Human Impacts On The Enviroment

 In the article Can American soil be brought back to life? Jenny Hopkinson talks about her studies on American soil and how it has degenerated overtime, and what we can do to fix it.

The environmental impacts mentioned in the reading were the death of microbiomes and microorganisms in the soil. This causes a dry topsoil which doesn't hold water or nutrients well, as well as the soil not holding together as well, posing risks to the atmosphere and human health. This is being caused by 2 main factors. These 2 factors being the consistent tilling of the land and the use of pesticides and fertilizer on the crops and soil. 

The article highlights multiple human health impacts. One of these being the dust pollution in rural areas from the dry topsoil causes respiratory illness, the wind blows the dust from the fields which are now filled with dry dirt into the rural areas around the fields. Another human health impact is one of the key chemicals in fertilizer, nitrate is running off with the rainwater and absorbing into the ground going into our drinking water, the presence of nitrate in the drinker water poses cancer risks. A third human health impact highlighted in the reading was since the soil is missing the essential microorganisms holding the soil together it has caused it to be unable to hold onto carbon, causing increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere which is a greenhouse gas that has effects on global warming and more.

Humans are causing the impacts described because of tilling, an old practice which has always worked in the past. Tilling was always though to be effective because it prevents weeds and other pests, but tilling actually kills off microorganisms in the soil. The death of these microorganisms and microbiomes has a negative effect on the soil but this is a newer discovery and some are reluctant to change. As American farmers have been tilling and plowing soil for generations many do not want to change their ways for various reasons. Along with tilling, farmers have been using pesticides and fertilizer on crops and soil for generations which have negative effects on human and soil health. Farmers are reluctant to change because of some government policies which make healthier farming methods more difficult and because of culture and tradition within families.

This image is from the United States Department of Agriculture and shows a farm utilizing no-till farming. Notice the filler crop in-between crops as well as the soil is much less disturbed.

The article Where does your plastic go? Global investigation reveals Americas dirty secret. from theguardian.com highlights how America sends our plastic waste which we are more capable of handling ourselves, off to lesser developed countries which are less capable of handling the waste. The article highlights how the people of these underdeveloped countries only option is to work sorting the plastic waste. With contaminated materials, trash and more being imported the workers are exposed to many extremely hazardous chemicals in a liquid and gaseous state. Along with this the waste has contaminated the local water supplies from contaminated water seeping through into drinking water below in the ground. 

This connects to the previous article mentioned in a couple ways. The main way is in water pollution. In Can American soil be brought back to life? the article mentions how the drinking water in towns surrounding farms, is contaminated with nitrate. This water pollution has negative health effects as mentioned previously. On the other hand, in the article about plastic waste they quote Nguyễn Thị Hồng Thắm, a plastic sorter in Vietnam. '“We’re really scared of the plastic fumes, and we don’t dare to drink the water from underground here,"' This compares to the problem with soil as they both pollute local water supplies. A lack of studies in the areas where we send our plastic doesn't allow us to know the exact contaminants of the water, but it is no question that the water is unsafe to drink. Although the vast differences in these problems such as how one problem is being felt with here in America, as the other is being shipped away from us. These problems have a tremendous impact on human health no matter the pollutants in the water, humans need water to survive and any contamination to a drinking supply is not healthy. 

This image is showing illegal dumping into a polluted river in a river in Nairobi, Kenya. This image is from SuSanA Secretariat on flikr.com.

There are many ways in which we can bring change to these 2 problems but I think the most effective solution we have available is to input government regulations and to change pre standing regulations in place. This can be used to solve both problems, it can be used to help the problem with the soil by removing the legislation which requires farmers to record every crop grown on the land, discouraging fill cropping and in turn encouraging tilling. With this change farmers would be more incentivized to fill crop and not till their land but current regulations make it difficult. On the contrary passing legislation into act which would prevent the export of plastic waste to other countries and in hand encourage American companies or even the government to handle the problem here where we are more capable of handling the problem. If these changes were to be made I think it would have a positive impact on our community as we would start to see the plastic problem first hand and be more encouraged to do something about it. As well as farmers would make the decisions to help our soil and in turn help their own business in the long run, and have a positive impact on the American people.

This is an image of the U.S. House Of Representatives logo from Wikipedia .