Automobile Emissions: Harm the Earth and Economy - Essay Example

This essay was done to specifications. Show that it wasn’t other than ‘needs changes.’ I know you can’tso stop sending this back. I’m finished with it. Period!! Automobile Emissions Harm the Earth and Economy Global warming is real, at least according to the vast majority of scientists and all available peer-reviewed scientific research. Evidence to the contrary has been presented but appears to be less credible. The rising global temperature is and will continue to cause major changes to the environment which in turn will negatively affect the U.S. economy to an extent that can only be speculative. What is known is that the impact will be nothing short of catastrophic regarding both the earth and economy. Only by quickly implementing alternative sources of automobile fuel and electricity on a large scale can this looming disaster be averted. This discussion will examine the role automobile emissions play in global warming, briefly explain the phenomenon, its effects on the environment and the economic consequences to the U.S. The rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere are becoming increasingly disconcerting. Worldwide, “carbon dioxide emissions are increasing by four percent a year” (Miller, 1990: 450). Eighty percent of the world’s population accounts for just 35 percent of CO2 emissions while the United States is responsible for generating nearly half. Automobiles are the main cause of air pollution with toxins emitted from stacks at coal-burning electric power plants running a close second (Breuer, 1980: 70). In addition to CO2 emissions, vehicles emit carbon monoxides (CO), hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), all of which contribute to global warming (Energy Information Administration, 2004). As the balance between the CO2 levels in the ocean and atmosphere is disturbed by interjecting increasing amounts of CO2, the oceans continually absorb higher concentrations than it does naturally. The subsequent warming ocean waters are less effective in their ability to absorb CO2. At increased temperatures, the atmospheric water vapor and resulting precipitation will be proportionately higher. (Schroeder, 2007) The more rapid water recycling rate due to the greenhouse effect will result in heavier rainfall amounts and the number of extreme rainfall events. Higher rainfall rates will cause increased tropical storm intensity in addition to the warmer temperatures. Hurricanes may be even more frequent and intense than presently predicted. Scientists universally forecast that global warming will melt glaciers causing a rise of sea-levels which will hasten erosion resulting in the loss of vast areas of land. The change will bring about elevated storm surges thereby increasing the areas affected by flooding from heavy rain which introduces even more coastal lands to erosion and permits ocean water to infiltrate into rivers upstream of communities that they once served. “The tide comes and goes like clockwork, but if we continue to watch and wait, our coastal regions will face more erosion damage than we can repair” (Spyres, 2001). According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the seas surrounding the United States will rise by about 20 inches by the year 2100 and anywhere from six to 38 inches in other regions of the world. The seas are currently rising along the Atlantic coast of the United States by a tenth of an inch per year and about half that amount on the Pacific coast. Scientists warn that the consequences will be catastrophic if the current trend continues and estimate that a one-foot rise in sea level could wear away up to 200 feet of the Eastern coastline, 400 feet on the West coast and several miles into Louisiana. A 20-inch sea-level rise could abolish up to 40 percent of U.S. coastal wetlands, a three-foot rise would submerge an area the size of Massachusetts (Trenberth, 1997). The economic outcome of such an event is incalculable and unthinkable when one considers the number of cities that are located near the coast. The effects of melting snow caps and the resulting rise of sea levels have been well documented. Other effects of global warming are not as universally known. As great an economic catastrophe as this near-future scenario is to the coastal regions, it remains the land masses that will suffer the greatest economic harm as a result of the greenhouse effect. The elevated evaporation rate will hasten the drying effect of soil subsequent to rainfall which will result in drier conditions in many regions. Places that presently suffer through periodic drought conditions in the warmer months will be hardest hit. Shifting vegetation patterns, types and regional variations, will force major human adaptations (Wunderlich & Kohler, 2001). Vast areas of farmland in the U.S. will transform to desert or swampland which alone could destroy the economy and quickly relegate the country to third-world status. The negative economic effects of global warming are not a far-off future speculation, the impact of global warming has been documented for decades. For example, as far back as 1990, it is known that “Midwestern United States crop losses of wheat, corn, soybeans, and peanuts from damage by ozone and acid deposition amount to about $5 billion a year” (Miller, 1990, p. 498). This amount will seem like pennies in 20 years if global warming is not controlled. While the world awaits the inevitable far-reaching effects associated with greenhouse gas emissions, people’s lungs are being poisoned as the plants they depend on for near-term survival are being destroyed. Pollutants cause immediate and irreparable damage to the leaf pores of plants and trees. Persistent exposure of leaves to air pollutants breaks down the waxy coating which normally acts to prevent too much water loss and helps protects the leaves from diseases, pests, drought and frost (Miller, 1990: 498). The U.S. exports tons of grains overseas today but that would cease as the remaining farmland would likely not be adequate even to feed U.S. citizens. The solution to automobile emissions may lie in alternative fuels. The conversion of beets or corn into ethanol is touted by scientists today as an economically and environmentally sound solution to global warming concerns. However, this is not a new revelation. Rudolf Fiesel, fifteen years after the invention named after him, was quoted in 1897 as saying “The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become, in the course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal products of the present time” (Boles, 2005). Promising future alternatives to crude oil, vegetable oil can be substituted for diesel fuel while ethanol is an effective petrol additive. Ethanol is a type of alcohol that can be made using crops such as sugar beets, wheat or corn. As a fuel additive, ethanol boosts octane and substantially reduces toxic carbon monoxide emissions. In conclusion, misconceptions regarding the long-range effects of fossil fuel emissions have been perpetrated by large corporations such as oil and auto companies who believe they will be the losers if limits to greenhouse emissions are legislated in the U.S. Auto companies in particular lobby against regulating automobile emissions claiming that it is not economically feasible for them. This is simply untrue because countries such as Japan, Korea and China have much stricter emission standards than the U.S. yet these country’s car sales are up while U.S. automakers are down. The economic consequences of doing nothing is far greater than solving the problem through legislation. If ‘we’ choose not to do anything or to insist a problem does not exist, there will cease to be a ‘we’ as weather patterns become overtly hostile and air, water and food supplies will either become non-existent or too poisonous to sustain life. If the earth cannot sustain human life, the automakers will not make any money. Maybe that is an argument they can understand. Works Cited Boles, Tracey & Orange, Richard. “Where Do You Get Your Energy From?: Latest on Alternative Liquid Fuels.” The Business. (October 3, 2005). Breuer, Georg. Air in Danger: Ecological Perspectives of the Atmosphere. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980. “Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2004.” Energy Information Administration. Office of Integrated Analysis and Forecasting. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Energy, (December 2005). July 11, 2007 Miller, G. Tyler. Living in the Environment: An Introduction to Environmental Science. Belmont: Wadsworth, 1990. Schroeder, Peter. “An Inconvenient Truth: Reviews.” Forum on Physics and Society. The American Physical Society. Vol. 36, N. 1, (January 2007). July 11, 2007 Spyres, Julie. “The Rising Tide: Global Warming Accelerates Coastal Erosion.” Erosion Control. Santa Barbara, CA: Forester Communications, 2001. Trenberth, Kevin E. “Global Warming: It’s Happening.” National Center for Atmospheric Research. (1997). July11, 2007 Wunderlich, Gooloo S.; Kohler, Peter O. Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care. The National Academies Press, (2001). Read More