Problems With Pollution

Pollution is one of the most concerning topics to talk about in today's modern world. It acts as a poison for anything that lives and breathes; it could toxify water, air, land, humans, and animals, and is not to be taken lightly.

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.

The problem of pollution comes with the ever expanding human population. With this growing population our demand for products also increases. We live in a consumer society, especially in the United States, and making huge quantities of products generates a large amount of pollution and waste. American citizens love to buy, we represent only 5% of the global population but we use 25% of the world's resources. The unfortunate part is that all the resources we use to make products end up in some landfill somewhere because a huge amount of Americans don't understand the importance of recycling and reducing consumption of products. American citizens throw away 40% of the food they purchase. That number is ridiculous, especially since so many Americans

Arizona is on the rise as one of the fastest metropolitan areas in the United States of America. In fact, in 2015 Forbes Magazine ranks Phoenix, Arizona as the 11th fastest growing city in the U.S.1 This growth is due the unprecedented resources and growing opportunities in the state of Arizona. With all of these opportunities come more production, which means more emissions from various industries and cars, more fossil fuels burned, and household and farming chemicals added to the sky. All of these are examples of pollution; which is one the sacrifices that comes with being a large city that is emerging. Pollution is defined as the action or process of making land, water, air, etc., dirty and not safe or suitable to use.2 We understand that Phoenix is a rapidly growing city, but they should be able to grow without being a detriment to the environment and health of their citizens. The purpose of my report is to examine the problem of air pollution in Phoenix, Arizona and look at solutions to fix this problem.

Although thought to be “not a big problem” and “under control” by most people, pollution is making its way in being a serious and an unforgiving threat to society. Pollution a topic everyone hears and knows exists. What they don’t know is how serious of a problem it is already becoming. Many health issues are being reported now that are linked to air pollution and even the most severe weather places have encountered are linked to air pollution also. By society, not fully being aware of the true threat that pollution is making, it will only become a growing threat that they will be encountering.

Air pollution are impacting the environment, and it is imperative that laws are enforced to help build and sustain a better air quality. Air pollutants can be in the form of particulate matter which can be very harmful to our health. Stimulation to our eyes, nose, throat, and breathing infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia are all short-term effects. You’re head might hurt, you might want to puke, and you might have allergic reactions. Short-term air pollution can put people with asthma and emphysema in a worse condition. Long lasting breathing disease, lung cancer, heart disease, and even damage to your brains, nerves, livers, or kidneys are all long-term effects. If you’re exposed to air pollution continuously, it would affect children’s lungs and may complicate medical conditions for the elders. Some people argue and deny the bad air problem. They claim that pollution may actually be good for the Earth. The hazy weather caused by pollution has made plants far more productive when it comes to scrubbing greenhouse gasses out of the air. Pollution has turned plants into better carbon dioxide processing machines. But this is bad for our own health. Pollution is causing global warming which leads to massive ice land melting. Polar bears and other animals that live there are losing there habitats and even dying. Melting ice could also lead to more sea water which would bury some cities or land near the coastal areas. There is already a tremendous amount of people on this planet. If our land decreases, and our population continues to increase, some people would have to start living on another planet; therefore, making it a priority to address the areas

Do people pollute? In the United States, we contribute to 30% of the world’s waste(“Pollution Facts”). Because of that, the effects of pollution are killing humans and the environment around us. If we tend to be oblivious to this problem any longer it could be our downfall. Therefor, Pollution is a problem that is constantly overlooked and something needs to be done about it.

Pollution is a problem that many people in America have seen coming for decades. Everyday many industries and factories all around America have been releasing toxins and other gases into the air. Motorized vehicles are also another source of air pollution as they release combusted gases. Another source of pollution is water pollution, which is caused by oil spills, acid rain, and urban runoff. Everyday more and more pollutants are released into the atmosphere and waters, and no one seems to be doing anything, at least on a large scale. The amount of damage that has already happened, is expected to take millions of years to recoup. Signs of damage have been coming up all over the United States. Natural disasters as well as global warming have been occurring more and more often as years go by.

For hundreds of thousands of years, humans have been polluting the planet. From leaving scraps of animal they killed, to us, now, throwing trash out the window. By the 1800s, people began to understand that unsanitary living conditions and water contamination contributed to disease epidemics (US Department of Commerce). Pollution is the presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects. There are many different types of pollution: air, water, soil, radioactive, noise, and light. Many of these types of pollution are because of human interaction, although, natural destruction is also a contributor. It has became a growing and deadly issue. Pollution has harmed and continues to harm the land, animals and humans through many different outlets. Is there a way to slow it down, reverse the damage, make the land healthy again?

They are so many problems for us and our marine life due to careless people littering each day. Did you know shat on average, each person throws away around 2.7 kilogram of rubbish everyday. Do you every wonder how much of that ends up in the ocean, killing and hurting our innocent animals? Think of every piece of plastic you leave in the environment. It will soon end up in the environment and be there for another 400 years. Did you know, that 37 million gallons of oil are spilled into out oceans, worldwide each year? The oil then sits on the water, preventing animals to get sunlight. This causes a vitamin D difisancy, which could potentially cause them to die out. Oil spills have have killed and harmed approximately 82,000 birds over 102 species. Other animals that are hurt from oil spills are animals with blow holes and feathers.

Pollution is caused by people littering, throwing their trash everywhere, wasting energy, and burning fuel from vehicles. Pollution effects all animals and plants from around the world. It can harm them and kill them. Some animals have gone extinct because of pollution, thanks to humans. To be exact, over 11 species of animals have gone extinct because of pollution, Not to mention people have died too! How much? Well, about 6.5 million people have mainly because of respiratory problems (lung cancer caused by air pollution) . Yea, its really bad. Pollution has been around for a long time in the U.S since the mid-19 centuries. It got worse because of the industrial revolution. This caused the air and water to become polluted because of all of the manufacturing factories, which uses coal for their factories and threw their waste

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.

Secondly, the lack of preservation of the environment is leading to different kinds of pollution. One type of pollution that is happening is air pollution. Air pollution is pollution to the atmosphere caused by factories and industries, humans using transportation that burn fossil fuels, and other factors that can change the atmosphere’s chemical composition (Air). Air pollution can seriously harm many people and can cause them to have problems that range from irritated eyes and nose to cancer (Gray). Another kind of pollution that humans are causing is water pollution. Humans pollute the water

The last great source of pollution lays in the businesses. Although not common, businesses have been known to dump their waste products into streams, lakes, and rivers. This may seem like a relatively small occurrence that really is not your concern, but you're wrong. Each time one of these companies pollutes there are horrible consequences to pay. Mutations, destroyed ecosystems, and human death have all occurred as a direct result of illegal dumping. It contaminates our drinking water and soil. It causes entire communities of humans (not to mention animals) to move on to new places not to return for at least a century. The pollutants dumped by industry are so concentrated that a single barrel can destroy an entire lake's ecosystem. Not only do companies dump chemicals, but also hot water. This hot water kills most life it comes into contact with, but also causes an overgrowth

Hawaii has been known as a paradise for vacation with a diverse ecosystem, warm tropical climate and sunlit public beaches. Unfortunately, those paradise islands have been formed by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago, and still continuously creates new underground volcanoes due to the movement of Pacific Plate. (Montgomery 2014, 57) . There are several volcanic hazards during eruption, and air pollution is one of the most dangerous one. It significantly impacts community health without the awareness of Hawaii residents. Moreover, in the long term, air pollution can cause lung damage, several health problems, and acid rain that negatively affects community health and agriculture. Fortunately, there are a number of scientists have been working on this problem to prevent and protect community health from the volcanic hazard.