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Life
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Written by Knight Pierce Hirst
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Friday, 28 August 2009 12:45 |
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According to the Energy Information Administration, world energy consumption is expected to grow 44% in the next 2 decades. The biggest increase in energy use will come from economically developing countries like China, India, Russia and Brazil. As a result, global carbon dioxide pollution - especially from burning oil and coal - is expected to increase 39% by 2030. Because carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas which scientists say can cause serious global warming later this century, ways have to be found to help developing countries develop without burning fossil fuels.
Another problem is hydraulic fracturing - known as "fracking" in the natural gas industry. The process of fracking injects a million gallons or more of water and chemicals under high pressure deep underground to pry gas from tight spaces. Environmentalists want federal regulation because the companies aren't required to disclose what chemicals they're using and thus they can harm nearby water wells. In 2005 the natural gas industry obtained an exemption for fracking from the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act, leaving regulation to states. Because about 35,000 gas wells are fracked yearly, environmentalists want congress to overturn the exemption. They don't think well of it.
Environmentalists don't think well of some mass migrating animals being extinct. Others are protected from extinction at zoos. Mass migrating animals, such as wildebeests in Africa, antelope chiru in Asia and caribous in North America, move by thousands over hundreds of miles seeking food, water and often mating. However, fences and modern agriculture have blocked migrations. Roads and urban development have diverted others. Of the 24 mass migrating species worldwide, 6 species are diminishing because they no longer mass migrate; and the mass migrations of the other 18 species, such as pronghorn and elk, are endangered because man stands in the way.
Man stands in the way of rivers too. In 1969 a train crossing Ohio's Cuyahoga River sparked and ignited the sludge-and-oil-filled waterway. It wasn't the first fire and it wasn't the biggest. In the mid-20th century rivers in industrial cities across the U.S. caught fire. However, in 1969 the environmental movement needed a symbol. The media coverage of the burning Cuyahoga led to the creation of the EPA and the Clean Water Act. Forty years later parts of the river have become exceptional fish habitats. Beavers, herons and bald eagles thrive. Parts of the Cuyahoga near Akron still have sewage problems, but progress is afloat.
Knight Pierce Hirst has written for television, newspapers and greeting cards. Now she writes a 400-word blog. KNIGHT WATCH, a second look at what makes life interesting, takes only seconds to read at http://knightwatch.typepad.com
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