VI) Destruction of the Natural Environment

Melting ice caps









Drying rivers and lakes


Desertification

Deforestation

seos-project.eu

argentinaindependent.com

photos.wildmadagascar.org

blog.lib.umn.edu

thedailygreen.com

OUR FORESTS ARE DISAPPEARING


FACT: The world’s ancient forests are being cut down at a surprising rate. The area of forest the size of a soccer field is cut down every two seconds. When we lose a forest we lose biodiversity. The current rate of extinction of plant and animal species is 1000 times faster than pre-human times. This will accelerate to 10,000 faster by 2050. Damage to ancient forests is not only a matter of deforestation. It also concerns the fact that it can no longer sustain plants and animals. In the tropics alone over 5 million square kilometers have been logged and over 3.5 million square kilometers have been totally deforested. Rainforests are being cut down at a rate of 100 US acres per minute.

FACT: In the USA, to produce the Sunday newspaper, 500,000 trees are cut down. Recycling a single run of the New York Times would save 75,000 trees. In one year, the average American throws away 1 billion trees worth of paper. It would be enough paper to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years. The construction cost of a paper mill designed to use waste paper is 50% TO 80% less than the cost of a mill using new paper pulp. The average USA household throws away 13,000 separate pieces of paper each year—most is packaging and junk mail.

FACT: Less than 10% of the world’s forests still remain. 82 countries out of 148 lying within the original forest zone have lost their intact forests. 49% of the remaining intact forests are the tropical forests of Latin America, Africa and Asia Pacific. 44% of the remaining intact forests are the boreal forests of Russia, Canada and Alaska. Rainforests of Southeast Asia are home to thousands of incredible species of flowers, as big as sofas, the world’s largest butterflies, pygmy elephants, flying snakes, orange Orangutans and other fantastic animals and life forms. This life is being killed because of the consumer society’s demand for rare wood. Timber is being logged off to create furniture for the wealthy, huge areas are cleared to grow soy beans, coffee, cattle and palm oil. At current rates Orangutans will be extinct within 10 years. The forests will be gone by 2050.

FACT: It is estimated that the burning and cutting done of the Southeast Asia forests contribute 20% to the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. The rainforest destruction releases so much CO2 that it is the third largest emitter of CO2 in the world! The CO2 is caused by the drying, draining and burning of these forests. Major multinational businesses profit from these activities and the large international banks and monetary funds of the world support it. Financial profit has replaced the protection of life. The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation has been financing rainforest destruction for profit financing Palm Oil plantations with $200 million US grants.

FACT: Palm oil is used for everything including ice cream, cosmetics and margarine. Palm tree plantations are now the leading cause of rainforest destruction in Southeast Asia. Financing for Palm Oil comes from The Asian Development Bank, British and Swiss banks, and multinational corporations such as Nestle, Unilever, Proctor and Gamble and rich Indonesian companies that profit from Palm oil. Countries are competing to out produce one another and this competition fuels the destruction of the forests and the tremendous increase in CO2.

The destruction of rainforests, the annihilation of precious forest life and the massive release of carbon dioxide that results, call attention to the tremendous environmental emergency we all face. We are blinded by the maniacal obsession with profit and acquisition and must be reminded that without our home, our earth, everything else we do has no meaning.

Air Polution

Air Traffic Maps

International Shipping Routes

Noise Pollution

Worlds Largest Ship 

TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHTS AND SHIP TRAVEL

FLYING

FACT:  Large airports of the world pump 1.3 million gallons of gas per day.  494 planes fly every day.  A commercial plane burns 4 liters of gas every second.  Over the course of a 10 hour flight a commercial plane burns about 36,000 gallons of gas.  A flight from London, England to Miami, Florida, USA (14,207 kilometers) produces 2415 kg of CO2 per passenger –more than the 2,255 kg of CO2 produced annually by the average British motorist.   The industry has cut emissions from engines by 50% but the growth in the number of planes and travelers vastly outweighs any such improvement in gas emissions.

FACT:  Air travel is the fastest growing mode of transportation in the world growing 100 fold in the last 50 years and is expected to grow another 10 times by 2050.  The Institute of Public Policy Research has stated, “Flying by jet plane is the least environmentally sustainable way to travel and transport goods.”  Aircraft pump out carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases high in the atmosphere, where they do the most damage.    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calculates that aircraft flight contributes the same amount of greenhouse gases as the entire country of Canada; about 4% globally.  By 2050 this will increase possibly to 17% or more. 

FACT:  Studies confirm that airports are the biggest polluters of whatever city they may be in.  New York’s JFK Airport is the biggest nitrogen oxide polluter in New York.  Frankfurt’s airport produces 75% of the City of Frankfurt’s emissions of unburnt hydrocarbons and 50% of its load of carbon monoxide, sulfur and nitrogen dioxide.  A US government study found that pollution from aviation has increased cancer rates around Chicago-Midway airport. 

FACT:  Noise pollution is another not-talked about issue that affects human health.  Excessive noise damages health ranging from hearing damage to heart disease.  Studies around Munich airport and New York’s La Guardia and JFK airports conclude that it impairs memory and reading ability.  Studies show that air travel has little benefit on aircraft companies.   They are subsidized by governments which support air travel and this, in turn, supports the increasing expansion of air travel.

FACT:  Over time, as many gas pollutants are released in the air, carbon dioxide stays twice as long in the air because it stays at high elevations—which captures heat for decades—and keeps heat on the surface of the planet.  Air travel destroys good ozone and creates bad ozone.  In the stratosphere where many supersonic and military jets fly, pollution from the jets destroys the ozone layer.  Ozone in the atmosphere is a good thing because it shields the earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. 

FACT:  Military aircraft use more fuel per plane than commercial airplanes.  Military aircraft are 25% less numerous than commercial jets but consume one third total fuel use.  They also produce more toxic gases in the air.  Aircraft release huge plumes of exhaust during taxiing, idling, take-offs and landings.  One airplane take-off and landing from JFK airport in the 1990’s would produce as much nitrogen oxide as a car driven 26,500 miles.  Many airports are among the top ten polluters of their cities. 

SHIPS

FACT:  One giant container ship can emit the same amount of cancer and asthma-producing chemicals as 50 million cars.  Governments around the world have been neglecting or underestimating the harmful effects of shipping.  Confidential data based in engine size and quality of fuel typically used by ships (Low grade ship bunker fuel or fuel oil) show that just 15 of the world’s biggest ships now emit as much pollution as ALL of the world’s cars—760 million cars.  Low grade ship bunker oil has up to 2000 times the sulphur content of diesel fuel used in US and European cars.

FACT:   Pollution from the world’s  90,000 cargo ships leads to 60,000 deaths a year in the US alone and costs up to $330 billion per year in health costs from lung and heart disease.  A new study by the Danish Environmental Agency reveals that shipping emissions cost the industry 5 billion EU a year in health costs, mainly treating cancer and heart problems.  1000 Danish people die each year from shipping pollution. 

FACT:  Shipping in China has escalated in the past 15 years.   The Chinese container ships are cost efficient but the fuel quality is of the lowest kind.  Ship pollution affects the health of communities around the world.   The calculations of ship and car pollution are based on the world’s largest 85, 790 kw ship’s diesel engines which operate 280 days a year generating 5,200 tonnes of sulphur dioxide a year.

FACT:   The world’s biggest ships container ships have 109,000 horsepower engines which weigh 2,300 tons.  Each ship expects to operate 24 hours a day, 280 days a year.  There are 90,000 ocean-going cargo ships in the world.  Shipping is responsible for up to 30% of the world’s nitrogen oxide pollution and 9% of the world’s sulphur oxide pollution.  One large ship can generate 5,000 tonnes of sulphur oxide pollution in a year.  70% of all ships emissions are within 400km of land.  85% of all ship pollution is in the northern hemisphere.   Shipping is responsible for up to 4% of all climate change emissions.