Industrial Environmental Management. Tapas K. Das
affecting all humanity. The dominant factors which are responsible to environmental deterioration throughout the world are rapid industrialization, urbanization, population explosion (Figure 2.1), poverty, over‐exploitation of resources, depletion of traditional resources of energy and raw materials, and research for new sources of energy and raw materials.
As a result of this, there is air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, land pollution, and so on. The list is virtually endless. Moreover, the seriousness of environmental problem may be judged in terms of knowledge and skills required to understand a particular issues demanding solution. In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection constitutes an integral part of development process and it cannot be considered in isolation. Peace, development, and environment are interdependent and indivisible (Rio Declaration, UNESCO 1992). In the same continuation, Earth Summit of 1992 in Rio de Janerio, through Rio Declaration and agenda 21 has further concretized the concept of environmental protection and sustainable development essential to survival of human race. Today we are confronted with a perpetuation of disparities between and within nations, a worsening of poverty among developing countries, hunger, ill health due to malnutrition, poor sanitation and lack of safe drinking water and proper health care, illiteracy, and continuing deterioration of the ecosystem on which we depend for our well‐being. However, integration of environment and development concerns and greater attention to them will lead to the fulfillment of basic needs, improved living standards for all, better protected and managed ecosystems, and a safer, more prosperous future.
2.3 Causes of Pollution and Environmental Degradation
Causes of pollution and environmental degradation are of two types:
1 Natural causes
2 Man‐made causes
2.3.1 Natural Causes
Drought, flood, tsunami, cyclone, hurricane, twister, torrents, earthquake, molten lava of volcano, and epidemic are the main natural causes/factors which cause environmental pollution. Since these are natural‐caused events and man has no control over them, they are known as natural causes.
2.3.2 Man‐Made Causes
There are four main man‐made causes:
1 Population growth
2 Poverty
3 Urbanization
4 Industrialization
2.3.3 Population Growth
“The Earth is finite and world population is finite.” Every new born consumes plenty of natural and nonnatural products, which are also ultimately provided after utilizing natural resources. Thus, every birth increases the consumption of natural resources. But the fact is a finite world can support only a finite population. In other words, natural resources shrink as people multiply. The current world population is 7.73 billion as of August 2019 according to the most recent United Nations estimates elaborated by Worldometers. The world's population has grown almost sixfold in this century (Figure 2.1). India alone has about 17% population of the world land area. This rise in urban population is at a very high rate. It indicates an increasing demand for fuel, food, pollution free clean water and air, space to live in, and healthy conditions. Increasing population in urban areas has created the problem of land, air, and water pollution, and unsanitary conditions that all cumulatively adversely affecting the quality of life. Some big cities are rated as choked cities due to polluting industries around them. Continuous rise in urban population has enhanced the density of population in various areas which has also created various social, physical, and psychological problems for people. These high‐density populated areas have also resulted in deforestation and disappearance of vegetation cover, which is only 11% of the total area against 33% which is essential. Increasing population also results in poverty which is also a cause of pollution.
2.3.4 Poverty
Poverty contributes equally to both – population growth and environmental pollution. Poverty has been defined as the inability of an individual or household to attain a minimum standard of living (World Commission on Health and Environment 1992). The poor people usually have low life expectancy, high infant mortality, and higher incidence of disablement. Unhygienic, unsanitary, and poor health conditions are due to poverty. The impoverishment of the poor is accompanied by simultaneous and systematic erosion of the basic means of their subsistence, the environment, with its life‐supporting natural resources – land, forest, water, and air. Poverty reduces people's capacity to use resources in a sustainable way, which also intensifies pressure on the environment in underdeveloped and developing countries. It is now been aptly observed that the poor and poverty are linked to the environment (Our Common Future 1987).
2.3.5 Urbanization
Rapid and unplanned urbanization has also contributed to environmental pollution and degradation of human environment. This is a direct result of rapid population growth and unending migration of the poor from small towns and villages to urban centers of developing countries. The burning of coal and wood in concentrated areas made the cities the primary sources of pollution. Environmental factors have been given too little consideration in the thinking on urbanization in many cities of underdeveloped and developing countries. Yet they are extremely important factors to be considered with increasing urbanization. The levels of water and smog pollution are already high in many cities in underdeveloped and developing nations.
2.4 Industrialization and Urbanization in the United States
Early in the nineteenth century, an awesome new force was gathering strength in Europe. The term “Industrial Revolution” was coined by the French as a metaphor of the affinity between technology and the great political revolution of modern times. Soon exported to the United States, the Industrial Revolution swept away any visions of America being an agrarian society. The steam engine, the railroad, the mechanical thresher, and hundreds of other ingenious artifacts that increased man's ability to transform the natural world and put it to use would soon be puffing and clattering and roaring in all corners of the land. The new machines swiftly accelerated the consumption of raw materials from the nation's farms, forests, and mines.
2.4.1 Mini Case Studies
Industrialization and urbanization, as a result of Industrial Revolution, began long before the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but it accelerated greatly during this period because of technological innovations, social changes, and a political system increasingly apt to favor economic growth beyond any other concern. Before 1880, industrialization depended upon a prescribed division of labor – breaking most jobs up into smaller tasks, and assigning the same people to repeat one task indefinitely. After 1880, industrialization depended much more on mechanization – the replacement of people with machines – to increase production and maximize profits. The development of the modern electrical grid, starting in the early 1880s, facilitated such technological advances. Henry Ford's assembly line and the rise of mass production after the turn of the twentieth century only strengthened this effect. As a result, the total manufacturing output of the United States was 28 times greater in 1929 than it was 1859. Adjust that number for the growth in population over the same period, and it still multiplied seven times over (Wright 1941).
Cities in America date back to the beginning of the colonial period, but the tendency for new industrial factories to be located in or near urban areas meant that cities grew much faster during the late nineteenth century than ever before. This trend was most apparent in large cities like New York, which expanded from approximately half a million to around 3.5 million