The Survival and Well-Being of Human Beings and the Earth - Assignment Example

Several air pollution challenges need to be taken into concern by all governments in the world to eliminate the chances of air pollution becoming tragic to live.

First is the emission of smog and smoke from industries. Ozone smog is lethal when subjected to higher temperatures since it can cause severe health issues for humans. Some of the health issues include severe asthma for individuals who already have respiratory challenges, lung burn problems, eye irritations, and throat damage. Smog has other adverse effects such as acidic rain because it contains sulfur compounds. Acidic rain can be very dangerous to the existing water supplies. For example: If acidic rain would pour on earth; that means that the water we drink shall have higher quantities of sulfur- Which is very dangerous to public health. In addition to that, acidic rain will cause damage to plant cover as well as organisms in the soil. In this case, human beings, as well as animal life, will be affected when they consume plant cover that has higher components of sulfur. Another effect of acidic rain is that it speeds up the decay process of objects that it comes into contact with. With those examples, it can be vividly stated that smog and smoke air pollutions are very dangerous and both can cause massive challenges to the existing human life, animal life, and the earth.

A second form of air pollution is through Green House Gases (GHG) such as Carbon dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, and Fluorinated gases. Carbon dioxide is a result of burning fossil fuels, the use of petroleum and natural gas. Methane originates from coal burning. Nitrous Dioxide originates from the use of fertilizers that have higher contents of nitrogen and other waste products. According to a 2011 report released by the U.S Greenhouse Emissions, it was revealed that the total emissions of carbon dioxide were 84%, Methane was 9%, Nitrous Oxide was 5% and Fluorinated gases were 2%. In addition to that, the report revealed that electricity was the highest contributor to GHG emissions by a total of 33%; the transportation sector had a total of 28%, industries had 20%; the commercial and residential sector had 11%; agricultural sector had 8% (EPA, “Overview of Green House Gases”). This report indicated that GHG is still a challenge due to the reason that they are still emitted from different sources. However, according to a comparison of GHG emissions from 2010 to 2012, it is clear that GHG emissions are slowly decreasing (EPA, “Trends in Greenhouse Gas Emissions”).

The most intensifying risk of GHG is that they take hundreds or even thousands of years to be completely depleted from the atmosphere. With that, they are prone to affect human life in the long term. The challenge brought about by these gases is that they prevent the release of heat from the earth into the atmosphere – the ozone layer. As a result, this causes the earth to retain too much heat thereby leading to the global warming effect. The global warming effect causes a change in the global climate. That is; it causes warmer temperatures to be experienced in different parts of the world. As a result, these higher temperatures lead to water evaporation from the existing water supplies. In areas where the global warming effect has taken its full impact, droughts are experienced for longer periods than usual. This also causes the existing water sources such as rivers and swamps to disappear or even become extinct. In other instances where the GHG effect has taken optimal control, water supplies will become warmer, and glaciers and ice could melt; thereby leading to increased water levels (NASA, “Global Climate Change”). It should be noted that in this instance, again, air pollution through GHG can cause a huge environmental challenge to human and animal life.

Thirdly, air pollution causes the depletion of the ozone layer. This is through the combination of Chlorofluorocarbon(s) (CFC) and Ozone Depleting Substance(s) (ODS) such as Halons, Methyl Bromide, and Carbon Tetrachloride in the atmosphere. When there are higher levels of gases such as chlorine and bromine in the atmosphere, an ozone layer imbalance is experienced. This will lead to higher degradation rates of the ozone layer as compared to its generation and/ or creation. The outcome of this is higher rates of Ultraviolet radiation (EPA, “The Process of Ozone Depletion”). This instance also proves that air pollution can destroy the earth through higher levels of UV radiation.

It can be concluded that air pollution is the mother of all calamities. It will affect the existing water supplies through the the downpour of acidic rain. Air pollution through GHG emissions will cause extreme hot weather conditions which will in turn affect the human population due to longer spells of droughts as well as the extinction of water channels. Read More