Air Pollution: Useful Causes but Harmful Impacts (Essay Sample)

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Air Pollution: Useful Causes but Harmful Impacts
Problem: Worsening state of air pollution and its harmful impacts.
Audience: Government; Academia and the General Public,
Purpose: Increasing public awareness of the harmful effects of air pollution from various sources.
Thesis Statement: Air pollution affects the world population through impacting harmful effects on their health and impacting the environment they live negatively.
Introduction
* Importance of topic - Air pollution is a topic of worldwide concern for both developing and developed countries since it effects all classes of people through adverse health effects and the effect on the environment.
* Air pollution affects human beings negatively through various diseases while the environment is affected through green-house gases that cause depletion of ozone layer and global warming (Lelieveld et al 12).
* Thesis Statement: Air pollution affects the world population through impacting harmful effects on their health and impacting the environment they live negatively.
Air pollution from indoor pollution affects majority of the lower and medium class people of America and the world (Kirk et al 1436)
* Much of a large percentage of these people use solid fuels for cooking activities (Kirk et al 1437).
* For instance it is estimated that a population of about 6.5 million people in USA use solid fuel as a primary source of and this comprises majorly of the rural poor folks(Rogalsky et al 3)
* This is evidenced by a large proportion of these population of people who suffer lifestyle diseases such as lung cancer ( Lelieveld et al 12)
Industrial sector on the other hand contributes to air pollution that affects both the low, medium and high class people (Modac et al 4)
* Industries lead to production of green-house gases that are responsible for global warming and causing of defects to human beings (Modac et al 14).
* The pulp and paper industry is an evidence of this because it emits gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrochloric acid (HCL), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon (IV) oxide, and mercury (Hg) (Modac et al 14)
* This gases have been implicated in causing compromised health through emissions that result in various diseases (Modac et al 14).
Air pollution through various transport modes affects all the classes of people since it leads to emission of gases that cause depletion of the ozone layer (Schlenker &Walker 5)
Also the high class people mostly use air transport as medium for transport and are liable to be affected by pollution caused by air transport (Schlenker &Walker 5)
* This is evidenced by risks impacted on the ozone layer that are reported frequently with a subsequent fear of long term impacts that may form a global burden of diseases ( Lelieveld et al).
* For example cases of hospitalization have been recorded as a result of air pollution resulting from air transport (Schwartz, et al 17)
Counter argument
* Though there are harmful effects resulting from activities that lead to air pollution, these activities are beneficial to human beings for instance, transportation, farming and cooking. Also industrial sector is implicated in boosting the economy (Caupe and Capel 1)
* Generally, various types of activities lead to pollution of the air which ends up causing harmful effects to human beings through diseases and also through the negative effect upon the environment (Crutzen and Birks 26)
Conclusion
* while air pollution mainly results from inevitable anthropogenic sources with significant socio-economic value to Americans, its impacts are harmful and cannot at all justify the phenomenon
* Appropriate control mechanisms ought to be put in place to minimize the impact of air pollution
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Air Pollution: Useful Causes but Harmful Impacts
Problem: Worsening state of air pollution and its harmful impacts.
Audience: Government; Academia and the General Public,
Purpose: Increasing public awareness of the harmful effects of air pollution from various sources.
Thesis Statement: Air pollution affects the world population through impacting harmful effects on their health and impacting the environment they live negatively.
Introduction
Air pollution is a subject that had drawn worldwide concern for both developing and developed. Since it comprises of anthropogenic (man-made) emissions into the air which lead to alteration of the chemical composition of the normal atmosphere (Cinzia 1), the effects of air pollution are becoming increasingly pervasive and unbearable. Air pollution is source of adverse health effects, including an increased incidence of chronic bronchitis and acute respiratory illnesses, exacerbation of Asthma and impairment of Lung functions`` (Cinzia 2). Air pollution effects are felt through increased concentration of greenhouse such as Methane, carbon IV oxide and Nitrogen IV oxide (Daly and Zannetti 2). There are different human activities that lead to human pollution which in turn affects people and the environment they live. These include; household sources, transport sector, farming methods and the industrial sector which are a source of emission to different gases that cause global warming, and various human health problems. This paper examines various activities that cause air pollution and their effects leading to an argument on whether pollution can be allowed at the expense of environment and human health risks. Although most activities that form sources of air pollution are beneficial to an extent to the human race, it however remains a challenge whether these sources should be embraced as part and parcel of the human life when the adverse effects they have on humanity is also considered. This is because air pollution affects the world population through impacting harmful effects on their health and impacting the environment they live negatively
Air Pollution: Useful Causes but Harmful Impacts
To begin with, household sources contribute much towards indoor pollution that affects the low and medium class people health-wise through utilization of solid fuels in heating and cooking. According to (Smith, Mehta and Feuz, 1436), it is estimated that almost half of the world`s population continues to utilize solid fuels for cooking. In fact (Rogalsky et al 2) suggests that household air pollution which encompasses utilization of wood, coke and coal, forms one of the major agent of pollution among the low income earning Americans. When they are utilized in simple made cooking stoves, such kind of fuels cause emission of significant quantities of toxic pollutants. These pollutants, also known as solid-fuel “smoke”, include benzene, oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, respirable particles, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide & polyaromatic compounds, like benzo (a) pyrene (Smith 72).
Solid fuel is estimated to be in use as a primary source of heating in USA by a population of about 6.5 million people most of whom are the rural poor folks (Rogalsky et al.3). The study further estimates that about 3.5 million people die all over the world as a result of using inefficient stoves that generate household air pollution. Several studies (Boy et al. 25; Lee et al. 13; Pope et al. 43; Smith et al. 12; Zhang and Smith 7; and Zhong et al.34) have also linked this kind of pollution to lifestyle diseases such as lung cancer, childhood pneumonia, cataracts, lower birth weight and obstructive pulmonary defects that are chronic.
Secondly, much of air pollution originates from the industrial sector for instance paper and pulp industry through chemical recovery processes that possess the potential to emit pollution agents to the air. Some of the pollutants associated with the pulp and paper industry include nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrochloric acid (HCL), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon (IV) oxide, mercury (Hg) and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, all of which have been implicated in compromising human health through exposure to diseases (Smith et al. 12) . The health impacts associated with the resulting emissions include; ischaemic heart disease, lung cancer, celebrovascular disease and acute lower respiratory illness (Lelieveld et al 12).
Another human activity whose impacts on air pollution is becoming increasingly pervasive is transportation. Air pollution through air transport has been linked to ozone layer depletion and subsequent global warming forms one of the largest air pollutant in USA (Schlenker and Walker 5). The effect is felt by all classes of people since global warming affects the atmosphere upon which all the general population have their dependency upon. Aero plane jet engines release carbon (IV) oxide, Carbon monoxide (CO), Sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of Sulphur, (hydrocarbons from partial combustion otherwise called volatile organic compounds, particulates, and some trace compounds (Federal Aviation Administration 10). These pollutants are emitted each at different rates all through the different phases of plane operation, i.e from idling to taxing to takeoff, then climbing and finally landing. (Schlenker and Waklker 6) have noted that nitrogen oxides are higher when higher power operations such as takeoff cause combustor temperatures to be high. Risks impacted on the ozone layer are reported frequently with a subsequent fear of long term impacts that may form a global burden of diseases) Furthermore, when exposed to short term particulate matter that are respirable, respiratory irritation symptoms increase while usage of asthma medications is also recorded to be high. Increased chances for hospitalization are experienced with mortality rates from respiratory rates being high (Schwartz, et al 17).
Air pollution through traffic has also...