The Ecology Book

235

poisoned an estimated 250,000

seabirds, 250 Bald Eagles, 2,800 sea

otters, 300 harbor seals, and 22

killer whales. Billions of salmon and

herring eggs also died. Further

catastrophic damage followed in

1991, during the Iraq War, when

Iraqi forces opened the valves of an

offshore oil terminal and released at

least 380 million gallons (1,700

million liters) into the Persian Gulf.

The long-term effects of such

disasters are still unfolding and

have yet to be fully understood.

Much of our nondegradable

products ends up in the oceans.

Since the 1950s, around 8.3 billion

tons of plastic has been produced,

of which only a fifth has been

recycled or incinerated. Each year,

a staggering 8 million tons of

plastic reaches the oceans, and is

responsible for the deaths of huge

numbers of marine animals.

Intangible pollutants

Pollution in the form of energy, be

it light, noise, or heat, can be just

as intrusive as physical waste or

chemical emissions. Light pollution

from buildings, streetlights, vehicles,

and advertising billboards was first

described as a problem in New York

in the 1920s. It can cause problems

for nocturnal wildlife, for example,

because predator–prey relations are

interrupted. Excessive noise can be

highly disturbing in cities, on flight

paths, and near factories and roads.

But it also affects wildlife in subtler

ways. There is evidence that some

birds now sing at night because

their song can be heard more

clearly than during the day.

Waste heat, too, can be

damaging. When water from rivers

or the sea is used as a coolant in

factories or power stations, the hot

water that is returned to the source

THE HUMAN FACTOR

is a form of thermal pollution. It can

kill fish and alter the composition of

the food chain, reducing biodiversity.

Nuclear energy is sometimes

viewed as “cleaner” than fossil-fuel

energy, because it does not produce

greenhouse gases, but it does result

in waste that remains radioactive for

thousands or millions of years. The

industry also bears the inherent risk

of accidental damage. An explosion

at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

in Ukraine in 1986 killed dozens of

people and spread radiation across

Western Europe. The slowly

dwindling effects of contamination

on the ecosystem and human health

are predicted to last a century.

Mitigation measures

Tackling the problem of pollution

is a huge challenge, and involves

both cleaning up existing pollution

and making changes to reduce the

rate at which we add to it. Key

aspects of this include replacing

fossil fuels with sustainable energy,

more recycling and reuse, and the

replacement of nondegradables

with degradable materials. This will

take time and, ultimately, demands

a fundamental shift in our culture

of consumption. ■

Emma Johnston Born in 1973, Australian marine

biologist Emma Johnston was

interested in the oceans from an

early age. She gained her Ph.D. in

marine biology in 2002 and, in

2017, became the Dean of Science

at the University of New South

Wales (UNSW), and Head of the

UNSW’s Applied Marine and

Estuarine Ecology Lab, which

investigates human impacts on

marine ecosystems.

Johnston discovered how

nonnative species can invade

waterways in coastal areas by

adhering to rafts of plastic

pollution floating on the oceans.

She has also studied marine

communities in the Antarctic,

developed new biomonitoring

techniques, and advised

agencies on the management

of estuarine biodiversity.

Key works

2009 “Contaminants reduce

the richness and evenness of

marine communities,”

Environmental Pollution

2017 “Building ‘blue’: an eco-

engineering framework for

foreshore developments,” Journal

of Environmental Management

In 2015, pollution

caused three times

as many deaths as

AIDS, tuberculosis, and

malaria combined.

Philip Landrigan

US_230-235_Pollution.indd 235 12/11/18 7:47 PM