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Secondary Effects |
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Primary cause vs. secondary effects |
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| The primary problem is overpopulation. Secondary problems
caused by overpopulation are global warming, deforestation, air pollution from
factories and cars, urban runoff leading to water pollution, among several
others. This organization, One less child.org, is focusing on the primary
problem, because not until this is addressed will significant change occur on
the secondary problems. |
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Human water demand |
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| Speaking of river dams, the Colorado River no longer flows
any water to its delta in Mexico. Humans already consume ALL of the water in
the Colorado River watershed, about 240,000 square miles, tapped dry by 16 dams
or aqueducts. Think about that.
In an area the size of Arizona, Utah, and
Colorado combined, humans use every raindrop or snowflake that falls from the
sky. |
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Water & coastal pollution facts |
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Source: Surfing magazine, Oct 2007,
p80
| 53% of the US population lives in coastal counties on 17% of the
land. |
| One part of motor oil contaminates one million parts of ocean
water. |
| 50% of US dog owners do not pick up after their pets. |
| 1.5 million people get sick from bacterial pollution in Los
Angeles County annually, mostly from urban runoff. |
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| Urban runoff |
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| Chicago, IL USA |
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Philadelphia, PA USA |
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After looking at the photos of major cities from space, it is easy to imagine
how a large rainfall now equates to a flushing of a very large toilet. Large
cities now sprawl concrete over 1,000 to 10,000 square miles of land. All of
the associated motor oil, industrial waste,
trash in the streets, and fertilizers are washed into
streams, lakes, and into the ocean. |
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According to November 2006 issue of
Science, all fish and seafood
species are projected to collapse by 2047. This is party caused by the increase
in carbon dioxide that will be absorbed by the oceans, creating increased
carbonic acid, and harming the plankton at the bottom of the ocean's food
chain. In 40
years, how do we justify
killing everything in
the ocean?
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Out of control production, consumption, and profit |
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In most cultures today, children are conditioned to be
consumers of products, to learn the values of money, earning, and spending.
However, production and consumption are now out of control.
LP's, CD's, and cassettes as an example of profit-based thinking
"Immediate profit" items are quickly obsolete and never decompose. If one
artist sells 3 million copies of one CD, how many total LP's, cassettes, and
CD's have been sold in the last 100 years? |
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Oil companies & large corporate attitude change |
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| If the oil companies and large corporations continue to
manipulate the public and the governments solely for profit reasons, the Earth
will continue to suffer environmental harm on a global scale. The CEO's and
executives of these companies go home to their families, which they themselves
are responsible for long term environmental damage and threats to their own
family's well-being. |
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Consuming more and more of the land |
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| Road Kill |
The public's apathy towards animals killed by cars is wrong. Road
kill is an obvious visual example of human encroachment and habitat destruction.
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| Wetlands Destruction |
90% of California's native wetlands have been destroyed, a direct
effect of our cancerous growth. |
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