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What sort of regulation should it have? Explain. One of the major concerns in the 21st century is the presence of pollution in every part of the World. The problem of pollution has been around for many years and has caused various devastations to the ecosystem. Pollution is the presence of contaminants into the environment which causes instability, harm or discomfort to the Environment.
Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy (noise, heat, and light). The causes of pollution can be classified into two types – man-made pollution and natural pollution. Natural pollution does not have a big impact on the quality Of life since it has a balanced regenerated ability. On the other hand, the man-made pollution is a result of human activities and hard to get rid of, naturally people need to be in contact with the environment. Humans obtain resources from nature to maintain a healthy living.
The population of people s increasing at a very high rate and the interaction between people and the environment is getting more intense. A big population with any level of technology would exploit the environment overwhelmingly. There are various types of pollution, however the main focus will be on air and water pollution. In reference to Canada (one of the largest countries), the environmental legislations implemented are not adequate to manage the pollution resulted by the extraction of the natural resources, and throughout the consumption of these resources.
Pollution is one of the major problems seen in every part of the World and is more affecting the larger cities. It is not a problem that came suddenly it’s our fault and has been a part of the daily life through many decades. First new regulations must be implemented to standardize the size and the spread of the oil sand and mining fields in Canada and especially in Alberta ( e. G. : each field must be less than km square in size and apart from any other field by a radius distance of 200 Km).
For instance, the Autobahn’s tar sands is the size of Florida, what is called “The world’s most extractive project” (The Environmental Defense Fund). Tar sands oil is one of the hardest to mine and refine and it is one of the dirtiest. “Sands oil extractions produce three times more greenhouse gases than the conventional oil” (Yes! Magazine). The impact is being as not only the deforestation of the land but also the formation of massive lagoons fields containing toxic wastewater.
A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by a group at the University of Alberta in 201 0 revealed the prevalence of carcinogens in areas around and downstream room the tar sands. The pollutants found in the snow and waterways included mercury, lead, and thallium – which they have a great potential to raise serious health concerns. Further investigations regarding the environment and health concerns revealed a higher rate of cancers in the communities around the Autobahn’s river.
One of the groups in this area is the Databases Chickpeas First nation; they have been very active recently in speaking up their concerns about the oil sands projects. It is clear that the massive size of the oil sand fields has a huge negative impact on the people ‘s lath and the environment. It is very crucial to implement regulations which will limit the size and spread of these high risk projects in such a way that it avoids the environmental racism, since the operational areas are mainly surrounded by First Nations communities.
Second sulfur is present in the gasoline that we use in cars; it is a major contributor to the pollution of air in urban Canada in the form of sulfur dioxide. (Friends of the Earth: FOE). Information on these sulfur levels in gasoline should be available to the public at the gas stations so that the consumers can shop for the cleanest gas. There is a significant fluctuation to the level of sulfur content in different fuels, new regulations shall be introduced.
An example is when FOE requested from Environment Canada to obtain information about the levels of sulfur in fuels which produced by the oil companies. The companies said that the sulfur contents Of their gasoline’s are confidential information and that publicizing these statistics would cause them financial harm and jeopardize their competitiveness. Over this information A legal battle between Environment Canada and the five major oil companies (Imperial, Shell, Petrol- Canada, Conscious and Ultra Mar), Environment Canada won this legal battle by the support of several organizations and the public.
On June 7, the Minister of Environment announced the new regulation to cut sulfur in gasoline from its current legal limit of 1 Pompom to pump starting January 1, 2005. By increasing the public awareness about the danger of having high levels of sulfur alongside with making the levels monitored constantly and displayed n screen next to the gas prices, this will create a competitive market where all the oil companies will refine the oil to it is best levels in order to gain the market.
Meanwhile air pollution due to transportation could be also reduced by applying such regulations which will increase the number of electrical cars (egg: In order for any car company to be able to sell vehicles in Canada, they must produce and sell a minimum number of electrical vehicles), a zero emission car is the ultimate goal, a quite similar law to this proposal has been executed in California, such a regulation will encourage the car makers to continue improving the electrical car technology.