Pollution, A Silent Death

Pollution is one of the biggest global killers, affecting nearly 100 million people. Pollution comes in many different forms and affects the world and the environment in many different ways. Along with the best known pollutants such as water, air, and land, there are other pollutants that many people do not know much about. These include light, noise, thermal, and household pollution and are all just as damaging as the most known ones. Pollution is an introduction of a harmful or poisonous substance into the environment that has a negative effect on life around it. Pollution is deadly, and it is destroying the only world suitable for life. Pollution is a

People dump about 70 million tons of pollution into the air every day causing nature to be destroyed even though people can’t survive without nature. The needs of people are not more important than the needs the planet and animals.

Pollution has always been an issue within our society. Derrick Jenson and Stephanie McMillan as well as Michael Pollan have all written articles about the issues in our environment and the effects of pollution. We are causing an increasing amount of pollution as time goes on. Virtually everything we do causes some form of damage to the environment and it seems that regardless of how much we want to fix this issue we are making no progress towards a solution. Based on their articles “As The World Burns” and Pollans article “Why Bother” these authors have similar views and yet contrast on many points.

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).

No matter how hard we try, the effects of pollution are everywhere. From major catastrophes like the

While fossil fuels continue to drive human development, it causes great damage to our environment. For example, the polar ice caps are slowly melting away due to global warming. This is because everything has waste. We fuel our bodies with food, as a result, we get waste. We fuel engines with fossil fuels, as a result, we get waste, just in a different

The world right now is facing a major disaster if our habits don’t change. Fossil fuels dominate our energy demand and at our current rate this will remain true for quite some time. The World Energy outlook claims that by 2030 84% of our energy demands will be fulfilled by fossil fuels (Shafiee et al, 181). It is believed that we possess the reserves to meet our demands until 2030 (Shafiee et al, 181) but the cost will increase as time goes on. Fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource, meaning that once we run out of what’s currently available, we cannot replenish it. Our future energy needs are heavily dependent on a non-renewable and quickly depleting energy source.

In today’s society, environmental problems are a big problem that plague our world. These detrimental changes are creating astonishing problems for every living organism. Global warming is not a myth. Glaciers are rapidly melting, ecosystems are being destroyed, trees are being cut down for profit, and the globe is warming up and changing our normal climate. Everyone is a contributor to these changes, whether it is a big contribution or a small one. Big businesses and governments all around the world are contributing to the increase in pollution. Factories release chemical waste into our air, and oceans which over time causes holes in our ozone layer. This is not a small easily reversible problem. Chemical air pollution causes problems to not only our environment, but to all the species living on this earth.

“For future generations, big trouble” (Gillis). Regardless of what those 1 in 5 people think, our future generations are in danger of heavier rainfall, longer and more intense droughts, more intense storms, destabilization of governments, waves of refugees, and melting of the polar ice caps - which would lead to the flooding of most of the world’s coastal cities. This could all take anywhere to thousands of years to play out, which provides a cushion of time for civilization to adjust, and hopefully it does. Although, the collapse of agriculture which would throw civilization into chaos much sooner. Studies show “efforts to limit emissions would reduce these risks, or at least slow the effects, but it is already too late to eliminate the risks entirely”

Pollution is a serious global issue that has been occurring for as long as humans have inhabited the planet. There are many different varieties of pollution, as well as an abundance of materials, both natural and synthetic, that the earth has been contaiminated with. Shifrin ( 2005), states: “To date, wastes remain a fact of life and there are only three places to dispose of wastes-air, water, or land. Waste management always involves tradeoffs.” (p. 676). Even though Shifrin is correct in his analysis, it does not excuse the amount of environmental poison that continues to exist today, nor the amount of environmental problems that it has caused throughout history. The “tradeoffs” of pollution have devastated entire communities, causing waves of sickness and death in their wake. According to Shifrin (2005):” Water-borne contagious disease still caused devastating epidemics in the early 1900s, compounded by growing, congested populations. Air pollution also grew to a high priority by midcentury because its impact was so observable and immediate.” (p. 676). Generally, these diseases were spread through poor sanitary practices as well as the overwhelming volume of pollution that was generated by so many indivduals with little knowledge about what the adverse effects on the overall environment would be.

You can’t really understand the devastating effects that pollution has on us until you experience it for yourself. If pollution is not addressed it could cause consequences. If there is one thing that I would change in the world, it would be, getting rid of pollution.

We live in a world that offers so many things to us. A home, food, water, life itself, yet we don 't take much care of it and are destroying it instead. The presence of pollution has been around for such a great amount of time now that you would expect us as humans, to start noticing the mass destruction we are causing and start doing something about it. Glaciers are melting, water levels are rising, the water and air around is being polluted if it 's not polluted already. There is little being done to try and stop or at least slow down this fatal event. If we do not start taking care of our own home, we will soon be left with no home at all, and the only one’s we can blame for that, is ourselves.

Your day has been great so far. You went on vacation, you found a dollar bill on the floor, you ate your favorite dish, nothing can be better than this. As soon as you walk on the boardwalk you are hoping to see big waves and fish in the sea, instead, you see dead fish and some animals floating in the water next to old car tires, trash, and fertilizer. Now you feel terrible and want to go home. Pollution is devastating. The reason why I researched this topic is that I do not want my family nor my planet to get sick. Pollution can be stopped very easily, it’s just that people “don’t know” how to stop or they just don’t care, which is a serious problem. I want people to see that pollution is mainly caused by humans, and also for them to see that it is a horrible thing that is happening. Some kids litter because they see their parents and their whole family doing it. When I was researching this topic, I noticed that I needed to find out more information, so I asked questions to myself. When did pollution get so bad? How many animals have gone extinct because of pollution? How many people die each year because of pollution? How much does everyone on the planet pollute each year? What is the best way to stop pollution? Can just one person make a difference? After a lot of research, I found out lots of ways that we can stop pollution, so it is possible to end it. Or at least improve the air.

Pollution has become a prevalent issue worldwide and has begun to affect the air used to breathe, the soil used to grow food, and the water used to drink. All of these effects result in commonly occurring destruction of health and wildlife that one may have seen on the news or heard from peers. In order to live, one needs food, water, clothing, and shelter. If the water and food that society consumes gets contaminated, a major component of life has been eradicated, which can only have negative consequences. If more people are educated as to what effects the environment, the world has a chance to counteract the effects of pollution. The main causes of pollution are the burning of fossil fuels such as with car exhausts, littering as a result of societal norms and laziness, and factory waste as a result of lax waste regulation, and can result in mass destruction of the environment and catastrophic effects on the everyday lives of contemporary people.

The Earth is a dynamic, constantly changing environment in which the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere all interact. When one changes slightly the change is then felt through out the spheres. Humans need to understand that the change they cause can have a potential for a disastrous affect on the environment. From injecting the atmosphere with greenhouse gas, or deforestation, all the unnatural things done to the environment will have an unnatural affect that will have to be dealt with. We as humans have a moral responsibility to reduce global warming gasses by changing our modes of transportation, to stop deforestation, and increase government funding into research to inhibit global warming for