Pollution: A Growing Concern For All Canadians

William Magnan
5 minutes 18 seconds
Mr. Dunbar’s ENG3U­04 class
Nepean High School

How does one truly measure the effects of pollution? Hi, my name is Will and I am here to talk to you about pollution in Canada, and what should be done to reduce its’ harmful effects. Environmental pollution refers to the introduction of harmful pollutants into the environment. The Canadian environment is being affected by multiple types of pollution. The government needs to do more to have a positive impact on the reduction of pollution. The main types of pollution affecting the Canadian environment are air, water, and land. Air Pollution is not only damaging the very air we breathe, but is having an overall negative effect on all surrounding environments. Each year there is a ton of air pollution.
Actually, each year Canada emits 614 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and the use of coal plays a significant role in this emission. Canada relies on coal for nearly twenty percent of it’s energy supply. Canada has 6.6 billion tonnes of recoverable coal, which is expected to provide energy for another hundred years (Wong, 4). In 2011 alone, 14.4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide was emitted into the atmosphere as a direct result of coal burning plants
(Magill). Simple measures can be taken to lower this number dramatically. One of the more complex and cost effective solutions is renewable energy. Renewable energy may be costly, but in the long run will pay for itself with zero carbon or other greenhouse gas emissions.
Secondly, coal is not the only contributor to air pollution; smelting, in recent years, has had devastating effects in Canada. Sudbury’s “moonscape” was a result of constant acid rain.
Sudbury is known for its extensive mining industry. The process of extracting pure metals is to “smelt” it. Smelting sulfide ore results in a highly reactive gas known as sulfur dioxide

(SO2). This gas mixes with nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and water (H2O) to create acid rain. The results of continuous acid rain on the environment has been dramatic; seven thousand acidified lakes, twenty thousand hectares of barren land in which no vegetation grows, along with eighty thousand hectares of semi­barren land. The government needs to put limits and restrictions on the gasses emitted into our atmosphere and firmly enforce them. Without proper enforcement and penalties, there will be little incentive for corporations to look at alternative solutions and they will continue to pollute our air.

Canada has an abundance of fresh water; three percent of all water on earth is considered fresh water. How much of this freshwater is in Canada? Canada is home to twenty percent of this fresh water supply. One major issue affecting Canada's aquatic environments is water pollution resulting from mining. One of the environmental impacts of mining is Acid Mine Drainage (AMD). Acid Mine Drainage is a more drastic example of a natural process called Acid Rock Drainage. It occurs as a result of large amounts of rock containing sulfide minerals coming into contact with air and water. This is normally caused by large mining projects. The sulfide then reacts with the air and water and creates sulfuric acid.
The acid will leach out of its rock source, and into its environment for an extended

period of time. This can ruin water quality, while killing aquatic life and making the water essentially useless (Wild, 4). If proper measures of disposal are met, the effects of acid mine drainage can be substantially decreased. With no law on proper disposal, companies have no reason to properly dispose of the sulfuric rock. Laws must be created and enforced for improvements to be made. Land erosion and sedimentation are other examples of the environmental effects that occurs from mining. Mining results
in