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Air Pollution and Ozone Depletion The year is 2007. The ozone hole over Antarctica has expanded each year and has now become a severe global threat. Sometime in July several hundred large airplanes head out on a dangerous mission over the sunless Antarctic continent. Their goal: to spray 50, 000 tons of ethane into the stratosphere in an attempt to stop the ozone hole from forming as the austral spring approaches. Though it may sound like the plot for a new Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, this idea has been raised by a team of atmospheric scientists who use computer models to explore methods of stemming the annual ozone depletion over Antarctica. For the purpose of this essay, pollution shall be identified as follows...
the deliberate or accidental introduction to the environment of contaminants, in the form of either wastes or products (4). This essay will deal with the problem of air pollution. Air pollutants come from heavy industry, fumes from automobiles, jet planes and the like. When speaking of the automobile alone...
each gallon of gas burned releases 22 pounds of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere... the car is the single largest contributor to global warming (3). Although the majority of the problem areas are in the developing world, these areas can affect the entire world. The atmosphere is not confined to borders like the land.
Pollution spreads beyond the borders of any country, and as such, no one region can solve the problem alone. In some developing nations, there are areas that people and animals cannot live in for extended periods of time. One visitor to the Romanian black town of Cops Mica noted that the trees and grass are so stained by soot that they look as if they had been soaked in ink. A local doctor reported that even horses can stay only for two years in the town; then they have to be taken away, or else they will die (2). There are many reasons that pollution has come to the foreground of twentieth century politics. The most important is the effect it has on human life.
This does not place the effects that it has on our natural environment as secondary; however, it seems that unless we as human beings are directly affected, we tend to look the other way. The Epa's 1990 report on urban air quality trends estimates that over 100 million Americans live in areas where pollution exceeds federal air quality standards; as well air pollution is responsible for more then 50, 000 to 60, 000 premature deaths each year. (4) Air pollution is also the main cause of global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer. If the earths temperature rises by a mere five degrees, the resulting catastrophe would be immeasurable. It is important to realize that global warming is a direct result of the depletion of ozone in the atmosphere. A greater variety of greenhouse gases are created by a myriad of essential human activities, including the generation of power, industrial production, transportation, agriculture and forestry. Mitigating climate change will require major changes in life-style, especially those that consume large amounts of fossil fuels (11).
We can see that no matter where we look, air pollution has come to occupy a major part in our daily lives. The only way to reduce the quantity of poisonous emissions to the air would require a drastic change in the way we live. Due to inefficient regulatory policies, the different types of air pollution pose severe problems. Air pollution occurs when gases and particles are combined or altered in such a way that they degrade the air and form substances that are harmful to humans, animals, and other living things (4). Some air pollution is a result of natural processes such as forest fires, volcanoes or wind blown dust. Conversely, the majority of pollutants are the direct result of human interaction and misuse of our environment.
An example of this is the loss of the whales, who for centuries lived in the St. Lawrence region of the Atlantic Ocean, but had to migrate due to the... polluted water emptying out of the Great Lakes. They are said to be contaminated with toxic chemicals at concentration levels high enough that they are technically classified as hazardous waste (6)... the atmosphere will... need to be regulated as a global trust if the human community is to entertain any possibility of addressing the problems of global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, and air pollution.
In June 1988, the prime ministers of Norway and Canada proposed a Law of the Air treaty to protect the atmosphere from global warming and ozone depletion. [The end result being]... the transition to renewable energy sources, and the research and development of alternatives to CFCs (8). Air pollution and pollution in general have reached such alarming levels because of human neglect and ignorance. They have been allowed to perpetuate due to the lack of clearly defined property rights within the ecosphere (natural resources and the environment). We must realize that individual actions as well as those of large and /or small corporations affect not only the lifestyle, but the quality of life of all organisms on the planet; human or not.
The corporations inherent tendency to maximize profits by mass-production and technological efficiency clashes with the desire to limit material growth and preserve nature (9). We must recognize the consequences our actions have on the environment or we are doomed to keep on repeating our mistakes. Another example could be what has become known as the Dust Bowl of the 1930 s. Perhaps the largest forced migration in American history was the mass departure from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska and other plains during the period of the early 1930 s... (12). The Dust Bowl resulted in huge sand storms as the farmland of the above mentioned areas became completely devastated as a result of the overuse of its agricultural ability.
It was pushed to far, and the exploitation finally ended in rendering the land useless for decades. The protection of the environment has become a major concern in all levels of political, social and economic arenas. As we enter the next millennium we must ask ourselves what type of environment do we want to live in? How do we want our children to grow up? The practical answers to these question are difficult, but not the theoretical ones.
Theoretically, the perfect world is one in which we do not have to fear pollution, we do not have to be afraid of the water we drink, or the air we breath. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world and we have no choice but to worry. The idyllic world outlined above is what ecologists and social scientists alike hope for: an eco-society. This eco-society is sought after by so- called Green Parties. There are six key strategies which they employ (through different tactical means) in order to achieve their policies.
They are: to think globally by acting locally. The reason for this is to attempt to spread some sort of global awareness, but get citizens involved at a local level, hence having them feel that they are playing a key role and are important in the policy making process. Green parties also advocate more ecological education, and a more sustainable economy. This notion of a more sustainable economy can be achieved the following ways: conservation of resources, slow down material production, and lower industrial output. What this all amounts to is moving the tertiary and quaternary sectors of the economy to the fore, and eliminating the primary and secondary (to a literally subsistence level). Furthermore, they want to get human beings to recognize the highly spiritual life that they are capable of living and not the hedonistic material one they are living.
By the same token, they want to increase green spaces and partake in long range planning thereby helping to keep the earth alive as long as possible (7). By concentrating on the above six strategies, Green Parties believe that it may be possible for people to change from a consumed to a conserved society. A society in which we live in harmony with nature, not in dominance over it. As we look back today and see the damage that has been done to the environment, we wonder what went wrong. That question could be answered as such: The thoughtless and shortsighted transformation of scientific knowledge into technical know-how has given mankind too much power too soon to be able to use it wisely (12).
With these technological advances comes the inevitable depletion and deterioration of the earth. Depletion, in the sense that we are undoubtedly going to run out of natural resources at our present rate of consumption. Deterioration, in the sense of all the pollutants which we constantly spew into our environment, where our children and theirs will have to live. Public opinion polls show wide spread support for stronger and more aggressive measures aimed at solving pollution problems and protecting our natural resources. These sentiments have become so pervasive that well over the majority of people believe that protecting the environment is so important that requirements and standards cannot be too high, and continuing environmental improvements must be made regardless of cost (13). This mass popularization of environmentalism has had the effect of increasing demands for action being made on our political process and leaders.
In many industries, air pollution is a by-product of normal economic production. In some such cases government authorities have restricted firms production of effluents. This restriction is often imposed as a maximum rate of flow at which a firm may emit pollutants. This system in which emissions are managed on a source to source basis has been labeled one of Command-and-Control (11). However, empirical studies have shown that costs under Command-and-Control mechanisms are as much as twenty times as expensive as the least-cost market oriented mechanism that achieves the same environmental quality. This discrepancy in efficiency is due to the high costs associated with regulating the C&C method since allocations must be made on a firm to firm basis.
As well, even when all sources are in compliance with technological based standards, there is no guarantee that the sum of emissions will produce quality air. Recently, there is growing consensus that the methods of control do not work on a uniform basis in terms of addressing different locations and types of pollutants with the most damaging health...
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Research essay sample on Air Pollution And Ozone Part 1
