Monday, June 29, 2015

Off-Shore Environmental Impacts

When looked at off-shore drilling it has some advantages- that being said the disadvantages outweigh them. Economically, off-shore drilling is good. It lowers the gas prices and diminishes our reliance for foreign oil and even has little impact on the environment. But socially, we don’t agree with off-shore drilling as we’ve seen the oil spills and the marine life get affected. To find potential oil reserves, researchers and companies send seismic waves into the ground to reveal a possible reserve. The noise however disorientates whales and can lead to mass beaching. Not only is off-shore drilling affecting the whales and their hearing but also at least 0.001 percent of oil is spilled into the ocean every time there is a drilling. In one year there is around 300-500 spills. This affects the marine life and if exposed to it regularly, can cause cancer to the animals. With all this happening, fishing starts decreasing due to the pollution and disruption of the marine life habitats. The disadvantages can continue as you look farther into how the environment is being impacted. As humans, we hear about the BP Oil Spill and all we think about is all the oil we’ve just lost but what we don’t see is all the toxins that are now harming fishes and plants and life in the ocean. The disruptions in the ocean can lead to displaced migration patterns, inability to mate and communicate, and them vulnerable to prey and unable to locate food.
The debate on off-shore drilling has been on and off and as humans get more educated, the argument gets more advanced. The truth is, there is pros and cons to everything in life and while the cons overrule the pros in this situation there is still people who see it the other way. The only for sure fix is to find a new way of getting oil or a new resource completely. Nothing will be perfect but if we could just protect the whales from losing their hearing and allow the fish to be able to mate and prey; maybe it’ll seem perfect.


Work Cited:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.