Technological Advancement & the Effect on the Ecosystem
While the technological advancements of recent decades have benefited humanity in innumerable ways, many of the devices and conveniences from which we benefit are doing a great deal of harm to our ecosystems.
Other People Are Reading
-
Electronic Waste
-
Cell phones, television sets and computer monitors contain toxic materials such as lead and mercury. These devices often end up at landfills in third-world countries where they release dangerous chemicals into the soil, water and air.
Roads
-
According to a National Academies Press report, there were four million miles of public roads in the United States in the year 2000. Automobile and pavement-based chemicals are leaking into the soil and water, thereby contaminating both.
-
Emissions
-
The Environmental Protection Agency states that the burning of fossil fuels coupled with deforestation has increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations by 35 percent since the 1700s; thus, setting up a potential for climate change.
Coal Extraction
-
Today, coal companies provide needed energy through an extraction process known as mountaintop-removal, during which toxic chemicals and entire mountaintops are pushed down into valleys and streams, which lie below.
Considerations
-
Today's technology is negatively impacting our atmosphere, water and soil. Perhaps it is through the awareness of these effects however, that our needs and those of the earth's ecosystems can be better balanced.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Nam Nguyen
