UNIT 4

Social Issues and the Environment

A social issue is a problem that influences many citizens within a society.

General social issues
• Poverty and Homelessness
Poverty and homelessness are worldwide problems. Aproximately 25 % of the world's
population lives in conditions that harm their health and safety. Many do not have shelter, a
basic human need for survival. Because of the lack of shelter for this vulnerable population,
there is greater stress on government and social programs, including schools and healthcare
systems.
• Climate Change
A warmer, changing climate is a threat to the entire world. Climate change affects the entire world
population, and one of the most devastating problems humanity has ever faced.Around the world,
people are already noticing warmer winters, more severe storms and rainfall events, and more
frequent wildfires. These issues already put stress on governments and systems in many countries.

• Overpopulation
As the population of the world grows, resources become scarcer. As the population becomes more
than the country can sustain, people will need to move elsewhere to avoid starvation and
homelessness.
Slower changes in the environment can also have a large social impact. As noted earlier,
industrialization and population growth have increased the pollution of our air, water, and
ground. Climate change, a larger environmental problem, has also been relatively slow in
arriving but threatens the whole planet in ways that climate change researchers have
documented and will no doubt be examining for the rest of our lifetimes and beyond.
Biodiversity and Natural Resources
A reduction in biodiversity diminishes the capacity of ecosystems to provide a stable and
sustainable supply of essential goods and services such as clean air and water and also reduces
genetic variability, which could potentially decrease the amount of natural resources available
for future use. Protecting and conserving biodiversity – the variety of life in all its forms,
including genetic, species and ecosystem diversity – and its ability to change and evolve, is
fundamental to sustainable development.
Air Emissions and Air Quality
Air emissions are typically associated with processes such as combustion, storage of materials
or other industry-sector specific processes. The World Health Organization (2011) estimates
that 1.3 million people across the globe die every year from air pollution. These deaths stem
from the health conditions that air pollution causes, including heart disease, lung cancer, and
respiratory disease such as asthma. Most air pollution stems from the burning of fossil fuels
such as oil, gas, and coal. This problem occurs not only in the wealthy industrial nations but
also in the nations of the developing world; countries such as China and India have some of
the worst air pollution.
Water Pollution and Inadequate Sanitation
Water quality is also a serious problem. Drinking water is often unsafe because of poor
sanitation procedures for human waste and because of industrial discharge into lakes, rivers,
and streams. Inadequate sanitation and unsafe drinking water cause parasitic infections and
diseases such as diarrhea, malaria, cholera, intestinal worms, typhoid, and hepatitis A. The
World Health Organization estimates that unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation
cause the following number of annual deaths worldwide: (a) 2.5 million deaths from diarrhea,
(b) 500,000 deaths from malaria; and (c) 860,000 child deaths from malnutrition. At least 200
million more people annually suffer at least one of these serious diseases due to inadequate
sanitation and unsafe drinking water.
Nuclear Power
Nuclear power has been an environmental controversy at least since the 1970s. Proponents of
nuclear power say it is a cleaner energy than fossil fuels such as oil and coal and does not
contribute to global warming. Opponents of nuclear power counter that nuclear waste is
highly dangerous no matter how it is disposed, and they fear meltdowns that can result if
nuclear power plant cores overheat and release large amounts of radioactive gases into the
atmosphere.

The most serious nuclear plant disaster involved the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine in 1986.
Chernobyl’s core exploded and released radioactive gases into the atmosphere that eventually
spread throughout Europe. The amount of radiation released was four hundred times greater
than the amount released by the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima at the end of World
War II.
Ground Pollution and Hazardous Waste
Pollution of the air and water is an environmental danger, as we saw earlier, but so is pollution
of the ground from hazardous waste. Hazardous wastes are unwanted materials or byproducts
that are potentially toxic. If discarded improperly, they enter the ground and/or bodies of water
and eventually make their way into the bodies of humans and other animals and/or harm natural
vegetation.
Two major sources of hazardous waste exist: (1) commercial products such as pesticides,
cleaning fluids, and certain paints, batteries, and electronics and (2) byproducts of industrial
operations such as solvents and wastewater. Hazardous waste enters the environment through
the careless actions of homeowners and other consumers, and also through the careless actions
of major manufacturing corporations.

Sometimes companies have dumped so much hazardous waste into a specific location that they
create hazardous waste sites. These sites are defined as parcels of land and water that have been
contaminated by the dumping of dangerous chemicals into the ground by factories and other
industrial operations.
Oceans
The world’s oceans are at danger for several reasons, with “potentially terrible impacts for
hundreds of millions of people across the planet.” A major reason is that overfishing of fish
and mammals has dramatically reduced the supply of certain ocean animals. This reduction
certainly makes it difficult for ocean food chain.

As the supply of various ocean animals has decreased, the food supply for the larger ocean
animals that eat these smaller animals has declined, putting the larger animals at risk.
 From UNSUSTAINABLE to SUSTAINABLE Development
Sustainability is the ability to exist constantly. In the 21st century, it refers generally to the
capacity for the biosphere and human civilization to co-exist.
Until two decades ago the world looked at economic status alone as a measure of human
development. Thus countries that were economically well developed and where people
were relatively richer were called advanced nations while the rest where poverty was
widespread and were economically backward were called developing countries.
Most countries of America and Europe which had become industrialized at an earlier stage
have become economically more advanced. They not only exploited their own natural
resources rapidly but also used the natural resources of developing countries to grow even
larger economies. Thus the way development progressed, the rich countries got richer while
the poor nations got poorer.
However, even the developed world has begun to realise that their lives were being seriously
affected by the environmental consequences of development based on economic growth
alone. This form of development did not add to the quality of life as the environmental
conditions had begun to deteriorate.
The current strategies of economic development are using up resources of the world so
rapidly that our future generations, the young people of the world, would have serious
environmental problems, much worse than those that we are facing at present.

Thus current development strategies have come to be considered unsustainable for the
world’s long-term development. The newer concept of development has come to be known as
“Sustainable Development”.

Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

To ensure sustainable development, any activity that is expected to bring about economic
growth must also consider its environmental impacts so that it is more consistent with long
term growth and development. Many ‘development projects’, such as dams, mines, roads,
industries and tourism development, have severe environmental consequences that must be
studied before they are even begun.
Large dams, major highways, mining, industry, etc. can seriously damage ecosystems that
support the ecological health of a region. Forests are essential for maintaining renewable
resources, reducing carbon dioxide levels and maintaining oxygen levels in the earth’s
atmosphere. Their loss impairs future human development. Loss of forests depletes
biodiversity which has to be preserved to maintain life on earth.

Major heavy industries if not planned carefully lead to environmental degradation due to air
and water pollution and generate enormous quantities of waste that lead to long term
environmental hazards. Toxic and Nuclear wastes can become serious economic problems as
getting rid of them is extremely costly.
Examples
Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and
heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large
machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); or complex or numerous
processes.
e.g. Shipbuilding: construction of ships
Transportation: manufacturing of trains, buses, aircrafts. Automobile industries
Mining: large scale mining operations
Energy: power plants, wind farm
Until the 1950s many urban kitchens were based on fuelwood or charcoal. This was possible
and practical when homes had chimneys and kitchens were isolated from the rest of the
house. Smoke became a problem once this changed to apartment blocks. Kerosene thus
became a popular urban fuel. This changed to electrical energy and increasingly to natural
gas by the 1970s in most parts of urban India.
Objectives Sustainable Development
• Protection of Natural Resources: Preserve and extend accessible green spaces, shorelines,
natural water courses for future generations.
• Reforestation of the City: Promote the replanting and management of vegetation on private
and public property within the city.
• Full Public Participation in Development Decisions: Allow the public to be part of all
planning decisions. Economic, environmental and social impacts of proposed
developments should be considered.
• Actively Promote Sustainable Development: Advocate changes at the senior levels of
government, as well as in the city, in order to evolve towards sustainability.
• Make the Best Use of Land: Land-use decisions based upon an ecosystem approach to
ensure environmental integrity and diversity. To include, but not be limited to, promoting
environmentally sensitive lands and using fertile soil for agriculture throughout the
municipality.
• Protection and Enhancement of Natural Features: Protect and enhance natural features by
ensuring that the physical features of shorelines, agriculture lands, forestry tracts and
notable landmarks.
• Balanced Development: Provide a community plan and an economic strategy aimed at
creating sustainable and appropriate forms of development that reflect human scale and a
sense of community as well as representing a balance between urban development and
natural surroundings.
• Efficient Urban Design: Increase the efficiency of land use in the urban community in
terms of energy and time, promote intensification and diversification policies rather than
policies that generate urban sprawl.
• Minimal Discharge of Toxic Pesticides and Other Toxic Chemicals: Promote the
elimination of private and public use of toxic pesticides and other chemicals that have
negative effects on the environment
• Accessible Community Development: Form a new type of community development which
includes readily available local community components such as commerce, shopping,
employment, education and recreation within walking distance of all residences.
• Responsible Use of Natural Resources: Encourage conservation of natural resources, the
city should work towards ensuring that users are charged for the full local costs of their
individual use of water, electricity and sanitary sewers. There should also be educational
programs to encourage conservation of natural resources.
• Energy Conservation: Promote energy conservation through efficient land use planning
and building design.
• Balanced Transportation System: Develop a balanced transportation system including
transit, pedestrian, and cycling amenities and best use of the road system for movement of
goods and people, with the existing facilities used to their fullest capacity.
• Evaluation of Development: Continuous monitoring and evaluation of development should
take place to ensure that it does not have adverse impacts on the city's finances and the
environment.

Lecture ends here…