Environmental Science: Global Water Issues, Ocean Impact and US Parks

This assignment delves into several critical environmental science topics. It addresses the global issue of safe drinking water, highlighting the scarcity in regions like Africa and its impact on public health. The solution explores human impacts on the ocean, focusing on pollution and ecosystem disruption, using specific examples to illustrate the consequences. It also discusses US national parks, using King Canyon as a case study, detailing its features, biome, and ecosystem services. Furthermore, the assignment examines the use of pesticides in agriculture, weighing their benefits against environmental risks, and discusses the ecological impact of invasive species, citing the example of mongoose and brown tree snakes in Guam. The document concludes by referencing various sources to support its analysis and findings. Desklib offers this solution along with other resources to aid students in their studies.

Environmental Science
Topics
Environmental Science
Name of the author-
University name-

Table of Contents
Answer to the post number-1.......................................................................................................................2
Answer to the post number-2.......................................................................................................................2
Answer to the post number-3.......................................................................................................................3
Answer to the post number-4.......................................................................................................................3
Answer to the post number-5.......................................................................................................................4
Answer to the post number-6.......................................................................................................................5

Answer to the post number-1
Safe water drinking around the world
With the changes in time, many countries are facing issues related to availability of the
potable water. It is typically analyzed that in developed countries tap water meets the potable
water quality standards. In many other countries such as China, Africa and other Asian countries,
the toxins and suspended solids in water is found to be too high. Africa is one of the places
where we could find the scarcity of clean and safe water. Ethiopia has been facing difficulties in
getting safe and clean potable water for drinking. The state has found with the population of 82
million in which 40% of the population has access to an improved water supply. All rest of the
population in the country are facing the problem of scarcity of safe and clean water to survive
and sustain in the environment (Ecorazzi, 2012). It is found that only 11 % of the population of
the people having the clean sanitation. This lack of safe water contributes to the high infant
mortality rate based on the collected statistical data of the research. In addition to this, due to the
scarcity of safe water, people in these Asian countries are facing many health problems. People
also have to face several troubles to get clean water due to no availability of the hand pump and
water resources. This problem has caused many acute problems and malnutrition in some part of
the African countries (All about water filters., 2018).
Answer to the post number-2
Human impact on the Ocean
The ocean is the place for thousands of species on Earth which are surviving on it. Many
species and human beings get their food and survival from the oceans on the earth. It is analyzed
that not only for the animal species, Oceans are essential for human life as well. Humans with
their careless attitude have been impacting the ocean and the ecosystem of the earth. The biggest
impact which human is doing with the oceans is destroying the marine ecosystem out of balance
which leads to various species decline (National Geographic., 2018). It is analyzed that human
activities affect the marine eco-system as a outcome of pollution, overfishing, introducing
invasive species and acidification which have tremendous high impact on the marine food web
and lead to negative consequence for the survival of the marine life forms. As the entire

ecosystem are interconnected and interrelated to each other therefore, it will also affect human
lives adversely (Sciencing., 2018). For example, Agricultural runoff and coastal development
can cause marine pollution, overfishing, overharvesting, pollution and dumping waste in the
waterways make the survival of the species difficult and adversely affect the ocean adversely
(National Geographic, 2018).
Answer to the post number-3
National Park
The national park which I have selected for this post is King Canyon. This national park
is worlds”second largest measured trees” covered in 461,901.20 acres (1,869.2 km2). This park
is featured as part of the Kings River, Sculptor dominating the dramatic granite canyons. The
Kings Canyon national park was designed in 1940 and subsumed as general grant national park
as fourth United States national park. This national park is characteristic by its big trees scenic
mountainous terrain & large. It is situated in California and attracts higher number of tourist due
to its unique environment and atmosphere. These large number of trees featured with the big
mountains are the biggest attractions for tourist. This park has a climate with wet and dry seasons
and found with the high-density outgrowth of rainforest which makes the survival easy for the
species. This park is the center of attraction for the tourist in USA. It is highly visited by the
tourist who loves to see greenery with the adventure of mountains. The most interesting thing
about this park is related to its climate. Most of the tourist visits this national park due to its
atmosphere and air in the environment (Kings River 2017).
Answer to the post number-4
After assessing secondary data available in journals and books and government statistical
data, it is found that US is more accompanied with the national parks and forests and national
wildlife refuges. It has been analyzed that there are more than 400 national parks, 560 national
wildlife refuges and around 250 of the public lands are controlled by the interior, US department.
In the US, there are many public lands exists (U.S. Department of the interior, 2016). The
wilderness act, 1964 has allowed the Congress to designate the wilderness areas to ensure that
the America pristine wild lands will not get disappeared and have to exist so that our future

generation can able to see it. This act covers all the national parks wildlife refuges; forest and
public managed and are managed by the Bureau of land management. The major difference
between all these terms is that national parks are highly bested in the preservation while
changing the existing state. On the other hand, the national forest is managed for many purposes
which include the recreation, timber, grazing, wildlife and fishing (National Wildlife Refuge
system, 2017). In addition to this, most of the earning of cash inflow in tours and travel industry
comes due to these national parks and other wildness is. These are the main reason for the
increased foreign exchange reserve in US which eventually strengthen the $ value as compared
to other countries’ currency value
Answer to the post number-5
Pesticides
With the increasing scarcity of the agriculture products in economy, pesticides are
worldwide used to manage the agriculture pests and increasing the overall production of food
products. The use of pesticides kills and repels unnecessary pests and also causes many human
deaths each year. It is analyzed that with the decreased production of food products, pesticides
are used to strengthen the agriculture production. It is surely makeable to note that benefits of
pesticides outweigh the risks as the most common pesticides herbicides and insecticides, are used
by humans in their agriculture activities to kill unnecessary plants and insects. The benefits of
pesticides includes increased food production, strengthen the farming activities for better output
and saving corps and livestock from the unwanted pests. It is analyzed that to pay more for the
organically grown products, it is effective to use pesticides by all the farmers as it saves the lives
of many species (Frantic Foodie., 2017). It is found that use of organic farming is good for the
overall environment. Using the organic fertilizers while growing the crops has its own
advantages and is used to save the crops from unwanted crops. Organic farming makes use of the
insects and birds to reduce the pest and diseases. However, use of natural manure and fertilizers
to feed the soil and plants are good for the land also (Bigoven, 2018).

Answer to the post number-6
Invasive Species
Invasive species could be defined as species of living organism such as an amphibian, plant, fish,
fungus and bacteria. Mongoose and brown tree Snakes are invasive species which were brought
to Guam, an island in South pacific. These Snakes and mongoose quickly multiplied and they
were responsible for the extinction of nine’s of Island’s forest- dwelling bird species. These
Mongoose and brown tree Snakes multiplied with the tremendous rate as there were no other
species who could hunt them. These Mongoose and brown tree Snake destroy the habit and
places. However, Mongoose and brown tree Snake were deliberately introduced to control the
native rodent populations. The problem was that these Mongoose and brown tree Snake
devastated several island’s native vertebrate population counting. To control this invasive
species, department understand the issues of spread of the invasive species and disease. This was
done by coordinating all the networks exist at local, regional, continental and global scales
(Ecological Society of America, 2008). In order to control Mongoose and brown tree Snake,
officials from the national wildlife refuge waded into the specific areas and tracked these
invasive species using global positioning system equipments. It was used to set up traps to kill
the rodents. This operation took more than 6 months to control the situation.

References
All about water filters. (2018).Lack of Clean Water in Africa: Understanding the Reasons behind
the Water Crisis[Online] Retrieved from: http://all-about-water-filters.com/lack-of-clean-water-
in-africa/
Bigoven (2018). Organic vs Inorganic Foods [Online] Retrieved from:
https://www.bigoven.com/organic-vs-inorganic-foods
Ecological society of America.(2008). The spread of invasive species and infectious disease as
drivers of ecosystem change [Online] Retrieved from:
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/070151
Ecorazzi. (2012). World water day: 10 places most in need of clean water [Online] Retrieved
from: http://www.ecorazzi.com/2012/03/22/world-water-day-10-places-most-in-need-of-clean-
water/
Frantic Foodie (2017). 10 biggest pros and cons. [Online] Retrieved from:
https://franticfoodie.com/10-biggest-pros-and-cons-of-pesticides/
Kings River (2017). Forestry and National park [Online] Retrieved from:
http://www.kingsriverarkansas.com/.
National Geographic. (2018). Human Impacts on the world Ocean. [Online] Retrieved from:
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/lesson/human-impacts-world-ocean/
National Wildlife refugee system. (2017). Wilderness. [Online] Retrieved from:
https://www.fws.gov/refuges/whm/wilderness.html
Sciencing. (2018). What Human Activities Have a Negative Impact on the Ocean? [Online]
Retrieved from: https://sciencing.com/human-activities-negative-impact-ocean-17206.html

The National Wildlife Federation. (2018).Invasive Species. [Online] Retrieved from:
https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Threats-to-Wildlife/Invasive-
Species
U.S. Department of the Interior (2017). America’s Public Lands Explained [Online] Retrieved
from: https://www.doi.gov/blog/americas-public-lands-explained