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Climate Change: We Must Reclaim Energy from Wastewater Essay

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Reclaiming Clean Energy from Wastewater

As the Earth becomes more developed many changes in the environment are becoming apparent. These changes are unexpected and often faced with opposition from skeptics. One of these problems is climate change, also known as global warming. Global warming is caused by the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases are produced on a large scale by combustion of fossil fuels. A major contributor to greenhouse emissions is the combustion of coal, oil, and gas in power plants. Many options to fossil fuels as a source of energy have been suggested, but with increasing energy demands our society is reluctant to risk a change. Alternatives such as wind energy, nuclear power, and …show more content…

Reductions in greenhouse gas and criteria pollutant emissions will have a myriad of effects that will benefit humanity.
The decrease in fossil fuel combustion will benefit humanity by reducing global warming and by improving health of individuals. According to Plan B the raise in world temperatures could lead to increased intensity and occurrence of severe storms, the raise of sea levels, and the increased occurrence of heat waves. These factors adversely affect tourism, insurance, and agriculture (Brown). The raise of sea levels even only one meter will displace millions of people. Heat waves have killed thousands of people in the last few decades. These are severe complications that arise with global warming, this alone should encourage governments to shift focus from fossil fuels to clean energy sources. This is not where the benefits of clean energy stop. The health of all humans is affected by other byproducts of combustion of fossil fuels, the criteria pollutants.
The combustion of fossil fuels releases toxic substances in addition to greenhouse gases. Nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, ozone, particulates, and carbon monoxide are all products of fossil fuel combustion (Moore). These criteria pollutants all adversely affect human respiratory systems increasing the occurrences of asthma, respiratory infections, and

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