “0.25% of world oil production: about 6 million tons per year” (offshore-environment.com). As a result, this amount can accumulate on the surface of the water, starts to dissolve and prevents the sunlight from reaching the plants and coral reefs as well as poisoning the fish, stopping them from the photosynthesis process and damaging the food chain. Subsequently, all the underwater plants, marines and fish will eventually die. Also, according to www.waterencyclopedia.com, when the oil reaches the shore, “it interacts with sediments” (waterencyclopedia.com) and starts to pollute and damages nurture vegetation. In addition, oil’s effect on wildlife is excruciatingly injurious. It causes “hypothermia in fur seal pups by reducing or destroying the insulation of their woolly fur” (www.amsa.gov.au). It also causes marine mammals to lose their body weight and harm the animals’ and birds’ bodies from the inside, by damaging their red blood cells, causing them to lay damaged eggs. Although oil is a very crucial liquid for machines, it is dangerous for various kinds of lives. After gathering this information, I felt a lot of sympathy with the polluted water, animals and mammals that get killed because of the spilled oil. Finally, such information causes us, humans, to feel threatened and obligated to act and to solve these issues.
Works Cited:
•http://www.offshore-environment.com/facts.html
•http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Oc-Po/Oil-Spills-Impact-on-the-Ocean.html
http://www.amsa.gov.au/marine_environment_protection/educational_resources_and_information/teachers/the_effects_of_oil_on_wildlife.asp
Comments
I think oil is very important. Now we need oil getting higher and higher. But when oil is spilled, it’s toxic wastes damage fish populations and oceans.It is destroy our environment and ecosystem. So protect environment are our’s duty. We should reduce oil’s demand, such as we can more walking, and go work by motorcycle instead car.
Posted by: Sandy | April 20, 2009 09:24 AM
I didn't realize that 6 million tons of oil spilled into the ocean every year. That is a horrifying figure.
This is something that impacts the oceans and land of the entire world. In Alaska, USA, there is a continual struggle between environmentalist groups and oil companies over oil drilling in the Alaska wilderness. The drilling would occur in a the Arctic Wilderness area, and it could upset the caribou migration. Many argue that the oil supply there is not big enough to justify the environmental impact that drilling would have there.
I think that Sandy is right. Instead of trying to meet our oil needs based on our (irresponsible) current consumption of natural fuels, we should decrease our oil demands by changing our current lifestyles.
Posted by: Ana | April 26, 2009 08:56 AM
As Ana mentioned, we've had a lot of trouble in the U.S. with oil. It literally fuels our way of life. However, there have been instances in the past that have brought the dangerous consequences of oil spills to the forefront, especially with the spill of the Exxon Valdez tanker in Prince William Sound (Alaska). I think that there are still residual effects at that location from, as you said, the interaction of oil with sediments. However, ocean tankers are still loaded up to ship oil across the world with relatively few preventative measures. Once a spill happens, that's that, and a lot of damage is done immediately.
But what is the situation like in Egypt? Does it produce any substantial amounts of it or has it experienced a major spill near the coasts?
Posted by: Christina | April 26, 2009 03:48 PM
This is just another reason (out of the hundreds of reasons) to direct our economy and way of life away from oil. It's been known that oil is environmentally unfriendly, politically problematic, and wrecks havoc upon our economy when the prices are high. And scientists are predicting that the oil supply in the earth is slowing running dry.
So why are we still using billions of barrels per day?
Essentially, it is all of our faults. We, as people, aren't pushing hard enough for alternate energy use. As a result, the politicians who have the power aren't creating policies that pursue alternate energy use. As a result, businesses and companies aren't focusing on creating and developing products that use alternate energy.
Seriously, why don't normal cars have roofs made out of solar panels and technology that captures the energy of the wind when driving? It's not that hard, this technology already exists. It's simply that consumers aren't pushing hard enough to obtain it. For now, it's good enough that we live each day barrel by barrel.
Posted by: Safiyyah | April 27, 2009 01:11 AM
It is sad that so little is truly know about how we destroy our environment. I did not know that 6 million tons of oil per year goes into our ocean. We are so ignorant when we fill up our tank everyday of where everything goes. I am taking a class in Civil and Environmental Engineering that focuses on Energy production and forms of renewable energy. We studied coal and combined cycle natural gas power plants and how much carbon they produce per kilowatt-hour. It is amazing that the electrical power industry is responsible for 3/4 of the US sulfur oxide emissions, 1/3 of the CO2 emissions, and 1/4 of the toxic heavy metals. We need to be more aware,this is truly sad what we are doing to our environment.
Posted by: Ben | April 27, 2009 11:36 AM
I think the most effective ¬¬point in the blog is when the number of how many tons of oil gets put into the water each year. This number is extremely large and way bigger than I had ever thought. When I first saw that .05% of water gets into the water I was like why do we care? That number is ridiculously small and does not give a good picture as to how much damage we are actually doing to the world around us. Also it makes me question if 6 million tons of oil goes into the oceans, how much oil goes onto land and causes harm to plants and animals there? I think the combination of these two statistics would be very interesting and give a more cohesive picture of the damage we are doing to the world around us.
Posted by: Michael | April 27, 2009 03:33 PM
interesting stuff!
Posted by: rentalsoftware | May 21, 2009 03:32 PM
I think it is disgusting what oil companies do to the world. There should be more support for green!
Posted by: Plants Online | July 14, 2009 07:12 AM