Oil production and its effect on animal and human populations
Penguins aren't the only ones who suffer from the effects of oil production and pollution. Oil and the oil industry has unlimited effects on the environment, including the acceleration of global warming, the endangerment and extinction of animal species and chronic oil pollution, which leads to poor health for humans as well as for the environment.
This article examines the multitude of effects that oil drilling, refining and oil consumption has on human and animal populations worldwide. In addition, current opinion will be compared with scientific facts that explain such controversies as climate change, environmental health and environmental degradation as a result of oil production.
One of the largest current political debates in the United States is the topic of global warming; however, more evidence and scientific insistence proves the concept is a very viable certainty.
According to the Energy Information Association, or EIA, greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere have increased 25 percent since large-scale industrialization began around 150 years ago. With an increasing amount of carbon dioxide, which is released from the burning of fossil fuels, namely oil and natural gas, many scientists believe the ability to radiate heat weakens as the amount of carbon dioxide increases, resulting in higher temperatures around the planet. The EIA estimates that during the past 20 years, about three-quarters of human-made carbon dioxide emissions were from burning fossil fuels. In the U.S., our greenhouse gas emissions come mostly from energy use, driven largely by economic growth, fuel used for electricity generation, and weather patterns affecting heating and cooling needs. Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, resulting from petroleum and natural gas, represent 82 percent of total U.S. human-made greenhouse gas emissions (EIA 2004).
Global climate change or global warming can be most evident at the poles. Although most current opinion perceives global warming as a direct threat to one keystone species, such as a penguin, the effects are more complex and far-reaching. In a recent National Geographic article, scientists state that in the last decade, the Adlie penguin population found in Antarctica has declined 50 percent. Scientists explain that because of an increase in sea temperatures of more than 5 degrees Celsius, ice packs that once formed every winter now only form cyclically, which impacts every level of the food chain, from algae to penguin (Roach, 2004).
A recent Time magazine article has American media moving toward a "tipping point" in accepting global warming as a reality. The article, written by Jeffrey Kluger, can be summarized by its official title: "Polar Ice Caps Are Melting Faster Than Ever... More And More Land Is Being Devastated By Drought... Rising Waters Are Drowning Low-Lying Communities... By Any Measure, Earth Is At ... The Tipping Point" (Kluger, 2006).
Another debate exists around the effects of oil on an environment. Most commonly, people think of air and noise pollution when it comes to automobiles. U.S. and foreign industries alike are presently finding alternatives to expensive, dirty oil, but to say oil production will cease completely in the near future is futile. What must be said, however, are the impacts of oil production on human and animal health. If we continue current processes of oil drilling, transporting and refining, it is possible to permanently damage an environment, even faster than global warming.
In Amy Jaffe's "The Growing Developing Country Appetite for Oil and Natural Gas," the International Energy Agency's (IEA) projects that by the year 2030 global primary energy demand will be nearly two-thirds above the levels of 2000, with developing countries accounting for 62 percent of the rise. Similarly, the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts that by 2025, energy use in the developing world will have almost doubled. Jaffe writes that developing countries will contribute much more to worldwide carbon dioxide emissions as their demand for energy quickly grows. Developing countries are forecast to account for two-thirds of the projected increase in carbon dioxide emissions, which according to many scientists contribute to global warming. In addition to increasing demands is increasing carbon dioxide emissions, which lead not only to global warming, but to poor human and environmental health (Jaffe, 2004).
One of the most publicized atrocities for oil, the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, which purged 11 million gallons of crude oil along the Alaska coast, still has an impact on the 1,500 miles of coastline it severely damaged in 1989.
"This stuff isn't changing at all. It's just the same kind of goo that got deposited there in 1989," said Jeff Short, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric researcher (Yereth, 2006).
According to the group that administers the settlement money paid by Exxon to the governments, only seven of 30 marine species, resources or services have recovered to pre-spill levels. Whether the spill is to blame and whether remnant oil is causing harm remains unsettled (Associated Press, 2006).
While fishermen in the area site the lack of herring in the area after the spill, Exxon-employed scientists dispute the fact that oil pockets which still linger today, do not directly impact the food chain. Scientists in Brazil think otherwise. There, scientists are studying the effects of oil pollution on seabirds along the Atlantic coast of Brazil and find that chronic oil pollution differs from oil spills, but has distinct effects that threaten the aquatic livelihood of the area. "Unlike a major oil spill that causes problems for a time and can be cleaned up, chronic oil pollution is continuous and hard to track or clean up because it comes bit by bit, sometimes in ballast water from passing ships, sometimes in seepage from offshore oil rigs." Although research estimated 40,000 penguins died each year between 1982 to 1991, and fewer penguins were thought to be dead from the area after the oil pipeline was moved further offshore, researchers found that penguins often starved to death while encountering oil in the water, forcing them to swim to shore where there is no food available (Stricherz, 2006).
In addition to starving to death, research also found that chronic oil pollution reduces reproductive success in penguins. "A penguin that becomes oiled might not be in any condition to return to the nesting grounds to change places with its partner. The remaining adult could be forced to abandon the nest to find food" (Stricherz, 2006).
Where do we go from here? What social, political, economic and health concerns should world citizens have when it comes to oil? Will the world ever move away from oil to more environmentally friendly energy sources? Current theorists think there is no end to oil and even if there is, it won't come with dire consequences.
"Unless we believe, preposterously, that human inventiveness and adaptability will cease the year the world reaches the peak annual output of conventional crude oil, we should see that milestone (whenever it comes) as a challenging opportunity rather than as a reason for cult-like worries and paralyzing concerns" (Smil, 2006).
Others feel that a more proactive approach is warranted. In a compelling article in Lancet magazine, "Colombian U'wa Face Hazards of Oil Drilling," sites the opposition of these indigenous people of Colombia, who are willing to sacrifice themselves to stop Occidental Petroleum from Los Angeles from starting oil production from an oil field in Samore. "The U'wa consider it their collective duty to care for the Earth that has nurtured them, and have threatened mass suicide if Occidental carries out its plans" (Chelala, 1998).
Whether you live in a developed or developing country, chances are you are affected by oil each day in some way or another. Whether driving in an automobile, riding a bus, or riding a bicycle, somehow or another you are faced with processing carbon dioxide. Consider the Earth as a living being and realize it is confronted with these things each day also. Everything on this planet has an ability to adapt to stimuli, but like a chronic disease, the ability for the body or the earth to recover becomes weaker each time. It is important to understand the consequences of oil production and consumption: air, water, waterway and soil pollution; death of wildlife and or species, land degradation, climate change and economic dependence on oil, in order to be informed citizens, voters, and to take an active role in the environment surrounding us all.
Works Cited
Associated Press, Reuters. "Exxon back in court over 1989 Valdez spill fine." MSNBC. 27 Jan. 2006.
Benner, Tim. "Update from AMS's Congressional Science Fellow." American Meteorological Society. 82.7(2001): 1439-1440.
Chelala, Cesar. "Colombian U'wa face hazards of oil drilling." Lancet. 352.9123(1998): 209.
EIA Brochure. "Greenhouse gases, climate change, and energy." 2 April 2004.
Jaffe, Amy. "The growing developing country appetite for oil and natural gas." Economic Perspectives. IIP E-Journals. May 2004.
Kluger, Jeffrey. "Be Worried. Be Very Worried." Time. 3 April. 2006.
< http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,117 6980,00.html>
Roach, John. "Pengiun decline due to global warming?" National Geographic. 13 Sept. 2004.
Smil, Vaclav. "Peak Oil: A catastrophist cult and complex realities." World Watch. 19.1(2006): 22-24.
Stricherz, Vince. "Chronic oil pollution takes toll on seabirds along South American coast." EurekAlert. 31 Jan. 2006.