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Effects Of Fracking On The Environment

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Abstract There are multiple types of fossil fuels, oil, coal, and natural gas. When refined they are used in products like plastic or as fuel to generate energy and power vehicles. However, all of these are harmful to the environment. There are different ways of retrieving these fossil fuels such as fracking. Unfortunately fracking is known to cause contamination to groundwater and off gas pollutants into the air. These pollutants lead to sickness of cattle, wildlife and occasionally the general populus. Offshore drilling can also be detrimental to the environment when an oil spill occurs. Crude oil can coat wildlife and beaches, devastating many ecosystems. Surprisingly carbon dioxide itself is actually quite beneficial to plant life. In …show more content…

Surprisingly carbon dioxide itself is actually quite beneficial to plant life. Between 1982 and 2011, 20.5% of the world's vegetated area got greener, while just 3% grew browner; the rest showed no change. To intake carbon dioxide plants need expel some water in exchange. Over ninety five percent of the water taken up by plants is actually released through their leaves because of this. Subsequently higher carbon dioxide levels allows them to hold onto large amounts of water that they would have otherwise off gassed. Not having to transport as much water they are able to use less energy and generate more food, in the form of sugar, which is then dedicated to growth and reproduction. Over the past few decades the surface of the earth has been getting greener, with more forests and thicker vegetation. The increase in forestation is not only from more carbon dioxide, but also more rainfall due to increased temperatures. Though fossil fuels have actually helped the environment overall, it has been detrimental to certain ecosystems that struggle due to increased temperatures and other harmful …show more content…

Almost all scientific communities agree that the use of fossil fuels is contributing to climate change. However it is argued to what degree fossil fuels actually affect this warming. Many people believe that the changing temperatures is almost solely due to greenhouse gasses generated by fossil fuels, while others argue that the earth goes through natural climate change and we are only slightly what would have occurred naturally. Another interesting aspect of the argument is that the earth has feedback systems that affect the climate. As carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and temperatures go up so does the cooling properties of plants though not enough to

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