Question

State three environmental and three human consequences of current energy use and of conspicuous consumption as a business model. (e.g., conflict over energy supplies: who gets what; conflict over consumption: access to food or medicine)

Answer 1

All energy sources renewable and non-renewable have an impact on our environment. Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas have been utilised on a large scale in industries around the world and they do substantially more harm than renewable energy sources. Some such environmental consequences of using non-renewable energy include:

air and water pollution due to the escalating levels of carbon emissions in the se of petroleum in automobiles, industries and naval and aerial transportations.

Deforestation and displacement of the wildlife from their natural habitat such as in mining of coal in forest lands

and global climate change due to the depletion of the ozone layer and greenhouse effect due to the increase in the trapped carbon emissions in the Earth’s atmosphere.

However, there are Many other consequences of the rampant use of the energy industry which are far removed from our daily lives and may only affect a minority or marginalized subset of the population. These may be seen as the consequences of energy use on human lives:

The increasing dependence on petroleum for consumption has led to over mining which has led to a depletion of the petroleum resources around the world. This has ultimately resulted in an increase in the direct costs of fossil fuels for energy from coal, natural gas, and oil. As a result, it has widened the socioeconomic gap between the wealthy and the poor - individuals and countries both and the latter category is finding it increasingly difficult to meet its demand for these ess3ntial fuels for sustenance of its major industries and transport line.

There are certain hidden costs of fossil fuels in the form of serious damages to public health. Diseases like Asthma and Cancer are more common today because of the increasing level of harmful Carbon emissions in the atmosphere.

Moreover, the increase in the mining for resources like coal and even setting up alternative non renewable resource plants such as hydroelectric power plants and dams has culminated in forced migration and the displacement several communities and towns who have ultimately lost their homes and sources of livelihood and have been uprooted form their homelands.