Ecosystems: We Are All Interconnected
The earth is a ball of mass, as is any other planet, yet there are many factors that contribute to life on earth. Clean water and oxygen rich air are just a few of the multitude of factors that allow you and me to live on this very place that we call home. These factors are regulated by ecosystems, however as humans make technological advancements, such as producing cheap capacitors, there are almost always harmful repercussions that are not taken into account.
Personally, I view the earth as a single ecosystem, consisting of multiple species, each occupying a specific niche. The species that occupy any ecosystem are usually the source of regulation, and it is from this regulation that the ecosystem can equilibrate. Prior to this class however, it had not occurred to me that a microscopic organism (plankton) could contribute to such a profound part of life (cloud formation). But the question remains: To what extent can the different species regulate the ecosystem before it becomes uninhabitable?
Four hundred and seventy tons of sewage was dumped into the bay in Rio de Janeiro in 2002 alone. Although some effort was made to clean up the bay, it still remains “a toilet”. I feel that not enough effort is being put into cleaning up the environment, as the people who live there are only looking at the immediate repercussions, which is a dirty bay. If the people of Rio de Janeiro were to know that they are essentially giving themselves liver cancer, industrial companies, citizens and the government would put more effort into clearing the bay of pollutants. This amount of waste makes the bay practically uninhabitable.
Waste is being dumped into the waters in the United States as well, however the environmental protection agency has recognized that it is important to maintain a healthy ecosystem, especially in the New York Bight. Though there are people who disapprove of government regulation, I feel that it is strongly needed in environmental protection, even if it is at the cost of the consumer. I would rather pay five dollars for a product that keeps the environment clean than two dollars for the same product if it were to pollute the environment. This is because eventually, those pollutants will bio accumulate onto my dinner plate, and although I would have saved three dollars, I would be at risk for many health hazards.
However, this regulation only began in 1976 with the introduction of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. This was only 36 years ago, and by then we can only imagine what damage has already been done to the environment since the industrial revolution. One particular case that I learned about was General Electric’s production of capacitors in the 1940s, in which the company discharged 209,000 to 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson River.
Although the EPA mandated GE to clean up and stop production, they spent over thirty years in court appealing this obligation. By then, GE argued that the problem would be resolved via a “source-control program” and “natural recovery”. I was in utter disbelief that corporations take such an unethical approach in solving a problem so huge that it would impact millions of American lives. By the time they began to dredge the Hudson River, the PCBs have already began to bio-accumulate on a large scale.
It is truly amazing how much regulation has changed the way corporations influence the environment. However, if corporations weighed in the factors such as health risks to the general public or even the aquatic ecosystems in the long run, it would be clear that the risks outweigh the benefits when production causes a hazardous amount of pollution. The question should not be “how do we clean up this problem”, but rather, “will this potentially create a problem in the future?” We must treat the cause of the disease rather than just mask the symptoms, with the cause being the corporate mentality.
