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The Solution For Pollution Essay, Research Paper

Society as a whole faces many environmental problems, and as a result, environmental awareness tends to be a pressing issue. Everyday, people recycle cans, glass bottles, and newspapers. Many people buy bottled water, or own filters for their tap water, as a health precaution from the pollutants in normal everyday drinking water. Everyone seems to be concerned with issues such as, littering, and what is going to happen when there are no more land fills. Some people are even talking about the introduction of the electric car sometime in the near future. Air pollution is perhaps the biggest environmental issue the Earth is facing. Automobiles are responsible for a notable amount of the air pollution problem. Of course, on the other hand so are factories. If the fight against air pollution were to be taken to a higher level, putting pressure on factories that produce air pollution will have a greater effect than focusing on automobiles. The solution for problems caused by automobiles can only be taken to the level of removing vehicles off the road that cause excessive pollution. A campaign to promote car-pooling, and the use of public transportation could be started up, but those types of promotions do not get enough support. Clearly, factories should be targeted for the best results. The environmental policies that the government regulates for factories or other companies who produce air pollution must be made stricter. Factories are causing enormous amounts of air pollution, the air in most metropolitan areas is filled with pollutants, and passing laws that are more strictly enforced could have a positive effect on the situation.

Air pollution can be simply defined as all the substances that are exhausted into the atmosphere that do not normally make up the air. (Sorvall 17) These substances are next divided into two basic categories: aerosols and unwanted gases. (Sorvall 18) Aerosols are tiny bits of solid matter that can be visibly floating around in the air, such as the particles that are released when using a can of hairspray or burning leaves in an open fire. The results of this pollution can be seen on mirrors or windows, giving them a sticky texture and a smudged appearance. Unwanted gases, on the other hand, are usually invisible; however, they are the most dangerous to the air. There are numerous types of these pollutants in the air, but carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides are, by far, the most common. Such particles are expelled daily by leniently controlled factories through the continuous outpour of smoke.

The primary process that creates air pollution is oxidation, which is simply defined as burning. (Sorvall 18) This process has been going on for centuries, beginning when man first became aware of a very useful cooking tool, what is now known as fire. Until recently, pollution from fires was seemingly insignificant because fires were previously used only in households and could be easily dispersed. However, as technology advanced, major industries developed and began to use fires as a source of energy for power plants and the disposal of garbage. This major increase in the usage of the oxidation process and the lack of knowledge of the hazards involved, contaminants in the air, as a result of factories excessive usage, has become a major environmental dilemma.

Though air pollution in some form has been around since the discovery of fire, it has only recently become known to be a major problem. Air pollution has long been a factor with the issue of protecting the environment. For example, in the nineteenth century, people in London, England complained about the foggy weather that was created by the smoke from burning coals in the homes of people, as well as places of business. (Sproull 18) In December of 1952, the worst air pollution disaster ever recorded also occurred in London. Nicknamed the killer smog, this disaster occurred because of a temperature inversion, which is when warmer temperatures get hotter as they get further from the earth s surface rather than cooer as they usually do. In this particular event, a cool front also moved in below the warm air, which caused more people than usual to burn coal, which is high in sulfur. Because of the warm air that had risen, the smoke from the fireplaces had nowhere to rise and was being pushed back down. This string of events produced the killer smog which led to the deaths of more than four thousand people. Because of this one horrific event, scientists became more aware of the effects that air pollution can have on a population, which has led to more in-depth studies. The same type of pollution, though in much more extreme cases, can be seen in cities today. The modern name for the foggy weather that these people were seeing is now referred to as smog. It is composed of mainly ground level ozone, which is caused by toxins in the air. (EPA 2) Ground-level ozone is produced by the combination of pollutants from many sources, including smokestacks, cars, paints, and solvents. (EPA 2) These toxins are released mainly through the exhaust systems of automobiles and from factories.

There are two main causes of air pollution: automobiles and factories. The dangerous effects that these two cause can be primarily attributed to burning, or more specifically, oxidation. When a substance is burned, it releases harmful by products that are emitted into the air and thereby become pollutants. The greater majority of citizens drive automobiles, and they are vital in everyday life for the purpose of transportation. With the unimaginable amount of automobiles being driven everyday, the pollution caused is extremely damaging. Air toxins from automobiles escape when gas is pumped into the car in the form of evaporation and are emitted from the tailpipes when the car burns the gasoline through the process of

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