SYMPTOM OF SICK AND AGING WORLD
When we look around, we can notify that our world has undergo a lot of changes. Because of
human greediness and irresponsible actions, our world which was beautiful, fresh and tranquil
land for us live on had changed to a barren land. “The impact of civilization is now imprinted
upon the environment – the environment which is fast deteriorating in its ability to support life
forms” (Environment and It’s Impact, 2008). Without we realize or not, every large stride taken
in towards development, we take ten strides back in our failure to protect our world and save our
environment from damaged and sickness. The impact of humans’ interference of the ecosystem has led to a very serious damage to the world and its environment. Many symptoms
have been observed around the world that shows solid evidence that our aging world suffers
serious sickness and almost come to an end.
One of the greatest symptoms that the world is facing today is the environmental pollution. The
pollution is increasing with every passing year and causing grave and irreparable damage to the
earth (Environmental Pollution and Its Effects, 2008). In Pollution Problem, the author said that
“Pollution is contamination by a chemical or other agent that renders part of the environment
unfit for intended or desired use”. To simplify it, toxic chemicals that have been released into the
environment throughout the history have changed the nature of our world into an undesired
condition. Basically, there are three types of pollution; air pollution, water pollution and land
pollution.
The air we breathe is an essential ingredient for our wellbeing and a healthy life. Unfortunately
polluted air is common throughout the world (European Public Health Alliance, 2009) especially
in developed countries from 1960s (Kan, 2009). The air that we breathe every second is shared
by every single living organism throughout the world. When it is polluted by a factory in Asia, a
fire in Australia, a dust storm in Africa, or car emissions in North America, the sharing continues
despite the fact that these chemicals and particles have detrimental effects.
This image, taken by Terra/MODIS instrument on December 17, 2004 shows thick haze and
smoke along the Ganges Basin in northern India. Major sources of pollution in this area are
believed to be smoke from biomass burning in the northwest part of India, and air pollution from
large cities in northern India. The average wind is directed to blow pollutants along the steep
hillside of the Tibetan Plateau, to the eastern part of India and the Bay of Bengal, and thus carry
pollutant throughout the world.
Polluted air contains one, or more, hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant that creates
a hazard to general health (Health and Energy, 2007). Holland et al, (1979) illustrated that
British scientists concluded that particulate and related air pollution at high levels pose hazards
to human health. Long term exposure to air pollutants increases the risk of getting respiratory
illnesses such as allergies, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer.
Children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to the health effects of ozone, fine particles,
and other airborne toxicants. In a study done by NIEHS-funded scientists at the University of
Southern California, it is proven that people living in the more polluted cities had a higher risk of
hospitalization and early death from lung cancer and other respiratory diseases than those living
in the less polluted cities.
Besides causing respiratory diseases, air pollution cause haze problem. Haze problem occur
when sunlight encounters tiny pollutants particles in the air and scatter away before it reaches
the observer. In Southeast Asia, haze leaves a serious problem every year, especially between
May to October due to open forests burning in Indonesia. Haze not only hinder the view, but
also can cause serious eye inflammation or conjunctivitis. Another environmental sickness due
to air pollution is acid rain. It is caused by airborne acidic pollutants in air. Acid rain, one of the
most important environmental problems of all, cannot be seen but has a very powerful
destructive power. It can corrode the building, stunt the trees growth and cause soil pollution.
The levels of acid rain vary from region to region. In Third World nations without pollution
restrictions, acid rain tends to be very high. In Eastern, Europe, China, and the Soviet Union,
acid rain levels have also risen greatly. Nevertheless, since acid rain can flow about very easily,
the problem is later certainly become a global one.
Another symptom that we can observe is water pollution. The WHO states that one sixth of the
world’s population, approximately 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe water and 2.4
billion lack basic sanitation. The wastewater and liquids from plants and factories are linked
directly with nearby river water, which are polluted when they release disposal from these units
without treating it first. People in developing or undeveloped countries also contribute to water
pollution by pollute the rivers by using the water in these rivers for washing clothes, utensils,
bathing and other activities. The pollutants that deposited in estuaries and coastal waters enter
marine food chains, building up their concentrations until they reach toxic levels. In a case that
happened in Minimata Bay in Japan, 649 people died from eating fish and shellfish
contaminated with mercury and 3500 people suffered from mercury poisoning because of one
factory was discharging waste containing methyl mercury in low concentrations into the sea.
In India, trash and garbage is a common sight in urban and rural areas of India. Indian cities
alone generate more than 100 million tons of solid waste a year. Believe it or not, polluted and
contaminated water now have kills more people than all forms of violence including wars.
According to the report entitled "Sick Water?" -- 90 percent of wastewater discharged daily in
India is untreated, contributing to the deaths of some 2.2 million people a year from diarrheal
diseases caused by unsafe drinking water and poor hygiene. At least 1.8 million children
younger than 5 years old die every year from water-related diseases. Over 80 percent of urban
waste in India ends up in the country’s rivers making the situation worse. The picture below
shows the polluted river Yamuna at Taj Mahal in Delhi, India.
That doesn’t consider water pollution caused by oil spill yet. In 1992, more than 4 million tonnes
of oil were released into the world's oceans and there were 611 incidents of oil pollution in UK
coastal waters alone. According to the author of Sea Pollution, "Many of the major oil spillages
during the last 20 years have been caused, or made worse by human error. Human error can
mean carelessness, but it also includes continuing to use old, unsafe ships and employing
crews with inadequate training”. However, recent research by The US National Science
Foundation has found that only 2 percent of hydrocarbon pollution finding its way into the sea
each year comes from tanker accidents. Eleven per cent comes from natural sources - tar
sands and oil seeds,13 percent comes from the atmosphere, 24 percent from all forms of
transport, and an astounding 50 per cent comes down drains and rivers to the sea from cities
and industries.
In addition, nuclear pollution occurs and makes our world condition become worse. The world's
worst nuclear power plant accident recorded was Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine in 1986.
The estimation of death toll is controversial and range from 4,056 to 985,000 people. Large
amounts of radioactive contamination were spread across Europe, and cesium and strontium
contaminated many agricultural products, livestock and soil. West (2010) mentioned in
Chernobyl Nuclear Accident that “The Belarus National Academy of Sciences estimates
270,000 people in the region around the accident site will develop cancer as a result of
Chernobyl radiation and that 93,000 of those cases are likely to be fatal”. Approximately
300,000 people from Kiev need to evacuate the land and the land blocking for any human for an
indeterminate period. In March 2011, Japan faced unpredicted nuclear disaster due to partial
meltdowns and explosions at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant because of an earthquake
and Tsunami. The situation occurred was as bad as the Chernobyl disaster. Approximately
20km of exclusion zone being set up around the power plant and people within the 20–30 km
zone being advised to stay indoors. Even after five months of the incidents, some of the areas in
the temporary 12 miles (19 km) radius evacuation zone around Fukushima were found to be
heavily contaminated with radionuclide according to a new survey released by the Japanese
Ministry of Science and Education.
Besides pollution, we should also consider about the temperature of our world. The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that convened in Paris in February, 2007
determined that that the Earth has warmed 6 degrees Celsius between 1901 and 2000. When
the timeframe is advanced by five years, from 1906 to 2006, the scientists found that the
temperature increase was 74 degrees Celsius. Rising of the earth temperature has lead to
global warming phenomena. “Global warming is a significant increase in the Earth's climatic
temperature over a relatively short period of time as a result of the activities of humans”
(Strickland & Grabianowski). And the effects of rising temperatures aren’t waiting for some farflung future to happen. Signs are already appearing all over the world and some of them are
very surprising. Effects of Global Warming (2007) reported that “The heat is not only melting
glaciers and sea ice; it’s also shifting precipitation patterns and setting animals on the move”.
The melting of ice is occurred worldwide especially at the Earth’s poles including mountain
glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice. Biello (2007)
mentioned that the sea ice has reached a new record of low. Indirectly, the situation made the
ecosystem changed and harmed Arctic animals that rely on sea ice to survive. Some animals’
species will move farther north or become more successful whereas others would not be able to
move and possibly become extinct. Scientist has found that since the mid-1980s, with less ice
on which to live and fish for food, polar bears have gotten considerably skinnier. Researcher
Bill Fraser also has tracked the decline of the Adélie penguins on Antarctica, where their
numbers have fallen from 32,000 breeding pairs to 11,000 in 30 years.
The melting of the ice also causes another problem which is rising of sea level. According to the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the sea level has risen 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm)
in the last 100 years. The impacts of sea level rise even in the lower scale can cause a very big
environmental disaster. Floods and droughts will become more common. Approximately ten
percent of the world’s populations which is about 600 million people who live in low lying areas
in danger of being flooded. A previously released study led by John Church, shows that even a
modest sea level rise of 50 centimeters will result in a major increase in the number of coastal
flooding events. Rainfall in Ethiopia, where droughts are already common, can decrease by 10
percent over the next 50 years.
Last but not least, a very serious environment problem now which is ozone depletion is another
parameter to show that our world is sick and aging. Ozone is a gas that occurs naturally in our
atmosphere. Most of it is concentrated in the ozone layer, a region located in the stratosphere
several miles above the surface of the Earth. It acts the protection from the harmful ultraviolet
light getting through to the earth. Even minor problems of ozone depletion can have major
effects. Every time 1% of the ozone layer is depleted, 2% more UV-B is able to reach the
surface of the planet. UV-B increase is one of the most harmful consequences of ozone
depletion because it can cause skin cancer. Australians suffer the highest rates of skin cancer in
the world. Each year, around 1,200 Australians die from what is an almost totally preventable
disease. The EPA estimates that 60 million Americans born by the year 2075 will get skin
cancer because of ozone depletion. About one million of these people will die. The environment
will also be negatively affected by ozone depletion. The life cycles of plants will change,
disrupting the food chain. Ozone hole that is formed since 1970s over Antarctica has worsened
the scenario.
The following pictures are provided courtesy of NASA. They show the extent of ozone thinning.
Dark blue and purple colors correspond to the thinnest ozone, while light blue, green, and
yellow pixels indicate progressively thicker ozone.
October 1999 (average)
Historically, the Antarctic
ozone hole was largest
during October. In recent
years however,
September has been the
peak month.
September 7th 2000
The ozone hole grew
quicker than usual and
exceptionally large. By
the first week in
September the hole was
the largest ever at that
time. For the first time it
reached towards South
America and to regions
of high population.
September 2006 average
From September 21 to 30, 2006,
the average area of the ozone
hole was the largest ever
observed, at 10.6 million square
miles. A little over a week later,
instruments recorded the lowest
concentrations of ozone ever
observed over Antarctica, making
the ozone hole the deepest it had
ever been.
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