Fossil Fuel Combustion

Coal, oil, and natural gases are the three main fossil fuels used to produce energy. Dead organisms that were living millions of years ago are now stored deep within our earth. Stored in this dead matter is the energy that these organisms contained. With time and extensive amounts of pressure and heat, these organisms are converted into fossil fuels. These fuels are now being removed from deep deposits in the Earth and burned in order to create heat, carbon dioxide, and water. The heat produced from this burning, or combustion, is converted into electrical energy using turbines and generators. However, the carbon dioxide being produced is one of the most harmful greenhouse gases. We use the energy from fossil fuels to power almost everything we do.

Pro

• The technology to obtain fossil fuels is readily available
• Using fossil fuels for energy is not very expensive
• Most of the energy that the world uses is from fossil fuel combustion

Cons

• Coal mining is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world
• It takes millions of years to replace the fossils fuels that are being used up, and fossil fuels are a limited resource.
• During mining and drilling, many habitats and environments are destroyed
• Accidental oil spills greatly contribute to pollution
• It will start to become more and more expensive to extract fossil fuels.

  

Deforestation

• Trees cool and control the Earth’s climate because they consume carbon dioxide. They are storing the carbon dioxide that humans are rapidly producing.
• Deforestation is the tearing down of forests or rainforests.
• 20 football fields of forest is destroyed every minute
• Out of the whole world, only 11% of the forests are conserved
• Over 80% of the world’s forests have already been removed

Causes

• Population: The human population is rapidly increasing, so forests are cleared to create land for living on and roads.
• Logging: Producing wood, lumber, products, and fuel by cutting down trees
• Trees are used to make paper, furniture, firewood, charcoal and lumber.
• Agriculture: Forests are cut down to create land for farmland and grazing cattle
• Mining: To mine for coal and other resources in the ground, forest cover must be removed to dig and allow room for trucks and equipment.
• Fires: Forest fires can initiate either by accident or on purpose. When a fire occurs, forests are burned down at a rapid speed. Places where logging occurs are more inclined to fires because the trees there are dead and dry.
• Palm Oil: This is a biofuel and is used to produce beauty products and food. The demand is constantly increasing, so farmers cut down more and more trees in order to supply it.

Effects

• Loggers further clear out forests for roadways to haul in their equipment and trucks.
• Clearing land for agricultural purposes is often accomplished by burning trees, releasing even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
• The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will rapidly increase as the number of trees in the world decrease. There are fewer trees to consume carbon dioxide and prevent it from escaping.
• Biodiversity will be reduced; as the landscape changes, many animals and plants will not be able to survive.
• Fewer trees means that less water vapor will enter the atmosphere, since trees do emit water vapor. This means the amount of rainfall will decrease, thus disrupting groundwater level, also known as the water table. This will make soil dryer and cause farmers to struggle with keeping crops alive.
  

Overpopulation:

• Overpopulation is determined using the ratio of population to available sustainable resources.
• Every 20 minutes, the human population grows by about 3,000. At the same time another plant or animal becomes extinct (27,000 each year).
• With this decrease in plant species, carbon dioxide emissions are almost doubled every year.

Causes:

• 1/3 of the population growth in the world is the result of incidental or unwanted pregnancies.
• Those lacking education fail to understand the need to prevent excessive growth of population.

Effects:

• Depletion of natural resources: Resulting in a struggle to find resources required to live.
• Deforestation and loss of eco-system: Including those that help reduce harmful toxins such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
• Consequent global warming and overall increase in the greenhouse effect.
• Inadequate fresh water resource used for drinking water, sewage treatment and effluent discharge
• Loss of land for general living space