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Oil Pollution and What It Is Doing to our World
Needless to mention, this is a very complex and sensitive subject.
However, anyone over 50 years old can remember a childhood where
the environment was quite different.
The world's population insane dependence on fossil fuels (while
there are acceptable and non-polluting alternatives) is basically
killing our clean and environment, and us with it.
What is Oil Pollution?
Oil pollution is simply the spilling of crude or refined petroleum
product into the environment. There are some staggering statistics
that follow.
These are statistics from the 1995 Smithsonian Institution Traveling
Exhibition, and have not been updated. It is estimated that the
overall totals have increased two or three fold.
- Accidental spills from ships : 140 Million tons
- Routine maintenance of ships and equipment: 511 Millions tons
- Air pollution in the rains (entering the seas): 348 Million
tons
- Land disposal of fuels entering the seas: 1,374 Million tons
- Natural seepage (from sea sources) 234 Million tons
The above does NOT include China or India statistics. A total
of 2,607 Millions of tons of petroleum had ended up in the environment
(estimated in 1995). Now 11 years later, the total is estimated
to have trippled, and we are witnessing a gradual increase in
Earth temperature due to global warming, other alarming changes
in the weather, pollution traces found in both the environment
and animals (and plants) in the wild.
Despite the MARPOL rules (marine pollution act by the United
Nations), and other legislation, oil pollution continues. A recent
survey by marine toxicologists have confirmed alarming amounts
of damage to the livers in a wide spectrum of marine fish and
mammals. Almost all fish sampled had high levels of heavy metals
in the tissue (crude oil contains a great deal of heavy metal,
vanadium among them, which is toxic to most animals).
The bottom feeders and marine crustaceans (also living on the
bottom of the sea) had an equally high level of absorbed heavy
metals and other pollutants (PCB and Dioxin for example).
The natural microbes and small aquatic life that can biodegrade
the oil (into water and carbon dioxide) are overwhelmed and cannot
cope. There is a lack of available nutrients in areas that surround
oil spills, and pollution sites.
One sees large groups of whales or dolphins beaching themselves,
and puzzled scientists to explain why. It doesn't take much to
figure it out. Whole species of plants and animals are disappearing
on a regular basis.
Oil pollution can not be solved by legislation, or by being more
careful. So much oil pollution enters the atmosphere, and then
the environment, the only measure that we can take is to immediately
reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. Places like California
in the United States has already taken the first steps, but has
not gone so far as outlawing the fossil fuel.
Knowing that there are fuel cells which can burn clean hydrogen,
there are electric engines and solar cells to run the ubiquitous
automobile. There is wind and wave power to create clean and non-polluting
sources of electricity. Sadly the interests of big business are
coming before the safety of the human race.
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