Local Environmental Issues in the USA - Research Paper Example

Local Environmental Issues Environmental issue is one of the major concerns of today’s world. Due to the massive industrialization and constant increase in the productivity of the industrialized products, the amount of environmentally harsh pollutant in the environment increased that posed many environmental issues. There issues are directly or indirectly impacting human health. The solid as well as gaseous wastes from the industries fill the environmental with the poisonous chemicals. These poisonous chemicals are dangerous for the biodiversity of the planet. United States is one of the richest countries in the world. The demand for industrialized goods in the country is ever increasing. The country is facing many environmental issue including, atmospheric pollution, water pollution, climate change, deforestation, health issue, biodiversity issues, soil erosion etc. Climate change is the biggest environmental issue. Climate change is due to the emissions of the green house gases. Burning fossil fuel resources produce green house gas emissions. U.S is dependent on fossil fuel resources to produce energy. About 84% of the energy needs are fulfilled by utilizing fossil fuel resources. Every day, about 17 million barrels of oil are consumed in U.S. more than 505 of the energy is generated with the help of coal. 23% of the energy is generated by utilizing Natural gas resources. Every person minimally consumes about 7 gallons of oil each day. About 5% of the world’s population lives in U.S yet it consumes about 26% of the world energy resources. For each unit of fossil fuel is burnt, more than twice units of carbon and other green house emissions are produced. As the amount of green house emission in the atmosphere increases, the index of global warming will also increase. The climate of the earth is getting warmer due to carbon emission. There are several impacts of climate change including rise in sea level, abnormal hydrologic cycles, flooding, increase in insect borne diseases, melting of glaciers, harsh climate and health issues (Electricity - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)). Air pollution is mainly due to the emission of harmful gaseous emission into the atmosphere. These gaseous pollutants can be due to the burning of fossil fuel resources, pollutants from ore extraction industries, ore processing industries, biological waste disposal and pollutants due to some natural processes (volcanic eruption, sulfur grounds, etc). Earth atmosphere is a mixture of gases that are important for the life. If any other gaseous or particulates are introduced into the atmosphere, the atmosphere become unsuitable to sustain a healthy living atmosphere. The alteration percentage of contents in the atmospheric mixtures may alter the capability of the atmosphere to maintain the balance. In general, earth’s atmosphere has high content of nitrogen and oxygen and little amount of carbon dioxide. However, due to the massive use of fossil fuel resources, the percentage amount of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is constantly increasing. The suspended particulates from different industries and power generation units are reducing the visibility and produce an effect of global dimming (Fossil Fuels: The National Academies). Other pollutants that can pollute the atmosphere are sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, particulates and Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), ammonia, odors, radioactive pollutants. Sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are in higher concentration in industrial area. However, the concentration of these compounds decrease with the increase in the distance from the industrial sites. The suspended compounds move with the air and contaminate all the atmosphere and water resources. Particulates that are generated mainly in the industrial zones travel with the air also contaminate the atmosphere. On the other hand, vehicles also generate massive amount of gaseous emissions and particulates. Solid wastes generates by vehicles are quite less as compared to the industrial sites. Volatile organic compounds like methane leak from the undersurface reservoirs. It is important to burn, these types of pollutants as these types of pollutants can cause more damage as compared to carbon dioxide. An efficient process can burn the methane and release only carbon dioxide as the major by-product. Carbon dioxide can be controlled by growing more trees. Trees consume carbon dioxide during the process of photosynthesis. Methane is a green house gas. Sulfur is a natural component of coal. When coal is burnt in the industries to extract the energy, sulfur combines with the oxygen to form a sulfur oxide. Most of the energy in the U.S is generated by burning the coal and a large amount of sulfur oxide is released during the power conversion process. Nitrogen oxides are also produced in the atmosphere due to thunder storms. Garbage, sewage and industrial wastes generate certain type of odors due to formation of different compounds in them. These compounds may include ammonia, methane, sulfur oxides, etc (Fossil: Department of Energy). Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are generally utilized as the refrigerants. In appliances like refrigerators and air conditioners, Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are utilized as the cooling agents. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are depleting the ozone layer. These compounds are industrially manufactured to provide the world with the cooling requirements. In U.S every home and office building is fitted with an air conditioning system to maintain the temperature of the structure. Ozone layer protects the earth from the infrared radiation. Ozone layer blocks the harsh infrared radiation from the sun and prevents the earth’s atmosphere from being infected with the harsh effects of infrared radiation. Infrared radiations are high energy radiations. The energy content in the infrared radiations is significantly higher as compared to the visible light. Radioactive waste is a waste from the nuclear power generation units. Nuclear power plants have a consistent problem of radioactive waste. Dumping of radioactive waste is a major problem. The radioactive waste can have a life of several hundred years and can easily contaminate the bodies of living organisms and ionize their body parts. The waste keeps releasing ionized particles and can be deadly if it contacts nay living organism. Previously, the waste was dumped into the oceans but this practice may have harsh affects on the marine biodiversity. Wastes from factories are directly dumped into the water bodies like rivers and oceans. Such type of wastes may reach humans by entering into the food chain. These types of waste may contaminate the water bodies and can be deadly to the marine creatures. A research found elemental mercury in the fish body. A number of fish are eaten that are caught from rivers and oceans. Illegal dumping of waste is the dumping of wastes in an area that is not intended to dump wastes. Illegal dumping of wastes is a problem for the environment. Illegal dumping not only imposes serious environmental issue but also imposes serious health and safety issues. It also imposes a cost on the communities locating near illegal dumping. There are laws against illegal dumping of wastes. However, it is more important to educate the people about illegal dumping. The wastes should be dumped at particular dumping stations or recycling stations that can recycle the wastes. It is important to note that “what you are dumping and where you are dumping”. If someone is dumping in a region that is important for maintaining the balance like a river side or a nature park, the he may be contaminating a large area and a food chain (Solid Waste: Illegal Dumping: Region 7: US EPA). Works Cited Unknown. "Solid Waste - Illegal Dumping: Region 7: US EPA." Epa.gov, 2014. Web. 14 Apr 2014. . Unknown. "Fossil Fuels: The National Academies." Needtoknow.nas.edu, 2014. Web. 14 Apr 2014. . Unknown. "Fossil: Department of Energy." Energy.gov, 2014. Web. 14 Apr 2014. . Unknown. "Electricity: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)." Eia.gov, 2014. Web. 14 Apr 2014. . Read More