the environment and health

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9r9XwDx7MQ&feature=channel

 

                         The environment and health

 

The environment has been associated with many diseases which have caused many children and people  to loss their lives or to live with conditions that is affecting their lives in one way or the other. The video  link above shows how man’s activities have great consequences on the environment and the impact it has on  people living in this area and also a source of conflict .Oil is said to generally corrupt, oil pollutes and its create confusion and chaos in any place it is found so is the case in the Niger Delta region and Africa in general. It creates a situation where people surrender their hard work and wait for oil money. So in this oil economy people turn not to work to get money but are expected to receive money from Oil Company while the oil companies on their part exploit the resources and the truth value of the oil is never paid.

Oil Company operating in this region are multinational company, there dominate the extraction of the crude oil. Most often these transnational oil companies have the technical know-how and so it has become a relationship of a powerful partner that dictates to the government since they have the capacities to do so. It is this powers that the company has that they relate with the environment, human right, Justice, governance etc. Before the arrival of the transnational oil company in Nigeria the Niger Delta was said to be an idyllic natural paradise, because it lies on the tropical forest belt of Africa it was blessed with a huge bio diversity .It had clean air and water and people who lived here normally survived from the land because of the availability of these resources, they depended on the land. People were in turned with nature .The cultured required that the land many not be vandalized something that is now rampant and is taking place. But things change when the palm oil companies come followed by the oil companies. These companies never really paid the true value of the resources that were extracted and did not really care how sustainable this extraction and its effect on the environment and the people living in these communities. This companies descended on the land and the consequences was pollution (air, land and water, corruption, deforestation etc.This devastation caused massive poverty and the environmental pollution. Peoples health and livelihoods were jeopardize

                      

                       The effects of the oil extraction

What is happening in the Niger delta region is what happened in regions where oil is extracted. Looking at its effects on the environment it has caused air, water and land pollution. This effects are usually long lasting .when oil mixes with water it caused what can be referred to as "mousse"  and also the burning of natural gas, coal crude oil goes a long way to increase green house gas effect This is as a result of the fact that certain atmospheric gases, such as carbon dioxide water vapour  and methane and, are able to change the energy balance of the planet by absorbing  long wave radiation emitted from the Earth's surface. This has caused a change in climate since it has enhanced   the Earth's climate which has lead to increase in temperature, flooding, radiation which causes illnesses. We see the destruction of bio diversity, aquatic life from the oil spill. The ecosystem changes .The food chain becomes poison, as the toxin from the spill gets in to the food chain. Breeding grounds are destroyed, the feeding area is destroyed. All this has grievous consequences on man. The people are demanding that the land that is polluted be cleaned and restore so that the life stock, aquatic life can strive, the waters be cleaned. No environmental justice. People who depend on aquatic life have lose their source of livelihood and poverty has becomes endemic also the fact that the people consume some of this aquatic life it has lead to poisoning of people and the animal. People health deteriorates and great damage is done on the immune systems of both human and animal. The cycle of poisoning continues for many years

Environment, poverty and health are greatly interwoven in this situation. The destruction of the environment by this oil company has the ability to great poverty in those communities where there are found. Because the communities have been devastated, livelihoods are ruin and the people fall in to poverty. People live in abject poverty, and it is said people live on less than a dollar a day. No access to clean water, no electricity and sanitation is deplorable .Waste disposal is done in the waters and communities are faced with malaria, cholera and other infectious diseases that can be contracted from such environments.

People have the impression that they have been stolen from and this has lead to an upraising of youth who use crimes, gangs and arm rebellions to get their own share of oil money. It has been turned in to a conflict and this conflict is threatening the peace and stability of Nigeria.

       

Proposed solutions for the problems and a way forward

The multinational company should clean up the spill oil. There should be held accountable and there have to take responsibility. Learning from the recent Deepwater Horizon BP oil leak disaster in the Gulf of Mexico where it has been reported $6bn has been estimated for the cost of cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico and this is not done in the Niger Delta region. Oil spill comes as a result of the releases of  crude oil from tankers,offshore platforms,drilling rigs and wells, as well as spills of refined petroleum products . Below are some of the Methods which can be used to clean up the oil

-  The use of bioremediation which is the use of  micro-organism to break down or remove oil.

-Burning show be controlled burning so that it can reduce the amount of oil in water. This should be done when winds are low. The problem with this method is that it also causes air pollution

-Solidifying is another method which can be used .In this case Solidifiers are used and there are composed of dry hydrophobic polymers . There change the physical state of spilled oil from liquid to a semi-solid or a rubber-like material that floats on water. Solidifiers are insoluble in water, therefore the removal of the solidified oil is easy and the oil will not leach out.

-oil can be sucked up along with the water, and then with the use of centrifuge oil from the water can be separated. The water is then returned to the sea but sometimes this water contains some amount of oil.

Prevention of oil spills should be a priority. While efforts should be made to remove all oil that has been spilled into the environment there must also be prevented, in the case of the Niger delta there is need for repair of physical facilities since most of them are old and dilapidated. These structures sometimes explode resulting in an outbreak of fire which consumes the surrounding land. Despite of the anger of the people, people should stop sabotaging and vandalizing these oil structures because there help in spilling oil and destroying their own environment, what they are claiming to be fighting against.

The government should invest in renewable energy. Solar or wind energy should be the way to go. By investing on renewable energy the extraction quarter of oil will be reduce. It should also be the responsibility of the government to make sure that their oil companies are brought to book if they violate any of the country’s oil laws something which is not done often because of the financial power that these oil companies have, the reason for corruption. In case of spill regulatory agencies should assessed them and then penalties levied on them and money paid in insurance and legal claims.

Insofar as the people of the communities think that they are not benefiting from the oil, they is need that the government invest more in these communities. Fighting poverty in these communities is very important. This should be done with the creation of more schools and also technical education should be encouraged. Health care facilities should be created making it affordable for everybody. From the videos one notice of the degraded sanitation there is needed for proper waste disposal method and also the need of roads, clean water should be made available to people. It is estimated that about 78% of the Nigerian population lacks electricity

 Oil companies should not just be there to extract they should also participant in the development of the communities. So there should make available fund for infrastructure and social amenities which will lead to development. Transnational companies should allow the reformation of the governance process in the oil industry and there should be responsible for environment degradation. These companies should also pay attention to sustainability. The fight against corruption should be at the fore center both at the level of the oil companies and the governments and the people should be able to gain from the oil. Because of lack of employment the youth have gotten involve in crimes and gang actives. So the interest of the people should be the focus.

It is devastating to see how the environment is destroyed, a poverty is endemic in the society, and the increase in conflicts which result in the lost of live. What has been affected is the spoiling of the land, with consequences for health and livelihood

References
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9r9XwDx7MQ&feature=channel

-http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Oc-Po/Oil-Spills

-://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_spill

-http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals