Chamber of Essays
Koh, A (1998), 'Coastal Pollution: Our Children's Legacy?', The Decom Stop, November/December 1998 issue, Singapore.
COASTAL POLLUTION
Our oceans, what are they to us? For most, not really a lot, apart from the fact that it is a source of food. For others, like divers, perhaps, it is a playground where leisure hours are meant to be spent. But.... why think about it in the first place? Why think about something that will always be here? After all, the oceans are so huge and old. Surely, they will be here forever. So... why the fuss?
The sad fact is: our oceans are changing, dying rapidly due to human action, or inaction as the case may be. The International Year of the Reef only gave us a peek into one area of oceanic degradation that is happening right now. But oceanic degradation goes beyond coral reef destruction, it encompasses issues such as overfishing, accidents at sea, land based pollution, toxic waste dumping, nuclear device testing etc. The list goes on. One only has to spend half a day at the library and search through books on environmental science to realise that oceanic degradation has happened and is still happening.
There are so many forms of oceanic degradation, each form equally insidious, equally deadly and equally deserving of mention. But we lack the editorial space and, I suspect, the attention span needed to bare all. So, let's just explore one issue at a time. As good a place to start as any would be the problem of coastal pollution - the point where the pollutants of our habitat overflows into our oceans.
Coastal environmental degradation can take place as a result of a variety of reasons. Two reasons are effluents and nutrients. Effluents cover a mixture of environmental waste products such as faeces, washing water and industrial discharge. We can classify five major problems that are a result of these waste products: disease, deoxygenation, enrichment, toxicity and aesthetics.
The effects of disease are very real. Untreated effluents conveniently discharged into the coastal waters will increase the susceptibility of coastal human population to diseases as well as increase the recovery time for patients. Divers will be able to identify with ear infections which are linked to bacteria which thrives in non-chlorinated waters. Furthermore, bacteria thrives in waters with untreated waste products.
There have also been incidents where shell fisheries affected by bacteria have been closed down owing to the harvested shellfish causing gastroenterological complications (just another way of saying stomach and intestinal disorders).
Bacteria and micro-organic content of most sewage also have a high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). Waters so affected are deoxygenated as a result. A local depletion of dissolved oxygen in the waters of the coastal environment might cause marine life to die off in extreme cases. Local fisheries have collapsed as a result.
Coastal waters can also suffer from an enrichment by nutrients which are washed off farmlands and into the waters. These are mainly chemical fertilisers in the forms of nitrates and phosphates. These nutrients, once introduced into coastal waters, will enrich the marine environment beyond their natural level.
Algae found naturally in the water body will bloom rapidly. This causes oxygen depletion as well as blocking out sunlight from other forms of marine plant and animal life as the algae floats on the surface of the water. "Red tides" - where the sea was coloured red by such algal blooms - has occurred in the Philippines and Hawaii and, more recently, in Hong Kong.
Toxicity in our oceans are a real problem. Toxic wastes have a long half-life and remains in the environment for a long, long time - many generations to come, give or take a few. This poisoning of marine life also poses a constant health threat to humans. There have been numerous cases in Japan and Hong Kong where fish that have ingested mercury have, in turn, caused the death of humans who ate them.
Lastly, there is the consideration of aesthetics. Imagine snorkelling in a foul smelling pool of water that has faecal matters. Not a pretty thought, is it?
This issue of coastal pollution would be grossly incomplete if some time was not spent discussing environmental management as well. Environmental management must consider the fact that things exist within a system. We are part of a world ecosystem and actions taken in one part of the system would affact another. For example, an initiative to save a coral reef by the Fishery Department of a country might not work if its efforts are not coordinated with that of its Forestry Department to reduce timber activities along the coast. The erosion will just carry on choking the reef.
Environmental management must ideally be a reflection of the desired long term condition we want for human society. The solutions must, therefore, be environmentally sustainable. This will ensure that the environment will be perpetuated in the best possible condition for generations of human beings to come.
Environmental management would, therefore, determine which solutions are economically and technologically feasible. In our desire to solve environmental problems, we must be practical and use methods which are the least wasteful. All resources are scarce and all opportunity costs must always be carefully considered.
Realising that we have environmental problems is only the first step. What is more important is doing something about it. But if nothing is done, or if not enough is done, to arrest or manage these problems, we will not only be endangering ourselves but future generations as well. The environment is going to be our legacy to our children. Just what are we going to leave them?
"As the twentieth century draws to a close, the tale of the Titanic comes uncomfortably close to describing the perceptual gap we now face: our inability to comprehend the scale of the ongoing degradation of the planet and how it will affect our future. Few understand the magnitude of the potential tragedy; fewer still have a good idea of what to do about it.
"The Titanic's passengers were mainly innocent victims, but the dilemma now facing society is largely of our own making. And for us, there is still hope. But saving planet earth - and its human passengers - will require going beyond the denial of reality that still characterises many of our political and business leaders. It also hinges on the collective capacity and will to quickly make the transition from perception to policy change, an unprecedented challenge." from "The Worldwatch Environmental Alert" series.
"So, what can we do about it? We are only the .... little people," many will now say. Well, we can only hope for those better qualified and in a better position to actually effect some changes. But, in the meantime, we can always help by being more conscious of environmental issues and support initiatives to help the environment. Every little bit helps.
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