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Sara Moon

Ms. Moss

English 10 Pre-AP

15 January 2018

Mini-Research Project

Editorial Board. “Choking on Air in New Delhi.” The New York Times, 12 Nov. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2017/11/12/opinion/air-pollution-smog-india-delhi.html. Accessed 15

January 2018.

New Delhi has reached levels of air pollution that is thirty times what is considered safe

by the World Health Organization. In 2015 2.5 million people in India died because of air

pollution. Around four thousand schools were closed last November to protect children from

these sickening levels of pollution. The big contributor to these deadly levels of air pollution is

the annual crop stubble burning. Farmers in rural parts of India do not have the expenses to

spend on properly and safely discarding the crop stubble, so they resort to burning them. The

state governments have done little to help this problem. Bans have been issued but are not taken

seriously. Without actual help such as provided equipment to properly dispose of these crops,

pollution levels won’t decrease.

Some progress has been made from the ban of firecrackers during the Hindu festival of

Diwali. Another way the government has helped to reduce the levels of air pollution is by

banning heavy trucks from entering New Delhi, an alternate day limit on the use of private cars,

and hindering some construction projects. All of this progress still is not enough without trying

to reduce the amount of crop burning. In order for real progress to be made the Prime Minister of

India, Narendra Modi, needs to display leadership and lead his citizens out of this disaster.
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Implementing plans and spending funds to help farmers safely remove crop stubble will result in

real progress being made towards a healthier and safer India.

Lee Myers, Steven. “A Blue Sky in Beijing? It’s Not a Fluke, Says Greenpeace.” The New York

Times, 11 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/01/11/world/asia/pollution-beijing-

declines.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FAir%20Pollution&action=click&content

Collection=science&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlace

ment=1&pgtype=collection. Accessed 15 January 2018.

In the past winters Beijing’s skies have been cluttered in smog. This winter the sky is

blue in Beijing. The pollution levels have dropped by 53 percent. It is estimated that 160,000

fewer premature deaths caused by air pollution happened during 2017 in China. These results are

evidence of the government’s antipollution campaign providing progress. A year ago, in Beijing

he pollution levels were so bad that schools and flights had to be cancelled. While progress was

made in Beijing, pollution levels rose by ten percent in Heilongjiang, a northern providence that

borders Russia. Policies that favor coal and heavy industry hinder progress from being made. As

a whole nation, the pollution levels have only decreased by four percent. The Ministry of

Environmental Protection speculates that the blue skies in Beijing are actually from pleasing

weather conditions and smog could again fill the city in late January.

Pollution does not just affect the health of Chinese citizen but also the political reputation

of Chinese President Xi Jinping. As he promotes his country on the world stage, high level of

pollution is a complication that should be addressed and worked towards resolving. A possible

solution is to have the local governments in China strengthen their own control on pollution to

reduce emissions and reach lower levels of pollution. The central government also has to do its
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part in supporting the local government’s efforts in downsizing pollution. Finding different

energy sources other than coal and natural gases in all parts of China will contribute to cutting

down on gas emissions.

Oregon State University. "Large Study Shows Pollution Impact on Coral Reefs, And Offers

Solution." ScienceDaily, 26 November 2013,

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131126092656.htm. Accessed 15 Jan. 2018.

A study done from 2009 to 2012 determined an overloading of nutrients on coral reefs

can have detrimental effects on their health. It can lead to coral disease and bleaching. The study

did bring good news: once the abundance of nutrients stopped the coral was able to revert back

to normal in a short time. Areas that are impacted by sewage discharge or fertilizers from urban

and agricultural use have an increase in coral disease and bleaching. Another study shows that

over eighty percent of the coral in the Caribbean Sea have disappeared. In a different study,

researches investigated the impact of nutrient pollution on over twelve hundred corals. After

being injected with nutrients, the levels of coral bleaching and disease escalated. Another result

of the study was that recovery for the corals has an easy solution of terminating and preventing

pollution.

Efforts so far have not accomplished enough as species of coral keep dying off. Since

coral reefs offer shelter to a variety of fish and sea creatures, the inhabitants are also affected by

the pollution of nutrients. Diseases also increase in the fish, amphibians, and plants surrounding

the coral when there is an increase in nutrients. Without coral reefs many fish species could die

off and the biodiversity of the ocean would decrease. A solution to the pollution of nutrients is to

address the issue on a local level. Elevating the quality of sewage treatment and minimizing
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fertilizer runoff from urban and agricultural use will greatly help in preventing coral bleaching

and diseases.

University of Utah. "Arctic clouds highly sensitive to air pollution." ScienceDaily, 3 January

2018, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180103101136.htm. Accessed 15 Jan.

2018.

A study from the University of Utah has discovered that Arctic air is extremely sensitive

to air pollution, and clouds in the Arctic that increase warming are being spurred from the air

pollution. The air pollution came from the south and traveled northward from places such as

Northeast Asia and Northern Europe, and because they have a direct access to the Arctic, the

pollution sources do not get dispersed throughout the atmosphere. The air pollution in the Arctic

cannot escape because the pollution becomes trapped under a temperature bomb. The Arctic

clouds absorb heat and emit it onto the surface unlike clouds in other parts of the world that have

a cooling effect by reflecting light and heat back into space with their white color. The Arctic is

more sensitive to increases in heat and changes much more rapidly than the rest of world which

is already changing at fast rate.

The work done so far is not progressive as it should be because the Arctic is still

warming. A solution to the increasing levels of pollution in the Arctic is controlling current

particulate matter sources. The results of limiting the amount of particulate matter in the

atmosphere are a decrease in the levels of air pollution, less coverage by clouds, and decrease

warming in the Arctic. Fortunately, particulate matter comparatively easy to control unlike other

pollutants such as carbon dioxide. Human activities are a significant cause of particulate matter,

so to lower levels of particulate matter natural gases need to be burned less.