The Santa Monica Bay Restoration :: Environment Environmental Pollution Essays

The Santa Monica Bay Restoration Pollution is a worldwide catastrophe that contaminates or destroys every living and non-living thing in its path. The earth is designed to constantly balance itself allowing plant and animal life the ability to thrive. Unfortunately when bombarded with chemicals, heavy metals and unnatural human waste, the earth exceeds its critical load and irreversible damage occurs. There are literally thousands of areas that have been negatively effected by the numerous types of pollution. To date there are over four thousand lakes alone where wildlife and human use ceases to exist. Pollution reeks such havoc on communities because it "knows no boundaries." Even if one country implements tough emission laws, a neighboring country's pollution may continue destroying its resources. To exemplify the ever increasing degree of pollution, I will be focusing on the Santa Monica Restoration Project. This project is an ongoing effort to maintain a clean and healthy environment in and surrounding the Santa Monica Bay so that plant and animal life are able to thrive. Unfortunately this project is continuously challenged by numerous pollutants. Pollution is a simplified way of classifying a multitude of harmful acts and elements. The Santa Monica Bay experiences pollution created by auto and homeowners, oil spills and leaks, gasoline and paint contamination from boats, wastewater from two local sewage treatment plants, litter and construction sediment. The goal of the restoration project is double fold. Number one, to clean up the bay in order to bring back plant and animal life that has either died or fled to other habitats, and two to make the individuals and companies who cause the contamination aware of the harmful acts they are engaging in daily. In many clean-up projects, officials initially point fingers at factories and large corporations assuming large facilities must be the cause of such horrendous pollutants. Unfortunately, what officials have discovered is that although industries do produce large amounts of waste, human activity produces even more. "Residential and open land uses together comprise ninety percent of the total Santa Monica Bay watershed area, and contribute eighty-two percent of the total runoff and the largest pollutant loads to the Bay." Auto and homeowners commit numerous actions that hurt the environment unknowingly. Simple acts such as overwatering one's lawn creates a runoff which cause pesticides and fertilizers to flow into storm drains that empty into the bay. Litter, pet waste and improperly disposed car care products cause the same problem.