Theo Walther

ESPM 1011

Path Homework #1: Air Pollution Issues and Solutions

General Description

The Earth has many environmental issues that are harmful to humans, animals and the environment around us. Air pollution, is the presence of unwanted chemicals and compounds that lower the quality of the air and cause an imbalance of gases in our atmosphere. These imbalances have direct effect on global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer.1 Due to the large impact and side effects that air pollution has on the Earth and living life, it is ranked as one of the top environmental issues the Earth is facing.2 Human activity and industrialization are the main causes of air pollution and if change does not occur, the consequences we have readily observed will only get worse.

In-Depth Description

Human activity is the main contributor to air pollution but there are also other factors that add up to create the large air pollution problem the earth faces. The earth’s atmosphere is made up of 78% nitrogen gas, 21% oxygen gas, and the remaining 1% consists of trace gases like argon and carbon dioxide. The balance of these chemicals are vital to life on Earth, so the addition of pollutants can have detrimental effects.3 Natural causes and anthropogenic causes can both have damaging effects on air quality. Anthropogenic, created by humans, has much larger effects on air pollution than those of natural causes. The use of fossil fuels in industry, transportation, and energy creation are the main source of pollutants that cause imbalance in the atmosphere.4 Natural causes such as volcanic activity and wildfires can lower air quality but the effects are mostly seen locally rather than globally. These events, in addition, happen periodically where as human activity occurs daily.4

There have been many studies done on the negative effects that come with air pollution. There are direct impacts on human health and the impacts are very concerning. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 4.2 million people die prematurely every year due to the air pollution they have been exposed to. The deaths can be linked to various illnesses such as lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and respiratory infections in children.5 Even more startling, 29% of all lung cancer related deaths in the world are due to exposure of air pollution and 24% of all stroke related deaths are caused by air pollution.5 It is estimated that 91% of people in the world live in places where the air quality does not meet the World Health Organization’s guidelines. The guideline of air quality is 10µg/m3 and in these places it exceeds that.6 If humans continue to contribute to the air pollution problem and don’t change, they will experience the consequences firsthand.

A question that is often debated when analyzing air pollution is if economics outweigh clean air. One side of the argument would claim that clean air is a public good and should be available to all. This side would also claim that it is important to regulate industries and the amount of emissions that they are allowed to release. On the other hand, putting regulations in place could potentially decrease the productivity of industries and therefore hurt our economy. The answer to the this question is not easy and can vary depending on who is asked and their ideals.

Although air pollution is still a large problem there have been efforts in order to prevent the matter from getting worse. The clean air act of 1963 was put in place to monitor and control  emissions and other causes of air pollution. Also, new technology advances in transportation and industries have been created to reduce the amount of pollution caused.7

New laws and technology advances have benefitted the Earth in terms of pollution but it is still a big problem. Many countries still don’t have regulations or the resources for this technology, therefore they still experience a large amount of air pollution. Another problem that humans still face is how to reverse the damage that has already been done.

Possible Solutions

One way to solve the problem of air pollution that the earth faces today is by using economic forces. These would help discourage companies from continuing the way they operate if problematic to the environment. Economic forces include discentives like taxes and incentives such as subsidies and tax credits. One large discentive that has already been put in place is carbon tax which taxes companies and people for their use of fossil fuels. If this discentive is set high enough it can discourage companies to continue using fossil fuels and rather switch to fuel alternatives that are more eco-friendly.8 If more discentives like carbon tax are implemented on companies and consumers they will feel pressured to find more environment friendly fuel alternatives. When companies and consumers start utilizing these alternatives less emissions will be created and the damage the companies create will be reduced. Another discentive that could be put in place to encourage companies to be more clean towards the environment is more strict and larger pollution charges. This would mean a company would have to pay a certain amount of money if they went over a certain amount of pollution within a given time period.

When incentives are given to companies and humans they will be more driven to make a difference and reach these incentives. One incentive is being able to trade emissions with other companies. This means that if a company produced less emissions than the limit they are allowed to trade them to another company who may be exceeding their emission limit. Most of the time emissions are traded for money which is why it is an incentive to be more environmentally friendly.

Another approach that can be taken in order to combat this issue could be education and outreach. Humans do not always recognize that what they are doing has a large impact on the Earth. Therefore, as a society we need to become more educated about the environment and specifically air pollution. By educating humans about air pollution they will gain awareness on the issue, be more thoughtful about their actions, and increase concern about the future of the planet. Educating society can be done in various way and some are more effective than others. By implementing environmental classes in schools at a young age, kids will have an understanding of the environment and it gives them a reason to practice good behaviors in their following years. In order to educate more than just kids, there could be advertisements on social media and other platforms. This would include information that would persuade people to become more environmentally friendly and change the way they live their lives. If people were exposed to this information on a daily basis on social media platforms, it will stick with them and cause change. The changes in behavior could include buying a electric car, using public transportation, renewable energy, etc. All these changes will add up to ultimately bettering the environment and air quality on Earth.

Synthesis

Air pollution is difficult to reverse and efforts to prevent the issue from getting worse have been hard to implement. It is human’s responsibility to allow future generations to be exposed to clean air like many generations ago. If humans and industries continue to pollute the air there could be many negative consequences such as ozone layer depletion and increasing climate change. These consequences would have a direct toll on humans and all other living life on Earth. How do we ensure that clean air will be around many generations from now? Is there a way to reverse the damage done? There is only one Earth, it is the duty of all to protect and preserve it for future generations and it starts by solving the air pollution problem.

Work Cited

1. Rinkesh. What is Air Pollution.

https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-of-air-pollution.php (accessed October 3rd, 2018)

2. Rinkesh. Environmental Concerns.

https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/top-25-environmental-concerns.php (accessed October 3rd, 2018)

3. Williams, M. What Causes Air Pollution? https://phys.org/news/2016-04-air-pollution.html (accessed on October 4th, 2018)

4. Environmental Pollutions Center. Air Pollution Causes.

https://www.environmentalpollutioncenters.org/air/causes/  (accessed October 4th, 2018)

5. WHO. Ambient air pollution: Health impacts.

http://www.who.int/airpollution/ambient/health-impacts/en/ (accessed October 8th, 2018)

6. WHO. Air pollution and health: Summary.

http://www.who.int/airpollution/ambient/about/en/ (accessed October 8th, 2018)

7. EPA. Progress Cleaning the Air and Improving People’s Health.

https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/progress-cleaning-air-and-improving-peoples-health (accessed October 8th, 2018)

8. CTC. What’s a Carbon Tax? https://www.carbontax.org/whats-a-carbon-tax/ (accessed October 8th, 2018)