The Environment and Human Health - Coursework Example

The deaths due to lung cancer in China have increased by 82 percent during the last 5 years and the high increase in emissions from the vehicles is accounted for this increase in deaths due to cancer. Child births with mental and physical disorders have increased by 12.6 percent during the last 5 years and this is due to the increase in the lead content in air which is inhaled by pregnant women and affects the growth of the children. Other indirect effects of pollution due to vehicle emissions on Chinese population include chronic depression which has caused more than a million deaths during the last year (National Research Council & Chinese Academy of Science, 2010).

Environmental Impact of Tire Discard The environmental impacts of tires are very wide ranged, from the unaesthetic view of large piles of tires to the hazardous gases and chemicals which issue out into the environment due to the burning of tires, moreover tires dumped without proper arrangements and without following environmental safety practices can serve as excellent place for mosquitoes to form there colonies. In addition to the natural and synthetic rubber, tires contain a wide variety of chemicals which are toxic in nature which include sulfurs, paraffins, carbon black, oil, polymers, pigments and bead or belt materials.

These chemicals when reach ground water contaminate it resulting in disastrous impacts on human health. Tires contain a large quantity of heavy metals which are potential pollutants and can be responsible for leaching of toxins into the groundwater when they are buried in earth during recycling and disposal. The use of such water for drinking purposes causes various health disorders including eye, lungs and liver diseases. Moreover when tires are disposed off in landfills, the toxic gases and fumes coming out of the tires tend to rise up which destroys the landfill covers.

The air and heat retaining ability of tires makes them highly inflammable material when stacked in open because they easily catch fire and the result is toxic smoke and runoff of toxic oil along with heavy metals and soot in the residue (Eyrer, 2010) Air Pollution Control in Beijing for Olympics Air pollution control in Beijing is a very complex subject area because it involves a number of different parameters which include reduction of air pollution in urban area, citywide and regional ecological improvement and agricultural and industrial structure adjustment.

In order to minimize air pollution in Beijing prior to the start of the Olympics games Beijing started shifting towards the use of cleaner energy instead of using coal as a source for electricity generation which include solar, geothermal and wind energy. The coal burner in the Gaojing Power Plant was closed and natural gas replaced coal as fuel for the power plant for which additional transmission line for natural gas was built. Moreover the coal which was allowed to be used in the urban areas was very high quality coal with very low sulfur content.

In addition to the emission control from coal, steps were also taken to minimize the pollution due to vehicles. These steps included the development of public transport system, banning of all the vehicles which do not comply with 2nd stage emission control (equivalent to Euro II) by 2003, and enforcement of 3rd stage