The Great Stink: The Role Of Environmental Changes In The Industrial Revolution

During the Industrial Revolution pollution was a major problem. For example, in Document 3 the image shows a factory near a river with smoke erupting out of

The Industrial Revolution began in England in the late 1700’s. The Industrial Revolution was a time of new inventions, products, and methods of work. The results of the Industrial Revolution led to many short and long-term positive and negative effects. These results have been assessed from many viewpoints such as the factory workers, the factory owners, the government, and other people who observed the conditions in industrial cities.

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain during the late 1700s. It took place during the 18th and 19th centuries. Document 3 displays the look of the environment at the beginning of this shift in society. It is filled with smoky chimneys. Machines and factories led to great productions, such as new systems of transportation, more efficient communication, banking systems, a variety of manufactured goods, and an overall improvement of living. Britain was the perfect place for the Industrial Revolution to begin due to its coal and iron. Factories became a necessity because of the increase in demand for British goods (Staff, 2009). Before the Industrial Revolution, transportation consisted of wagons, led by horses. “In the early 1800s, American Robert Fulton built the first commercially successful steamboat” (Staff, 2009). Along

Secondly, as the Industrial Revolution progressed the environmental conditions were degrading with it, and becoming more and more unsanitary. The Industrial Revolution caused factories to be built and those factories had no regulations on how to maintain the environment clean. Engels says, referring to those factories that, “All the filth, both liquid and solid discharged by these works finds its way into the River Irk.” Then Engels describe the river as a “narrow, coal-black, stinking river full of filth and rubbish.” The rivers were being contaminated by the byproduct created by many factories that were brought alongside with the Industrial Revolution. The factories also polluted the air and land with contaminants as explained by Engels

One of the negative effects during the Industrial Revolution was consequently the amount of pollution being produced. “In the Encarta Industrial factory drawing” (Document 3) it shows a high amount of pollution coming out of the factory chimneys, therefore was the main cause of bad air quality. Consequently

The Industrial Revolution was a revolution in every sense of the word, as it altered almost every aspect of live in the nineteenth century including technology, government, communication, environment and eventually society as a whole.1 Although industrialisation created many positives for modern society, for people in Britain up to the end of the nineteenth century it had many significantly negative consequences. With the long term advances made for society came the then current development of overcrowding cities abundant with pollution, health problems and poor living conditions for the working class. These poor conditions continued into the work place with young children exploited as workers as young as the age of four or five.2 There were consequences of the Industrial Revolution for people outside of the core of Britain. India, being the periphery in the model were exploited for their raw materials which were exported to Britain.

The factories in the industrial revolution were bad for the environment. An excerpt from document #11, The Conditions Of The Working Class In England, states that there was smelly puddles, unpaved roads, and filth and garbage everywhere. These things are bad for the environment and they all were created by the factories during the industrial revolution. In the photo of the outside of a factory, from document #7, you can see that there was a ton of pollution coming from the factories. There was also gunk

The first reason the the Industrial Revolution was a negative impact was because it caused a lot of pollution. In Document 14, Working Class Neighborhood in England, or Document 7, Picture of Outdoor Factory Environment, there are several signs of pollution

The Industrial Revolution was a period that changed the course of human history in many ways. People often think of the positive outcomes rather than the negative consequences, for example, the creation of a more efficient manufacturing process that resulted in more products and profits. However, the industrial revolution also paved ways for humans to increase the amount of pollution being put into the atmosphere immensely. Evidence of this is seen in various graphs of Carbon Dioxide, Methane, and Nitrous Oxide. In these graphs, there is a notable spike in these levels starting around the mid 1800s, which is also around the time the Industrial Revolution started to take off and spread around the world. In the data of CO2 emissions, Carbon Dioxide was about 280 ppm (parts per million) in the pre-industrial time period, since then CO2 levels have increased rapidly resulting in around 407 ppm, which is the highest level humans have ever experienced. This being said, the whole human race needs to be self-conscious of what get exposed to Earth’s atmosphere.

The Industrial Revolution affectted the envierment and the health of the citinzens. In document 8, the chart desmostrates how iron increased 58 times more from 1740 to 1900. Britain’s demand for iron grew immensly that additional factories were constructed in order to satisfy peoples need. These factories began realising harmful pollutants into the rivers and streams, which was the main source of water for the towns population. Document 7 reveals the appaling conditions british people lived in. It describes how the streets are unpaved and filthy, while the main river is black due to the lack of a

In the long process of human history, with the occurrence of the industrial revolution, Britain was the first country to go through industrialisation. People give high marks on this industrial revolution, considering that it marks the beginning of a new era in human history; has passed the previous agricultural economy and has lead the human has into the industrial age. Today, however, when we think back to the British modern industrial revolution and the industrialisation process, we can find out that it has not only brought in endless welfare, but also was a great failure

Another negative effect of the Industrial Revolution was on the environment. The factories and industry has increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

There is no doubt that the Industrial Revolution plays a central role in the modern British history. The structure of British society has forever changed by the impact and consequences of Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution is often stated as the increase of the number of factories, the exercise of steam power in a wide range of area and the mass-production produced by new technology in the course of 1750 to 1850 (Lane, 1978: 72). Engles (1986: 37) argued that the Industrial Revolution’s mainly development were the invention of the steam engine and the cotton industry. As the improvement of technology, the steam engine could produce more power with less

“One factor contributing to the development of industry in Great Britain was that nation's large supply of coal and iron ore. For many centuries, the British had converted their iron ores to iron and steel by heating the raw material with charcoal, made from trees. By the mid-eighteenth century, however, the nation's timber supply had largely been decimated. Iron and steel manufacturers were forced to look elsewhere for a fuel to use in treating iron ores. The fuel they found was coal. When coal is heated in the absence of air it turns into coke. Coke proved to be a far superior material for the conversion of iron ore to iron and then to steel. It was eventually cheaper to produce than charcoal and it could be packed more tightly into a blast furnace, allowing the heating of a larger volume of iron.” The living standard as well as health increased with the increase in trade, more food products and livestock can be transported to further cities. As the steam engine improved trade and travel, the assembly line did for manufacturing.

The Industrial Revolution was a radical process of social and economic change. Energy was a major incentive to the agricultural society to the industrial. Until James Watt created the steam engine, which deployed rapidly starting in the 1780s, animal and human power were the primary sources of energy (Clare). During the last three decades of the century, electricity and gasoline-fuels engines further expanded productivity (Clare). A factory system with machine manufacturing and divisions of labor was developed. New materials, particularly iron and steel, became available. Cities grew rapidly, as masses of people left suburban areas and farm tending to seek for employment in factories. Political powers shifted away from aristocracy and toward capitalist manufacturers, merchants, and even the working class. The growth of scientific knowledge was applied to manufacturing processes and materials. People’s sense of dominion over nature and faith in the ability to exploit the earth’s resources for material needs created confidence.