The Birth of Environmental Health - Essay Example

Environmental Health Environmental health Promotion The birth of environmental health resulted from man’s efforts to control communicable diseases. Sewage treatment, garbage collection, filtration and chlorination of drinking water, and the establishment of public health enforcement agencies are a variety of ways man is using to promote environmental health (Insel & Roth, 2013). Environmental health is vital for the existence of man, plants, and animals. Man should ensure the environment is clean in order to prevent spread of diseases or avoid health hazards that are caused by a polluted environment. In the movie Wall-E, the earth is covered by garbage which has accumulated to the extent that it has become a threat to the human life. A megacorporation Buy ‘N’ Large is responsible for the accumulation of the waste as a result of its mass consumerism promotion. After it discovers the dangerous toxic levels that the waste has exposed man to, the megacorporation undertakes a plan to evacuate the Earth’s population and place WALL-E trash compactor robots to clean up the planet. Buy N Large ultimately gives up on its clean-up project by shutting down all the robots. However one robot takes it upon him to continue with the restoration of earth’s environment (Stanton, 2008). On the backdrop of the movie Wall-E, mega corporations have contributed to the decay of the environment through their activities. Special attention in this paper will be given to the mining industry, which is home to oil companies that have impacted massively on the exploitation of natural environmental resources impacting negatively on various lie forms on the globe. A discussion on the possible ways to ensure that oil companies undertake environmental health promotion shall be discussed. Environment refers to man’s immediate surrounding which includes land, water, and air. Environmental health on the other hand refers to human interaction with the environment and the resultant effects of this interaction. Human interaction with the environment has contributed to effects such as global warming, greenhouse effect, air pollutants, and other hazards that pose a threat to the planet (Insel & Roth, 2013). Over time human economic activities have become a major threat to Nature and environment. Human activities like mining and deforestation cause damage to the environment and this in turn affects the existence of plants and animals. The environment impacts on the well-being of humans as it provides a source for their food, shelter, and clothing. Further, a clean environment ensures that man leads a healthy life as there is less spread of diseases. It is man’s ultimate responsibility to take care of the environment and preserve nature for his own survival and that of future generations to come (Insel & Roth, 2013). Nature and environment should be preserved at all costs by humans. There have been significant efforts by world organizations to ensure conservation and preservation of the nature and environment. Policies have been put in place to ensure human activities do not affect the environment. The greatest threat to the environment and nature is pollution caused by the industrial activities of man. The industries emit poisonous gasses which affects the environment. The gasses released to the atmosphere contain carbon monoxide which corrodes the ozone layer. The depletion of ozone layer in turn causes global warming. Without the ozone layer the environment becomes dangerous to the humans as the sun rays causes cancer. The rays also cause stunted growth to plants. The industries also dump the chemical wastes into water bodies. These chemicals become a hazard to the animals that leave in water (Frumkin, 2013). The emissions from the transport sector also leads to pollution, as the machines burn fuel toxic substances get released and they are dangerous to plants and animals. The emissions contain lead deposits which affects both plants and animals. Mining activities carried out by man is another challenge that affects nature and environment. The mining activities leave the land bare and unproductive. This affects nature and the co-existence of plants and animals in the environment. These are the major threats to the environment and they need to be addressed. Previously, the oil and gas industry was very adamant in the observation of the rules and regulations and precautions that they should observe when exploiting and exploring for oil. However, the wakeup call was made in 1965 on 27th December. During this time, 13 people lost their lives when the Sea Gem sank (Frumkin, 2013). From this scenario, it is evident that during this era, the people in charge were unreactive to their approach on safety. It is, therefore, very important for oil companies to have oil and gas safety measures and even develop mitigation plans to stop nay occurrences of any oil spills in the water bodies during transportation. For mining companies to be a step ahead in the conservation of the environment and its resources there are several things that they should focus on. These key issues are; The Companies should have a stringent assessment about the environmental effects and impacts of gas and natural oil. Moreover, the companies should identify the environmental hazards while at the same time analyse and assess the risks adopting the best practises in managing these situations with an aim of coming up with a proper safety system (Frumkin, 2013). The existence of a comprehensive framework of emergency response will also be very essential. However, the researcher does not assume the fact that these measures are already in existent in the specific company. Various companies dealing with materials that easily affect the environment have various measures put in place to ensure that they have boosted the greener environment rather than destroying it. The United Nations Environmental Program came up with its Industry and Environmental department in 1975 with an aim of bringing the government and the industry together to promote sound environmental industry development. With its formation, it developed various goals that it set to share with different mining corporations’ that provided suitable ways that would ensure the conservation and preservation of the environment (Frumkin, 2013). The management of mining and gas companies have adopted various measures to handle these type of scenarios. These include: A regulatory framework with particular emphasis on Infrastructure and institutional factors Some of the factors that are required for the efficient application of environment laws are: Appropriate political will and sanctions for the purpose of enforcement Existence of appeal and adequate consultation procedures Properly funded authorities with motivated enforcements Appropriate protocols, procedures and monitoring Performance reporting Appropriate guidelines and regulations incorporated in the national and international laws (Rowitz, 2009). When looking at the case of the Oil and gas industries, there are three main releases that result from the production of natural oil and gas. These releases are air emissions, drilling waste and produced water. Several concerns have been raised about the impact of ground water. The main air pollutants that arise from this production are sulphur dioxide-SO2, nitrogen oxides- NO2, and various particulate matters which act as precursors of the regional haze. Nitrogen oxides and organic compounds that are volatile act as precursors of the ozone that is at the ground level. Nitrogen oxides are however emitted from equipment and production operations, process heaters and turbines. Air pollutants that are hazardous like toluene, ethyl benzenes, benzenes and xylenes are also produced (Insel & Roth, 2013). As a way to curb these pollutants from being disposed into the environment, the company has adopted a policy of recycling these waste products so manufacture other chemicals that are very important in various industrial processes. Sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides are precipitated with water to form sulphuric and nitric acids which are very important I n various experiments and industrial operations. The chimneys through which the specific gases are released are filled with lead oxide compounds which act as a filter of the various toxic and poisonous gases. This results to the emission of gases that do not contain toxic compounds. The best practise that can be adopted in this scenario is to recycle then waste products and if it is necessary to dispose them, then it becomes very essential to put them in tightly sealed containers ad burn them in cisterns that cannot emit the poisonous gasses. Conclusion Various environmental policy issues exist that help various industries manage pollution of the environment. These types of policies range from federal initiatives like Bureau of Land Management to the implementation of required emission limits on gas and oil operations which include Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. It therefore becomes very critical for companies to adopt these policies and protect the environmental resources. Through this compliance, the globe will prosper and prevent effects of global warming that causes a myriad of problems in relation to human and other species’ existence on the planet. References Frumkin, H. (2010). Environmental Health: From Global to Local. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Paul Insel, W. R. (2013). Connect Core Concepts in Health, Loose-Leaf Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. Stanton, A. (Director). (2008). WALL-E [Motion Picture]. Read More