Stuart Fox, Staff Writer of LiveScience says that threats to environment lurk among things we see and use every day. He has listed seven polluters whose negative impact on the planet is worse than it may seem.
MOBILE PHONES:The mobile phones and other electronic gadgets are manufactured using rare earth elements. These gadgets harm the environment twice - once by using the rare elements and second time during its disposal. If not properly disposed, toxic chemicals in these electronics, plastics and batteries can pollute soil and ground water, said Steven Cohen, an environmental specialist at Columbia University.
CONCRETE: The manufacturing process for concrete is carbon intensive and contributes significantly to the greenhouse effect,said Stuart Gaffin, an environmental scientist at NASA Goddard Institute For Space Studies. In addition the concrete infrastructure of cities prevents rain water from entering into soil, Gaffin told LiveScience that cause other environmental problems.
BIOFUEL: Biofuels can be as bad for the planet as the fossil fuels they're designed to replace. Growing crops, such as corn and switch grass, to produce biofuels displace good arable land for such crops and farmers may also cut down forests to expand land that would otherwise carbon dioxide fromm the atmosphere, according to two 2008 studies in the journal of Science. In addition, producing the ferlizers needed for biofuel farming releases the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. This negates any carbon emissions that are saved by using thse fuels, said Amy Townsend-Small, a researcher at the University of California, Irvine.
BATTERIES: Batteries contain many toxic chemicals, and if not properly disposed of, the toxic chemicals leach into the soil and ground water, thus poisoning the environment, said Cohen
PUBLIC PARKS: Manicured parks and lawns do add aesthetic value to the neighborhood. But they do use water, energy and fertilizers - the things that contribute to climate change, said Townsend-Small. Similarly, artificial turf parks made from old tires can leak heavy metals into the ground, Gaffin said.
THE INTERNET: Computers use electricity that was generated often by fossil fuels. The internet and global information technology industry generates about as much carbon dioxide all airlines put together, some 2 % of global CO2 emissions, industry analyst Gartner has reported.
PETS: In his 2009 book "Time to Eat the Dog? The Real Guide To Sustainable Living," author Robert Vale calculated that the production of the amount of meat consumed by a medium sized dog through commercial dog food contributes as much greenhose gas to the at4mosphere as a large car. On the upside, it's safe to say that pets do contain far fewer dangerous toxins than batteries, computers, or power plants.
Source: Start Fox, Staff Writer, LiveScience
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