Air Pollution in the World

Air Pollution in the World

OUTLINE

I. Nowadays air pollution became very important problem in our world.

II. Air pollution is caused by 3 factors.

a. Factories

b. Cars

c. Human activities

III. These three main problems listed above cause huge effects on our planet.

a. Global warming

b. Acid rains

c. Health problems

IV. Regarding all the factors and the problems they cause, we should start changing our world.

Air Pollution in the World

“Every day, the average person inhales about 20,000 liters of air. Every time we breathe, we risk inhaling dangerous chemicals that have found their way into the air” (Brimblecombe, 1994). Nowadays air pollution become more and more serious problem. It is mainly caused by 3 big factors. The first main cause of air pollution is factories. Every person needs food, clothes, furniture and other important things. For this reason there are thousands of factories in the world. These buildings emit fumes and gas that are harmful for our planet. For example ”Large cities, such as Los Angeles, have a layer of smog, which is polluted air over the whole city. If air pollution continues as it has been, before too long, the entire earth will have an additional ring around it consisting of polluted air from factories”(eHow Contributor, date n.a). Also, people need electricity so they build power-stations which are none the less pollutants than various factories. Another cause is car air pollution which is a silent and invisible problem. We tend to think that inside our cars we are safe from most things that can hurt us, but that is far from the truth – especially where air quality is concerned. We can see the air pollution outside, but inside it is invisible and thus not on our minds. It is almost unusual to see people without a car, an automobile is very important thing in our everyday life. We use it to go to work, supermarket and anywhere else we need. But cars are really noxious, because of the motor vehicle engine which emits many types of gas, including nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), particulates, sulphur dioxide (S02) and lead. The last but not least important air pollution problem is human activity. People use various things in their everyday life - food, clothes, soap and many more. Also they throw away o lot of waste products such as bottles, packing etc. Many of them cannot decompose. These are various trashes - plastic, metal, glass, chemicals and some other that we leave in dumps. Rubbish emits methane which causes many problems. Furthermore, there is another harmful human activity such as forest cutting. Trees are important for our planet, because they use C02 gas from environment and produce oxygen which is essential for every living creature. So, without trees we have much more unhealthy gas around us that increase air pollution and make negative effect on Earth. These three main problems of our society cause some huge effects on our planet. The main effect of these problems is global warming, which includes a lot of smaller bad points. “Global warming is the unusually rapid increase in Earth’s average surface temperature over the past century primarily due to the greenhouse gases released by people burning fossil fuels” (Riebeek, 2010). The first effect which happens because of global warming is glacier melting. Nowadays it is not seen as very serious problem, but in ten years it will have huge impact on our planet. If glaciers melt even partially, the level of water will raise about 1 metre. It causes many problems, because a big part of continents will be flooded, and huge number of cities that are inshore of the oceans or seas will be underwater. That means many people will have to leave their homes and find a new place where to live. Also, glacier melting cause problems for animals living in Antarctica. For example, polar bears which live on these glaciers, and when they melt, bears are under the necessity to live in water as fish, which is absurdity, or they have to swim long distances to find the ice. Another effect dependant on global warming is hurricanes. The oceans are getting warmer, and these cause stronger storms. For example, in 2004 there were 15 big hurricanes in the Atlantic basin (Drye, 2007). Such storms always bring much loss: they leave thousands homeless people, many of them are injured. The second big effect on Earth is acid rains. These rains are mainly caused by CO, CO2, lead, chlorofluorocarbons and other substances that are being released into the air. Acid rains are very harmful to the environment. Acid rain affects the life in the water as well as the life on land. It is almost worse in water than on land because the fish that are in the water need it to breathe. When the oceans get polluted, then the fish get sick and end up dying. Acid rains also damage trees, and other plants, so they die. The last important effect caused by air pollution is health problems. Elderly people and young children suffer from the effects of air pollution more often. Air pollution effects irritation of eyes, nose and throat, respiratory difficulties, headache, allergy. If it continuous for a long time, air pollution can also effect pulmonary cancer, asthma stroke, heart diseases (Will and Jon, 1990). Furthermore, air pollution is a beginning of stress. People feel unhealthy, also often they do not know the reasons of their negative feelings. In conclusion, every person on this planet is using too many things that they could live without. Consenqently, factors such as factories, cars and human activities cause air pollution. It effects our planet in extremely way by global warming, acid rains and health problems. Regarding all issues mentioned before we should start changing our world.

References

1. Brimblecombe, P. 1994. Air Pollution. Environmental Encyclopedia. Detroit: Gale Research. 2. Drye, W. 2007. Do Brazilian summers predict Atlantic hurricane season? Available at: http://wdryegoods.blogspot.com/2007/07/do-brazilian-summers-predict-atlantic.htm, accessed 21 March 2011. 3. eHow Contributor. Date n.a. How do factories cause air pollution? Available at: http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4966698_factories-cause-air-pollution.html, accessed 21 March 2011. 4. Riebeek, H. 2010. Global Warming. Available at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/page1.php, accessed 21 March 2011. 5. Steger, W. and J. Bowermaster. 1990. Saving the Earth. New York: Bryon Press.

References: 1. Brimblecombe, P. 1994. Air Pollution. Environmental Encyclopedia.  Detroit: Gale Research. 2. Drye, W. 2007. Do Brazilian summers predict Atlantic hurricane season? Available at: http://wdryegoods.blogspot.com/2007/07/do-brazilian-summers-predict-atlantic.htm, accessed 21 March 2011. 3. eHow Contributor. Date n.a. How do factories cause air pollution? Available at: http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4966698_factories-cause-air-pollution.html, accessed 21 March 2011. 4. Riebeek, H. 2010. Global Warming. Available at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/page1.php, accessed 21 March 2011. 5. Steger, W. and J. Bowermaster. 1990. Saving the Earth. New York: Bryon Press.