RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

PREPARED BY:
ROCHELLE Z.
GUEVARA

Submitted to
Richard Ortiz
EXAMPLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Deforestation
Environmental Impacts of Mining
Global Warming
“Tragedy of the commons”—overfishing and other
Jungle burned for agriculture in southern Mexico
Logging in
Malaysia.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS CAUSED BY
DEFORESTATION
Burning forests and decay of wood after logging contribute to the release of
greenhouse gases
Loss of biodiversity
Forests are important parts of hydrologic cycle in nature
Chuquicamata, the largest open pit copper mine in the world, Chile
Iron hydroxide precipitate
stains a stream receiving
acid drainage from surface
coal mining.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF MINING
Land/soil erosion
Formation of sinkholes,
Loss of biodiversity in the area
Contamination of groundwaters by chemicals from the mining process and products.
Abandoned mines can still pose safety hazards such as deadly gases
CHEMICALS USED FOR MINING
Sodium cyanide for extraction of gold
Sulphuric acid for extraction of copper from copper oxides
If these chemicals are not handled properly, serious environmental impacts may
occur to the neighbouring environment
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF
GLOBAL WARMING
Melting of permafrost and polar ice
Rising sea level
Spread of pests and disease
Ecological impacts (e.g. disturbed life cycle of flora-fauna)
This image is of the Easton Glacier on Mount
Baker in the North Cascades of Washington
taken in 2003. It shows the terminus position of
the glacier in 1985 as well.
“TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS”
Free access and unrestricted demand for a finite resource ultimately dooms the
resource through over-exploitation.
Release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is one example. As everyone can
release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere with little personal consequence,
people tends to care very little about limiting its emission.
Overfishing in the open sea is another example. If everyone with a fishing boat can
fish as much as they like, they will eventually drive the fish stock to commercially
extinct.
If anyone can throw charms onto the wishing tree (a shared resource) without caring
the consequence, the tree will eventually collapse.
THANK YOU!