5 years ago, I remember going to Redondo Beach in California where I was able to swim and wade through the waves as they would go through me on a typical sunny California day. I remember my feet sinking into the warm sand as I walked for miles along the clean beaches. This is one of the golden memories of my childhood. This past summer, my mother, sister and I decided to visit our family over in California. In the process, most of us wanted to go to the Redondo Beach. To my shock and disappointment, the first thing I saw while walking to the water was the sign “Swim at your own Risk”.
My first thought was “Oh, no lifeguards. This will be okay because I don’t plan to swim; I just plan to walk in the water.” As I stood there for around 5 minutes, I took in the scenery of the beach. I saw around 25 people, mostly kids, in the water in a half of a mile stretch of beach, which wasn’t a lot. I also saw there were a low number of umbrellas on the beach. My first thought was that it was a busy day and many people were just not going to the beach, but I would find out later that I was very wrong. I decided to the pier with my family and the first thought that crossed my mind was sand being stuck to the bottom of my foot. I thought it was normal, but after I put my sandal on, it stuck to my foot. After I took off my sandal and looked at the bottom of my foot, I found out that I had oil that covered half of the bottom of my foot. I was really confused to why there was oil on the bottom of my foot until my aunt connected the dots for me. That “Swim at your own Risk” sign was telling us that this beach was no longer safe to swim in.
This incident reminded me of the Exxon Valdez Disaster and the most recent incident of the oil spill floating towards the Gulf of Mexico. There have been many environmental derogation incidents involving our pollution, such as these oil spills, caused by people that are slowly destroying the environment. For example in academic journal “Oil, Money, and the Environment: Punitive Damages Under due Process, Preemption, and Maritime Law in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez”, Brandon Morris explains the causes and the after effects of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Morris explains the oil spill was caused when the oil tanker went over the “Blight Reef” and as a result oil spilled into “one of the richest marine environments in North America” (Morris, 168). The results of oil spills, such as the Exxon Valdez incident, can result in harm to the environmental areas near the shores and also harm the organisms that use/enter these shores. An oil spill is only one version of an environmental derogation act that people cause; but every act has major consequences on the environment and on us.
I knew there were many place all of the world that were being environmentally destroyed such as the coral reefs and wetlands because of pollution and irresponsibleness of major companies and human beings. But I wouldn’t have expected Redondo Beach to have the status of “Swim at your own Risk” because of pollution. This situation really opened my eyes to the problems we as humans are causing to our environment worldwide. I feel people don’t realize the harm they can do to the environment by being irresponsible with their waste. For example using oil spills, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority states a long list of negative effects that an oil spill can have on our population and other organism. These effects include the following: poisoning the fish we eat from the oil spill, hindering the organisms’ ability to survive after the oil spill, and causing many organisms to die(“The Effects of Oil on Wildlife”). I personally feel there are a lot of people that do care for the death and destruction of these organisms and feel something should be done; but I feel there are only a small handful of people who try to actually fix the problem.
I feel we need to find a way to protect our environment from our pollution because if we keep on this current track of how we dispose of our pollution, there will be no safe environment left for our future generations to live in.
I remember last year I had a field trip with my biology class to the Potomac River, just outside Washington D.C. The purpose of this field trip was to learn about the environment and also to get a hand on experience with working with different types of equipments and tests. When I got to the river and stepped on the boat that would be taking us, the first thing I noticed was the color of the water. The water had the color of a mud pit you would see outside your house after a big rain storm. When I looked closer, I could see some areas of the river that were completely black. The boat captain said the color of the river was caused by two reasons. The first reason he gave me was since there was a lot of construction all around the river, the dirt and soil around the river would be transferred into the river, causing the color of the river to shift to a darker brown color. The second reason he gave me was because of the trash and pollution from factories and from the sewage systems coming out of D.C.
After going through 2 hours of test that provided disturbing results that said the river was basically uninhabitable to most organisms, we called it a day. When sailing back to the dock to park the boat, I got a first hand view of the causes that were harming the river. Along the sides of the river were big semi circles made out of metal that blended with the bank of the river. The captain said those big semi circles were the old drainage system for the city. He said “When the city has rain storms and the new drainage systems are just not enough to handle the amount of rain, the rain goes to the old drainage system and dumps into the river.” This didn’t seem like a big problem until he mentioned that all the trash in the city that would wash up into the drains would be dumped into the river. This could be seemed a little further down the river where we could see islands of trash just sitting in the shallow areas of the river. I could see McDonald wrappers, cigarette buds, soda cans, and other things that belonged in the landfills. There are many harmful and negative effects when trash is illegally dumped/misplaced into waterways like the ones in the Potomac River. The City of Daton, Ohio states that the negative effects of illegal dumping can include: a location where disease can be created, a location where criminals tend to use, a location where housing properties will decrease in value, etc (“Facts about illegal Dumping”). This just explains that illegal dumping of trash not only has harmful effects on the environment, but also can have negative effects in other areas of society. Also, when sailing back to the dock, I could see pipes that would go along the riverside and would open into the river. Even though there was nothing coming out of the pipes, I knew what was coming out of those pipes was not good for the river and the ecosystem.
It seems ironic that in the backyard of the capital is a river that is disgusting to look at and can be dangerous to swim in, but the Potomac River is just one example where pollution has destroyed the environment and ecosystem.
What can we do to prevent these problems that plague our environment? Most of the things that are advertised to help the environment do help the environment. The common saying of “Reuse, Reduce and Recycle” is an excellent way to help out with this pollution problem. People need to stop purchasing so many things because the more humans purchase, the more trash it creates and that creates more pollution further down the road. Reusing and recycling are good ways to make the full usage of items that would normally be used once. Also, another way to help out with the problem of environmental degradation caused by pollution is being responsible for your own trash. Ensuring that trash goes to landfills and that illegal dumping doesn’t occur are two possible solutions in being responsible for your trash. All of these changes are pointless if only one or two families make these changes. It takes a universal effort and belief in these changes to produce a major success against the pollution that is causing the destruction of our environment.
The harm to the environment and humans are caused by the pollution that humans are producing. In order to protect our environment, we as human beings must ensure that our future generations will be able to live without any concerns about the environment having negative affects on us or our own future off springs. The only way to protect the environment from pollution problems is to make a drastic change in our lifestyle. Hopefully in the future, I could return to Redondo Beach and swim without the chance of stepping in oil.
Citation List
1) “Facts about Illegal Dumping”. City of Dayton Serving the Community. 2008. April 15, 2010 Web
2) Morris, Brandon. “Oil, Money, and the Environment: Punitive Damage under Due Process, Preemption, and Maritime Law in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Ligation”. Tulane Maritime Law Journal. Issue 1(2008): 165-202. Print
3) “The Effects of Oil on Wildlife”. Australian Government. April 15, 2010 Web
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
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