Essay, Research Paper
Outline
Introduction:
I.What is Pollution?
A. Who makes up most of the pollution
1.What pollutants are
2.What causes there formation
B. Who and what is harmed by pollution
II.Acid Precipitation
A.How is it caused
B.What are its effects
III. Air Pollution
A.How is it caused
B.What are its effects
Conclusion:We need to use renewable resources and finding uses for waste products
instead of creating pollution by throwing them out. Our environment is a crucial part of
our lives, and we must learn how to treat it correctly. Without it we would not be living.
We need to become more aware of the circumstances that are going to take place if
action is not taken . We need to stop making emphasis on what will make us more
comfortable, because if we don?t soon we will not have a world to live in and we will all
die. Then how important will living comfortable be.
Alina M. Torres
Professor Kronen
ENC 2301
December 7, 1998
How Pollution Affects Us and Our Surroundings
Pollution occurs when harmful substances are released into the environment,
causing damage to living things. This is caused by humans and complex organisms
everyday. It is difficult to actually say what exactly pollution is because some
environmental elements that are pollutants to certain species maybe desirable nutrients to
others. A dictionary defines pollution as ? the contamination of one substance by another
so that the former is unfit for its intended use?.
Since us humans are basically inefficient, wasteful, and inconsiderate to our
surroundings we make up most of the pollution that is currently affecting us because of
the whole industrial origin and human growth population. Pollution takes many
different forms: noise, radio waves and even heat. The more obvious types are solid
litter, fumes from car exhausts and our lack of recycling (Becklake, page 5). Some of the
main causes for the existence of these substances are our growing technology making it
mandatory for industrial growth making way for industrial emissions that are escaping
into the air, nuclear waste plants having to be made to make human waste valuable in
some way since so much was being produced. When fossil fuels in homes and vehicles
such as coal and gas are burned they produce sulfur and nitrogen, which react with damp
air to make sulfuric and nitric acids. If the air is dry the reaction takes place very slowly
causing pollution.
As in result of all this we are not only hurting ourselves with these pollutants but
we are also, not only hurting, but killing off our surroundings little by little that are in
some way crucial to our existence here. For example, we are gradually killing our ozone
layer by releasing various chemicals such as carbon monoxide which is pro
and is highly poisonous and let out into the atmosphere. Lead is another serious pollutant
from car exhaust. It is added to gasoline to make engines run more smoothly. According
to Malcolm Penny, in several states the use of leaded gasoline is illegal. Despite its
availability in Great Britain only one in a thousand motorists use lead free gasoline in
1997.(10) The ozone layer is a region in the earth?s stratosphere. It is formed of oxygen
that is created by the action if sunlight. This layer is of great importance to us because it
protects the earth of getting direct ultraviolet rays which are dangerous to us.
Acid precipitation, although a secondary pollutant, is another factor caused by
industrial and vehicle emissions when sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide
in the air combine with water. This poses as a great threat to living organisms, buildings,
monuments, and other objects. For example a species can be killed off with strong
enough acid precipitation and that is harmful because that will always harm the food
chain in some way, meaning it will affect us as well. According to John Becklake, the
damage has been very serious. In the 1900?s anglers in Norway caught more than
sixty-six pounds of salmon, but since 1970 they have caught none. This incident should
set an alarm to everyone, even our foods are being polluted.(12) Acid Precipitation
affects the leaves of trees which reduces their ability to make food by photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis is the process of plants making their own food, by the use of energy. As a
result the trees will starve. Scientists believe that the tress are dying from a mixture of
tens or even hundreds of chemicals which are released into the air.
The air we breathe is a mixture of gasses: nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and
other gasses. The air surrounding the earth is a thin layer called the atmosphere.
According to Becklake, since our evolution the atmosphere has remained more less as we
know it today.(44) Our daily activities threaten to change this perfect balance. It isn?t
only nitrogen and oxygen that are affected, but others which occur in small quantities.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been growing steadily for the past
two hundred years with the growth of industry and the increase of car usage.(Penny 66)
As result of my research, I have found that we need to use renewable
resources and finding uses for waste products instead of creating pollution by throwing
them out. Our environment is a crucial part of our lives and we need to learn how to
treat it correctly because without it we would not be living right now. We need to
become more aware of the circumstances that are going to take place if action is not
taken. We need to stop making emphasis on what would make us live more comfortably
because if we don?t soon we will not have a world to live in. And how comfortable
would that be?