As we have looked at the environmental issues facing various other continents around the world and analyzed initiatives in place to solve these, we turn to our own continent of North America to see how these problems are personally affecting us.
Climate change is a common environmental factor across the globe and especially pertinent on the continent of North America. According to the article “Conservancy” on the website nature.org, “The United States (a major component of North America) is the second largest emitter, after China, of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels.” This issue is especially troubling for our nation due to a lack of initiatives currently, as the U.S. is one of only two countries that have not yet signed the Kyoto Protocol.
As a continent, we are also a large source of energy consumption, as we are constantly utilizing the newest technological gadgets and culturally wasting energy by taking elevators instead of using the stairs. As stated on the site, “…about 86% of all types of energy used…are derived from fossil fuel consumption that is closely linked to greenhouse gas emissions.”
While deforestation and mining are also troubling issues in environmental degradation, species conservation is largely a positive movement throughout North America. Invasive species are causing economic damages estimated at $120 billion a year. Soon after first human settlement, many plant and animal species became extinct, including the North American megafauna; however, we have been proactive about this cause. For the United States, “saving the Bald Eagle…from extinction was a notable conservation success.”
The reliance on nuclear energy has also caused accidents in the United States: most notably, the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. As for initiatives to improve this environmental situation, nuclear safety in the US is governed by federal regulations and is continuously studied by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
Pesticide use is also a major factor influencing environmental degradation on this continent. According to the website, “…about a quarter of pesticides used are in houses, yards, parks, golf courses, and swimming pools.” As a result, in 1947 the United States Department of Agriculture was given responsibility of regulating pesticides with the passing of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.
Issues themselves including rapid population increase are resulting in other harmful environmental effects. One of these being waste, “…Americans generate more waste than any other nation in the world with 4.5 pounds of municipal solid waste per person per day…” Most of this is due to residential garbage, while another large component in the United States is electronic waste. “Each year over 3.2 million tons of electronic waste is in US landfills,” of which a large portion of the waste includes computers, monitors, and televisions.
These pressing environmental issues are problems we face daily in North America. Without initiatives and solutions brought to the forefront, this natural degradation will only worsen. Similar issues are being dealt with around the world, but until collective solutions can be established globally, cohesive progress to decrease environmental degradation will not occur in the foreseeable future.
Overall, your blog posts highlighting a different continent each week really made it apparent how poorly we are treating our environment. However, it may not be that terrible – in the past twenty years society has made significant efforts in reducing the effects. I think that your blog successfully showcases the human-caused problems that lead to degradation, and hopefully people can take steps to make things better!
I sometimes wish it was easier to fix these problems. In the upcoming years, I hope there is a solution to fix deforestation and other problems here in North America. It is polluting our air and affecting wildlife.
There is a huge amount to discuss on this topic and you did a good job getting a lot of information into this post. I agree there are a lot of environmental problems in North America but I think some progress is being made. There are many complex issues that lack solutions but hopefully more progress will be made in the future.
I agree that there are many pressing environmental issues that need to be dealt with. How to deal with them and who important some are compared to others is debatable.
The debate over these issues is likely to continue for years to come, hopefully with some sort of resolution.
–K.E. Van Develde