The Importance Of Pollution On The Environment

In my personal opinion, to make a difference in our air quality, communities, businesses, industries, designated events about the issue need to be raised. We all need to come together to think of solutions, to better the air quality that will also positively impact the global warming issue it has caused. When really putting this into perspective the air pollution does affect many things around us aside from our own health; photosynthesis, there would be an increase in productivity, sustainability, health cost, prevention of asthma in younger generations and an overall environmentally efficient surroundings.

In this day in age many people don’t truly understand the fragility of the environment and the course that takes place when pollution affects ecosystems, forests, and the way society as a whole functions. This research paper will be based on the effects that pollution has solely on the United States of America, the location has been more specific in order to give prime examples and fully specify the meaning and the impact of environmental awareness. Because to understand environmental awareness is to comprehend the fragility of the environment, and to fathom how air pollution, ecosystems, forests, and the disposal of waste affect the environment.

Pollution is the act of making the land, water, air and other parts of our ecosystem dirty and unusable. Pollution is a huge problem not just in America but all over the world. Approximately 200 million individuals worldwide are impacted by pollution. The pollution causes poisons that can cause cancer and leads to shorter lives. Much of the Earth’s pollution is a result human everyday activities. We need to be more aware of the ways we pollute, how it affects our ecosystem, and what we can do about it.

There are several alternative energy sources and other ways in which to reduce the number of air pollutants and raise air quality. The biggest factor in these other options is either financial, technological, or time constraints. There currently are on-going developments in ways to reduce air pollution through current energy consumption. Some of these include changing the types of fuel we use in automotive and industrial pursuits. Such examples are switching to hybrid vehicles, utilizing more bio-fuels and less petroleum based gases, using hydrogen-cell batteries, and lower sulfur content coals. The issue with many of these, besides the coal, is that the technology is still being refined to where it will produce the same results in energy and especially availability. Some other ways are trying to harness the energy available in nature and

Oil spills are difficult to clean up in the Gulf of Mexico. Spills like BP’s 4.9 million barrels spill are even harder to clean up. One of the reasons for this difficult task is that oil spills are never alike. It is estimated that approximately 706 million gallons of oil enter the ocean every year. Offshore drilling and production operations and spills from ships or tankers typically contribute less than 8 percent of the total that enter the ocean each year. The majority of the oil entering the ocean comes from routine maintenance of ships at 20 percent, hydrocarbon particles from onshore air pollution is about 13 percent, and natural seepage from the seafloor is a little over 8 percent. Of the

Environmental problems are known to be a “Wicked problem” because there are so many sides one must please, and ultimately never solve. From power, transportation, food scarcity; each one of these face technological and government borders. The fact is it is hard to make people agree, it is truly remarkable that the United Nations still stands and operates today when so many earlier versions of it have failed. Still when countries are not at war together, their own country is not revolution, the topic of the environment takes center stage. Because events like global warming are not one country's problem, btu everyone's as humans are all connected by the same ocean. Brining in environmentally friendly buildings, to working with municipalities, schools, and communities to become more green. How the ever growing population leads to more problems, and above all how one teacher can make a difference in so many student's lives. The world is forever changing, which is why humans have to change with it, and what not better time to change when one leaves the comfort of their parents and embark of to their first grand adventure to university.

With as many environmental problems that plague the world today, they all fall within three different aspects of everyday life: political systems, economic systems, and material structures and resources. The following theories conceptualize the root of environmental problems in these different areas of society but are able to offer solutions independent of each other. In the selections of From Welfare State to Ecostate, James Meadowcraft suggests that the key to solving environmental problems lies within political systems and that we must rebuild those systems so that the environment will be considered in every decision that gets made. Anthony Weston, in his book Mobilizing the Green Imagination, feels that environmental problems lie in economic systems and that the solution would be to revamp how products are made and distributed to limit the impact that production has on the environment. Finally, in Techno-Fix Michael and Joyce Huesemann see environmental problems stemming from material structures and resources and that the way to combat problems in this aspect is to reinvent technology that is sustainable, rather than having society function on resources that are unsustainable (fossil fuels, for example).

Pollution is the action of contaminating air, water or land by harmful substances which are natural and man-made wastes. Such wastes degrade the air, water or land which reduces is quality and usage. Sources of pollutions are automobiles, increased chemical wastes, nuclear wastes and accumulation of garbage in landfills. Air pollution is one type of environmental contamination which has remained as a main problem in the society. Major contaminants include carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), hydrocarbons (HC) and particulates. These contaminants pose critical environmental and health threats. These are not only experienced locally but internationally as well. Other parts of the globe experience worse cases than the other due to certain conditions of the environment. (Baje, Calong & Cudiamat, 2014)

Geography is "the study of the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these"(oxford dictionary). This essay will assess the relevance of pollution in a geographical context. Pollution is any substance that enters a new environment which has harmful effects. This then therefore has an effect on the local environment, but also the consequences will be felt socio-economically. As a consequence, it is also a huge political issue. Pollution is normally the umbrella term which includes items such as oil, plastics, lead, polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) and greenhouse gases (C02, Methane and water vapour) and can be classified as atmospheric or water pollution. It can be argued that mankind first started polluting during the prehistoric times, when the first fire was created. Throughout history there has been an ever-increasing rate of pollution, however in with in the last 100 years pollution and most significantly greenhouses gas emission have increased by an exponential rate. Since the industrial revolution the concentration of CO2 has risen by 0.17% per year (BBC). Also, between 1990 and 2013 a global warming effect known as the “radiative forcing” due to greenhouse gases has risen by more than 33%(The Guardian).

Throughout the years, the topic of the environment and the preservation of it has become more and more of household discussion. There are many reasons as to why the topic of the environment has become much more important in recent years, due to the many concerns with the depleting resources as well as the dishonorable methods of acquiring or accessing certain natural resources. In come individuals or organizations, that believe that the use of certain resources or the protection of many species around the world should be forbidden. These individuals or organizations are known as moral entrepreneurs, according to the textbook, moral entrepreneurs are “individuals or groups who manufacture public morality by bringing a social problem to public awareness and then attempting to affect change in society’s dominant moral codes” (Bereska, 2014, p. 22). An example of an organization that could be perceived as moral entrepreneur(s), would be the World Wildlife Fund.

Society must consider ancient history and texts to navigate the treatment of nature. As countries around the world continue to develop, it becomes important to reflect on history to see how the environment was preserved. In the bible it is evident that God intended humans to preserve His land. After the creation of the world, “the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:5). In studying this passage it becomes clear that God placed people on Earth to enjoy it, but at the same time “keep it, revealing that the environment has been a priority since the beginning of Earth. Later in the Bible, Moses shares God’s command that we “shall not pollute the land in which you live” (Numbers 35:33 ESV). This verse encouraged many people in ancient times to preserve the environment as it was created. As a developing society, we can reflect on communities as old as 1450 BC to see how the environment was treated and preserved for the future. Society must reflect on ancient history and texts to guide the decision of how to preserve the environment for future generations.

The behaviour of pollutants in the environment can depend on the type and use of the pollutant, for example, atmospheric pollutants, such as oxides of sulphur and nitrogen, will behave differently than water pollutants, such as petroleum from an oil spill, because their compounds and the environment in which they pollute are different. Every pollutant has a source, pathway and sink. The source determines where the pollutant came from, the pathway is the route that the pollutant takes to reach different parts of the environment and the sink is the place of distribution or accumulation (Holdgate, 1979). A pollutant can have a single source or multiple sources and could take several pathways. Pollutants can have acute or chronic effects, which depend on the concentration and type of pollutant and also the duration in which an organism has been exposed to the pollutant. The pollutants effects, such as asbestos, could take a long time to arise, for example, a person exposed to asbestos could develop a chronic lung condition as the asbestos could accumulate in their lungs and the effects of this could occur for a long time (Doll and Peto, 1985). In comparison, a pollutant, for example, could have a severe but brief effect. Ultimately the material properties of the pollutant determine the pollutants behaviour, especially in regards to where the pollutant travels and for how long the pollutant acts, for example, Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in water have low solubility and are

Pollution is a serious global issue that has occurred for as long as humans have inhabited the planet. There are several different varieties of pollution, as well as an abundance of materials, both natural and synthetic, that the earth is contaminated 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

From plastic bags to pesticides - the greater part of the waste we deliver ashore inevitably reaches the oceans, either through purposeful dumping or from keeping running off through channels and waterways. This includes oil spills, which cause colossal harm to the marine environment - yet actually are in charge of just around 12% of the oil entering the oceans every year. Stated by the US National Research Council, 36% descends channels and waterways as waste and spillover from urban communities and industry.

Have you even wondered about how much we hurt the environment? Probably not, most people don’t realize this. Humans depend on the environment so much, but we take it for granted. We hurt the environment every since time we leave the lights on, drop things in the sewer, or when we don’t recycle. You may ask, how can doing these little mistake affect something so huge. Well this chapter is gonna change your mind.