Essay on the Impacts of Environmental Pollution and Genetically Modified Organisms

This essay will discuss the impacts of environmental pollution and genetically modified organisms.

Foremost, there have been allegations that GMOs could compromise one’s immune system or lead to higher risks of cancer. I was not, however, aware of the many farms that continue to use genetically modified seeds, which include major food producers such as Cargill, Syngenta and Tyson Foods. Based on my own research, the mandated labelling of GMOs is a relatively recent legislative development, mandated by acts such as the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS). However, legislative acts such as the NBFDS still struggle to be properly implemented and enforced at the state and county level, especially because GMOs may form part of the processed crop derivatives, such as flavorings, texturizers and sweeteners, which can fly under the radar of federal GMO labelling requirements.

Given that the evidence for the purported harms from GMOs is mixed, I do not believe GMOs should be controversial until a clear and correlative relationship between the consumption of GMOs and their harms has been established. Furthermore, GMOs help to sustainably and productively increase the agricultural yield of production, and help to support the growing food demands from population growth. Hence, GMOs will continue to remain a mainstay of the agricultural landscape for the time being, and individuals will simply have to make informed choices on whether they wish to consume GMOs or not in their daily lives.

The most significant environmental impacts of population are the consumption of finite resources such as air, water, food, land and fossil fuels, as well as the generation of waste products such as greenhouse gases, toxic chemicals and pollutants to air and water. Human activities such as the production of electronics, industrial goods, agricultural products and consumer goods create waste in the form of plastics, heavy metals and greenhouse gases which contribute to the pollution of the environment. For example, large-scale industrial agriculture produces excessive amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen which lead to eutrophication of nearby water bodies, while mining of oil, gas and other commodities produces particulate matter, soot and carbon dioxide that pollutes the air and contributes to climate change. Furthermore, as the human population continues to grow globally, the population is gradually eroding the natural carrying capacity for air, food, water and land.

As an individual, it is difficult for one’s personal actions in areas such as reduction of consumption, recycling and composting to have a significant impact on the environment. However, there are a number of things that we can do at a collective or communal level to have an impact on the environment and its sustainability. Foremost, individuals can lobby their governments for stricter regulations on pollutive companies and industries. Communal recycling, composting and tree planting initiatives can also have a net effect in reducing the impacts of climate change. Finally, individuals can help to devise new methods of production that require less finite resources through research and innovation.

Generally, electric cars have been seen as a more sustainable form of transportation, but the use of electric cars is not helpful as a potential solution to remedy the environmental problem of greenhouse gas production created by automobile use. This is because of two primary reasons- consumer adoption of electric cars, and the product lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions levels of electric cars.

Foremost, consumer adoption of electric cars is still adopted, with more individuals around the world opting for public transportation as opposed to electric cars. This is mainly due to the higher costs associated with owning an electric vehicle, as well as the reduced convenience in refuelling, as electric car owners have to locate a charging port to refuel their vehicle. This may be a challenge in regions and countries where electric charging infrastructure is limited. Limited consumer adoption thus suggests that electric cars are limited in their potential as a solution to mitigate the issue of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change caused by the use of fossil fuel powered cars.

Secondly, electric cars are not very sustainable when its greenhouse gas emissions are measured across its product lifecycle. While electric cars can be powered with renewable resources such as solar and water power, a significant amount of electricity is still produced using fossil fuels. Furthermore, electric car production is still a greenhouse-gas and fossil-fuel intensive process, with a significant amount of emissions used to smelt the aluminum, manufacture the steel and assemble the components for an electric vehicle. Finally, the lithium-ion battery is a key generator of emissions for electric cars, which actually leads electric cars to have a larger carbon footprint than fossil fuel-supplied cars.

Some common examples of physical, chemical, microbial, and urban contamination sources are as follows. Physical contamination can occur as the result of chemical or oil spills due to breaches on containers and storage facilities. Chemical contamination can occur as the result of volatilization of volatile organic compounds into other states, such as the gaseous state, which are more prone to spreading easily. Finally, microbial contamination can occur as the result of the improper storage of organic material and organic waste, which can lead such waste to turn septic.

My workplace currently generates a significant amount of benzene and hydrochloric acid, which is costly to dispose of. In addition, the facility generates a significant amount of smog, even with the use of scrubbers that are complaint to local regulations. At the home, a small amount of methane is produced from the composting facility in my family home’s backyard. There could be ways of mitigating the contaminants produced, which would include the installation of capture and filtration mechanisms to isolate and treat these contaminants. Furthermore, a study should be conducted at my workplace to identify ways of increasing the efficiency of manufacturing process production in order to reduce the production of such contaminants.

Global government leadership has been instrumental in the pursuit of lasting global and domestic pollution control over the past four decades. Though frequently criticized for their ineffectiveness, treaties such as the Paris Climate Change Accords and the Kyoto Protocol have served as lasting arbiters of environmental pollution control. Furthermore, international bodies such as the World Wildlife Foundation, the United Nations and the G7 have collectively served as coordinating mechanisms and visionaries to encourage the private sector and the civil society to adopt global and domestic pollution control measures such as a shift to renewable energy, a promotion of circular economy initiatives, and greenhouse gas emissions cuts. However, global government leadership could have done a better job by ensuring greater transparency and accountability in its processes. Furthermore, institutions such as the G7 and the United Nations also frequently gloss over the interests of developing nations, which disproportionately bear the impact of negative global environmental change.

There is often a trinity of actors that is cited in the pursuit of stakeholder engagement for climate change and environmental sustainability. This is the government, the civil society and the industry of businesses.

The article talks about how the US EPA intends to assess what complex air toxin blends mean for human wellbeing and openness, to utilize this as a norm for future logical and hazard appraisal (Johns et al, 2012). The review was directed through a public studio in February 2011 to audit logical difficulties and missing information issues on multipollutant science and hazard evaluations, including senior scholastic and specialized figures in the study of disease transmission, toxicology and barometrical sciences. The article set forth the proposal that progress is conceivable dependent on existing logical data and factual strategies to survey the effect of single poisons in a multipollutant setting, and upheld for a multipollutant worldview and reasonable system as a halfway advance to novel exploration and examination techniques for multipollutant openness sway contemplates (Johns et al, 2012). The target group of this article were earthy people, natural researchers, policymakers and air quality specialists trying to see how to conceptualize and apply the worth of a multipollutant evaluation system for logical and hazard appraisal (Johns et al, 2012).

The worth of a multipollutant approach in evaluating air contamination’s wellbeing impacts

The worth of a multipollutant approach in evaluating air contamination’s wellbeing impacts are in the blending of the joint effects of different toxins to carry out a synergistic way to deal with air quality control procedures, consolidating numerous perspectives, for example, source outflows and worldwide emanations, air quality, openness appraisal and wellbeing impacts, and a multipollutant hazard portrayal and translation that brings about more compelling and all encompassing multipollutant the board activities (Johns et al, 2012). This interaction, while complex, takes into consideration a more nuanced and all encompassing evaluation of how various toxins and outflows might develop across time and natural districts, and considers more powerful comprehension of spatial poison conveyance (Johns et al, 2012).

Survey of issues with assessing human wellbeing impacts of multipollutant openings

The worth of a multipollutant approach in surveying air contamination’s wellbeing impacts are in the combining of the joint effects of numerous poisons to carry out a synergistic way to deal with air quality control techniques, consolidating various perspectives, for example, source emanations and worldwide discharges, air quality, openness evaluation and wellbeing impacts, and a multipollutant hazard portrayal and translation that brings about more successful and comprehensive multipollutant the board activities (Johns et al, 2012). This interaction, while complex, takes into consideration a more nuanced and all encompassing evaluation of how various poisons and discharges might develop across time and ecological locales, and considers more viable comprehension of spatial toxin dissemination (Johns et al, 2012).

Parts of the article identified with danger ID, portion reaction evaluation and openness appraisal

The accompanying concentrate gives a compact outline of the article’s importance to peril distinguishing proof, portion reaction appraisal and openness evaluation.

The reception of a multipollutant strategy for the survey of surrounding air toxins would possibly bring about expanded efficiencies, advantages, and cost reserve funds all through the cycle starting with the underlying assessment of the logical proof. More significant, expanding the accentuation on multipollutant approaches might take into account a superior comprehension of the sorts of air poison combinations probably going to bring about unfriendly wellbeing impacts, which could, thus, work with the recognizable proof of control methodologies to limit openings to these blends.

Oil and gas companies should have to disclose the chemicals used in their fracking fluid for a number of reasons. Foremost, hydraulic fracturing is a highly risky procedure that could lead to the release of chemicals through seepage and equipment breaches into the surrounding area. This could result in the subsequent pollution and decline in quality of life to the population in the surrounding areas. Furthermore, disclosure would compel oil and gas companies to be more considerate and thorough in considering how these chemicals and their well and facility constructions could impact the surrounding population. Finally, disclosure could help stakeholders to understand the environmental and health impacts linked with such fracking activities,even if the Halliburton loophole prevents the EPA from mandating such public disclosure.

The above remove shows how a multipollutant way to deal with danger distinguishing proof and portion reaction appraisal, as upheld by the multi-toxin concentrate on pilot by the US EPA for assessment of optional guidelines of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, brought about an intensive assessment of a multipollutant NAAQS to secure against the consolidated effect of these two contaminations on amphibian fermentation, which could prompt more grounded medical advantages and financially savvy efficiencies in surrounding air poison observing, control, minimization and moderation, at a lower pace of hazard and more grounded pace of accomplishment for openness constraint and toxicology study. This would then prompt more successful portion reaction evaluation and openness appraisal for the effect of multipollutant air contamination considers.

Conclusion

The multipollutant approach gives a more grounded appraisal of air contamination’s wellbeing impacts, and in spite of the issues related with assessing the human wellbeing impacts of multipollutant openings, the danger ID, portion reaction appraisal, and openness appraisal gives solid support to the utilization of multipollutant approaches in air contamination checking and assessment examines.

References

Johns, D. O., Stanek, L. W., Walker, K., Benromdhane, S., Hubbell, B., Ross, M., Greenbaum, D. S. (2012). Practical advancement of multipollutant scientific and risk assessment approaches for ambient air pollution. Environmental Health Perspectives, 120(9), 1238–1242. Retrieved from https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=8gh&AN=79858348&site=ehost-live&scope=sit

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Woegerbauer, M., Zeinzinger, J., Gottsberger, R. A., Pascher, K., Hufnagl, P., Indra, A., & Fuchs, K. (2015). Antibiotic resistance marker genes as environmental pollutants in GMO-pristine agricultural soils in Austria. Environmental Pollution, 206, 342-351.