Conservation, ecological justice and harm to nature - Environmental Harm: An Eco-justice Perspective - page 77

apace, regardless of serious reservations being raised about significant
potential risks to human health and safety, antibiotic immunity and
contamination of the environment (Walters, 2011). These kinds of
developments ultimately lead to reliance upon fewer species (of plant
and of animal) for food production for humans. The transformation
of genetic material via science and bio-technology tends toward
homogenisation of species composition - it is more profitable to
reduce variety at the same time as increase quantitative productivity
by focusing on the 'winners'. The overall result is an attitude of 'fewer
species is better' (and more profitable), especially if control over these
is vested in private hands.
The problem of waste
Waste and effluent from production processes and consumption practices,
including most recently the proliferation of 'e-waste' generated by the
disposal of tens-of-thousands of computers and other equipment, are
contributing to widespread pollution of air, land and water. Much of
the transfer of waste has been from advanced industrialised countries
to developing countries (Clapp, 2001). Likewise, the most polluted
places on earth tend to be developing countries. Meanwhile, hazardous
residues and contaminated sludge are most likely to find a foreign
home in a third world country. Moreover, threats to health posed by
smog, and indoor and outdoor pollutants, have been shown to have
a major impact on human and animal health and wellbeing, and the
negative health consequences are apparent in both developing and the
more developed countries (UNEP, 2007: 55; see also Walters, 2013). Air
pollution also adversely affects agriculture, among other things, which
has an impact on food quality and quantity.
It is specific eco-systems and bio-spheres, and the creatures that
inhabit these, that are threatened by these interlinked phenomena.
This is occurring, now, in every part of the planet and across many
different types of terrain. Ecological destruction is not limited to the
air or the land. It also finds its place within the oceans. Indeed, it is
not only cities that are being polluted. Inland rivers, oceans and seas
are also filling up with highly toxic pollutants. International waters
that suffer pollution have no respect for national borders or national
interests. The pollution affects all.