Something New Under the Sun: Review

cutting down forests in Brazil, as well as setting wildfires in places like west Texas cause “carbons stored in trees” to escape. Individuals don't understand that in places like “Brazil,” deforestation causes more emissions than “all of the world's cars.” There are other forms of greenhouse gases as well; like “Methane” released from “Rice Farming, Petroleum drilling, and even cattle bleaching” (Friedman 35). Over “10 Billion” animals are raised for Factory Farms in the United states. Burning Fossil Fuels for fertilizer creates up to “41 million metric tons” of Carbon Dioxide. The Factory Farm industry contributes to air pollution by emitting Greenhouse Gases such as “Hydrogen Sulfide, Ammonia and Methane” (DoSomething Web). Factory Farms is something that can easily be changed by switching to smaller meat establishments, where the common public already expects the meat to come from.

Ever since the dawn of industrialization, humans have caused serious, irreversible damage to the biosphere. And as the world progresses and Canadians looks on, they realized the impact of their environmental damage. Sometimes new ecofriendly technology enters the market and replaces the old environment damaging one. But that is not enough, human society as a whole must completely rethink and change themselves individually to so that their actions causes minimal environmental backlash.

With the automobile, came one of the most widely used technologies in the world, the invention of the internal combustion engine which has left a noticeable impact on many parts of today’s world. One of the most widely debated and controversial topics having to do with the automobile is its effect on the environment. Al Gore, former United States Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize award winner, has spent many years trying to argue the negative effects that the internal combustion engine leaves on our planet. In his presidential campaign in 2000, he preached the ideas of a cleaner environment and better ways of living. He said, “When we seek to artificially enhance our capacity to acquire what we need from the earth, we do so at the direct expense of the earth’s ability to provide naturally what we are seeking. We frequently ignore the impact of our technological alchemy on natural processes. When we manufacture millions of internal combustion engines and automate the conversion of oxygen to CO2, we interfere with the earth’s ability to cleanse itself of the impurities that are normally removed from the atmosphere.” He has led many people to believe that the automobile of today is leaving a terrible and lasting effect on the earth’s atmosphere, and that it is one of the primary causes of the term “Global Warming.” Although Gore has had a giant following and

In a chilling recollection of mankind’s current misdeeds towards the environment in “The End of Nature,” McKibben’s call for action is one paramount to the survival of the human race. In essence, McKibben argues that the futures of both nature and ourselves are delicately yet undeniably interconnected. Furthermore, he urges that “we” (ALL humans) are the deciding chip in said bond. By doing so, McKibben implies that action must be situated if we are to expect any change in such bleak a situation. This argument can clearly be found when McKibben speaks out on a myriad of environmental issues in the past, present, and future. McKibben begins to accustom readers to a pattern in which human ignorance juts out from past environmental experiences.

It has been said that history is bound to repeat itself, some might say it is because the human mind thinks alike in more ways than one. This is proven in many ways including the properties and function processes of a variety of communities. Take a look at today’s society, people are ranked on social class based upon their source of income and how they are presented. They are continuously told the rule book for life by those who hold high authority and we feed off of money. We are willing to throw away our principles we vowed to stand by to earn another dime to our salary. 4,000 years ago these same problems arose in some of the earliest civilizations known to man. In Mesopotamia civilians had to deal

The effects of the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century are far-reaching, one byproduct of which were the vast amounts of carbon and sulfur dioxide being released into the atmosphere. The greater usage of cars, trains, and other automobiles in the 20th century increased oil consumption and subsequently greater amounts of pollutants in the air.

Though humanity still has developed industrial systems, there have been laws and social norms put in place to protect the environment. Odum discusses fuel-powered systems in industrial areas, “they require so much energy and create so much waste heat and pollution, that they have an enormous impact on the other two environments.” In 1993, this was true since the primary use of energy was coal, oil, natural gas, all carbon emitting energy sources. However, countries like China, Germany, the United States have reduced the emission coming from these fuel-powered systems in the past 25 years. There are now other options for environmentally clean power, people are recycling their trash, using less water, and cutting back energy usage.

The author's credentials and tone provide additional support to prove his trustworthiness. McWilliams clearly states his opinion on the issue and as a person who specializes in environmental history it's expected that his opinions are integrated in this essay. McWilliams' tone throughout his article seems to prove he is confident with his beliefs. Based on his knowledge, he brings up points and information that supports his reason and claim. However as an opinionated essay that is meant to persuade, one can't necessarily take his word for the information and statistics. Therefore proving McWilliams' words

Repercussions of burning oil have arisen more progressively. The debatable topic of global warming holds burning fossil fuels responsible for higher temperatures in colder climates. An article by World Book explains why oil is so harmful towards the environment. As more cars are produced more pollutants are released into the atmosphere, those pollutants cause smog in larger manufacturing oriented cities as well as, acid rain. Factories, burning oil, dispose of the remaining chemicals into bodies of water rendering them unsafe to drink for both humans and animals alike (Hunt par. 1). Another article produced through World Book describes the

Little Jimmy is riding his bike to school wearing an oxygen mask because of the amount of pollution in the air. As he is riding he sees no plants or animals along the way and is heartbroken without color in his life. The only color he sees is the black sky that covers his city. The Earth has been affected by many factors in the past century. One of the biggest problems that the planet has had is pollution. Although some say that global warming is a myth and will never become a problem, it is already having a negative effect on Earth. The Earth’s atmosphere is being polluted causing global warming to affect the plants and animals. Global warming can be slowed if we

The advent of industrialized civilization has brought to us many remarkable feats that enhance our everyday lives. Such things as automobiles, airplanes, tractors, mainframe computers, and even relatively simple machines like lawnmowers have intertwined themselves into the everyday culture of modern day industrialized countries.. These products have provided us enormous benefits compared to the types of lives our ancestors used to live. In the eyes of some, the consequences of industrial activities that have evolved around the world will not pose any problems in the future, however as most have realized, this is not true. Contemporary production processes use fossil fuels such as

The Industrial Revolution propelled the use of fossil fuel bring progress to exceptional levels; however, this came at a price to the environment and untimely changed the cultural values as well as expectations of technology today. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov), “climate changes prior to the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s can be explained by natural causes”. During and after The Industrial Revolution’s prevalent use of fossil fuel in factories and auto-motives climate changes could no longer be solely contributed to natural causes (www.epa.gov). In 1979 the second (2nd) oil energy crisis occurred which encouraged the Environmental Movement and the usage of renewable energy instead of technology that operated off of burning fossil fuels (Encyclopedia of Global Warming). As a result of the second (2nd) oil energy crisis the World Climate Research Program was launched in order to research international climate changes (Encyclopedia of

T. Anderson's tragic novel feed foreshadows the end of the human species and the world due to and our acceptance of technology. Countless times, Anderson comments on the environment of the world in his novel. Billions of cockroaches cover the Earth while all other life has no presence, and the ocean, filled with toxins, must be approached in a chemical suit, not to be felt with your bare hands. The destruction of a forest, “knocked down to make an air factory,” presents Anderson’s mindset in an ironic way, that humans accept the use of technology too easily (Anderson 125). People of the feed society accepted the fact that humans need air to survive and decided to build air factories because factories produce air much faster than trees.

The industrial revolution in the 1800s enhanced the lives of the American citizens. No longer were cultivation and farming a chief concern; instead, manufacturing and machinery were the major improvements of that time. Still today, big corporations are looking for the next big thing that could aid citizens in their everyday lives. What is often ignored, however, are the environmental factors that are being affected by the decisions made by these industries. Harmful acid rain, smog, and buried nuclear wastes diseased the Northern continent where some places were deemed uninhabitable to the public because of the threatening health risks. Environmental laws and agencies were then created in the 1970s to shift the impact that corporations have on the environment. The unchecked power that big corporations have exhausted has enhanced the decline of environmental stability and initiated many territorial restrictions due to the careless actions of the company.

Greenhouse gases come from such mainstays of modern life as electrical power plants, automobiles, and heavy industry. Growing consumption of fuel by less efficient cars and light trucks suggests that motor vehicles may soon overtake industry as the largest source of gases suspected of causing global warming by effectively creating a greenhouse around the Earth. Many people do not want to decrease their standard of living by reducing their consumption of fossil fuels. These people do not realize that if they reduce their consumption, there will be a reduction in the amount of greenhouse gases. If this does not happen and global warming continues, the long-term effects may be catastrophic.