Environmental Pollution

The Mississippi River originates in Minnesota and winds it way down to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi is iconic to American culture, and there is a fondness for the Old Man River; where images of paddleboats and Tom Sawyer come to mind. What does not come to mind is our nation’s river is sick. According to a report in the St. Louis Dispatch, the Mississippi is the second most polluted river in the United States, coming in just behind the Ohio River (Bernhard, 2012). The Mississippi is experiencing a number of environmental problems from dead zones at the mouth of the Mississippi, plagued with invasive species such as Asian Carp, to being contaminated with industrial chemicals, raw sewage, agriculture pesticides, and plain old everyday trash.

There are various types of air pollution contributors in California such as fire generated pollutants and vehicle traffic, which add particulate matter and carbon monoxide into the air we breathe. According to an article by Union of Concerned Scientists (Cars, trucks, and air pollution, 2014) particulate matter is made up of fine particles soot and metal that can pose serious threats to human health when deep in the lungs. Other pollutants emitted from vehicles are: nitrogen oxide which lowers the body’s defense system against respiratory infections such as pneumonia, carbon monoxide which blocks oxygen from reaching vital organs, sulfur dioxide which is emitted by both power plants and vehicles affect children and asthmatics, and hazardous air pollutants (toxics) which are chemicals that are linked to cancer, birth defects and other illnesses (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2014).

As well as pollution, invasive species are damaging the lake ecosystems and food chains, made fragile by pollution and overfishing. The introduction of a new species throws off the balance of food chains. Some common invasive species include the sea lamprey, Asian carp, and zebra mussels, among many others. Zebra mussels have dramatically influenced and affected stable food chains by reducing the amount of zooplankton and phytoplankton. This presents a problem, as fish mostly feed on the drifters, and so they go hungry and die, leaving no food for larger fish to prey on. In addition to underwater disruption, it affects us as well, but only slightly. Plankton and algae especially are the most productive aquatic producers of oxygen, and by the decreasing population, we lose oxygen as well. The sea lamprey is also a problem, though it is not so influential to ecosystems as the zebra mussel.

One environmental issue that the great lakes watershed has been exposed to is invasive species. An invasive species is any organism that is foreign to an ecosystem and causes harm (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2016). In ordered to be classified as foreign they do not have to be from a different country but they just must be a non-native to an established ecosystem. Some of the species travel at their own will but they primarily spread through human activities unintentionally. As we import and export goods, or travel, some uninvited species may ride along and travel to new places. Organisms can be stowed away in ships or products like wood. Some ornamental plants may

Air Pollution today has lead CDC's fight against environmental -related respiratory illness, including asthma.An estimated number of 6.5 million deaths are attributed each year to poor air quality, making this the world's largest threat to human health.According to the World Energy Outlook and the IEA estimate that death due to household air pollution in Africa may decrease by 110,00 to 2040.However, due to economic growth, urbanization and automobile emissions, outdoor air pollution may rise from 300,00 to 450,000 over the same period. Am going to be looking at the causes of air pollution. the problems emerging with air pollution and also how we as a community can help decrease the amount of death rate associated with air pollution.I remember growing up in Africa Air pollution was always a talk about a subject that always comes out because it is really contagious due to the fact that we are breathing bad air that is caused by our human contribution to the environment.Air pollution is considered to be a public health problem, it is responsible for most of our health problems after some research has been conducted in many different parts of the world and regions. According to the Geochemistry and Health paleopathological research suggests that air pollution is a form of smoke, plagued our oldest ancestors.Air pollution has emerged as one of the leading risk factors for stroke worldwide.

Invasive species have been brought into the United States, some on purpose to help fill a needed use and then latter getting out of control and creating a mess of what they have done to waterways,

River pollution is a major problem and it has serious consequences, for example, because of pollution there are now 34 species of fish that live in the Missouri river that are rare or endangered. Also pollution is contaminating fish that come from the river, fish have been found with potentially deadly chemicals in them. This can be extremely dangerous, “According to a study by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, just a small drop of mercury is enough to contaminate a 20-acre lake, making fish unsafe to eat.” (Community Members Say Missouri River At Risk From Coal’s Mercury Pollution, 1). And 3 Million habitats have been changed because of pollution and this has affected the health of the wildlife and the ecology of the

Water quality in the Great Lakes is something that has been a criticall issue in the Great Lakes Region for a number of years. Water quality can be anything that affects the benefits humans derives from water. It can include drinking water, food, recreation, and any other use of water that is possible. Many invasive species including zebra mussels and Asian carp pose a great threat to the water quality of the Great Lakes. The ecosystem and industry relying on the Great Lakes are also affected by this invasion. I feel that the best way to stop invasive species from coming into the Great Lakes is to prevent the problem from happening before it already has.

Have you ever seen lake that is crystal clear with a bottom that is covered in muscles or has carp splashing on the surface as far as the eye can see? This happens when invasive species enter lakes and have an enormous population spike due to a lack of natural predators. In the video Aquatic Invaders it is said that “Over the last century and a half, there have been over 140 species that are invading the great lakes but, in only the last 30 years this trend has been accelerating (Donahue).”There are a wide variety of invasive species from hundreds of types of algae to big head carp and all of which have few positives and a large variety of negative effects. Despite the negative effects, there are few prevention methods in place to prevent these invasive species from entering our local water including the great lakes. While I do concede that there are a few positive aspects such as Bow fishing, I still insist that invasive species destroy lakes, kill native species, and could cost the state millions in lost tourism and fishery revenue.

Non-native species are plants animals and other organisms that are introduced to an ecosystem from which they would not normally be found. This introduction can cause harm to the environment it is now within or to the human health. These species tend to spread rapidly due to having no natural enemies in their new homes. The invasion of these invasive species is recognized as one of the leading threats to biodiversity in an ecosystem. Over the past years non-native species have been introduced to Connecticut. My small community had also been invaded years ago by a blue green algae bloom.

Invasive species are in 5% of Minnesota's lakes because people accidentally or purposefully introduce them. A lot of them require very little to take over a lake and kill off native species and harm boats and human activities. People are trying to stop the spread but are not being very successful. Rivers, ponds, wetlands, and other bodies of water can also be affected. People need

The purpose of this paper is to find the correlation between air pollution and society’s responsibility to promote a cleaner safer environment for its citizens. My research question is: How can society help keep the air we breathe safe? There are so many chemicals and other vapors that are emitted into the air that it becomes a chore for people with respiratory problems, i.e., asthma, to breathe without some assistance and in some cases of older individuals, carry an oxygen tank daily. Can some of these health issues be prevented if we managed our air pollution better?

There are many environmental issues across the world. They range from many different areas. In the oceanic category of environmental issues, invasive mussels are a vast issue to our man-made waters and lakes. There are many types of invasive mussels in our lakelets. To illustrate: Zebra and Quagga mussels. We must become aware, and raise awareness as to what they are doing to the waters. They cause concerns regarding our recreation and dishearten the basic makeup of our oceanic food chain. There are solutions in place respecting the issue. We must study as to what these invasive mussels are doing to our environment, and how much it will impact the food chain.

To begin, Hillsborough County in Florida is home to downtown Tampa which is one of the major cities in the state. With having big cities in your local areas comes with some side effects. Tampa is related to many air quality issues in the state. Tampa is a continuously growing city, as people relocate to the area, many things must happen to accommodate the growth in population. Most of which contributes to of the air quality standards in our area because of the need for additional roads, and numerous new housing developments to be built, increasing the amount of power plants to power the many new houses.

In this article, problems of air pollution and the way that they effect the Chinese community are up for debate. There are major concerns with the rise of air pollution in China, the biggest concern being the fact that there were over 1 million deaths due to air pollution in 2015. Although, the community is trying to find ways to fix the problem; some of the potential solutions may be more harmful to the community in the future. Some citizens feel that cutting jobs with heavy machinery and building cars that do not burn fossil fuels are helping reduce air pollution. Although, decisions like these might increase unemployment rates in the future by taking away jobs in these fields. So, what’s more important? Clean air or a financially stable community and economy?