Terrence Laster
China Could Lose Millions of Hectares of Farmland to Pollution
Millions of hectares (10,000 sq. meters) of agricultural land
in China could be withdrawn from production because of severe heavy-metal
pollution running through rivers that are near farmland. This not only pollutes
the rivers, but the surrounding soil and land making it unsafe to yield crops
from. An estimated 3.3 million hectares of land have been polluted which
accounts for 2% of China’s total farmland. The author credits his information
to Chex Xiwen, deputy director of China’s top agricultural authority and the
Central Committee of the Communist Party’s efforts to restore contaminated
farmland this year, outlined in The No 1 Central Document. The source of this
information is not a small party, nor one individual, giving this information a
much more ominous feel seeing as to how many people it pertains to and creates
a sense of urgency to immediately resolve the problem. Although this
information does not pertain directly to the U.S., it is worrisome because the
source of the pollution was industrial plants, pesticides, and fertilizers, all
of which exist in the United States. Being able to learn from this incident
abroad and taking steps to prevent it from occurring anywhere else in the world
would be nice, but seeing as how industrialized businesses treat the
environment as it already is, it is doubtful that steps of prevention will be
taken until it is already too late. This information relates to topics we’ve
discussed in class by exemplifying the effects that soil pollution and land
contamination can have on an economy, and how we treat the earth. After reading
this article, I find it most interesting that there was such a long response
time to this incident seeing as how contaminated crops were found in early
2013. It is also interesting to see the connection between earlier course
readings and how an expanding economy affected the environment which came back
and affected the economy.
Abby Hammond
Soil Contamination and Possible Threats to Human Health
In 2007, Salisbury, North
Carolina bought land that formerly belonged to a service station. The property
had been given a clean bill of health in 1991 and again in 2007 right before
the property was purchased. As the city began preparations to build a new
office for the local schools, massive amounts of soil contamination were found
on the property. Seven underground storage tanks were still on the land and
apparently there had been seven more on the land prior to the new ones and were
removed years earlier and replaced with the current ones. 3,500 tons of
contaminated soil was removed which came to a price of around $500,000. The
Senior Vice President of EMSL Analytical Inc. described that just by simply
touching contaminated soil, it can allow chemicals to be absorbed into people’s
skin and go airborne and inhaled. There have also been many cases in which
people can accumulate organ damage and even cancer just from touching soil contamination.
The fact that incidents like this happen so close to home and
land can be just as easily overlooked and marked "safe" by some
higher opinion makes me wonder what is really going on. If something like seven
UST's can be buried in a random piece of land, what does that say about the
land near your own home? finding storage tanks underneath your house is
unlikely, but landfills, for example, are completely common. This also relates
back to our discussions in class by providing a real life example of the
extremely negative effects of pollution.
Discussion Questions
- What would be some effective ways to reduce the amount of contamination in soil?
- If we continue treating our geosphere like we have been, what do you think it will look like in 50 years? Why?
- How is the geosphere important to human life?
Duggan, Jennifer. "China Could Lose
Millions of Hectares of Farmland to Pollution."Theguardian.com.
Guardian News and Media, 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 04 Feb. 2014.
EMSL Analytical, Inc. "Soil Contamination
and Possible Threats to Human Health."On Environmental Expert.
N.p., 1 Mar. 2013. Web. 04 Feb. 2014.
Awesome job!
ReplyDeleteWays to prevent the contamination of soil could be to use less chemicals such as herbicide. Also, disposing waste carefully could prevent the spread of contaminants through run-off.
ReplyDeleteI think 50 years from now there won't be many resources available for use/consumption. Renewable resources such as trees will be severely depleted because of construction, while continued dumpings will pollute our waters, harming not only us but many marine species. We continue to take and take without supplementing what we took. Though there are laws set up to protect the environment, there are many out there who believe nothing is going to happen. So there isn't an urgent need to minimize our harmful actions. We are now slowly heading in the direction of what occurred on Easter Island.
ReplyDeleteIf we continue treating our geosphere like we have been, in 50 years the world will most likely look very different. Pollution of farmland and even in our backyards is foreshadowing a world where disease and other harmful effects will be a fact of life. The increasing world population will contribute to even more pollution in our soils, meaning we should put regulations in place now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this because China alone is consuming more than 1/3 of the Earth's natural resources. In addition to farmland pollution, China has serious smog problems in major cities with the air quality index peaking above 500. If we want to head in a better direction, we need industrial countries such as China to curb their pollution output.
ReplyDeleteSources:
http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/16/airpocalypse-smog-hits-beijing-at-dangerous-levels/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
The Geosphere is extremely important to human life because, above all else, we live on it! It's the ground we build our homes on, it's the earth we farm our crops on. Without the geosphere there wouldn't be an earth. It is, in my opinion, the most important system we have on the earth. Nothing to me hits closer to home than seeing the destruction of it, seeing soil erosion and contaminants flood in the soil it devastating. At the rate we pollute our earth I believe we are setting ourselves up for destruction. Perhaps not in the next 50 years but at some point in the next generations.
ReplyDeleteIf we continue to treat our geosphere as terrible as we have been, there won't be many resources left. I believe that if we keep polluting at such a high rate, the geosphere may be destructed even sooner than 50 years. I also think this is a real wake-up call for us in North Carolina because of how close to home the soil contamination is happening. We need to stop the pollution so that future generations will not have to deal with the problems that come with it.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that whenever we think of pollution or harm done to earth, we first consider countries like China where pollution is on the large scale. But, the second article shows us that there are many environmental problems right in our own backyard. So even if we start out small by cleaning up and saving our own community, we can leave an impact on earth and play a part in preserving earth. Taking the initiative now will help preserve the earth for future generations.
ReplyDeleteAt the rate the U.S. is going, let alone North Carolina, we will easily contaminate much more soil within the next 50 years. If we do not take steps to limit our waste and use of fertilizer, no area of water or soil is going to be safe for drinking or planting. It may take a little longer than 50 years, since America has been trying to set a lot of regulations in place for businesses, involving the environment, but the destruction of our geosphere, and atmosphere will come soon. It's up to the people to individually do their part in trying to save the environment so that our children and grandchildren won't have to suffer because of our mistakes. The government has put laws in place to stop the big issues, now it's our turn to take care of the massive amount of little ones.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Terrence's comment that the US probably won't do anything about our pollution issue that is similar to China's. This is most likely an issue that has resulted from the media. Large news companies generally tell people what they want to hear, or they focus on superficial issues that don't have a real effect on us. I don't think that we will hear about soil pollution issues in America until they start having detrimental effects on our health. The reason that this issue has come out in China is because of their overpopulation problem. With the rate at which the US is growing, we will continue to destroy to destroy the environment until it can no longer sustain us. On the other hand, the US has more safety regulations and limitations on factories and nuclear plants that helps prevent runoff into soil and into the air. Although these might be somewhat effective, they will not completely stop the effects of industry on our environment. I think that there is no real solution to this problem because not enough people recognize what a massive issue this is. When they hear about countries like China, it does not register with them that this will be us soon if we do not start changing things. The only way for us to avoid pollution as high as China's is to make the public aware of the pollution that has occurred and will occur in the future.
ReplyDeleteFrom the evidence shown in these articles I can predict that in the next fifty years most of the land that we use will be contaminated and completely unusable. Unless we change how we treat the Geosphere, any land that we use can be filled with cancer or disease causing material. And since our land would be contaminated, the water surrounding these areas will too because of the runoff that will take place. It will also affect the food we grow because we will be growing them in places that contain waste such as this and some of the time we wouldn't even realize that it is there. I agree with Abby when she wrote about how if these places we marked as safe, but contained with hazardous material, our homes may be in the same situation as well. We need to take better care of our environment for future generations.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Terrence that China is a large part of the worlds pollution. However, I do not think it is solely China to blame. The second article shows that we have major impact on soil pollution right here in North Carolina. In order to fix the pollution problems in the world we must start on a smaller scale, all these small acts to help our environment add up and make a much greater impact.
ReplyDeleteFrom the information provided in both articles I can for see that the next fifty years will heavily affect the geosphere because of the constant contamination and no press for any immediate changes. Countries like the U.S and China, who produce most pollution in the world, aren't making any changes or creating restrictions in order to prevent further damage of the geosphere. After about fifty years of damage I predict that the geosphere will be very dirty and pollutant-filled. With this the impacts could be serious such as many people having a hard time breathing and developing illnesses. If large countries like the U.S. and China don't begin to fix the reoccurring problem of pollution the geosphere won't be able to fulfill many of its actions and processes properly.
ReplyDeleteIf we keep treating the geosphere like we have been, I think in the next 50 years we will see a huge rise in contamination and human health problems. The fact that the service station's land was given a clean bill of health while being to contaminated shows how little we actually care. This may allow for more humans to come in contact with these harmful substances in more common places. These contaminates may also leak into the ground water killing off plant and animal life. If we don't take these problems seriously I think within the next 50 years we wont have much of the geosphere left that isn't contaminated.
ReplyDeleteFrom the information provided in both articles i believe in the next 50 years, the Earth will be heavily contaminated due to the lag time of pollution. Humans are continuing to pollute the geosphere and not thinking about what it will do. Part of this is lack of knowlege on this, and I believe we need to educate eathother on this matter. Conitinuing to contaminate the Earth with harmful contaminates will effectively destroy and be harmful to human, as well as, any living organisms life. The U.S. and China are the leading producers of pollution and are not doing anything to fix this. These countries need to take action right now to make any difference on the future. Waiting any longer will be too late.
ReplyDeleteIf the human race as a whole does not control the amount of pollution we are loading our environment with, there will be massive environmental catastrophes within the next 50 years. According to this article, an average construction site, represented by the construction of the school office, pollutes at least 3500 tons of soil with pollutants that can cause health detriments with mere proximity. If every construction site pollutes its environment this amount or even more, it is easy to imagine the amount of damage we are subjecting our planet to. It is obvious that humans as a race need to make a change, and that change should be made sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteWithin the next 50 years I predict we will continue to see an increase in contaminates we see in our geosphere. Having septic tanks under ground near our homes and under neither our community may lead to leaks that can contaminate our underground water sources. Having these leaks will lead to more detrimental health risks.
ReplyDeleteIf we continue this way, the earth will look completely different in 50 years. We will have used up most of the earth's resources and pollution will have increased in every way. Then we might be so far in the whole that we really will have to take drastic measures that may question our beliefs or it will be too late. The geosphere is important to human life because it is what we have our entire life settled upon. It is the trees, the ground, and the very base of our existence. The protection of the geosphere is essential to the present and past of the human species.
ReplyDeleteI think that educating people can reduce the pollution. Raising awareness about the contamination could reduce how people use the contamination processes. Since it is so toxic to our earth, maybe people wouldn't be so quick to contaminate it. Although even with educating people about it, people may not respond to it because it has lag time and could awhile for the harmful pollutants to actually make an evident effect on our earth. 50 years from now I think our earth will be very different not only from the contamination to our geosphere, but to our atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere as well.
ReplyDeleteSome effective ways to reduce soil contamination on a small scale is by reducing the amount of pesticides and chemical/unnatural fertilizers we use. Switching to natural fertilizers like compost and manure could reduce contamination. Stricter guidelines for giving an area a "clean bill of health".
ReplyDeleteI think that we need to regulate the causes of soil contaminators by imposing more and better standards throughout all the levels of government and have large penalties for not following these set standards. Hopefully that would cause more businesses, like service stations, and individuals to become more mindful of what they do with their waste that is hazardous to the environment. I think that if something like this is not done soon then in the next fifty years there will be many major environmental catastrophes that could cause environmental and health problems.
ReplyDelete*sorry this is late. I had many, many technical issues.
The current human population is set into a routine of life, this routine is having a huge effect on the geosphere as we try and do everything the easy way which is most often the worse on the environment. Instead of trying to carpool or ride a bike to school or work we all drive individual cars that are constantly harming the earth. Within the next 50 if the population can not make a major change in how we live the earth will be permanently damaged to the point where we will have major problems with everyday tasks.
ReplyDeleteFor the China article: I don't understand why the government would not take quicker action to solve the metal pollution. Looking closely, if the crops were contaminated, it would end up damaging China's food industry, and in turn the country's economy. Connecting economy to the U.S. school incident, I would presume it would be wiser to take care of the problem as soon as possible. Not only would the contamination be taken care of but the problem would not spread and may not have ended up costing the half million dollars it did.
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