Ecosystems and How They Work Essay

Question 1. The industrialization of the United States began after the civil war and started to government note in the late 19th century as capital equipment and tools were developed. This made the rapid production of more(prenominal) goods for more people possible. This resulted in the expansion of the factory brass allowing people to make a living(a) by manufacturing, commerce, trade or finance. Industrialization, urbanization and immigration caused people to move from the village to the city and unneurotic with the influx of foreign immigrants, this led to a dramatic growth in urban population (Faulkner, 1924).The increase density of industry, transportation and housing had negative impacts on both the land and the lives of the urban dwellers such that on board with the revolution came the problem of pollution in all its forms air, garbage, water and noise. The factories needed less variable heftiness production to run the factories thus energy production shifted from the w aterwheel to the burning of fossil fuels and fuel oils. At first, the urban industrial centers took pride in black smoke as a symbol of gain ground and triumph of civilization.With the invention of the automobile and its rise in popularity, their exhaust fumes further exacerbated the already vesi basint emissions from the factories. These led to a multitude of respiratory ailments. The problem of garbage came with the increasing population. These accumulated faster than they can be collected and disposed. Even the horse-drawn carts utilized for the collection contributed to this problem as the equine cop s created both health hazards and foul odors. Then, the industrial effluents and sewage from were polluting the river systems.The public started to become aw atomic number 18 that the milieu cannot absorb limitless amounts of waste. By the 1960s, the threat became too great. During the mid-twentieth century, the focus on environmental concerns was on the saving of resources suc h as forest, ranges and water which led to the passage of laws such as the Taylor Grazing Act (1934), priming Conservation Act (1935) and even the building of the Hoover Dam (formerly known as the Boulder Dam) to tender cheap electric power along with flood control, recreation and soil conservation.In the 1960s, according to the environmental historian Samuel P. Hays, there was a shift in emphasis from resource efficiency to that of quality of biography based on beauty, health and permanence arising out of the social changes and transformation in human set in the post-War years (cited in Faulkner, 2002). Various private organizations were found, public agencies established and acts passed to address environmental issues. In 1969, there was Friends of the Earth (FOE) which aimed to protect the planet from environmental disaster and to preserve biological, cultural and ethnic diversity.The subject area Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) made it mandatory for federal agencies to prep are environment impact statement. To find the air and water quality, hazard and disposal management, the Environmental Protection Agency was established. In 1970, Earth daylight was first promoted to fight environment causes and to oppose environmental degradation which led o the Environmental Movement. In the same year, the U. S. passed the Clean Air Act.Almost two decades later, an agreement by industrialized nations called the Kyoto Protocol was reached to write out greenhouse gas emissions (Merchant, 2002). The cost of substantially reducing industrial pollution is high but the cost of ignoring it is even higher as it would compromise the sustainability of life itself. Question 2. The biosphere is a closed ecological system with finite resources and its equilibrium is maintained by grand-scale recycling (Pollution, 2004). Fungi and bacteria play major roles in maintaining a balanced ecosystem as they are in essence natures recyclers. slightly of these processes where they ar e involved include photosynthesis and respiration, nitrogen fixation and denitrification. When an organic material is decomposed, the atmospheric supply of speed of light dioxide is replenished. Carbon dioxide is needed by plants for the photosynthetic process where oxygen is a by-product and released into the atmosphere. Oxygen is inbred for human respiration. Plants also need nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus in the form of phosphates in regularize to flourish. These can be found in the soil.Nitrogen is remain backed through nitrification through microbes oxidizing ammonium to form treat and nitrate salts. It can also be obtained through bacteria living in the root nodules of legumes. They obtain fee nitrogen from the air, and synthesize or fix it or even just incorporate it into their bodies so when they die, the nitrogen compounds are released. The phosphorous cycle does not include a gaseous state. Instead, phosphates are removed from rocks where it usually occurs a nd distributed to both the soil and water.The plant absorbs all the nutrients it needs from the soil, produce its own food, releases oxygen, then are eaten by herbivores, who themselves are eaten by carnivores. The phosphates absorbed are returned to the soil through urine and feces as well as from plant and amanimal decomposition. Since the industrial revolution, we have increasingly ignored or altered the rude(a) cycles. The resulting explosion in economic output has come at the cost of the long-term and dangerous depletion of born(p) capital.By relying on nitrogen fertilizer instead of organic farm wastes, we have reduced the magnificence of agricultural lands and created dead zones in our oceans and rivers. Our logging operations and regular use of fossil fuels have increase atmospheric carbon concentrations to very high levels. By diverting or damming our rivers, weve dried out seas (or created fresh ones), changes local weather patterns and disrupted entire ecosystems. Natu re will not be able to keep up if the natural cycles are disrupted by high quantities of wastes. We know this simply cannot go on.