Economic Development and Pollution
Globally, economic development is taking place at an unprecedented rate, as undeveloped and underdeveloped nations, often with the aid of more advanced countries, are industrializing and urbanizing. While this development means prosperity and general advancement for the population of the growing nation, it also contributes substantially to an already severe level of global pollution and damage to the environment. ("Transport and Sustainable Development in the ECE Region")
In undeveloped countries, pollution is generally encountered as unsafe water, usually due to stagnation in extreme heat and drought conditions. Insofar as it may be caused or worsened by human interference, generally this effect is limited to human or livestock feces being introduced to the standing or ground water.
Once industrial development takes place, the process of pollution affects air, ground and water. Plants and factories produce suspended particulates, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and lead. (Edgmand et al., 1996) At one time, it was thought that the harmful effects of these manufacturing byproducts became naturally neutralized by the wind, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, smokestacks were built to great heights to achieve this goal. However, all that happened was that the pollution was dispersed to other areas; for example, Scandinavia became the victim of industrial pollution from Germany and Great Britain. (Arey, 2000)
The harmful effects of this type of pollution include damage to crops and forests, human and livestock health problems, acid-rain damage to bodies of water and aquatic life, global warming, and ozone depletion. (Edgmand et al., 1996)
As cities industrialize, they also become distribution centers and population vectors. Thus, in addition to the pollution directly caused by the factories themselves, the trucks, cars, trains,...
The problem of
waste disposal, human, domestic and industrial, arises. Plastics and other
hazardous materials, if improperly incinerated, contribute cancer-causing gases to the air or ground water. Sewage can easily escape into drinking water systems or into lakes and rivers. Many companies have been caught dumping heavily polluted waste water into streams or coastal water. ("Tackling Root Causes")
Other industries create differing forms of pollution; for example,
mining has been known to add heavy metals to the water table as well as dust and smoke to the air. Large-scale farming
operations contribute fecal material to the water table, methane to the air, as well as runoff from fertilizers and pesticides/herbicides. ("Health Impacts of Water Pollution")
The fuels needed to support industry are also causes of pollution.
Fossil fuel is a heavy culprit, not only because of its noxious emissions once consumed, but also through
oil spillage from off-shore rigs and from crippled tankers. The resulting damage to the ocean environment is cumulative and severe, for example, the harm caused by the wreck of the Exxon Valdez. However, nuclear
power poses its own risks, as Chernobyl demonstrated, and hydro-electric production leads to water pollution. ("Transport and Sustainable Development in the ECE Region")
The more rapid the
economic growth within any area, the more likely there will be significant damage to the environment for a number of purely economic reasons. Rapid growth may mean that the…
