ک ک ک ک>"Habitat Destruction and Pollution"<ک ک ک ک
NOTE - Photos of habitat destruction, world pollution and dead wildlife can be found below this article. There are also many links included and a video. Note that more oil spills have occurred in the U.S. since I put up this page.
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As everyone knows, the climate change and warming of the Earth due to human technology is destroying the planet at an alarming rate. However, pollution and habitat destruction alone has been wiping out entire ecosystems and wildlife worldwide for a long time. There is nothing natural about what is occurring on the planet. Even those dumb enough not to see or believe the effects of Global Warming would surely admit that pollution, deforestation and the destruction of natural habitats is a major problem around the globe, no matter what region you live in. As stated in scientific reports, the contamination of the hydrosphere and atmosphere, depletion of radiation-shielding stratospheric ozone, and anthropogenic global climate change are examples of changes induced by human environmental pollution. Fossil fuels used in ships, boats, vehicles, construction and farm equipment plays a major role in air pollution but there is so much focus on this that people don’t think much about all the factories worldwide that literally put out countless tons of pollution in different forms.
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An example would be all the mercury that factories put out in the air and water. Other pollutants are chemicals and chemical leaks, oil, drugs, garbage, human and farm animal waste, industrial waste, fertilizers, pesticides and even toxic heavy metals. Radioactive, chemical and organic waste is dumped and is in water everywhere including streams, aquifers, rivers, oceans, lakes, ponds, creeks and reservoirs. Coal burning power plants emit sulfur dioxide that combines with water vapor in the atmosphere and creates sulfuric acid. The results are in the form of corrosive acid rain. One of the other groups of man-made industrial chemicals, called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), has chemically destroyed the shielding ozone in the stratosphere over Antarctica. This created the "Ozone Hole." Human technology and pollution has replaced Earth’s natural cycle with a synthetic one. A result of pollution in the environment also causes mutations, disease, males becoming females in some species, dying vegetation and death of wildlife.Aside from pollution, habitats of the world are being wiped out by agricultural development, construction of buildings and homes, mining, road construction, deforestation, damming rivers, draining swamps and natural disasters caused by human technology and intervention. Currently, half of what is left of the planet's plant and animal species live in rainforests. Every year, 15 million acres of the world’s tropical forests are logged. The following are just a few examples of habitat loss seen around the world. The current rate of tropical rainforest deforestation in South America is 160,000 square kilometers per year. There is less than 0.1 % of dry forests left in Central America's Pacific Coast and less than 8% in Madagascar that remains from their original extents. Areas of high agricultural output tend to have the highest extent of habitat destruction. In the U.S., less than 25% of native vegetation remains in many parts of the East and Midwest. Only 15% of land area remains unmodified by human activities in all of Europe. The tallgrass prairies of North America have less than 3% of natural habitat remaining that has not been converted to farmland. More than 50% of wetlands in the U.S. have been destroyed in just the last 200 years. In Europe, between 60% and 70% of wetlands have been completely destroyed. In Britain, habitats which have been destroyed since World War 2 include 97% of the wild flower meadows and over 200,000 miles of hedgerows. Half of Britain’s ancient woodlands have disappeared, as well as 75% of heaths. The destruction of natural habitats in Europe is wiping out butterfly, beetle and dragonfly species across the region, which was reported in the updated European "Red List" of endangered species in 2010.
Deforestation is accelerating across Africa, killing wildlife and weakening the ability of the continent's ecosystems to withstand climate change. Over 90% of West Africa's original forest has been lost. "Africa is losing more than 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) of forest every year. In Australia, about 90% of native vegetation in the eastern temperate zone has been removed for agriculture, industry, transport and human habitation. About 50 percent of Australia's rainforests have been cleared and the proportion of Australia covered by forest or woodland has been reduced by more than one third. Australia has lost more plants and mammals to extinction than any other country and has more threatened animals than 98% of the world's countries. In the Philippines, 90% of the coral reefs alone have been destroyed. Indonesia has lost up to 80% of its original forest habitat and continues to lose 6.2 million acres every year. After Malaysia and the United States, Indonesia has the third highest number of threatened species with 772 species on the list. To add to all of this, over 35% of mangrove ecosystems worldwide have been destroyed. Human overpopulation and habitat destruction has decreased the biological diversity of the planet. If immediate changes are not made then habitat destruction, pollution, climate change and human expansion will leave us with a dead planet.
Deforestation is accelerating across Africa, killing wildlife and weakening the ability of the continent's ecosystems to withstand climate change. Over 90% of West Africa's original forest has been lost. "Africa is losing more than 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) of forest every year. In Australia, about 90% of native vegetation in the eastern temperate zone has been removed for agriculture, industry, transport and human habitation. About 50 percent of Australia's rainforests have been cleared and the proportion of Australia covered by forest or woodland has been reduced by more than one third. Australia has lost more plants and mammals to extinction than any other country and has more threatened animals than 98% of the world's countries. In the Philippines, 90% of the coral reefs alone have been destroyed. Indonesia has lost up to 80% of its original forest habitat and continues to lose 6.2 million acres every year. After Malaysia and the United States, Indonesia has the third highest number of threatened species with 772 species on the list. To add to all of this, over 35% of mangrove ecosystems worldwide have been destroyed. Human overpopulation and habitat destruction has decreased the biological diversity of the planet. If immediate changes are not made then habitat destruction, pollution, climate change and human expansion will leave us with a dead planet.
≥≥≥≥ Habitat Destruction Photos ≤≤≤≤
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/≥≥ Websites on Habitat Destruction ≤≤\Everything Connects – Types of Habitat Loss
http://www.everythingconnects.org/habitat-loss.html Earth Times – Habitat Loss and Degradation http://www.earthtimes.org/encyclopaedia/environmental-issues/habitat-loss-degradation/ National Geographic – Marine Habitat Destruction http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-marine-habitat-destruction/ IUCN – Habitat Loss Blamed for More Species Decline http://www.iucn.org/?4896 Capital Regional District - Habitat Loss and Degradation https://www.crd.bc.ca/education/in-your-community/concerns/habitat-loss-degredation World Centric – Environmental Destruction http://www.worldcentric.org/conscious-living/environmental-destruction |
››››››› World Pollution Photos ‹‹‹‹‹‹‹
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›››››››› Websites on Pollution ‹‹‹‹‹‹‹Top 10 Environmental Disasters Caused by humans – April, 2011
http://www.catalogs.com/info/bestof/top-10-environmental-disasters-caused-by-humans Conserve Energy Future - 51 Facts on Pollution http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/various-pollution-facts.php Earth Times – Environmental Disasters – Videos included http://www.earthtimes.org/encyclopaedia/environmental-issues/environmental-disasters/ Epoch Times – Heavy Metal Pollution in China http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/8839-heavy-metal-pollution-threatens-chinas-rice-industry/ MARINEBIO – Wildlife and Pollution http://marinebio.org/oceans/conservation/moyle/ch11.asp |