Factories are one of the major air polluters on the planet. If we we are so concerned about the environment why can't we just shut them down? The fact is hundreds of thousands of people would lose their jobs. Factory workers may not even know the harm the are being exposed to through the chemicals that are emmitted. The solution to this problem is finding alternative options that are renewable or environmmentally friendly for each of the following factories, the main dilema is not all of the factories have a way of being healthy or it would cost way to much money to start over again. Different factories that are major pollutants are:
- chemical plants
- coal-fired power plants
- oil refineries
- photochemical plants
- nuclear waste disposal activity
- incinerators
- large lifestock farms
- PVC factories
- metal production factories
- plastic factories
Different Perspections
Air pollution is such a controversial topic as changing things with factories may mean many people would lose their jobs for a while or even permanently, Though in the big picture air pollution is a big threat to us now as well as further down the track. Here are two exaples of contrsting opinions on air pollution:
Green Peace
Green Peace is looking to further Australia's development environmentally. They find that this topic is extremely important as they are all for the environment. They want to follow what the US, Germany, China and Spain have done for the environment. These countries have have started an energy revolution, finding and using alternative options for electricity. Greenpeace proposes that thousands of jobs will be opened up and that it will be much cleaner and more efficient. They hope to achieve a cleaner environment by using renewable souces of energy which are reliable, clean and limitless natural resources such as; sunshine, wind, water (hydro and ocean waves), sustainable organic materials (bioenergy) and geothermal to energy.
http://www.greenpeace.org.au/climate/GI-Index.html
Australian Coal Association
It sounds like a good idea to make the switch to environmentally friendly energy resouces but as the coal industry and Australian government will argue Australia really depends on the exporting of coal to other countries as it is our highest export earner (earnt 55 million dollars larst year).
The coal industry seems to be extremely concerned about the issues of climate change and air pollution. They are now trying to think of ways to make the use of coal better for the environment. Or it could just be that they are worried that people will start to shy away from it and find alternative options for energy, and the coal industry will loose millions of dollars.
The workers in the coal system lower down the order would be concerned as well. They have mostly high paying jobs and wouldn't wont to lose them if alternatives came in for Coal. I assume they would want the company to find solutions for pollution that coal causes.
http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Industry=Coal_Mining/Salary
http://www.australiancoal.com.au/
Should we use a new alternative for energy, or do we stick with coal because of the money we have in it?
What is your stance on factories after watching this video?
