RUNNINGHEAD: Environmental Advocacy

Environmental Advocacy: Pollution

Jose N. Balderas
Midland High School
12/11/15

Author Note
Prepared for Larry McBrides seventh period Advanced Placement Environmental
Science class.

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Abstract

Pollution has dramatically increased since the industrial revolution, due to new innovative ways
of travel, manufacturing, technology improvements, and higher industry as a whole. Pollution
has harmed the environment drastically and affected people throughout the world. Pollution can
affect the environment through polluting the atmosphere, soil/land, and water. Polluting these
factors can result in many outcomes including: the depletion of our ozone layer, poor water
quality, and even the extinction of species. Resolving and finding solutions to these problems are
vital and need to be acted upon. Throughout this paper discussion will take place on how soil,
water, and atmosphere are affected by pollutants and how we, the people, may be able to solve
these problems.

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Environmental Advocacy: Pollution

Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of a substance which is harmful or unsafe to the
environment. Todays pollution is virtually the result of human activities. Even minute factors
such as light, noise, and temperature could be classified as a pollutant if introduced to the
environment artificially. Pollutants do not only affect our water, soil, and atmosphere, they also
affect the large number of humans living on Earth today. Thousands of people die each year due
to the extraordinary amounts of pollutants and toxins our earth now contains (Bradford 2015).
Throughout the world pollution is noted everywhere, but there is one nation that has
surpassed the United States levels of pollution, China. China is going through severe
environmental degradation. It is rare for the people of china to see the sky or sun due to the smog
that envelopes the cities. Studies have shown that of the 560 million people living in cities, only
1% is considered to be living under safe, healthy conditions. China has attempted several times
to dampen its economic speed in order to suppress the levels of pollution, but to little or no
success. China has argued that most of the pollution problem is not even a result of their
activities but a result of pollution-producing factories owned by other nations through contracts
and term limitations. They state that officially China does not own some of the factories that
produce metric tons of carbon dioxide. All government problems aside, China still has major
pollution problems, and if action is not taken to lower pollution levels, many people will be
affected (Kahn & Yardley 2007).

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Atmospheric Pollution
Air pollution is the most abundant type of pollution there is. It is now common for many
cities to be enveloped in a smog curtain all the time, with cities such as Beijing, China, rarely
seeing sun at all (Kahn & Yardley 2007). There are many ways in which people pollute the
atmosphere including power plants, vehicles, industry, manufacturing, and the dumping of toxic
gases into the air. These gases that are produced, also contribute to global warming. Carbon
dioxide is in the lead with several thousand metric tons being produced every year. Other
greenhouse gases include methane and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which deteriorated the ozone
layer and have been banned in many nations (National Geographic 2015).
Another pollutant contributing to climate change is sulfur dioxide, a component of smog.
Acid rain is the resultant of sulfur dioxide being released into the air, and reflects light back
keeping the air cool. Sulfur dioxide was primarily produced by volcanoes, but humans today
have now surpassed that. Nations have gotten together to try to reduce the levels of sulfur
dioxide, but unfortunately found out that the removal of this gas would actually bring
temperatures dreadfully high. Sulfur dioxide would counteract the other gases now present in the
atmosphere and reflect some sun back. The removal of the gas would allow more sunlight in,
allowing the other greenhouse gases to heat up more (National Geographic 2015).
Although their plan failed, many nations got together and made up the Kyoto Protocol, an
agreement between countries stating that they would cut back on carbon emissions and heavily
tax countries to lessen the production. By taxing they hope to give the people and companies the
incentive to lessen their use of and pollute less (National Geographic 2015).
People throughout the planet suffer from air pollution. More than two million people die
each year due to poor air quality levels (Bradford 2015). The harmful effects depend on the type

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of pollutant that was released or was in the air at the time. Alina Bradford gave an example from
a study done by the Department of Public Health in which methyl was once released by a
Carbide plant in Bhopal in 1984. This disastrous event killed over 2,000 people with another
200,000 suffering from respiratory problems.
Water Pollution. Over 75% of the earth is covered by water (Woodford 2015). Three
percent of this water is considered to be fresh and safe for human use, while the rest of the 97%
is salt water and considered unsafe (unless processed) for human use. Of the 3% that is
considered safe, roughly 2% of it is locked at the poles, which will quickly change due to
greenhouse gases which insinuate, producing global warming.
The melting of the ice caps means that this 2% of fresh water is mixing in with salt water,
depleting the worlds source of water. Not only is this going to affect humans, but also the entire
earth and its marine systems. By mixing the fresh and salt waters together, the salinity will
change thus affecting the marine life which will either have to adapt or die off in that part of the
ocean.
This leaves only 1% of fresh water for the entire perspective of human use throughout the
planet. It is already bad enough that humans can only access 1% of fresh water, but to make it
worse, our water is being badly polluted. With pollution, the quality of water has become very
poor, and today most water has to be filtered with the addition of chlorine.
Water pollution is when a substance is introduced to the water and has high levels of its
presence affecting animals and humans. We know that water pollution is a human problem,
because no problem was noted until after the Industrial Revolution (Woodford 2015). Water
pollution is based on quantities, in other words how much of the substance there is, and how big
the water area is. Oceans, rivers, creeks, and streams will naturally clean out a pollutant such as

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ink if a minute amount was to find its way in, but if a pipe is letting gallons of the substance out,
the water will quickly turn black affecting quality and marine life.
Some forms of pollution include oil slicks, sewage leaks, and excessive nutrient runoff.
An example of excessive nutrient runoff is the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Many farms
near the Mississippi river use heavy amounts of fertilizer for their crops, which contain mass
amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus. During heavy downpours these nutrients are picked up and
deposited into the Mississippi river which eventually runs into the Gulf of Mexico. Due to the
vast amounts of these nutrients, algal blooms are suddenly spurting out. Algal blooms which
benefit from these nutrients, overpower the rest of the marine life. During this process the
blooms excessively consume oxygen, depleting the levels (Withgott & Brennan 2008).
Eutrophication, the degradation of a certain area or system, then occurs (Withgott &
Brennan 2008). These very low levels of oxygen create a hypoxic zone, killing or driving away
most of the other marine life. Creating these dead zones are serious and ongoing water pollution
problems. Another serious water pollutant is crude oil.
Crude oil not only affects the water, but the living animals around it, such as the marine
birds who suffer badly due to the presence of oil. They survive healthily and warmly due the
natural oil that surrounds their feathers and keep them from getting wet. The introduction of
crude oil penetrates this oil, damaging their protective barrier. The oil clings to the bird, adding
weight and allowing water to get through, resulting in the bird getting cold and sometimes
resulting in death. These two examples of water pollution are severe ones, but unfortunately tend
to happen more often rather than not.
Soil Pollution. Soil pollution is mostly compromised with the excess amounts of
nutrients due to the heavy use of fertilizers by farmers. Soil pollution is in the lead for the prime

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cause of water pollution. Many of these different types of pollution will either contribute to or
function with each other making the matter worse involving several different factors from each
type of pollution (Soil Pollution 2015).
Soil pollution is not known to be one of the most abundant types, but can be very
dangerous to the environment. Polluting the soil, will affect everything that depends on it. For
example, farmers depend on good soil for their crops. Even though they pollute the land by using
fertilizer, it benefits them while others are seeing the harmful effects, such as the dead zone in
the Gulf of Mexico.
Another example is acid precipitation. Plants only have a certain soil ph. level at which
they grow. If the salinity of the soil is too high, plants will die, but if the salinity is too low the
plants will not do great either. The same situation goes for nutrients and the acidity of the soil
which is intensified because of acid rain.
Acid rain results from the polluting of the atmosphere and water, but as explained can
also affect the soil. This is a good example of how different types of pollution interact with each
other.
Solutions. There are many and varied solutions to different types of pollution. The most
environmentally friendly way, and also the most impossible way to solve pollution problems,
would be manually. Even though this seems impossible, it can be done and has been done under
some circumstances. People dont tend to think they can do it by themselves if not aided by
technology and chemicals, which is the downside. With the removing of the present chemicals,
introduction of new chemicals will persist.
Scientists have also introduced bioremediation, now commonly used to help aid in oil
spills. Whenever oil is spilled in any vast amount of water, many techniques, clean it up such as

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booms, nets, and other chemicals are used in the cleanup process, but one technique that seems
to overpower the others is bioremediation. When oil is spilled, it tends to drift toward land,
where it collects on shore. Scientists have discovered that by applying a special type of bacteria,
the degradation of the components of the crude oil is possible.
There have been some instances where bioremediation does not work as efficiently,
because the sole reason for the bacteria is to use it as a food source due to some of the substances
the oil contains. When these substances are not present in good amounts, the process is slower.
But scientist again have come up with a vital idea by applying fertilizers containing these
substances to speed up the process.
An obvious solution to cutting back on greenhouse gases is to tax the amount that
industry and manufactures produce during their processes. This solution is not readily picked up
by nations governments, since it would disrupt productivity and growth.
These are just some of many solutions that could be acted upon, even though some may
still be environmentally harmful.

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References

Bradford, A. (2015). Pollution Facts & Types of Pollution. Retrieved from livescience:
http://www.livescience.com/22728-pollution-facts.html
National Geographic (2015). "Air Pollution." Retrieved from National Geographic:
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/pollutionoverview/
Kahn, J., & Yardley, J. (2007). As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes. Retrieved
from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/world/asia/26china.html?
pagewanted=all&_r=1&
Soil Pollution. (2015). Retrieved from Pollution Issues : http://www.pollutionissues.com/ReSy/Soil-Pollution.html
Withgott, J., & Brennan, S. (2008). Environment: The Science Behind The Stories . San
Francisco: Daniel Kaveney.
Woodford, C. (2015, June 29). Water pollution: an introduction. Retrieved from
EXPLAINTHATSTUFF: http://www.explainthatstuff.com/waterpollution.html

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Figures

Figure 1