The Arctic and Antarctic regions play an important role in cooling the earth's climate. The Arctic is threatened by potential oilspills in the Beaufort Sea and other Arctic areas where drilling is currently under way. Oil and gas pipelines in areas such as Canada s Mackenzie Valley disrupt caribou migration patterns and native trapping economies. Military installations and air strips in Canada, the US and the USSR are also a threat and military activity will increase if US Star Wars plans go ahead. Poisoning the water Today much of our water is contaminated.
Most contaminants become more concentrated and dangerous as they move up the food chain.
In Canada 270 chemical pollutants pass through Ontario sewage treatment plants into Lake Ontario. Toxic chemicals are sprayed on farms, fields and forests. They run off into streams and lakes and seep through the soil into groundwater. Industrial wastes include synthetic chemicals and heavy metals that are poured into rivers and lakes and dumped into landfill sites such as Love Canal near Niagara Falls, New York. There are thousands of toxic landfill sites across the industrial world.