Environmental Pollution

Problems and Potential Solutions Stormwater pollution can greatly impact our quality of life whether it be directly or indirectly. Pollution from storm water runoff can have a negative impact on our drinking water, recreational waters, and water that we use for irrigation. Pollution to our waters can affect fish, wildlife, and plant life of all kinds. There can also be potential for negative impacts on human life if people are swimming in or drinking polluted water. One issue we face in my area, Columbia, SC is an impairment for E. coli and fecal coliform bacteria. We have traced a lot of this pollution back to wildlife, such as heavy populations of geese that inhabit an area.

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.

Water pollution is defined as “a change in the chemical, physical and biological health of a waterway due to human activity” (1). Over the past 50 years, pollution in the Great Lakes has been a rising concern. Pollution in the Great Lakes includes the disposal of sewage, heavy metals, invasive species, and pesticides that come from factory dumping, runoff of agriculture, nautical transportation, and air pollution. According to an article published by the US Department of Commerce, roughly 40 million people depend on the Great Lakes for drinking water, sport, power (electricity), and transportation (McCartney). The negative consequences of water pollution include, but are not limited to, the killing off of vital organisms, an increase in birth defects, infertility, malfunctioning nervous systems, and learning disabilities (McCartney).

In this lab your group was trying to find the source of the pollution causing algae blooms to grow in Lake Carson. “Water pollution happens when toxic substances enter water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans and so on, getting dissolved in them, lying suspended in the water or depositing on the bed. This degrades the quality of water.” (WWF Global) When the quality of water becomes bad it cannot be used for certain activities such as drinking, bathing, cleaning, cooking, and agricultural purposes. Also, poor water quality is harmful to animals and could kill them as a result. To add on, certain pollutants can be very harmful to an environment. “Household cleaners, lawn fertilizer, and runoff from farms contribute huge amounts of nutrients

astes of the peels contribute to pollution of the environment. Recently, food industries are being forced by government to develop productions without secondary residues. Therefore, there are considerable emphases on the recovery, recycling and upgrading their by-products. Since these by-products antioxidant activities (Bauer et al., 2012) and could be converted into a range of commercial products (Martínez et al., 2012). For those reasons, different researches have assayed different methods in order to obtain new raw material products from fruits and vegetables processing by products (Calín-Sánchez et al., 2012). Large scale consumption as fresh fruits, the Citrus fruits are mainly processed to produce juice. The waste of Citrus fruits processing industry left after juice extraction, such as peels, pulps and seeds, corresponding to about 50% of the raw processed, fruit can be used as a potential source of valuable by products, (El Adawy et al., 1999). In Egypt and in many Mediterranean countries, major quantities of the peel are not further processed, if not processed further, it becomes waste produce odor, soil pollution, harborage for insects and can give rise to serious environmental pollution, (Mandalari et al., 2006). Some attempts were made to use these residues as livestock feed. Although their low nutritional value allowed only limited success (Bampidis and Robinson, 2006).

Our planet relies on vegetation as a source of oxygen and cutting it down takes away that source. This creates an unstable balance where civilization needs to rely on something else for that missing part of oxygen. To what extent should humans prevent deforestation in major forests worldwide? Forests cover about 30% of our entire planet and scientists are predicting that within the next 50-100 years, deforestation will cause all non-protected forests to be cut down (National Geographic). As stated by the NASA Earth Observatory author and editor Rachel Lindsey, “In the Amazon alone, scientists estimate that the trees contain more carbon than ten years of human produced greenhouse gases” (Lindsey). As people cut down trees on a daily basis, the carbon that is held in the tree is released into the atmosphere, adding to the already present global warming problem. As the trees are cleared, people tend to replace this previously forested area with pastures and fields to grow crops on. This is not only bad for the environment, it additionally creates a hotter climate. Meanwhile, Science News author and previous writer/editor for the Chicago Adler Planetarium Janet Raloff shows readers that nitrous oxide has a large impact on the ozone of our planet, contributing to global warming and climate change. The ozone absorbs most of the radiation coming from the sun to the earth. As trees are cut down, it increases the rate of nitrous oxide released into the atmosphere

Chemical pollution consider one of the most pressing environmental challenges that we face. It is imperative that we address the environmental hazards associated with chemical pollutants. Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and halogenated compounds because of their considerable toxicity and recalcitrant nature, are particularly concerning pollutants. The hydrophobicity among PAHs also increases human health risks by promoting bioaccumulation in the fatty tissue. Thus, the determination of effective and cost efficient methods for removal or degradation of PAHs is essential. , Bacterial bioremediation, under in situ conditions, is a promising strategy for reducing polyaromatic hydrocarbons pollution.

Depending on your environmental standpoint, the market could be the solution to our environmental problems or it could be what is causing them. Using a market approach to solve environmental problems means employing tactics such as green taxes, green consumption, offsetting, cap and trade policies, double dividends, and fixing how subsidies are distributed. Green taxes help companies to pay for the true cost of their activities, “Pollution taxes or green taxes have been called ‘corrective taxes’ because they correct price distortions that result from a failure to include the full cost of resource depletion or environmental destruction in the end price of a product or an industry’s activity” (Good News For a Change, 302). Examples of green taxes are landfill costs, toxic waste taxes, or carbon taxes. Denmark has tried their hand at a carbon tax on industry emissions, they took money for the company’s emissions and then returned the money back to said industry in order to help the industry invent ways to reduce energy use in their production. Another example of a green tax is when “some municipalities have required households to dispose of all waste in special trash bags, purchased by consumers themselves, and often costing a dollar or more each” (Environment and Society: Markets and Commodities, 39). Green consumption gives consumers the ability to choose desired environmental impact with their wallet. If a consumer is worried about carbon emissions they can purchase products

As a Florida resident, the concern regarding current legislation prohibiting contamination of Florida’s natural resources is alarming. It is quite simple to comprehend that pollution is ‘bad’ and that it has long term ill effects on the human population and the natural eco system alike. Many people have heard of lead contamination in drinking water or have observed pictures of sea creatures entangled in plastic, so a broad level of awareness is a non-issue. However, occurrences such as contaminated drinking water are believed to only exist in ‘other states’ or ‘in other countries’ because people conveniently believe that our government has our best interest in mind and feel that it is government obligation to injunction a healthy environment. The issue lies within the confines of government and the exacting measures of how legislation is defined and carried forth. Acknowledgement of substandard practices shall promote the needed sense of urgency to reverse damaging environmental practices and such urgency will only develop through action of government, pursued by the people. In the great state of Florida, environmental regulation should be held in the highest regard, as the ocean and waterways are the main providers of Florida’s flora and fauna. Exploration of federal and state government, as well as the dire necessity for a cleaner environment, will bring forth clarity and will generate momentum toward a flourishing and sustainable environment.

More than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered in water and, as global population continues to grow, so does the pressure placed on water and the resources it contains. This pressure has caused many devastating issues to the ecosystems of large bodies of waters, where the evidence of human interference can be found in every square centimeter. Perhaps the most local example of these treacherous impacts can be found within the waters of the Lake of the Ozarks. Water pollution at the lake creates hazards for both the aquatic wildlife and tourists visiting the area. E. coli, a common bacteria found in the waters, has caused hundreds of deaths globally due to the illness it causes and poses a great risk to the high volumes of tourists that the area attracts each year. In addition to the human risk, the waste and runoff from storms and developing infrastructure have the potential to harm, and even kill, the organisms living in and around the area.

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?

The world faces many issues, but the most important which will affect people living on this planet is that it is slowly deteriorating. Pollution, excessive greenhouse gases, and the ozone layer depletion are causing the environment to slowly degrade and cause chronic and fatal health issues such as cancer. One of the main ways to help the environment be a better place is by having businesses be more environmentally friendly. Businesses don’t have to put a lot of effort in helping the environment, but instead small changes can make a big difference. Businesses can help the environment by reducing their carbon emissions, reducing carbon capping, reducing pollution, and reducing the amount of greenhouse gasses that are being emitted into the air. Businesses helping the environment could also save money for the company and make the world a better place.

The US air emission data employed in this study is obtained from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s national emission inventory (USEPA 2006; 2009), covering all anthropogenic emissions of six air pollutants (SO2, PM2.5, PM10, NOx, VOC, and NH3) in the 48 states of the US (excluding Alaska and Hawaii). The gross external damage (GED) is estimated by Muller et al. (2011). The 2002 industry level GEDs are identified by a six-digit industry code from the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). In total, there are about 840 NAICS industries included.

According to Duhigg (2009) of the New York Times, more than 100 wells were polluted by agricultural runoff within a few month time period, affecting livestock such as pigs and cows . Water pollution is a silent and deadly pollution - bacterium can be tasteless, colorless, and scentless. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2009) says that the United States has the safest water supplies in the world, but states that when water sources became contaminated, they can easily cause widespread sickness and disease from waterborne germs including Cryptosporidium, E. coli, Hepatitis A., and other pathogens. Despite progress reducing water pollution from the largest sources, our country still faces serious pollution challenges. Violations are still too widespread, and enforcement too uneven. We need to do better controlling pollution.

Water pollution is a big issue in our country and our world. Humans would not survive without water so why is it that we contribute so profoundly to water pollution? In class, we learned about runoff and how the soil we use to farm our crops we eat, often run off into the rivers nearby, causing pollution. The fertilizers are high in nitrate which impairs our ability to transport oxygen, but during crop yielding, this is the last thing on our mind. We survive off water, but we also need food, creating this issue difficult to prevent. This relates slightly to how the citizens around Lake Malawi felt. Lake Malawi is a pollution filled dead zone that is high in Bilharzia, a parasite that is known for burrowing itself into human flesh. This parasite takes home to your liver and damages other organs while inviting blood into your urine. It gives way to the likely hood of the diseased to contract an even more deadly disease, HIV. How did Bilharzia become so affluent you may ask? A university professor named Jay Stauffer wondered the same thing and found the answer after devoting much of his time to studying cichlids. He noticed that the parasite habitats along the shoreline inside freshwater snails. These snails are the central appetite of the placadon fish, but the placadon fish is also the primary source of the citizen's stomach. Stauffer made his discovery aware to the community, but at the end of the day, they would rather risk contracting a disease six months down the road than going to bed hungry. Here is an example of one man that had a solution to fixing pollution, but he is not the only one who has taken it upon himself to help the community around him.