The huge business of oil has not been kind to the world and has left behind a huge environmental impact.
Damage to the environment can occur during transport of oil as well. Two common examples of this are from the construction of oil canals for ships and from oil spills. When oil is transported through inland areas such as Louisiana, canals are often dredged to help ease the ships through. This removal of soils allows for greater action of off-shore waves, which can lead to such problems as saltwater intrusion, erosion and removal of vegetation.
Oil spills happen when people make mistakes or are careless and cause an oil tanker to leak oil into the ocean. There are a number of different ways an oil spill can occur. Equipment breaking down may cause an oil spill. If the equipment breaks down, the tanker may get stuck on shallow land. When they start to drive the tanker again, they can put a hole in the tanker causing it to leak oil.
Illegal dumpers are people that will dump crude oil into the oceans because they do not want to spend money on decomposing their waste oil. This is an illegal act which harms innocent wildlife.
Natural disasters (like hurricanes) may cause an oil spill, too.
Oil spills are a huge danger to ocean wildlife especially birds.
Birds can die from oil spills if their feathers are covered in oil. The bird will be poisoned because it will try to clean itself. Oil may also cause the death of an animal by entering the animal’s lungs or liver. The animal will then be poisoned by the oil. Oil can also kill an animal by blinding it. The animal will not be able to see and be aware of their predators. If they are not aware of other animals, they face the extreme danger of being eaten.
Sea otters, killer whales and small organisms such as plankton also are affected by oil spills. Oil spills sometimes are the reason for animals becoming endangered.
Many things are being done to try and stop oil spill so this is a positive thing. If everyone around the world decided to use less oil, we would lower the risk of a large spill. If there were a spill, we wouldn’t be dumping as much oil into the ocean, which would mean that there would be fewer animals killed or injured.
This would also have a positive impact on our environment. You can help decrease oil spills by using less electricity and gasoline, which are both made with oil.