3.3 - Environmental Issues

Vulnerability to Climate Change

Instructor's Video: Arctic Links to an external site.

Instructor's Video: Hurricanes Links to an external site.

Both Canada and the United States are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Wildlife and humans are at risk. For example, by some estimates, 2/3rds of the birds in North America are at risk of extinction. People are no less at risk.   Dense population centers on the Gulf of Mexico and on the Atlantic Coast are very exposed to increased hurricane activity as the oceans warm. Sea level rise and coastal erosion, caused by thermal expansion of the oceans, are already impacting coastlines across the region, but in particular, in the Arctic. Here, at least 26 coastal villages are being forced to relocate inland, at an estimated cost of $130 million per village.

Some studies suggest that regardless of how much human decrease there is in Greenhouse Gases, at least half the populated areas of 400 towns and cities in North America will eventually be directly impacted by sea level change. Many arid farming zones will dry further as temperatures reduce soil moisture, making irrigation critical. Droughts already impacting California and the Southwest are expected to intensify and persist. And as it will all over the planet, unpredictable and severe weather will increase.

Other Environmental Issues Facing North America

  • Air Pollution and Acid Rain –  In addition to climate change,  Greenhouse Gases contribute to air pollution  and acid rain. Industrial emissions, car exhaust, and water vapor causes pollution over North American cities and causes a variety of health problems. These same emissions also result in acid rain, which is created when pollutants dissolve in falling precipitation and make the rain acidic. Acid rain kills trees and, when concentrated in lakes and streams, poison fish and wildlife. Because of weather and wind patterns, the area most affected by acid rain is a wide swath on both sides of the eastern U.S.-Canada border.
  • Oil and the Oil Sands industry - In many coastal and interior locations of North America, oil extraction is a large and potentially environmentally devastating industry. Larger marine oil spills have already happened in North America: the ship wreck of the Exxon oil tanker Valdez and the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico are two devastating incidents. Canada has the largest proven oil reserves in the World after Saudi Arabia but more than 90% is in hard to access oil sands in western Canada. The costs of extracting this oil in terms of the environment are high. Oil extraction from tar sands is the largest source of carbon emissions in Canada. Oil sand production uses vast amounts of water and leaves behind large accumulations of tailings which contain toxic chemicals and solvents. In the U.S. fracking has boosted  the identified oil reserves. Fracking uses high pressure injections of water to fracture rock formations, releasing natural gas and oil. There are many potential environmental impacts of fracking: higher greenhouse gas emissions than conventional drilling, significant local air pollution, water pollution and earthquake activity. 
  • Pipelines – Along the northern coast of Alaska, the Trans-Alaska pipeline runs southwest 800 miles to Valdez. The pipeline often runs above ground, avoiding the Arctic permafrost but increasing the risk of devastating above ground oil spills in sensitive habitats.  The pipeline interferes with the migration of caribou and other animals. Oil extracted from tar sands in Alberta is  transported in raw form via pipelines. Controversy surrounds the  building of the Keystone Pipeline, part of which is already in use. 
  • Coal – Coal mining is a major industry in both the U.S. and Canada.  Strip mining can result in wastelands of huge tailing piles and polluted waterways.  Mountaintop removal is a particularly damaging mining practice in which the whole top of a mountain is leveled and the tailings are pushed into surrounding valleys, resulting in the pollution of entire water sheds.
  • Mining – Canada is home to 75% of the World’s mining companies. Significant environmental damage is associated with these mines. Canada has more mine tailings spills than most other countries in the world. Since 2008, mining waste failures have killed more than 340 people in Canada, damaged hundreds of miles of waterways, affected drinking water sources, wiped out fish populations, destroyed heritage sites and monuments and jeopardized the livelihoods of many communities.
  • Logging - Logging is common throughout North America. It is especially important along the Pacific Coast and in the southeastern U.S.  Logging provides most of the construction lumber and much of the paper used in Canada, the U.S. and parts of Asia. Prior to European arrival, one half of North America was forested. A quarter of those forests are gone. Clear cutting is a particularly devastating practice.
  • Soil Pollution: Micro-plastics, oil spills, mining, intensive farming, petrochemicals have all been found in increasing quantities in North American soil.  In the US, we are losing topsoil to pollution and erosion 17 times faster than it forms.
  • Water Pollution: In the United States., 40% of rivers are too polluted for fishing and swimming. 90% of riparian habitats have been lost since Europeans arrived in the landscape. 60 million Americans have unsafe tap water.
  • Water Management: Per capita, the U.S. uses the most water in the World. Significant drought has plagued California  and the Southwest. The largest aquifer in North America ,the Ogallala, may run dry by mid-century leaving southwestern Kansas and the Texas Panhandle dry.  
  • Garbage disposal: The average  American produces 1,704 lbs. of garbage per year, 3 times the global average. Plastic waste enters the oceans and toxic chemicals leach into the soil. 1/3 of all food in the United States is wasted.

Learn More

Learn more about the Keystone Pipeline Links to an external site.

Learn more about Canada's

Tar Sands Links to an external site.

Learn more about unsafe drinking water in Flint, Michigan Links to an external site.