How Do All Kinds of Smoke Affect the Environment - Article Example

How do all kinds of smoke affect the environment? The world is developing with a tremendous pace. We have succeeded in inventing the modern vehicles to be at ease while travelling, the modern machinery to help us complete our work accurately and speedily, built factories to increase production and still struggling to bring more changes in our lives. However, there are some negative impacts of these modern techniques and inventions. These negative impacts are not limited to social, economic and political aspects but they tend to expand towards the very existence of humanity. It is seen that all the modern technologies like machineries and vehicles are emitting smoke which can be lethal for the human beings. Not only the machineries and vehicles, there are also other causes of the smoke emissions. Environmental problems have had a negative effect on both a global and local scale due to the exhaust fumes from vehicles, factory emissions, cigarette smoking and the burning of waste and these problems would be discussed in detail in this essay (Vallero 2008, Goudie 2000 & Cooper 2001). Environment refers to all the things surrounding us. Our environment has two basic components which equilibrate each other to maintain the balance of our environment that are biotic and abiotic components. We human beings are the part of our ecosystem, so environmental crisis will definitely affect us. The most common thing which can affect our environment is smoke, produced by the combustion of fuel in industries and automobiles, cigarette smoking and burning of wastes (Goudie 2000 & Cooper 2001). In the world today the smoke given off by different sources has proved to have a lethal effect on the whole environment. These sources are usually related to the actions of the human beings. The main sources of smoke are related to fire, explosion and wind. It is believed by the scientists that if the smoke emissions increase tremendously in the environment, they would tend to cause a lowering of the temperature and hence they would cause the earth to go cold. As believed by Schneider and Thompson that the temperatures may go to as low as 5-15 degree Centigrade even in the summers. These smokes can have both local and global effects. It can be seen from the incident of Gulf War which took place in 1991 that excess fumes were generated from the oil well fires but this excess smoke did not get past the lower troposphere and so it only had cooling effects locally and not globally (Goudie 2000). However some scientists have proved that these fumes can prove to be lethal for the environment globally. They say that smoke can have an opposite effect to that proposed by Schneider and Thompson as it can raise the temperature of the whole environment. According to these scientists the fumes released by different sources in this world can release carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and this gas can then go and settle in the troposphere. Carbon dioxide is a known global warming gas and thus it can have a profound effect on the temperature of the world. It can warm the whole world to an alarming level (Cooper 2001). Not only this, the smoke released can also pollute the environment in such a way that it is harmful for the individuals living in the world. Smoke also has adverse effects on an individual’s health if he is exposed significantly to the smoke. Although some scientists also believe that smoke only has a temporary effect on an individual’s health if he is not exposed significantly, the temporary effect on the health of an individual can lead to other diseases or disorders in the individual. Smoke given off by the different resources also has a disoriented effect on the individuals because of which these individuals have suffered. An example here can be considered of the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse in which a fire broke out and six fire fighters lost their lives. These fire fighters lost their lives only because they became disoriented because of the amount of smoke which was liberated from the fire and these fire fighters were not able to escape from the place (Vallero 2008 & Starkman 1971). Individually some cases can clearly be seen which show that smoke has had lethal effects on the lives of plenty. An incident can be quoted here which occurred in 1952 when clouds of smog covered the city of London killing almost 4000 individuals. This occurred only because smog created was so much that the individuals living in the Great London were not able to breathe. Not only this, air pollution as described is one of the major causes of the smoke. The major contributor towards the smoke nowadays is because of the emissions given off by the vehicles. The emissions given off by the vehicles include the harmful gases such as Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide (Traci Watson). These two gases are important green house gases which cause a warming effect on the world. The greenhouse gases released in the atmosphere have stored the rays given off by the sun. These stored rays are the cause of the increasing temperature through out the world. Smoke emissions given off by industries, cars and fires are the major causes of global warming. Global Warming has increased the amount of glaciers melting through out the world in the recent years. The greenhouse gases scatter the heat given off by the sun and increases the atmospheric pressure. According to Baliunas this leads the temperature of this world to increase by approximately 2 degrees (Cooper, 1996). And as the temperature rises the ice in the glacier melts increasingly. For e.g. Clemmitt affirms that the Montana Glacier Park had a total of 150 glaciers in 1910. However the number of glaciers has since dropped to 30. Such a huge difference in the number of glaciers clearly illustrates that the weather conditions through out the world are causing the glaciers to melt. Furthermore Mount Kilimanjaro has melted a huge amount since 1912 and it is expected that it would totally vanish by the 2020s. The melting of glaciers and polar ice can have an effect on the whole structure of the world. The sea levels will be increased with the melting of the ice of these glaciers. And due to this many small islands could be wiped out from the map of this world. Wigley states that in the end of the century the level of the ocean can rise up to 39 inches and the temperature of this earth can rise by 7 Fahrenheit (Cooper, 2001). If such a situation occurs coastal flooding would get common through out the world. Due to this many coastal hazards have occurred in South Louisiana and Florida. It is not only limited to coastal hazards as the rising sea levels have a direct effect on the forests also. Clemmitt discovered that the sea levels in the country of Bermuda have caused many Mangrove forests to die. This has leaded the issue of Global Warming to rise. It has created an atmospheric belt over the whole world which scatters the heat given off by the sun. This scattering is the cause of the increasing temperature through out the world. The climatic conditions prevailing in the world can be term as ‘in stabilized’. This unstable climatic condition through out the world has sparked out new diseases. The floods caused by global warming can lead to an increase in the disease of malaria. The harming effect of the changing climatic conditions in the world can be clearly evidenced by the increasing number of floods through out the world. In 1998 the number of countries which received flood was 55 (Bhargava, 2004). The heat waves through out the world have increased since the 1950s and have killed a billion people. In 2003 a heat wave that hit Europe killed around 35000 people. Similarly coral reefs form an important part of the environment but recently they also have been affected by different factors which may be related to the factor of smoking. It is said that people who smoke tend to use cigarettes and these cigarettes then drain into the river which are then used by the marine animals. The gases in smoke and similar factors are affecting the marine life in such a way that global warming is yet being increased. All these factors are considered to be the major causes of smoke in the environment (John Broder). Now the effect of smoke on ozone layer would be considered here as it is causing the ozone layer to diminish every other day. The stratosphere has been identified as an atmospheric layer which is essential for survival on Earth because it contains ozone gas (O3) which forms the ozone layer protecting the earth from ultraviolet radiations of the Sun. The depletion of this ozone layer can lead to the entry of these harmful radiations into the surface of the earth and these radiations have many harmful effects which range from DNA and RNA damage in humans to the disturbance of even the marine life. Thinning of this layer has been found to be associated with skin cancers, cataracts and weakening of the immunity. It can damage the ecological balance because it will not only disturb marine life but there is evidence that it might even affect crops (Desonie 2007 & Science Daily). This smoke causes pollution of our environment which leads to damage to our health mentally and physically. The smoke from factories and exhaust fumes from automobiles contain carbon dioxide which causes headaches and nausea to many individuals. The smoke also leads to irritation of nose; throat, eyes etc and the smoke from industries contain sulfur dioxide which helps in causing dangerous diseases such as asthma, lung cancer, heart attack and many more. The cigarette smoke results from the burning of tobacco and it contains Tar which is a brown substance and is made up of more than 4000 chemicals. Lung diseases are commonly caused by smoking which contains Tar, such as emphysema which is a long term, progressive disease of lung tissue which causes shortening of breath and the lung tissues are destroyed and become unable to support the proper physical structure and functions of the lungs. Cigarette smoking also causes chronic bronchitis, which is the inflammation of air passages to the lungs. The inflammation of the air ways makes way for excess production of mucus which blocks the passages for air making it difficult to respire (Dentener et al 2007). The cigarette smoke also affects our heart tissue and makes it weak. The cigarette smoke causes atherosclerosis which is the thickening and hardening of blood vessels by the deposition of fats on the vessel walls, which causes coronary heart diseases and strokes. The presence of carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke lowers the affinity of blood for oxygen lowering the quantity of oxygen carried by the blood to different parts of body and heart causing angina and heart attacks. Nicotine in the cigarette smoke has increasing effect on the blood pressure which at last causes heart attack (O Toole et al 2008). All the factors mentioned above are related to the smoke emissions by the different sources. They are not only harming the environment only but they are also harming the health and safety of the human beings living in this world. Different acts and measures should be taken in this world to ensure that both the environment and health of the human beings are not being affected by these smoke emissions. Bibliography BHARGAVA, G. (2004). Global warming and climate changes: transparency and accountability. Delhi, Isha Books. COOPER, M. H. (1996). Global warming. CQ researcher, v. 6, no. 41. Washington, D.C., CQ Press. http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1996110100. COOPER, M. H. (2001). Global warming treaty. CQ researcher, v. 11, no. 3. Washington, D.C., CQ Press. http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2001012600. Desonie, D. (2007). Atmosphere: Air pollution and its effects. New York: Chelsea House. Top of Form OToole TE, DJ Conklin, and A Bhatnagar. "Environmental Risk Factors for Heart Disease." Reviews on Environmental Health. 23. 3 (2008). 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