The Increasing Danger of Industrialization on the Environment

Most people regard industrialization as a positive development capable of generating great wealth and revitalizing run-down areas. Mention industrialization today, and it brings to mind large factories organized with the latest technologies in mass producing. Along with these visions comes the promise of more jobs for the community, higher rates of pay, and financial stability. One can only think of the positive influences on a community that the opening of a new factory could bring, but during what some have deemed the Industrial Revolution, industrialization only meant using machines and new power sources to accomplish a task formerly done by human and animal power. Our modern day conception of industrialization can greatly influence our

Some of these include the damaging effects on the environment, cruel working conditions, and the use of child labor. First off, let’s begin with the ramifications caused by environmental damage which is something that, to this day, we are still struggling to deal with. Here is an excerpt that describes the harming effects Industrialization has had on our environment, “Industrialization has brought factory pollutants and greater land use, which have harmed the natural environment. In particular, the application of machinery and science to agriculture has led to greater land use and, therefore, extensive loss of habitat for animals and plants. In addition, drastic population growth following industrialization has contributed to the decline of natural habitats and resources. These factors, in turn, have caused many species to become extinct or endangered” (Document 3). From the quote, we get a detailed description on how there’s been a loss of natural habitats, resources, and species. Though these things are obviously not great, it’s one of the negative consequences that comes along with our nation progressing. Of course it’s not good that we are still dealing with these consequences, considering that we only have one earth. However, as time progresses, we’re discovering new innovative techniques to combat this environmental damage. Then,

The Industrialization period of the 1800-1900s helped to shape the world today. This time period during the Industrial Revolution had many types of consequences, both positive and negative. Due to these consequences, there have been advancements in safety, health, and technology. While some might argue that Industrialization had primarily positive consequences for society because of economic growth, it was actually a negative thing for society. Industrialization’s negative effects were dangerous factory conditions, air and water pollution, and the enormous lack of labor restrictions.

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

21st century industrialization has a global impact by creating ecological and societal imbalances stemming from its nature to enervate resources and manual labor. The start of industrialization was a way to implement efficiency into mass production, ultimately creating opportunities for jobs and maximizing profit gains for companies. In today’s world, its toll on the environment and the way it shapes society becomes increasingly apparent and irreversible. Therefore, as society acknowledges these effects, changes have been made to address these issues.

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.

Industrialization, good thing? Jeffrey Liu Hist 152 31200  “Industrialization refers to a process that transformed agrarian and handicraft-centered economies into economies distinguished by industry and machine manufacture. ”(Traditions & Encounters) Due to industrialization, cities had supported urbanization and migration, and job opportunities were increasing.

Some of the negative effects of Industrialization seen near the end of the 19th century and 20th century can still be seen today.  Urbanization led to overcrowding of the cities which then led to health problems and poor living conditions.  Cities all around the world today are still having this issue and it’s becoming more evident due to the number of citizens in poverty.  Work in factories was extremely dangerous and dirty.  Although many factories today appear to be clean and safe, behind the scenes they may not be.  A major negative effect of Industrialization was World War 1.  Because of Industrialization, countries were able to gain power and take over countries with lesser power.  The improved war technologies killed more efficiently, faster, and on a larger scale leading to a large amount of injuries and casualties.  The injuries and casualties would have been much less without the advancement of weapons.

The process that factories are doing to create products could destroy the planet. These type of factories are called “maquiladoras” and the activities that they do bring many issues for the earth. For instance, general cleaning, manufacturing, and maintenance of machines contribute to the destruction of the planet. Therefore, the maquiladoras need to focus because this damages the soil, creates scrap which is difficult to recycle, and in general, harms the ecosystem.

Developing countries tend to have “the most fragile environments” (Baker 197) which is due to the flow of resources dictated by the core. The core, taking advantage of the developmental level developing countries are on, exploit their lack of laws restraining harm to the environment, setting up factories causing even more environmental damage. Thus when comparing the environmental status of a developed country to a developing country there are major differences. These differences are the interaction of the people with the environment, in terms of needs, and the number of factories profiteering from the use and exploitation of natural resources. When this difference is identified then it is easier to assess not only the source but also to create laws prohibiting this exploitation and constructing programs to reverse environmental damages to specific circumstances, helping developing countries to move forward on the developmental scale instead of backwards. If this is taken into account then why is the source causing environmental damage, the core, not stopped? This is due to the dominant ideology stating that with infinite economic growth, eventually the sustainability of the environment will be achieved. The developing countries reinforces this by inviting and encouraging organizations to base their factories in their country which has immediate results, creating a smoke screen

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.

Throughout the course of the industrial revolution, there was a major increase in steel and iron production. While this was great for the development of railroads, making goods cheaper in store but, it had some major negative effects on the environment. With the increase of supply and demand increased factories attempted to maximize the output of their factories by keeping them running as long as possible typically implementing a “sun up to sundown” work day. Factories even went has far as hiring children in order to maximize productivity.

One environmental pollution are caused by factories because the product they produce causes the filth out of them. This could be the car production or agricultural production. America produces a lot of cars for all the people to drive. More cars makes more carbon dioxide (filth) which causes deaths, health problems and global warming. Perhaps we can switch to a different energy source to power these vehicles.

The other problem closely related to industrialization is problem of big cities. The problem of air pollution increases in the bigger cities because mnozstvo of cars, buses, and trucks. During the traffic jams all kind of pollutants are released into the air, and then people who live near roads have to breath this “dirty” air.

Nowadays it is common to hear on the news about recent health and environmental scares especially with the increasing research done about the causes and effects of global warming. However, life just a century ago was very different. During the early twentieth century, people trusted industries. Therefore, they did not fight for government regulation of industries or the need for it to inform them about possible harmful practices done by industries. It took the deaths and emergence of illnesses of many workers and citizens for the public to start worrying. Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner discussed this time period with a focus on the lead and chemical industries in their book Deceit and Denial: the Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution.