The Causes Of Urban Pollution Environmental Sciences Essay

Human activity is one of the main causes of environmental issues today. The two main causes of pollutants in urban areas are transportation technologies such as the automobiles and power production technologies such as industrial heating and cooling and coal-burning power plants. Automobiles produce a large amount of carbon monoxides to the air we breathe in. There are also more problems such as waste these problems can be fixed through a social aspect, where rules and regulations are changed to decrease environmental problems, and also by society’s lifestyle, examples of lifesyle changes could be when individuals recycle; this preserves energy and decreases production, by which causes pollution. Also to drive hybrid cars which are lower in emission and are environment friendly instead of the gasoline-using counterpart. On the other hand, these problems can also be fixed through a technological aspect, where companies like coal companies use strategies to control air pollution by reducing emission through burning cleaner fuel such as natural gas instead of coal.

To socially fix the environment, society will have to change their individual lifestyles, as well as rules and regulations being changed. After more than a century of heavy industrialization and consumption, people of earth are now feeling the effects of over-crowded garbage dumps, contaminated sites, acid rain and polluted air and water. But commerce cannot only be blamed; it is also each individual lifestyle that can be blamed, such as driving cars that rely mainly on gasoline. Each year in the united states, three-hundred tons of carbon is released into the air, by which causes smog and damage to the ecosystem and is one of the countless causes of global warming today. This problem can be decreased if more individuals invest in hybrid cars, which are powered by a combination of the traditional gasoline power and the addition of some other power source such as an electric motor or hydrogen fuel cell. Another lifestyle change each individual should consider is buying compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent ones. advances in technology have directed us to a light bulb that’s designed to last up to 15 times the life of a standard bulb. They are expensive, but they last much longer, which makes them cheaper in the long run. Also, these bulbs will use less than a third of the power of incandescent, which will reduce electricity costs. They also generate less heat, so less air-conditioning is needed in the summer. Another simple lifestyle change individuals should take into consideration is to reuse shopping bags; this means one less bag to be manufactured and less pollution. A smart technique that most grocery stores use is to charge a small credit on plastic bags, which forces people to reuse bags. Turning off the air-conditioning and/or heat when leaving the house. A great deal of electricity is wasted cooling or heating an empty home, which leads to bigger bills. Even setting the temperature one or two degrees different, keeping the system from activating as often, can save significant amounts of money each year.

In the United States, the government continuously uses federal regulatory powers to control greenhouse gas emmissions, and focuses more on power plants and oil refineries. These two industries produce approximatly fourty percent of emmissions in the united states. To solve this issue, the unitedstatesenvironmental protection act (EPA) is considering using different tools under the federal clean air act to reduce emmissions from factories. This includes new permit requirements for all heavily polluting industry, followed by specific greenhouse gas standards for power plants and oil refineries. This may cause problems for the companies and may cause job loss by which some members of congress are challenging. In December 23rd 2010, the environmental protection act (EPA) , announced it will propose greenhouse gas pollution limits for power plants in July 2011 and for oil refineries in December 2011. Ultimate rules will be questioned the following year. The principles will set levels of pollutant that these companies may produce under the clean air act, which is the federal law that grants the EPA the authority to shield U.S air quality.

China owns cities that have the highest concentrations of air pollution in the world. This is because they have a high increase of industrial development, which leads to a rapid use of natural recourses, as well as high amounts of pollution. The main issue china’s government is dealing with is air pollution and water pollution. Air pollution in china is responsible for 750,000 deaths. To solve this issue, china upgraded their state environmental protection administration to a higher level, which shows concern for fixing the pollution problem, which focuses more on air pollution. The Chinese government is extremely concerned with reducing the pollution throughout China, and has been since the beginning of the 21st Century. Air pollution in china are one of the causes of respiratory disease and even heart disease. Due to the high numbers of affected persons, china has strict environmental laws, by which they find difficult to enforce them. When the government announces a no automobile day on main roads, the declaration is ignored by most people. Up to today, china is still trying to help prevent and reduce air pollution throughout the country.

India is one of the most polluted countries in South East Asia. There are severe problems with both indoor and outdoor air pollution in India. The indoor air pollution is caused by many factors, but mostly the burning of toxic fuels to prepare meals. Indian people, burn coal, wood, and even animal dung to cook their meals, which releases toxins into the air they breathe. Breathing in this terrible quality air is responsible for nearly 500,000 deaths there each year. This high number is mostly women and children and it is a serious problem. This number, according to the World Health Organization, is 80% of the nearly 600,000 deaths related to indoor air pollution in all of SE Asia. A shocking 70 percent of rural households in India do not have any ventilation at all. Air pollution in India caused by these problems could be cut in half by taking a few measures. These measures include promoting smokeless cooking methods, and the use of proper ventilation. If these methods of helping were put into action then the deaths caused by indoor air pollution in India could be reduced by half. Although the methods for helping with air pollution in India sound great it will be a long and hard road to success. These methods for cooking have been in place for so many years people do not want to change. It is mostly women who are mainly exposed to the highest concentration while cooking meals, by which result to death. Unfortunately, it may take time and convincing, but the Indian government is committed to making changes by 2015.

According to Peter Tans, a physicist with national oceanic atmosphere administrations, (NOAA), he claims that naturally, if there are more greenhouse gases, this greenhouse affect will be more significant and raise the temperature of earth more than if humans didn’t emit as much greenhouse gases.

The technological fix to environmental problems, will consist on improving ways in decreasing pollution. For example, In research conducted at the University of Calgary, climate change scientist David Keith and a team of researchers showed it is possible to reduce carbon dioxide , which is the main greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming – using a relatively simple machine that can capture the trace of carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere at any place on the planet.