Pollution on Colombian Rainforests and more....

Colombia, even though is very small, its the second country in the world with the greatest biodiversity. However many of their rainforests are disappearing, and not only because of cocaine production. Also I researched and found out that the results of pollution can be either physical or biological. Something extra other than the things I promised I was going to research of is how Mongolia is affected during winter because of pollution.

Researching I found Mongabay where I found information about rainforests in Colombia. “Each year Colombia loses nearly 200,000 hectares of natural forest, according to figures released by the United Nations in 2003” tells the same web page. Let’s start by telling the main reasons of how here in Colombia rainforests are affected. One reason is palm oil plantation. Another reason is gold mining. An estimate during the mid 1990’s told that gold-mining by itself cleared 80,000 hectares of rainforests and at the same time it polluted rivers with mercury and siltation. A third way rainforests disappear here in Colombia is by coca plantations, which affects the rainforests in two ways. One is that poor farmers clear a lot of rainforests to grow the plant. The other reason is that drug efforts spray herbicides in areas they suspect there is coca to kill it. However any other plant is also killed. Finally, let’s focus on how pollution affects rainforests here in Colombia. In my country there are gas and oil deposits. “Ongoing instability has somewhat limited potential development”, says Mongabay. Guerillas attacks and installations on Eastern Colombia cause oil spills. Obviously, this oil spills lead to pollution.

Two ways in which the results of pollution are divided are physical results and biological results. One of the physical effects are oil spills. It is cause by ships collisions and other accidents. These oil spills coat everything they touch. Oil spills require expensive clean-up operations. “It fouls boat hulls, pier pilings, and shore structures; spoils the beauty of nature by killing fish and birds; and makes beaches unusable”, tells TPUB about oil spills. Another physical effect of pollution are air pollutants. Burning oil and coal produces sulfur oxides, which causes steel to erode a lot times faster than the normal. Also, when it mixes with other pollutants, sulfur oxide’s particulates cause corrosion at an even faster rate. Particulates by themselves damage soil materials and structures. I some way it destroys art because with some pollutants it erodes faster sculptures and buildings. The biological effects I also found them on TPUB. “The most serious result of pollution is its harmful biological effects on human health and on the food chain of animals, birds, and marine life. Pollution can destroy vegetation that provides food and shelter. It can seriously disrupt the balance of nature, and, in extreme cases, can cause the death of humans”, tells the same web page. Pesticides, that can be herbicides or insecticides, kill vegetation. These pesticides are meant to kill an specific animal or plant. However it isn’t selective so it also kills any other organism. The biological effect of water pollution is a great problem because it affects our water ways. It is caused by the widespread of pollutants such as oil and fertilizers. Since we need water to survive and water pollution put in danger our water ways, we are also in danger. Water pollution puts in danger marine life. Some water pollutants like oil that is a major one, kill surface-swimming organisms and sea birds. Also, when the oil sinks to the ocean floor, it also might harm shellfish and other marine life. The Navy is concerned because somehow they also cause pollution. The ships spill ship-wastes into water-ways. These wastes include oil, laundry waters, sanitary wastes, solid wastes, and different kinds of chemicals.

Mongolia is known because of its clear and blue skies. During winter, however, Ulan Bator, it’s capital, gets covered with smog on the sky. “The smoke can make it hard to breathe and it's affecting the health of Ulan Bator's burgeoning population” tells BBC News. Buildings might completely disappear from view because they get covered in smoke. In airports, international flights get delay or canceled because of the little view there is. Because Ulan Bator is in a valley covered by mountains, all the smoke gets trapped and preserved on the city.

I have some opinions after this research. I didn’t know how coca affected rainforests here in Colombia. Also, this is the first time I ever knew that gold-mining also affected rainforests. I got to know that guerillas here in Colombia also affected my country because it polluted the rainforests. Finally, however, I understood that pollution really isn’t the major way rainforests here in Colombia are disappearing, but it is a way. It cool to know that the effects of pollution are divided in two ways, physical and biological. Its sad to know that even though the Navy is so helpful, it pollutes waterways.

This research leads me to another way. As I’ve researched I found a lot of information, even though I didn’t write all of it. I’ve seen that every time I browse pollution, somewhere there is East Asia, especially China. So now I’m researching about water and air pollution on China and maybe other places in East Asia.