Geology: Air Pollution - Essay Example

CO2 transmits sunlight efficiently to earth but restricts and traps a portion of the infrared radiation bouncing back into space. If the balance between the CO2 levels in the ocean and atmosphere is disturbed by interjecting increasing amounts of CO2, the oceans would continually absorb higher concentrations than it does naturally. The subsequent warming ocean waters are less effective in their ability to absorb CO2 and when the oceans can no longer keep pace with the intrusion of this naturally equalized cycle, then more CO2 will remain in the atmosphere.

The major contributors to CO2, one of the main pollutants in the atmosphere, are the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Eighty percent of the world’s population accounts for just 35 percent of CO2 emissions while the United States and Soviet Union combined are responsible for generating half. Worldwide, “carbon dioxide emissions are increasing by four percent a year” (Miller, 1990, p. 450). Motor vehicles are a major cause of air pollution as is fuel burned for the heating of homes and powering industry and toxins emitted from stacks at coal-burning power plants. “Vehicles produce high levels of carbon monoxides (CO) and a major source of hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), whereas, fuel combustion in stationary sources is the dominant source of sulfur dioxide (SO2)” (Breuer, 1980, p. 70).

Smog, a contraction of the words smoke and fog, is a chemical air pollutant that contributes to the greenhouse effect and is a significant health hazard to those in U.S. cities that contain numerous vehicles and are located in warm, dry climates as it traps in these dangerous chemicals. 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. “In the 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). Pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides 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 protect the leaves from diseases, pests, drought, and frost.

It is clear that something needs to be done about the chemicals we, as a species, are dumping into the air we depend on for life. There are, fortunately, several possibilities by which we might address the issue. Increased attention and support for alternative renewable energy sources is an important first step. Reducing the number of combustion engines on the roads as well as the extent of power supply plants dumping pollutants into the air as more and more energy-producing houses feed into the grids rather than pull from them would all contribute toward a better, brighter, cleaner tomorrow.