Big Business Harms the Environment

Both mining and development are "big business" industries which are necessary for economic growth, yet both mining and development contribute to problems in the environment. Through mining and development we are able to tap into our natural resources here in America and across the world. From mining we are able to obtain coal and ore along with other minerals. Other precious metals which create a lot of revenue are diamonds, gold, and silver. In Africa mining for diamonds has become a huge unethical business because many people are killed in order to obtain these diamonds.

Furthermore, these two industries are very similar in other ways as well. Development also involves the use of our natural resources. Developers use wood, metal and other materials extracted directly from the earth just like mining. Development has taken place at a very rapid rate here in the Phoenix valley. The housing market drives this development and then before we know it we have homes everywhere reducing the amount of open spaces available for dessert wild life. Both of these big businesses provide jobs for hard working individuals, but the effect mining and development has on the environment can be very harmful. According to Tom Arrandale, "Environmentalists have been complaining for years about public land policies that they say subsidize extractive industries like mining and logging while ruining the ecological health of federal forests and rangelands." (Tom Arrandale vol 4. issue 23)

Likewise, as the demand continues to increase for the natural resources generated from these two industries many people and government agencies are taking it upon themselves to find solutions to protect the environment. For instance certain open spaces are protected by land conservation in order to ensure the survival of certain species.

According to Mary H. Cooper, "A number of initiatives to preserve open space are now before Congress. Every year since 1964, Congress has had the authority under the Land and Water Conservation Act to spend up to $900 million a year on open space preservation." (Mary H. Cooper vol 11. issue 5) In addition many loggers are required to log in specified areas where older trees are and replant new trees as well. Both mining and development contribute to pollution produced from the extraction and production of natural resources.

Even though mining and development are both very similar we also can see that they are very different as well. For instance mining is not as widespread as development at least in the United States. Development is a much larger enterprise because the population continues to increase. There are more readily available natural resources for the use of development in American as compared to mining. Mining comes with more risks as compared to development. For instance in areas where mines are located there is a chance that the ground water can become contaminated more easily, and the local people can become affected from the air pollution produced from the mines. Development is also more controlled by the government in many was as compared to mining. For instance the government can buy out your land at a reduced price and push you out for the sake of development. This is not as much of a problem with mining because many mining areas have already been discovered and most people don't live in these areas.

In conclusion we can see that both mining and development are very similar yet different big businesses. Both of these businesses contribute to major economic livelihood as well as major pollution and environmental problems. We need natural resources so we are dependent on both of these industries to extract and use them. The major concern is our environment which is something that is adversely affected in so many ways. Although both industries have become necessary we need to be careful to continue to enforce certain guidelines so that all parties can be protected especially plants animals, and our children and grand children.

Works Cited

Arrandale, Tom. "Public Land Policy." The CQ Researcher

Online 4.23 (2005). Rio Salado College Lib., Tempe, AZ. 6 Oct. 2008 URL

http://library.cqpress.com.ezp1r.riosalado.edu/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1994061700&type=hitlist&num=0

Cooper, H Mary. "Saving Open Spaces." The CQ Researcher

Online 11.5 (1999). Rio Salado College Lib., Tempe, AZ. 6 Oct. 2008 URL

http://library.cqpress.com.ezp1r.riosalado.edu/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1999110500&type=hitlist&num=10