This could even involve scraping and blasting to expose underground coal or oil. The fossil fuel industry requires a large portion of land to develop infrastructure such as wells, pipelines, access roads, as well as facilities for processing, waste storage, and waste disposal (Denchak, 2018). It can occur in a number of ways, including land clearing for the purpose of establishing facilities and networks that enable the processes needed for the extraction, transportation, and processing of fossil fuels. The impact of fossil fuels specifically on land is both direct and indirect.
Fossil fuels cause land degradation, and water and atmospheric pollution. While there are numerous advantages of using fossil fuels to include: their high energy concentration, low cost and ease of accessibility they can also be harmful to the environment. How Exactly do Fossil Fuels Impact the Environment? It has been stated that every year, eight million metric tons of plastics enter our ocean (Ocean Conservanvy). The creation of such plastics affects the environment in many fundamental ways – one being how it affects the cleanliness of the environment another being that the biodegradable nature of such plastics makes them decompose at some point, releasing the chemicals in the atmosphere and water bodies. Take for instance plastics, which are made from fossil fuels and are biodegradable. The presence of carbon, methane, and the likes in excessive quantity makes it difficult to ignore, as the impact on the environment is clear. There is an undeniable link between fossil fuels and the environment, and this is presented in those chemicals and compounds which make up fossil fuels. Streamlining the concept based on this definition would portray the environment simply as consisting of land, water, and air. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development glossary of statistical terms defines the environment as the totality of all the external conditions affecting the life, development, and survival of an organism. As for the major types of fossil fuels: crude oil, or petroleum, is a liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons (hydrogen and carbon compounds) coal is that solid, black, carbon-heavy chunk of sedimentary rock while natural gas is an odorless gas composed mainly of methane.
It is also important to note that these sources provide about 80% of energy needs. Major examples of fossil fuels are coal, crude oil, and natural gas, all considered as such because they were formed from the fossilized, buried remains of plants and animals. But there is one issue – rather, a grand issue, that presents many other significant and far-reaching issues: environmental degradation.įossil fuels are natural non-renewable resources formed by a natural process of the decomposition of plants and other organisms, buried beneath layers of sediment and rock, and have taken a long time (quantified in terms of millions of years) to become carbon-rich deposits (Nunez, 2019). So think of products you use every day – your car, plastic bottles, anything you can think of it is either a product of fossil fuel manipulation, or is running as a result of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are set to meet about 84% of global energy demand through 2030 (INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY, 2017), enabling the world to continue moving. Today, fossil fuels are currently the world’s primary energy source, and according to a report from the World Energy Outlook (WEO), will continue to remain the world’s leading source of power. Later on, gas was then used as fuel for industrial and residential heating and power (EKT Interactive, 2019). Subsequently, upon discovery of oil in Pennsylvania in 1859 and the Spindletop discovery in Texas in 1901, there was a shift in dynamics, and oil became a prominent fossil fuel (not indicating that others are not still prominently used today).īefore the 1920s, burning or flaring of natural gas was produced along with oil as a waste by-product. With the industrial revolution came an increased dependence on coal.
This has been the trend as far back as 4000 BC in China, where fossil fuel production and consumption began with coal – where carving took place out of black lignite (one of the several forms of coal) (Roser, 2019). One particular set of resources in light of this is fossil fuels particularly useful in the production of energy. One thing that will remain true about human nature is the quest for development and in this quest, as is seen through the ages, man will utilize as much as possible, all resources, natural and non-natural, physical and abstract, lasting and ephemeral.
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