Editing Unintended consequences (section)

==Perverse consequences of environmental intervention==
Almost all [[environmental problem]]s, from chemical [[pollution]] to [[global warming]], are the unexpected consequences of the application of modern technologies. [[Traffic congestion]], deaths and injuries from car accidents, [[air pollution]], and global warming are unintended consequences of the invention and large scale adoption of the [[automobile]]. [[Hospital infection]]s are the unexpected<!-- There are no more "unexpected". They are to be expected at all times.  --> side-effect of [[antibiotic resistance]], and even human [[population growth]] leading to [[environmental degradation]] is the side effect of various technological (i.e., [[Agricultural revolution (disambiguation)|agricultural]] and [[industrial revolution|industrial]]) revolutions.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Huesemann, Michael H. |title=Technofix: Why Technology Won't Save Us or the Environment |author2=Joyce A. Huesemann |publisher=New Society Publishers |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-86571-704-6 |location=Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada |page=464 |chapter=Chapter 1, "The Inherent Unavoidability and Unpredictability of Unintended Consequences", and Chapter 2, "Some Unintended Consequences of Modern Technology" |chapter-url=http://www.newtechnologyandsociety.org}}</ref>

Because of the complexity of [[ecosystems]], deliberate changes to an ecosystem or other environmental interventions will often have (usually negative) unintended consequences. Sometimes, these effects cause permanent [[irreversible change]]s. Examples include:
[[File:Everybody Comes to Beat Sparrows.jpg|thumb|Chinese poster encouraging children to attack sparrows.|alt=Chinese poster promoting the Four Pests campaign; a boy with a red neckerchief aims a slingshot at an off-frame overhead target, and a girl next to him looks at the target as well. There is a village in the background. There is a Chinese slogan "大家都来打麻雀" in red letters at the footer.]]
* During the [[Four Pests campaign]], Maoist China ordered the killing of sparrows, as well as rats, flies, and mosquitoes. The campaign was successful in reducing the sparrow population; however, in their absence, locust populations previously kept in check by sparrow predation grew out of control and came to infest crops. Rice yields were substantially decreased; the campaign was one of the causes of the [[Great Chinese Famine]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Frank|last= Dikotter|title=Mao's Great Famine|location=New York|publisher=Walker & Co.|year=2010|page=188}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Carl |first1=Seaver |title=How Killing Sparrows Led to Great Famines in China |url=https://www.historydefined.net/how-killing-sparrows-led-to-one-of-the-greatest-famines-in-history/ |website=History Defined |date=April 26, 2022 |access-date=9 December 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Weston |first1=Pheobe |title=What happens when humans meddle with nature? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/22/what-happens-when-humans-meddle-with-nature-aoe |work=The Guardian |date=November 22, 2022 |access-date=9 December 2022}}</ref> 
* During the [[Great Plague of London]] a killing of dogs and cats was ordered. If left untouched, they would have made a significant reduction in the rat population that carried the fleas which transmitted the disease.<ref>Moote, Lloyd and Dorothy: ''The Great Plague: the Story of London's most Deadly Year'', Baltimore, 2004. p. 115.</ref>
* The installation of [[smokestack]]s to decrease pollution in local areas, resulting in spread of pollution at a higher altitude, and [[acid rain]] on an international scale.<ref name="Likens, G. E. 1979">{{cite journal | last1 = Likens | first1 = G. E. | last2 = Wright | first2 = R. F. | last3 = Galloway | first3 = J. N. | last4 = Butler | first4 = T. J. | year = 1979 | title = Acid rain | journal = Sci. Am. | volume = 241 | issue = 4| pages = 43–51 | doi=10.1038/scientificamerican1079-43| bibcode = 1979SciAm.241d..43L }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Likens | first1 = G. E. | year = 1984 | title = Acid rain: the smokestack is the "smoking gun | journal = Garden | volume = 8 | issue = 4| pages = 12–18 }}</ref>
* After about 1900, public demand led the US government to fight [[forest fire]]s in the American West, and set aside land as national forests and parks to protect them from fires. This policy led to fewer fires, but also led to growth conditions such that, when fires did occur, they were much larger and more damaging. Modern research suggests that this policy was misguided, and that a certain level of wildfires is a natural and important part of [[forest ecology]].<ref name="How The Smokey Bear Effect Led To Raging Wildfires">{{cite web|last=Joyce|first=Christopher|title=How The Smokey Bear Effect Led To Raging Wildfires|url=https://www.npr.org/2012/08/23/159373691/how-the-smokey-bear-effect-led-to-raging-wildfires|work=npr.org|access-date=27 August 2012}}</ref>
*Side effects of [[climate engineering]] to [[climate change mitigation|counter global warming]] could involve even further warming as a consequence of reflectivity-reducing [[afforestation]] or [[crop yield]] reductions and [[rebound effect]]s after [[solar dimming]] measures with even more accelerated warming.<ref name="Vidal 2014">{{cite web | last=Vidal | first=John | title=Geoengineering side effects could be potentially disastrous, research shows | website=The Guardian | date=2014-02-25 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/25/geoengineering-side-effects-potentially-disastrous-scientists | access-date=2019-09-23}}</ref><ref name="Yang Dobbie Ramirez-Villegas Feng pp. 11,786–11,795">{{cite journal | last1=Yang | first1=Huiyi | last2=Dobbie | first2=Steven | last3=Ramirez-Villegas | first3=Julian | last4=Feng | first4=Kuishuang | last5=Challinor | first5=Andrew J. | last6=Chen | first6=Bing | last7=Gao | first7=Yao | last8=Lee | first8=Lindsay | last9=Yin | first9=Yan | last10=Sun | first10=Laixiang | last11=Watson | first11=James | last12=Koehler | first12=Ann-Kristin | last13=Fan | first13=Tingting | last14=Ghosh | first14=Sat | title=Potential negative consequences of geoengineering on crop production: A study of Indian groundnut | journal=Geophysical Research Letters | publisher=American Geophysical Union (AGU) | volume=43 | issue=22 | date=2016-11-19 | issn=0094-8276 | doi=10.1002/2016gl071209 | pages=11,786–11,795| pmid=28190903 | pmc=5267972 | bibcode=2016GeoRL..4311786Y | doi-access=free }}</ref>