The concept of ecology as a science originated in the United States, since it was in this country that for the first time people realized the consequences of consumer attitude to nature. In the twentieth century, some industrialized areas were on the verge of ecological disaster due to the following activities:
All these actions were not considered harmful for the time being. Much later, everyone realized that the development of industry negatively affects the health of people and animals, and also pollutes the environment. After that, independent experts, together with scientists, proved that water, air and soil pollution is harmful to all living beings. Since then, the United States has adopted a green economy program.
Industry
The country’s industry has a particularly negative impact from an environmental point of view. With sophistication and competitiveness, the United States is a leader in auto, marine, engineering, pharmaceuticals, and agriculture, as well as food, chemicals, mining, electronics, and other industries. All this has an extremely negative impact on the state of the environment and causes damage on an especially large scale.
The main problem of industrial enterprises is the release of harmful toxic substances into the atmosphere. In addition to the fact that the maximum permissible standards are exceeded several times, chemical emissions are very powerful and even a small amount of them can cause significant harm. Cleaning and filtration is very poor (this helps to save money for the company). As a result, elements such as chromium, zinc, lead, etc., enter the air.
The problem of air pollution
One of the main problems of America is air pollution, which is typical for all metropolitan areas of the country. As elsewhere, vehicles and industry are sources of pollution. The leading politicians of the state argue that this ecoproblem must be solved with the help of science, that is, to develop and apply innovative environmentally friendly technologies. Various programs are also being carried out to reduce the amount of exhaust gases and emissions.
Experts say that in order to improve the state of the environment, it is necessary to change the foundation of the economy, instead of coal, oil and gas, find alternative energy sources, especially renewable ones.
In addition, every day megacities “grow” more and more and people live constantly in the smog created by the continuous flow of cars and the work of enterprises. In the frantic pace of city life, a person does not pay attention to what irreparable harm is done to nature. But, unfortunately, in our time, they give preference to the development of the economy, relegating environmental problems to the background.
Hydrosphere pollution
Factories are the main source of water pollution in the United States. Enterprises discharge dirty and toxic waters into the country’s lakes and rivers. As a result of this impact, animal organisms do not live within a few kilometers. This is due to the ingress of various emulsions, acidic solutions and other toxic compounds into the water. You can’t even swim in such water, not to mention its use.
The problem of municipal solid waste
Another important environmental problem in the United States is the problem of municipal solid waste (MSW). At the moment, the country produces a huge amount of waste. To reduce their volumes, the production of recycled materials is practiced in America. For this, a separate waste collection system and collection points for various materials, mainly paper and glass, are used. There are also industries that process metals, and they can be reused in the future.
Broken and even working household appliances that for some reason end up in a landfill have a no less detrimental effect on the environment (such things can include a TV, microwave, washing machine and other small appliances). On landfills you can also find a huge amount of food industry, construction debris and worn (unnecessary) things used in the services of services and trade.
Planet pollution by garbage and deterioration of the state of ecology depends not only on industrial enterprises, but also on each person in particular. Each new plastic bag filled with garbage worsens the situation.
Thus, in the United States of America there are a number of environmental problems, and we examined the main of them. In order to establish the state of the environment, it is necessary to transfer the economy to another level and use innovative technologies that would reduce the emissions and pollution of the biosphere.
