The Effects of Oil Drilling on Humans and Environments

Student Name

Nash Community College

Abstract

The effects of oil drilling on humans and the environment’s they live are substantial. The effects start from the moment of construction and can last forever. Current concerns are arising in low-populated areas where oil exploration is new or untapped. These areas and the people that live in them have undergone significant changes due to the oil drilling. Oil drilling contaminates freshwater and food sources like animals and crops. Because of the contamination, some of the effects on the human body include an increase in diseases, cancers, and mutations. Other effects on the environment include global warming, the change migration and reproduction patterns, the disintegration of food chains.

The Effects of Oil Drilling on Humans and Environments

Chelala, C. (1998). Colombian U’wa face hazards of oil drilling. The Lancet, 352(9123), 209.

Retrieved from http://nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/

199079468?accountid=12675

Cesar Chelala is a medical doctor and researcher. He has participated in numerous health-related missions all over the world for organizations like UNICEF and USAID. He has also worked as a researcher at New York City’s Public Health Institute and New York University School of Medicine. In this article, Chelala details how oil drilling impacts indigenous people and their habitats. He primarily focuses on the U’wa people of the Andes region. Chelala provides information on how the contamination of soil and water from oil drilling can lead to crop failure and the death of animals. He concludes from the data collected that drilling from oil can also lead to human health deterioration. The purpose of his article is to protect indigenous people and their natural environments from the harmful side effects of oil exploration. The information from this article is relevant to my research question because the article outlines the domino effect of oil drilling on an environment. Chelala’s health missions to countries in the Andes region coupled with this article show his investment to the preservation of people and the environments that they live in.

Finkel, M.L., Hays, J., & Law, A. (2013). Modern natural gas development and harm to health:

The need for proactive public health policies. ISRN Public Health, doi:http://dx.doi.org/1

0.1155/2013/408658

Finkel, Hays, and Law combined make up a team of professors, doctors, and researchers. Each author has a background in medicine and science. In this article, the authors outline the main health effects of oil drilling on the human body. The article also discusses how oil drilling produces the contamination of air, soil, and water. The article brings awareness to humans on realistic health concerns such as diseases and mutations that can occur in oil drilling communities. This article supports my topic by showing how oil pollution can break down the human body by attacking the different organ systems.

Heilprin, J. (2003, Mar 05). Effects of alaska oil drilling continue to mount, report says. Oakland

Tribune Retrieved from http://nclive.org/cgibin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/do

cview/351863750?accountid=12675

John Heilprin is a journalist for the Associated Press. In this article, Heilprin describes the environmental changes caused by oil drilling. He explains the pros and cons that oil drilling can have on an environment. He provides examples of how harm caused by oil exploration provides more harm than positive outcomes. He tells how oil drilling has drawn dangerous predators like foxes out of hiding and therefore endangered rare species. This article builds on the other articles that I have researched by supporting the idea that oil drilling causes major changes to environments.

Horton, J. (2008). Retrieved October 21, 2016, from http://science.howstuffworks.com/

environmental/energy/offshore-drilling-controversy.htm

Jennifer Horton is an environmental studies scholar. In her article, she highlights the effects of offshore oil drilling on environments. Horton shines a light on how the chemicals that are released from oil drilling can have high toxicity levels. Thus, the chemicals can poison water and kill animals. The author also provides information on how oil exploration can create seismic waves that disturb sea mammal’s migration patterns. Aside from harm to wildlife, Horton expresses concerns regarding the significant erosion that occurs from oil drilling. This article is helpful because it helps to identify key oil drilling effects on oceans and coastlines.

McLendon, R. (n.d.). 5 dangers of oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean. Retrieved October 21,

2016, from http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/blogs/5-dangers-of-oil-drilling-in-the-arctic-ocean

Russell McLendon works for Mother Nature Network as the science editor. In this article, McLendon describes why oil exploration in the Arctic Ocean is dangerous. This article informs that the noise from the drilling can throw off animal migration and change reproduction patterns. McLendon details how oil spills can make the ocean toxic and kill wildlife. McLendon also reveals how ecological recovery from oil drilling is a slow and sometimes impossible process. This article relates to my research because it proves that oil drilling can be damaging and leave long-term devastation to environments.

Sovacool, B.K. (2007). Environment damage, abandoned treaties, and fossil-fuel dependence:

The coming costs of oil-and-gas exploration in the “1002 area” of the arctic national

Wildlife refuge. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 9(2), 187-201. doi:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10668-005-9013-4

Benjamin Sovacool is a Professor of Energy Policy at the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex, and he is Director of the Sussex Energy Group and Center on Innovation and Energy Demand. He has researched topics such as climate change, energy supply, and environmental sustainability. In this article, Sovacool describes the implications of oil drilling in Alaska. He provides examples on how the waste that is developed from oil drilling can negatively impact the wilderness by breaking down food-chains and contributing to global warming. The purpose of this article is to inform people on how oil drilling is harmful to the Arctic. This article is useful to my topic because it discusses how oil exploration will break apart ecosystems.