Wednesday, December 30, 2009
so2 pollution
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Sulphur Dioxide
Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is a colourless, nonflammable gas with a penetrating odour that irritates the eyes and air passages. It reacts on the surface of a variety of airborne solid particles, is soluble in water and can be oxidised within airborne water droplets. The most common sources of sulphur dioxide include fossil fuel combustion, smelting, manufacture of sulphuric acid, conversion of wood pulp to paper, incineration of refuse and production of elemental sulphur. Coal burning is the single largest man-made source of sulphur dioxide accounting for about 50% of annual global emissions, with oil burning accounting for a further 25-30%. The most common natural source of sulphur dioxide is volcanoes.
Annual mean concentrations in most major UK cities are now well below 35 ppb with typical mean values in the range of 5-15 ppb. Hourly peak values can be as high as 750 ppb on infrequent occasions. Natural background levels are about 2 ppb.
The health effects of sulphur dioxide pollution were exposed graphically during the "Great Smog" of London in 1952. This resulted in approximately 4000 premature deaths through heart disease and bronchitis. Since then, however, emissions have been significantly reduced through legislative controls and the introduction of clean fuel technology. Research has shown that exposure for asthmatics is significantly more damaging than for normal subjects. Even moderate concentrations may result in a fall in lung function in asthmatics. Tightness in the chest and coughing occur at high levels, and lung function of asthmatics may be impaired to the extent that medical help is required. Sulphur dioxide pollution is considered more harmful when particulate and other pollution concen
Sulphur Dioxide
Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is a colourless, nonflammable gas with a penetrating odour that irritates the eyes and air passages. It reacts on the surface of a variety of airborne solid particles, is soluble in water and can be oxidised within airborne water droplets. The most common sources of sulphur dioxide include fossil fuel combustion, smelting, manufacture of sulphuric acid, conversion of wood pulp to paper, incineration of refuse and production of elemental sulphur. Coal burning is the single largest man-made source of sulphur dioxide accounting for about 50% of annual global emissions, with oil burning accounting for a further 25-30%. The most common natural source of sulphur dioxide is volcanoes.
Annual mean concentrations in most major UK cities are now well below 35 ppb with typical mean values in the range of 5-15 ppb. Hourly peak values can be as high as 750 ppb on infrequent occasions. Natural background levels are about 2 ppb.
The health effects of sulphur dioxide pollution were exposed graphically during the "Great Smog" of London in 1952. This resulted in approximately 4000 premature deaths through heart disease and bronchitis. Since then, however, emissions have been significantly reduced through legislative controls and the introduction of clean fuel technology. Research has shown that exposure for asthmatics is significantly more damaging than for normal subjects. Even moderate concentrations may result in a fall in lung function in asthmatics. Tightness in the chest and coughing occur at high levels, and lung function of asthmatics may be impaired to the extent that medical help is required. Sulphur dioxide pollution is considered more harmful when particulate and other pollution concen
LIGHT POLLUTION AND PICS
Light pollution, as defined by the National Park Service (NPS), is any illumination of the night sky caused obtrusive artificial light. The problem began with the light bulb, an invention developed out of necessity about 125 years ago. It has become a burgeoning environmental challenge. Most light pollution is a result of urbanization and poorly designed fixtures. The NPS says much of the lighting that causes light pollution is unnecessary, including streetlights, stadium lights and billboards. Many researchers feel the same. “We’ve lit up the night as if it were an unoccupied country…,” Verlyn Klinkenborg writes in “Our Vanishing Night,” an article about light pollution recently featured in National Geographic.
The effects of light pollution are far reaching. According to “The First World Atlas of the Artificial Night Sky Brightness,” a paper published by the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, two-thirds of U.S inhabitants can no longer see the starry swath of the Milky Way. Roughly one-half of the people living the European Union cannot see it either. Light pollution isn’t limited to stars; it affects feeding, migration and reproduction too. The prolonged days upset natural sleeping, waking and feeding patterns. Klinkenborg describes how longer days prompted a swan population in England to put on winter weight quicker than normal. The birds would migrate sooner than usual, which would hinder nesting.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Water pollution
When toxic substances enter lakes, streams, rivers, oceans, and other water bodies, they get dissolved or lie suspended in water or get deposited on the bed. This results in the pollution of water whereby the quality of the water deteriorates, affecting aquatic ecosystems. Pollutants can also seep down and affect the groundwater deposits.
Water pollution has many sources. The most polluting of them are the city sewage and industrial waste discharged into the rivers. The facilities to treat waste water are not adequate in any city in India. Presently, only about 10% of the waste water generated is treated; the rest is discharged as it is into our water bodies. Due to this, pollutants enter groundwater, rivers, and other water bodies. Such water, which ultimately ends up in our households, is often highly contaminated and carries disease-causing microbes. Agricultural run-off, or the water from the fields that drains into rivers, is another major water pollutant as it contains fertilizers and pesticides.
Domestic sewage refers to waste water that is discarded from households. Also referred to as sanitary sewage, such water contains a wide variety of dissolved and suspended impurities.
Biochemical oxygen demand, or BOD
The amount of organic material that can rot in the sewage is measured by the biochemical oxygen demand. BOD is the amount of oxygen required by micro-organisms to decompose the organic substances in sewage. Therefore, the more organic material there is in the sewage, the higher the BOD. It is among the most important parameters for the design and operation of sewage treatment plants. BOD levels of industrial sewage may be many times that of domestic sewage. Dissolved oxygen is an important factor that determines the quality of water in lakes and rivers. The higher the concentration of dissolved oxygen, the better the water quality. When sewage enters a lake or stream, micro-organisms begin to decompose the organic materials. Oxygen is consumed as micro-organisms use it in their metabolism. This can quickly deplete the available oxygen in the water. When the dissolved oxygen levels drop too low, many aquatic species perish. In fact, if the oxygen level drops to zero, the water will become septic. When organic compounds decompose without oxygen, it gives rise to the undesirable odours usually associated with septic or putrid conditions.
It amounts to a very small fraction of the sewage by weight. But it is large by volume and contains impurities such as organic materials and plant nutrients that tend to rot. The main organic materials are food and vegetable waste, plant nutrient come from chemical soaps, washing powders, etc. Domestic sewage is also very likely to contain disease-causing microbes. Thus, disposal of domestic waste water is a significant technical problem. Sewage generated from the urban areas in India has multiplied manifold since 1947.
Today, many people dump their garbage into streams, lakes, rivers, and seas, thus making water bodies the final resting place of cans, bottles, plastics, and other household products. The various substances that we use for keeping our houses clean add to water pollution as they contain harmful chemicals. In the past, people mostly used soaps made from animal and vegetable fat for all types of washing. But most of today’s cleaning products are synthetic detergents and come from the petrochemical industry. Most detergents and washing powders contain phosphates, which are used to soften the water among other things. These and other chemicals contained in washing powders affect the health of all forms of life in the water.
Agricultural Run off
Eutrophication
When fresh water is artificially supplemented with nutrients, it results in an abnormal increase in the growth of water plants. This is known as eutrophication. The discharge of waste from industries, agriculture, and urban communities into water bodies generally stretches the biological capacities of aquatic systems. Chemical run-off from fields also adds nutrients to water. Excess nutrients cause the water body to become choked with organic substances and organisms. When organic matter exceeds the capacity of the micro-organisms in water that break down and recycle the organic matter, it encourages rapid growth, or blooms, of algae. When they die, the remains of the algae add to the organic wastes already in the water; eventually, the water becomes deficient in oxygen. Anaerobic organisms (those that do not require oxygen to live) then attack the organic wastes, releasing gases such as methane and hydrogen sulphide, which are harmful to the oxygen-requiring (aerobic) forms of life. The result is a foul-smelling, waste-filled body of water. This has already occurred in such places as Lake Erie and the Baltic Sea, and is a growing problem in freshwater lakes all over India. Eutrophication can produce problems such as bad tastes and odours as well as green scum algae. Also the growth of rooted plants increases, which decreases the amount of oxygen in the deepest waters of the lake. It also leads to the death of all forms of life in the water bodies.
The use of land for agriculture and the practices followed in cultivation greatly affect the quality of groundwater. Intensive cultivation of crops causes chemicals from fertilizers (e.g. nitrate) and pesticides to seep into the groundwater, a process commonly known as leaching. Routine applications of fertilizers and pesticides for agriculture and indiscriminate disposal of industrial and domestic wastes are increasingly being recognized as significant sources of water pollution.
The high nitrate content in groundwater is mainly from irrigation run-off from agricultural fields where chemical fertilizers have been used indiscriminately.
Industrial effluents
Waste water from manufacturing or chemical processes in industries contributes to water pollution. Industrial waste water usually contains specific and readily identifiable chemical compounds. During the last fifty years, the number of industries in India has grown rapidly. But water pollution is concentrated within a few subsectors, mainly in the form of toxic wastes and organic pollutants. Out of this a large portion can be traced to the processing of industrial chemicals and to the food products industry. In fact, a number of large- and medium-sized industries in the region covered by the Ganga Action Plan do not have adequate effluent treatment facilities. Most of these defaulting industries are sugar mills, distilleries, leather processing industries, and thermal power stations. Most major industries have treatment facilities for industrial effluents. But this is not the case with small-scale industries, which cannot afford enormous investments in pollution control equipment as their profit margin is very slender.
Effects of water pollution
The effects of water pollution are not only devastating to people but also to animals, fish, and birds. Polluted water is unsuitable for drinking, recreation, agriculture, and industry. It diminishes the aesthetic quality of lakes and rivers. More seriously, contaminated water destroys aquatic life and reduces its reproductive ability. Eventually, it is a hazard to human health. Nobody can escape the effects of water pollution.
The individual and the community can help minimize water pollution. By simple housekeeping and management practices the amount of waste generated can be minimized.
When toxic substances enter lakes, streams, rivers, oceans, and other water bodies, they get dissolved or lie suspended in water or get deposited on the bed. This results in the pollution of water whereby the quality of the water deteriorates, affecting aquatic ecosystems. Pollutants can also seep down and affect the groundwater deposits.
Water pollution has many sources. The most polluting of them are the city sewage and industrial waste discharged into the rivers. The facilities to treat waste water are not adequate in any city in India. Presently, only about 10% of the waste water generated is treated; the rest is discharged as it is into our water bodies. Due to this, pollutants enter groundwater, rivers, and other water bodies. Such water, which ultimately ends up in our households, is often highly contaminated and carries disease-causing microbes. Agricultural run-off, or the water from the fields that drains into rivers, is another major water pollutant as it contains fertilizers and pesticides.
Domestic sewage refers to waste water that is discarded from households. Also referred to as sanitary sewage, such water contains a wide variety of dissolved and suspended impurities.
Biochemical oxygen demand, or BOD
The amount of organic material that can rot in the sewage is measured by the biochemical oxygen demand. BOD is the amount of oxygen required by micro-organisms to decompose the organic substances in sewage. Therefore, the more organic material there is in the sewage, the higher the BOD. It is among the most important parameters for the design and operation of sewage treatment plants. BOD levels of industrial sewage may be many times that of domestic sewage. Dissolved oxygen is an important factor that determines the quality of water in lakes and rivers. The higher the concentration of dissolved oxygen, the better the water quality. When sewage enters a lake or stream, micro-organisms begin to decompose the organic materials. Oxygen is consumed as micro-organisms use it in their metabolism. This can quickly deplete the available oxygen in the water. When the dissolved oxygen levels drop too low, many aquatic species perish. In fact, if the oxygen level drops to zero, the water will become septic. When organic compounds decompose without oxygen, it gives rise to the undesirable odours usually associated with septic or putrid conditions.
It amounts to a very small fraction of the sewage by weight. But it is large by volume and contains impurities such as organic materials and plant nutrients that tend to rot. The main organic materials are food and vegetable waste, plant nutrient come from chemical soaps, washing powders, etc. Domestic sewage is also very likely to contain disease-causing microbes. Thus, disposal of domestic waste water is a significant technical problem. Sewage generated from the urban areas in India has multiplied manifold since 1947.
Today, many people dump their garbage into streams, lakes, rivers, and seas, thus making water bodies the final resting place of cans, bottles, plastics, and other household products. The various substances that we use for keeping our houses clean add to water pollution as they contain harmful chemicals. In the past, people mostly used soaps made from animal and vegetable fat for all types of washing. But most of today’s cleaning products are synthetic detergents and come from the petrochemical industry. Most detergents and washing powders contain phosphates, which are used to soften the water among other things. These and other chemicals contained in washing powders affect the health of all forms of life in the water.
Agricultural Run off
Eutrophication
When fresh water is artificially supplemented with nutrients, it results in an abnormal increase in the growth of water plants. This is known as eutrophication. The discharge of waste from industries, agriculture, and urban communities into water bodies generally stretches the biological capacities of aquatic systems. Chemical run-off from fields also adds nutrients to water. Excess nutrients cause the water body to become choked with organic substances and organisms. When organic matter exceeds the capacity of the micro-organisms in water that break down and recycle the organic matter, it encourages rapid growth, or blooms, of algae. When they die, the remains of the algae add to the organic wastes already in the water; eventually, the water becomes deficient in oxygen. Anaerobic organisms (those that do not require oxygen to live) then attack the organic wastes, releasing gases such as methane and hydrogen sulphide, which are harmful to the oxygen-requiring (aerobic) forms of life. The result is a foul-smelling, waste-filled body of water. This has already occurred in such places as Lake Erie and the Baltic Sea, and is a growing problem in freshwater lakes all over India. Eutrophication can produce problems such as bad tastes and odours as well as green scum algae. Also the growth of rooted plants increases, which decreases the amount of oxygen in the deepest waters of the lake. It also leads to the death of all forms of life in the water bodies.
The use of land for agriculture and the practices followed in cultivation greatly affect the quality of groundwater. Intensive cultivation of crops causes chemicals from fertilizers (e.g. nitrate) and pesticides to seep into the groundwater, a process commonly known as leaching. Routine applications of fertilizers and pesticides for agriculture and indiscriminate disposal of industrial and domestic wastes are increasingly being recognized as significant sources of water pollution.
The high nitrate content in groundwater is mainly from irrigation run-off from agricultural fields where chemical fertilizers have been used indiscriminately.
Industrial effluents
Waste water from manufacturing or chemical processes in industries contributes to water pollution. Industrial waste water usually contains specific and readily identifiable chemical compounds. During the last fifty years, the number of industries in India has grown rapidly. But water pollution is concentrated within a few subsectors, mainly in the form of toxic wastes and organic pollutants. Out of this a large portion can be traced to the processing of industrial chemicals and to the food products industry. In fact, a number of large- and medium-sized industries in the region covered by the Ganga Action Plan do not have adequate effluent treatment facilities. Most of these defaulting industries are sugar mills, distilleries, leather processing industries, and thermal power stations. Most major industries have treatment facilities for industrial effluents. But this is not the case with small-scale industries, which cannot afford enormous investments in pollution control equipment as their profit margin is very slender.
Effects of water pollution
The effects of water pollution are not only devastating to people but also to animals, fish, and birds. Polluted water is unsuitable for drinking, recreation, agriculture, and industry. It diminishes the aesthetic quality of lakes and rivers. More seriously, contaminated water destroys aquatic life and reduces its reproductive ability. Eventually, it is a hazard to human health. Nobody can escape the effects of water pollution.
The individual and the community can help minimize water pollution. By simple housekeeping and management practices the amount of waste generated can be minimized.
AIR POLANE POLLUTION
Aircraft create several types of air pollution. These occur both at the airport during fueling, takeoff and landing and while the aircraft are in flight. These are:
Greenhouse gases
Aircraft burn hydrocarbon fuel. The principle emissions from this are carbon dioxide and water. There is also some nitrogen oxide. The SAS airlines have developed a nice spreadsheet of airplanes vs. GHG emissions for travellers who want to reduce their global warming footprint.
Particulate emissions
Aircraft fuels contain some sulfur compounds. These are emistted as particulate. These particulates act as nuclei for cloud formation whichmay impact the ratio of light reaching the Earth from the sun. This may be seen as a "good thing" as it might recuce global warming, but putting all your potential impacts in a pot and stirring them is not good science
Noise
The familiar roar of aircraft can reduce the enjoyment of living under an approach route to a busy airports. Som sites have designated quiet hours or alternatesapproach routes for use at night.
Hydrocarbon emissions
During fueling and reving up and taxiing (when engines exhaust composition changes) there can be an increase in hydrocarbon emissions. Hydrocarbons and NOx, both components of air traffic, can contribute to photochemical smog.
During emergencies, aircraft often dump fuel into the air to reduce fire hazards. While this is necessary for passenger safety it stil contributed to hydrocarbon levels
Greenhouse gases
Aircraft burn hydrocarbon fuel. The principle emissions from this are carbon dioxide and water. There is also some nitrogen oxide. The SAS airlines have developed a nice spreadsheet of airplanes vs. GHG emissions for travellers who want to reduce their global warming footprint.
Particulate emissions
Aircraft fuels contain some sulfur compounds. These are emistted as particulate. These particulates act as nuclei for cloud formation whichmay impact the ratio of light reaching the Earth from the sun. This may be seen as a "good thing" as it might recuce global warming, but putting all your potential impacts in a pot and stirring them is not good science
Noise
The familiar roar of aircraft can reduce the enjoyment of living under an approach route to a busy airports. Som sites have designated quiet hours or alternatesapproach routes for use at night.
Hydrocarbon emissions
During fueling and reving up and taxiing (when engines exhaust composition changes) there can be an increase in hydrocarbon emissions. Hydrocarbons and NOx, both components of air traffic, can contribute to photochemical smog.
During emergencies, aircraft often dump fuel into the air to reduce fire hazards. While this is necessary for passenger safety it stil contributed to hydrocarbon levels
PREVENTION STEPS TO SOIL POLLUTION
Soil pollution is the addition of toxic and harmful chemicals, salts, microorganisms and radioactive elements to the soil layer. These substances decrease soil fertility by reducing its mineral content. They also adversely affect plant and animal growth. Soil pollution is a big problem, but steps are being taken to control it.
Reducing Usage of Chemicals
1.
Step 1
Pesticides and fungicides are essential for plant growth but their overuse has led to soil pollution. Bio-fertilization and manures should be used instead of their chemical alternatives. Biofertilization is a process in which certain microorganisms are used to increase the fertility and growth capacity of soil. The process reduces the need for pesticides and fungicides. Manure, meanwhile, is always considered preferable to pesticides. In its organic form, manure has few negative effects on the ecological system.
2.
Step 2
Recycling is another way to reduce and control soil pollution. Recycling paper, plastics and other materials reduces the volume of refuse in landfills, another common cause of soil pollution.
3.
Step 3
De-forestation, the cutting down of trees, causes erosion, pollution and the loss of fertility in the topsoil. Planting trees--or re-forestation--helps prevent soil erosion and pollution.
4.
Step 4
Weeds soak up minerals in the soil. Reducing weed growth helps reduce soil pollution. One of the more common methods of reducing weed growth is covering the soil with numerous layers of wet newspapers or a plastic sheet for several weeks before cultivation. This prevents light from reaching the weeds, which kills them.
5.
Step 5
Designated pits should be used for the dumping of soil wastes. These wastes should be treated chemically and biologically to make them less toxic and hazardous. Biological treatment involves the use of anaerobic microorganisms, such as methanogens and acetogens, which help break down the soil wastes into a less toxic and biodegradable form.
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Green articles and resources on Pollution Prevention
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References
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* Soil Pollution
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Reducing Usage of Chemicals
1.
Step 1
Pesticides and fungicides are essential for plant growth but their overuse has led to soil pollution. Bio-fertilization and manures should be used instead of their chemical alternatives. Biofertilization is a process in which certain microorganisms are used to increase the fertility and growth capacity of soil. The process reduces the need for pesticides and fungicides. Manure, meanwhile, is always considered preferable to pesticides. In its organic form, manure has few negative effects on the ecological system.
2.
Step 2
Recycling is another way to reduce and control soil pollution. Recycling paper, plastics and other materials reduces the volume of refuse in landfills, another common cause of soil pollution.
3.
Step 3
De-forestation, the cutting down of trees, causes erosion, pollution and the loss of fertility in the topsoil. Planting trees--or re-forestation--helps prevent soil erosion and pollution.
4.
Step 4
Weeds soak up minerals in the soil. Reducing weed growth helps reduce soil pollution. One of the more common methods of reducing weed growth is covering the soil with numerous layers of wet newspapers or a plastic sheet for several weeks before cultivation. This prevents light from reaching the weeds, which kills them.
5.
Step 5
Designated pits should be used for the dumping of soil wastes. These wastes should be treated chemically and biologically to make them less toxic and hazardous. Biological treatment involves the use of anaerobic microorganisms, such as methanogens and acetogens, which help break down the soil wastes into a less toxic and biodegradable form.
Ads by Google
Recycling - Sludge
Metal, Oil, Sand, Wafer Glass, Coating
www.technosan.de
Rentokil - Pest Control
Pest Problems solved quickly and safely by the experts at Rentokil.
www.Rentokil.in/Pest-Control
Pollution Prevention
Green articles and resources on Pollution Prevention
IndustryWeek.com/GreenSpot
Total Combustion Inc.
Engineered Solutions for Combusting Waste Gas
www.tciburners.com
References
* Control of Soil Pollution
* Soil Pollution
Who Can Help Sponsored
* How to Lose 30+lbs Guaranteed. Try it Free.
Subscribe
Post a Comment
Post this comment to my Facebook Profile
Word Verification*
Post a Comment
Related Ads
* Air Pollution
* Polluted Soil
* Water Treatment Systems
* Pollution Control
* Soil Pollution
* Environmental Pollution
* Related Videos
* Related Articles
Related Articles
* Soil Pollution Prevention Soil Pollution Prevention
* How to Kill Weeds and Plant Seeds How to Kill Weeds and Plant Seeds
* How to Clean Polluted Soil How to Clean Polluted Soil
* How to Extract Organic Pollutants From Soil How to Extract Organic Pollutants From Soil
* How to Compost With Children How to Compost With Children
Related Videos
* How to Kill Termites in Soil How to Kill Termites in Soil
* How to Control Out-of-Control Weeds How to Control Out-of-Control Weeds
* How to Mulch Flowers How to Mulch Flowers
* What Pollutes the Air? What Pollutes the Air?
* How to Control Fungus Gnats on Indoor Plants How to Control Fungus Gnats on Indoor Plants
* See How Others Did It
* Have you done this? Click here to let us know.
I Did ThisWhat’s this?
Tags
* soil,
* growth,
* pesticides,
* pollution,
* microorganisms,
* fungicides
Get Free Health Newsletters
*
Today's Top How To
How to Hook Up a Wireless Router to a Printer
*
Featured How Tos
How to Create a Hard-to-Crack Password
*
eHow of the Day
How to Stop Teen Sexting
*
eHow Quick Guide
Printing Supplies 101
Search
* Home
* Article Sitemap
* Video Sitemap
* Quick Guides Sitemap
* How To Videos
* About eHow
* Contact Us†
* FAQ
* Link to eHow
* Blog
* UK
Copyright © 1999-2009 eHow, Inc. Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the eHow Terms of Use † and Privacy Policy †. en-US Portions of this page are modifications based on work created and shared by Google and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License. † requires javascript
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* Livestrong
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Share your experiences and connect with others who’ve actually done what’s described in this article. If that’s YOU, click the “I Did This” button.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
SOIL POLLUTION AND PICS
SOIL POLLUTION (terrestrial pollution)
"The mountain, and a deep and gloomy wood, their colours and their forms, were then to me an appetite: a feeling and a love, that had no need of a remoter charm,..."
The author of this poem thinks and ponders on his thought of nature. His inspiration is reflected upon what he regards most beautiful by sight, unfortunately enough we hardly have such inspirations in our minds now-a-days, leave a lone the fact of the advent of video games but also because there isn't much to ponder upon in our surroundings today. Look outside your window in most areas its buildings and cars and cars and buildings. Lands and forests have been cleared to the least natura
After the world war two, many countries suffered from food shortage and this facilitated the intoruction of fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals.
Natural land pollution:
Land pollution occurs massively during earth quakes, land slides, hurricanes and floods. All cause hard to clean mess, which is expensive to clean , and may sometimes take years to restore the affected area. These kinds of natural disasters are not only a problem in that they cause pollution but also because they leave many victims homeless.
DEFINITION:
Soil pollution is defined as the build-up in soils of persistent toxic compounds, chemicals, salts, radioactive materials, or disease causing agents, which have adverse effects on plant growth and animal health.
The wars that hit the earth are probably the immediate cause of soil pollution. Not talking in the sense of how many people died but in that it is through this period that many countries found the necessity to improve their living standards. After the world war two, many countries suffered from food shortage and this facilitated the intoruction of fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals. Although KNP [ Potassium, Nitrogen, Phosphorus] fertilisers has not led to soil pollution, the application of trace elements has.
Pesticides such as DDT [dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane]a colourless chemical pesticide, which is a potent nerve poison in insects was first widely used to combat diseases such as yellow fever and malaria. It was later used to control and/ or eradicate disease carrying and crop eating insects. DDT was later on discovered to cause endagerement of species in the same food chain as the
controlled insects, particularly birds. DDT prevents the shelling of bird eggs and in humans causes health threats.
In yet another famous war of Vietnam in 1970's was introduced another Chemical substance which had a more adverse effect than that of DDT, Dioxin a chemical impurity resulting from the production of the auxin 2,4,5T. Dioxin is a toxic chemical and was used as a defoliant by the American army. Dioxin was a major constituent of argent orange which was applied on trees which would then fall off reaviling enemy camps. After the war it was found that the chemical cause congenital deformalities and mental effects to the children born to the American soldiers and in the area over which it was applied. In minute amount dioxin has the ability to cause cancer,chloracne, miscarriage, and fetal abnormalities.
Glass industries have also been responsible of soil pollution. The glass industries uses Arsenic to eliminate a green colour caused by impurities of iron compounds. because arsenic is a violent poison, yet it is widely used and therefore is a frequent contaminant. James Marsh, supplies a simple method for detecting traces of arsenic so minute that they would escape discovery in ordinary analysis. Arsenic is sometimes added to lead to harden it and is also used in the manufacture of such military poison gases as lewisite and adamsite. Until the introduction of penicillin, arsenic was of great importance in the treatment of syphilis. In other medicinal uses, it has been displaced by sulpha drugs or antibiotics. Lead arsenate, calcium arsenate, and Paris green are used extensively as insecticides. Pollution of land by heavy metals is a result of the mining of ores to extract metals such as tin, silver, nickel, lead, iron, chromium and copper. Most of these metals occur naturally as ions in the soils. Though some metals, such as copper, iron, and zinc , are necessary for plant growth. It is the high concentration if these ions that renders the land unsuitable for plant growth. Soil pollution is widely linked to chemical substances but irrigation. is somehow linked to it as well.
CONTROL
Soil pollution has been slightly controlled by putting regulations on the use of DDT and introduction of alternatives to it. However the task of eliminating completely soil pollution is not easy, third some third world countries still utilize pollutants such as DDT as pesticides. Mining cannot be stopped because we are in constant need for mineral ores for different applications.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
RECYCLING PLASTIC BAG
Green Nature
Plastic Bag Recycling
plastic bag recycling
Recycling Resources
Curbside Recycling
Home Recycling Tips
Mixed Paper Recycling
Plastic Bag Recycling
Plastics Recycling
Recycling Corner
Reverse Vending Machines
Types of Plastics
Plastic bag recycling practices differ from area to area around the United States.
In some places, plastic bags have become a big topic of conversation.
All sides agree that changing consumer bag habits saves natural resources and promotes energy conservation.
There is disagreement on the appropriate policies for promoting the different positions.
The picture shows a grocery store that actively promotes recycling for their plastic bags.
The City of San Francisco recently passed a Plastic Bag Reduction Ordinance.
It requires the use of either "recyclable paper bags, and/or compostable plastic bags, and/or reusable bags" by all stores in the city, under threat of penalty.
Other areas promote a bring your reusable bag policy (often a cloth bag), without a mandatory plastic bag requirement.
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ABOUT PLASTIC POLLUTION AND PIC
PLASTIC BAG POLLUTION
Plastic bags
Every year, around 500 billion (500,000,000,000) plastic bags are used worldwide. So many that over one million bags are being every minute and they're damaging our environment. India's plastics consumption is one of the highest in the world. Yet, precious little has been done to recycle, re-use and dispose of plastic waste. Plastic bags are difficult and costly to recycle and most end up on landfill sites where they take around 300 years to photo degrade. They break down into tiny toxic particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them. But the problems surrounding waste plastic bags starts long before they photo degrade.
Our planet is becoming increasingly contaminated by our unnecessary use of plastic carry bags. Big black bin liners, plastic carrier bags carrying advertising logos, clear sandwich bags, vegetable bags and a variety of other forms used to carry our daily food items and other items are all polluting our environment. Just take a look around you. Plastic bags can be seen hanging from the branches of trees, flying in the air on windy days, settled amongst bushes and floating on rivers. They clog up gutters and drains causing water and sewage to overflow and become the breeding grounds of germs and bacteria that cause diseases.
Animals and sea creatures are hurt and killed every day by discarded plastic bags - a dead turtle with a plastic bag hanging from its mouth isn't a pleasant sight but mistaking plastic bags for food is commonplace amongst marine animals. Plastic clogs their intestines and leads to slow starvation. Others become entangled in plastic bags and drown. Because plastic bags take hundreds of years to break down, every year our seas become 'home' to more and more bags that find their way there through our sewers and waterways. Given India's poor garbage collection facilities, tons of plastic bags litter the roads, preventing rainwater from seeping into the ground. Hundreds of cows die in New Delhi alone every year when they choke on plastic bags while trying to eat vegetable waste stuffed in the garbage.
Plastic bags chock drains
Every bag that's washed down a drain during rainfall ends up in the sea every bag that's flushed down a toilet (many mall bags are), ends up in the sea - every bag that’s blown into a river will most likely end up in the sea. Besides choking drains, plastics are highly toxics. When burned they release cancer-causing gases. Lying in the garbage, polythene bags also find their way in gut of cattle, asphyxiating the animals. The cheap bags contain chemicals such as cadmium- or lead-based chemicals that are harmful to health. They leach into vegetables, meat and food.
An estimated 15 lakh computers and 30 lakh mobile phones are disposed of every year in India. “Computers, mobiles and other electronic items generate hazardous e-waste like lead, brominated flame retardants and chromium which can cause cancer,” There is another problem: India has more to deal with than just the waste generated at home. The Environment Protection Authority of Britain recently said 23,000 tonnes of e-waste was dumped in India, China and Pakistan.
Ban on Plastic bags
Several countries have already banned their use and more will doubtless follow. Several Indian states such as Maharastra, Dehli, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himanchal Pradesh, Goa etc. banned their use. Mumbai's storm water drainage choking with accumulated plastics waste, making the floods unmanageable, is an old story. The Environment Ministry has banned manufacture and use of plastics carry bags less than 8 inches X 12 inches in size 20 micron in width. The ministry has also asked State Governments to register all plastics manufacturing unit, so that these can be regulated. However, the implementation of the order has been tardy, evident from the large number of polythene bags strewn in every major town and city.
The UAE Ministry of Environment and Water with its recent announcement banning plastic bags completely by 2013. Jute is one of the strongest natural plant fibers which is durable and re-usable. It is a 100 % natural material that consumes carbon dioxide and releases oxygen into the atmosphere. Fabrics made of jute fibers are therefore carbon dioxide neutral and are naturally decomposable.
The alternative to plastic bags are paper bags, jute bags and cloth bags. Paper, Jute and Cloth are eco-friendly. Jute bags are most suitable substitute then paper and cloth, because it is cheaper then cloth and reusable. Though paper bags are cheaper then jute bags but less durable. The West Bengal Government, which has decided to ban plastic bags in Kolkata and other prominent towns and cities in the State, intends to make use of jute bags mandatory through suitable legislation.
An example set by Vietnam's 61-year old Le Loc
A former chemistry student in Vietnam, 61-year old Le Loc spent $85,700 (1.5 billion Dong) to invent a biodegradable bag all on his own. He had little support. Le Loc said he couldn’t get a loan from the bank, because they didn’t believe that the project would succeed. Over the last five years he devoted himself to finding a solution to Vietnam’s plastic bag problem. He mortgaged his house. With the help of technology from the US, he has developed a biodegradable packaging product that will biodegrade after 49-103 days if exposed to direct sunlight, natural bacteria or high humidity. His bags are now available at different localities nationwide and in foreign markets. He is the director of Phuc Le Gia Trade and Service Co. Ltd.. In May, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment granted Loc’s bags the “Environment Green Label” title. He has also passed quality assurance inspection by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Future for polyethylene bags
While the future for polyethylene bags may be death by regulation and taxation, manufacturers in the industry have decided to participate in the debate without shutting their doors and throwing their hands up.
In efforts to participate at the policy and legislative level, manufacturing companies in the US have become part of the Progressive Bag Alliance (PBA) in order to help shape environmentally-sound laws and policies. One of the outgrowths of this Alliance is a loop-closing effort by Hilex, one of the leaders in the manufacturing of polyethylene retail bags. The effort Bag-2-Bag is a way to prevent plastic bags from making their way to landfills. Instead, Hilex has built a $13 million recycling plant where they turn used bags collected at grocery stores and retail locations into clean new bags.
In efforts to counter policies and legislation that have banned plastic bag use to reduce pollution in cities manufacturers are increasing recycling efforts to revive the PRCBs industry. Ireland imposed a tax on every plastic bag used at a retail location. The PBA includes several PRCB manufacturers and was established by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), which worked with non-profits, government and business groups this past summer on a “Got Your Bags?” campaign in California. The campaign was a public education effort to encourage shoppers to bring their plastic bags back to stores for recycling. The PBA has announced that by 2015 they aim to include 40% recycled content, including 25% post-consumer material in all plastic shopping bags made by member companies. According to the ACC, the Full Circle Recycling Initiative will reduce greenhouse gas emission by 463 million pounds, conserve enough energy (mainly natural gas) to heat 200,000 homes and reduce waste by 300 million pounds every year.
Fashion today on the use of natural fabrics
Fashion today being the trend towards mass luxury and second being the drive for eco-sustainable fashion. Natural fabrics are bio-degradable and can be used to regenerate the earth on decay.They are also carbon neutral. They release no more than the amount of CO2 absorbed when incinerated.
Where the production of 1 tonne of polypropylene used in packaging, containers and cordage emits more than 3 tonnes of Carbon dioxide (CO2) where as jute absorbs 2.4 tonnes of CO2 for every tonne produced.
Now, these are healthy choices due to their wicking properties unlike the synthetics materials used in garment for weight reduction programmes. This also makes it imperative for designers to make knowledgeable choices. Although most Indian luxury design is based on the use of natural fabrics, the spread of the fashion phenomena here, is leading to the massive demand for synthetic materials such as polyesters at the cheaper end. Again the advantage for natural fibres is that we can recycle the old with the new when it comes to creating manmade fabrics. That we can create eco-sustainable designs.
Plastic bags
Every year, around 500 billion (500,000,000,000) plastic bags are used worldwide. So many that over one million bags are being every minute and they're damaging our environment. India's plastics consumption is one of the highest in the world. Yet, precious little has been done to recycle, re-use and dispose of plastic waste. Plastic bags are difficult and costly to recycle and most end up on landfill sites where they take around 300 years to photo degrade. They break down into tiny toxic particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them. But the problems surrounding waste plastic bags starts long before they photo degrade.
Our planet is becoming increasingly contaminated by our unnecessary use of plastic carry bags. Big black bin liners, plastic carrier bags carrying advertising logos, clear sandwich bags, vegetable bags and a variety of other forms used to carry our daily food items and other items are all polluting our environment. Just take a look around you. Plastic bags can be seen hanging from the branches of trees, flying in the air on windy days, settled amongst bushes and floating on rivers. They clog up gutters and drains causing water and sewage to overflow and become the breeding grounds of germs and bacteria that cause diseases.
Animals and sea creatures are hurt and killed every day by discarded plastic bags - a dead turtle with a plastic bag hanging from its mouth isn't a pleasant sight but mistaking plastic bags for food is commonplace amongst marine animals. Plastic clogs their intestines and leads to slow starvation. Others become entangled in plastic bags and drown. Because plastic bags take hundreds of years to break down, every year our seas become 'home' to more and more bags that find their way there through our sewers and waterways. Given India's poor garbage collection facilities, tons of plastic bags litter the roads, preventing rainwater from seeping into the ground. Hundreds of cows die in New Delhi alone every year when they choke on plastic bags while trying to eat vegetable waste stuffed in the garbage.
Plastic bags chock drains
Every bag that's washed down a drain during rainfall ends up in the sea every bag that's flushed down a toilet (many mall bags are), ends up in the sea - every bag that’s blown into a river will most likely end up in the sea. Besides choking drains, plastics are highly toxics. When burned they release cancer-causing gases. Lying in the garbage, polythene bags also find their way in gut of cattle, asphyxiating the animals. The cheap bags contain chemicals such as cadmium- or lead-based chemicals that are harmful to health. They leach into vegetables, meat and food.
An estimated 15 lakh computers and 30 lakh mobile phones are disposed of every year in India. “Computers, mobiles and other electronic items generate hazardous e-waste like lead, brominated flame retardants and chromium which can cause cancer,” There is another problem: India has more to deal with than just the waste generated at home. The Environment Protection Authority of Britain recently said 23,000 tonnes of e-waste was dumped in India, China and Pakistan.
Ban on Plastic bags
Several countries have already banned their use and more will doubtless follow. Several Indian states such as Maharastra, Dehli, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himanchal Pradesh, Goa etc. banned their use. Mumbai's storm water drainage choking with accumulated plastics waste, making the floods unmanageable, is an old story. The Environment Ministry has banned manufacture and use of plastics carry bags less than 8 inches X 12 inches in size 20 micron in width. The ministry has also asked State Governments to register all plastics manufacturing unit, so that these can be regulated. However, the implementation of the order has been tardy, evident from the large number of polythene bags strewn in every major town and city.
The UAE Ministry of Environment and Water with its recent announcement banning plastic bags completely by 2013. Jute is one of the strongest natural plant fibers which is durable and re-usable. It is a 100 % natural material that consumes carbon dioxide and releases oxygen into the atmosphere. Fabrics made of jute fibers are therefore carbon dioxide neutral and are naturally decomposable.
The alternative to plastic bags are paper bags, jute bags and cloth bags. Paper, Jute and Cloth are eco-friendly. Jute bags are most suitable substitute then paper and cloth, because it is cheaper then cloth and reusable. Though paper bags are cheaper then jute bags but less durable. The West Bengal Government, which has decided to ban plastic bags in Kolkata and other prominent towns and cities in the State, intends to make use of jute bags mandatory through suitable legislation.
An example set by Vietnam's 61-year old Le Loc
A former chemistry student in Vietnam, 61-year old Le Loc spent $85,700 (1.5 billion Dong) to invent a biodegradable bag all on his own. He had little support. Le Loc said he couldn’t get a loan from the bank, because they didn’t believe that the project would succeed. Over the last five years he devoted himself to finding a solution to Vietnam’s plastic bag problem. He mortgaged his house. With the help of technology from the US, he has developed a biodegradable packaging product that will biodegrade after 49-103 days if exposed to direct sunlight, natural bacteria or high humidity. His bags are now available at different localities nationwide and in foreign markets. He is the director of Phuc Le Gia Trade and Service Co. Ltd.. In May, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment granted Loc’s bags the “Environment Green Label” title. He has also passed quality assurance inspection by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Future for polyethylene bags
While the future for polyethylene bags may be death by regulation and taxation, manufacturers in the industry have decided to participate in the debate without shutting their doors and throwing their hands up.
In efforts to participate at the policy and legislative level, manufacturing companies in the US have become part of the Progressive Bag Alliance (PBA) in order to help shape environmentally-sound laws and policies. One of the outgrowths of this Alliance is a loop-closing effort by Hilex, one of the leaders in the manufacturing of polyethylene retail bags. The effort Bag-2-Bag is a way to prevent plastic bags from making their way to landfills. Instead, Hilex has built a $13 million recycling plant where they turn used bags collected at grocery stores and retail locations into clean new bags.
In efforts to counter policies and legislation that have banned plastic bag use to reduce pollution in cities manufacturers are increasing recycling efforts to revive the PRCBs industry. Ireland imposed a tax on every plastic bag used at a retail location. The PBA includes several PRCB manufacturers and was established by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), which worked with non-profits, government and business groups this past summer on a “Got Your Bags?” campaign in California. The campaign was a public education effort to encourage shoppers to bring their plastic bags back to stores for recycling. The PBA has announced that by 2015 they aim to include 40% recycled content, including 25% post-consumer material in all plastic shopping bags made by member companies. According to the ACC, the Full Circle Recycling Initiative will reduce greenhouse gas emission by 463 million pounds, conserve enough energy (mainly natural gas) to heat 200,000 homes and reduce waste by 300 million pounds every year.
Fashion today on the use of natural fabrics
Fashion today being the trend towards mass luxury and second being the drive for eco-sustainable fashion. Natural fabrics are bio-degradable and can be used to regenerate the earth on decay.They are also carbon neutral. They release no more than the amount of CO2 absorbed when incinerated.
Where the production of 1 tonne of polypropylene used in packaging, containers and cordage emits more than 3 tonnes of Carbon dioxide (CO2) where as jute absorbs 2.4 tonnes of CO2 for every tonne produced.
Now, these are healthy choices due to their wicking properties unlike the synthetics materials used in garment for weight reduction programmes. This also makes it imperative for designers to make knowledgeable choices. Although most Indian luxury design is based on the use of natural fabrics, the spread of the fashion phenomena here, is leading to the massive demand for synthetic materials such as polyesters at the cheaper end. Again the advantage for natural fibres is that we can recycle the old with the new when it comes to creating manmade fabrics. That we can create eco-sustainable designs.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
SOUND POLLUTION
Sound Pollution
What is Sound Pollution?
Noise Pollution or Sound Pollution is when the exposure of people or animals to levels of sound that are annoying, stressful, or damaging to the ears. Although loud and frightening sounds are part of nature, only in recent centuries has much of the world become urban, industrial, and chronically noisy. The machines used in factories make noise throughout the day, and this disturbs the peaceful atmosphere in the vicinity, as machines used without proper covering lead to sound pollution. Noise is one of the most pervasive pollution in America.
How is Sound Pollution Measured?
Noise intensity is measured in decibel units. The decibel scale is logarithmic; each
10-decibel increase represents a tenfold increase in noise intensity.
What Causes Sound Pollution?
Most noise pollution comes from machines, especially automobiles, trucks, and aircraft. Construction equipment, farm machines, and the din of machinery inside factories can be dangerously loud. Some home appliances, shop tools, lawnmowers, and leaf blowers can also be noisy, as are guns, firecrackers, and some toys. Even music, when played at very high volume, particularly through personal headphones, is as damaging to the ears as a roaring chain saw.
What is Sound Pollution?
Noise Pollution or Sound Pollution is when the exposure of people or animals to levels of sound that are annoying, stressful, or damaging to the ears. Although loud and frightening sounds are part of nature, only in recent centuries has much of the world become urban, industrial, and chronically noisy. The machines used in factories make noise throughout the day, and this disturbs the peaceful atmosphere in the vicinity, as machines used without proper covering lead to sound pollution. Noise is one of the most pervasive pollution in America.
How is Sound Pollution Measured?
Noise intensity is measured in decibel units. The decibel scale is logarithmic; each
10-decibel increase represents a tenfold increase in noise intensity.
What Causes Sound Pollution?
Most noise pollution comes from machines, especially automobiles, trucks, and aircraft. Construction equipment, farm machines, and the din of machinery inside factories can be dangerously loud. Some home appliances, shop tools, lawnmowers, and leaf blowers can also be noisy, as are guns, firecrackers, and some toys. Even music, when played at very high volume, particularly through personal headphones, is as damaging to the ears as a roaring chain saw.
Cars, Air Pollution and Health
Driving a car is the most air polluting act an average citizen commits. Air pollution is not a good idea for a variety of reasons, large and small. The right ideas for remediation of environmental degradations involve unselfish and compassionate behavior, a scarce commodity. The right ideas involve long-term planning, conservation and a deep commitment to preserving the natural world. Without a healthy natural environment, there will be few or no healthy humans.
Developments in the media made "green" the slogan for action to limit the adverse effects of air pollution. The media often suggested that this is a relatively new consensus that there is an environmental crisis. They excused people who have ignored the effect of greenhouse gases on climates global warming over the past 40 years. Some know what is really going on out there, but most people do not know or know but deny the obvious for selfish reasons. Green refers to the color of chlorophyll in plants. Human action destroys plants and replaces healthy ecosystems with concrete and asphalt. Another slogan that emerged was "save planet earth." Humans will not save the planet. The task for humans is to stop destroying the environments that sustain us. If we fail, the planet will do just fine without us.
The deepest problem for humans is that we cannot predict the future with any accuracy. Even the best informed scientist with the most recent data cannot know what is going to happen next. When we talk about prudence, we refer to methods of minimizing risk and preparing to deal with events beyond our control which can injure or kill us. Preparation for natural catastrophes, accidents and illness consumes a large chunk of our resources. Smart humans notice adverse changes and take action to minimize adverse consequences. But not all human are smart or prudent.
The year 2008 will be remembered as the collapse of capitalist economies. Among the corporations in trouble in the US and Canada were General Motors and Chrysler. All the US/Canada car and truck manufacturers had promoted their larger vehicles on customers by exploiting the innate human tendency to seek domination over others. Bigger is better.
In 2009 the GM and Chrysler refurbished their operations and offered smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles for sale. Ford appears to be unscathed by the recession. The only certainty is that the future should look very different from the past. The focus is on car manufacturers, but the people who buy and drive cars are really responsible for creating a better future for themselves and their children. The challenge for vehicle users is not to replace existing vehicles with more fuel efficient versions, but to reduce use and participate in a new vision of car-free living environments. They must end the madness of traffic, gridlock, superhighways and lethal accidents.
Cars have two opposite personalities. One is friendly and attractive the other is destructive and can be lethal. The desire to own a car is linked to pleasure, sexuality, convenience and freedom. Men lust for big, prestigious cars they way they lust for women and women desire men with big, prestigious cars. Men are also interested in power, performance and want to know something about the engine, although modern engines are sufficiently complex to discourage even the professional mechanic. Some of the engine complexity involves emission control systems that require electronic monitoring and adjustment of engine performance under different operating conditions. Several devices are added to the engine to handle air flow in, fuel delivery and exhaust out. Computers have been added to monitor and control engine performance. The design of new hybrid vehicles involves even more complexity with electronic sensors feeding data to computers that manage the drive train. The cost of repairs will increase as will the demand for new sophistication from mechanics. The most advanced designs use only black box modules that cannot be repaired at the local garage but can be replaced with rebuild modules. This might be a wonderful solution, but only if you can afford it.
Extravagant Car Use
The decision to drive cars long distances to work was common among people in North America and Europe in the past 60 years. Cities grew larger. The development of suburbs often placed homes far from work places; massive road construction encouraged extravagant car use. In retrospect, it is clear that commuters made a mistake and they should stop commuting. Their mistake had health and economic consequences for them personally and for every other inhabitant of planet earth.
Emissions from passenger vehicles increased in Canada and the US despite attempts to make engines more fuel efficient and despite the addition of antipollution devices. The two main reasons were: 1. vehicle use increased 2. in the US and Canada, cars were getting bigger; pick-up trucks, vans and sports vehicles often replaced smaller, lighter passenger cars. An average new vehicle in 2003 consumed more fuel that its counterpart in 1988. In the USA in 1987 cars averaged 25.9 miles to the gallon. Fuel efficiency dropped to 24.6 miles/gallon by 1998 and it dropped further as larger vehicles replace smaller ones.
Despite scientific evidence of climate change, governments in many affluent countries have avoided their responsibility to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The USA is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases worldwide. US emissions increased to 7 billion tones of CO2 in 2004, 16% higher than emissions in the late 90's. The UK did better reducing their emissions to about 0.6 billion tons, 14% below 1990 levels. An accurate analysis of total greenhouse gas emission is difficult or impossible to achieve since there many variable and unknowns. Take the US estimates, for example, and pursue the argument that the US is also responsible for some emissions from other countries, which provide raw materials and manufacturing for the US economy. Romm argues: "U.S. businesses have offshored more and more of the U.S. economy’s and CO2 emissions to parts of the world where the carbon intensity is higher but labor is cheaper. The U.S. has essentially offshored its emission problem to the rest of the world, turning their economies into dumping grounds for our own air pollution. "
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that originates form multiple sources, most of which are not measured. Nitrogen gases are also important, but are usually ignored in favour of CO2 estimates. Catalytic converters added to gas-burning engines reduce CO2 emissions but increase nitrogen dioxide emissions.
Car exhaust is toxic at ground level
Exhaust from all combustion engines combine to produce local adverse effects on the health of car users and all innocent bystanders. Cities have become islands of toxic chemicals from the unrestrained use of vehicles burning fossil fuels. Cars are noisy, ugly, often dangerous and dominate the experience of modern living. We are now used to the carnage on roads and highways- attempts to reduce death and disability from our motorized containers have not substantially altered the negative impact on society. The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.
See Exhaust Chemicals.
Advertising and Delusions
Television Ads for sports and recreation vehicles show solitary, impeccable machines in wilderness locations. One TV ad shows a couple making a mad dash to escape the city core in their expensive, luxury upholstered clone of the land-rover. The ads are selling a fantasy of wilderness, fresh air and escape. Is the consumer is completely deluded? These vehicles are mostly found in suburban driveways and in the traffic jams of polluted cities. They have nowhere to go to escape the environmental degradation they help to create. 4x4 drives and large tires are rarely useful in cities and are not suited to highway driving. You see these machines, submerged in suburban driveways by the floods they helped to create.
Pollution and Climate Change
Combustion engines contribute to greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere and are responsible for climate changes. A sane, sober revision of vehicle use is long overdue. While ethanol has been championed as an alternative to petroleum fuels, it mainly helps to reduce dependency on oil producing countries. Ethanol can be blended with gasoline to reduce petroleum dependency. Gasoline engines can use up to 10% ethanol without modification. New engines can be designed to use higher percentages of ethanol.
There are problems however in the bigger picture of carbon consumption and emission. When ethanol is made from corn, some its energy value ( up to 70% in the least efficient plants) must be spent on its production. While innovations in production technologies continue, there will be an ongoing requirement to invent new methods of production. Investment in new technologies will require government policy changes, subsidies and research grants. Burning ethanol still produces carbon dioxide. Climate change with extreme weather events may reduce corn production in the US, where for decades corn surpluses were common. The new competition between ethanol plants and food production suddenly in 2008 became an international issue. If you are an optimist, you might argue that improved technologies will save the day --- corn yields per acre have been increasing mostly because of genetic engineering so that food and ethanol production need not compete in the future. The ethanol industry uses only the carbohydrate fraction of the corn; the protein and oil fractions are used as animal feed to be consumed by humans as dairy products, eggs and meat. If you are a pessimist you might point to the recurrent droughts in recent years in the US corn producing regions and predict more crop failures in years to come.
Understanding Complex Ecosystems.
Our ability to monitor and understand the atmosphere has taken a quantum leap in recent years. We have gone beyond naïve linear models and now appreciate that if complex systems such as the atmosphere, the oceans, and land ecosystems change, they may become unstable and more unfriendly. Extra heat will cause more turbulence, and weather patterns will change in unpredictable ways. We have to understand that actions such as driving cars whenever and wherever we please can change the atmosphere and lead to more catastrophes. Smart humans notice adverse changes and take action to minimize adverse consequences. But not all human are smart or prudent.
What Can I do? Drive Less
Both local and global pollution would be reduced if each car-driving person pledged to use their car 30% less starting immediately. This is a responsible, individual contribution to a global problem. At least 30% of vehicle is is optional - either recreational or lazy driving when walking, cycling or public transit would be a better choice.
Cities can reduce vehicular traffic by more than 30% over the next 3 to 5 years by improving public transportation. Commuter trains are a model of urban access for suburban residents who drive their cars short distances, park in terminal lots and ride the train into town. Cities can create car free zones and develop park-like corridors that would allow movement through the city by walking, cycling and limited use of small, light electric vehicles in vehicle corridors specially designed to be safe and efficient.
The rising cost of crude oil in 2008 quickly altered driving habits and big auto companies closed plants that produced SUVs and pickup trucks. If you are interested in longer term human survival, then high cost oil is a real benefit. With or without high fuel prices, each person can drive less and resist the temptation to buy larger, heavier cars, vans, trucks and sports vehicles. If you really need a 4x4 to drive off-roads in wilderness settings, you need a rugged clunker that's already got scratches, dents and mud on the tires. Carry a shovel, axe, chain saw, and a come-along in the back. If you can afford it, add a heavy duty winch up front. Stay off city streets and highways. See Disease Effects, Car Exhaust
Solutions: Reduce Air Pollution by changing the design and use of motor vehicles
The use of cars must be re-defined. Car use has to be considered a privilege, not a right. The cost of environmental damage and reclamation has to be added to the cost of owning and operating a car. Vehicle use should no longer be subsidized.
Reduce number of Vehicles - Urban areas need to set vehicular quotas and issue permits to limit the number of vehicles to control regional traffic congestion and air pollution.
Small hybrid or 100% electric cars are desirable, but make their occupants specially vulnerable when they collide with much larger vehicles. A sane city would separate small, efficient passenger vehicles from buses and trucks.
Improve efficiency of vehicles - reverse the trend to larger vehicles; engineering solutions to emissions of combustion engines. Hybrid cars are a step in the right direction but in small numbers will not have a significant impact on air pollution.
Reduced vehicle use and traffic reform can be a bigger and more immediate remedy for urban air pollution. Improved efficiency of traffic is important. Examples are: dedicated bus lanes and priority for car-pools and vehicles with 3 or more passengers. Traffic can be scheduled to optimize road usage; e.g. commercial traffic at night; large companies can stagger working hours and decentralize administrative operations. Commuting long distances in cars to work needs to be phased out. Single passenger commuting to work should be strongly discouraged.
The most accessible measure of air pollution contribution is the amount of fossil fuel burned.
Recreational driving can be reduced immediately. Car owners need to pay for miles driven and fuel burned on an escalating scale. Each person can have a "free driving" allotment per year and pay increasing insurance and/or taxes on fuel consumption beyond this limit.
Governments can encourage the reduction of vehicular use by:
* Promoting Voluntary abstention
* Increase Public Transit - diversify options and limit access to existing roads.
* Separate commercial and private traffic to increase efficient use of roads
* Stop building car-oriented roads and highways
* Replace 30% of the existing roads designed for cars with park-like corridors
* In cities, build more walking paths, bicycle routes and roads for small electric vehicles
* Reduce commuting - link residence and business activities by rezoning and rebuilding cities.
* Reward car-pools and car-sharing plans
* Redefine road use by defining access privileges - no longer a right
* Road Tolls and increased gasoline and vehicle registration taxes
* Base car license fees on fuel consumption in the previous year. Use exponential fee rate increase for high fuel consumption individuals.
* Provide generous development grants and tax incentives for all non-polluting transportation alternatives.
Governments can use a combination of
* Voluntary and Reward Schemes
* Compulsory and Penalty Schemes
* Incentives for New Technology and Changes in Industrial Fuel Consumption
Long term solutions require that vehicles use less polluting energy sources such biofuels, propane, natural gas and hydrogen. I am sorry to say that the marketing of "green solutions" to global warming is becoming yet another scam. One problem is that producing alternate fuels and hybrid cars often requires CO2 emissions that offset or cancel the benefits of improve vehicular design. When ethanol is made from corn, up to 70% of its energy value is spent on its production. Burning ethanol still produces carbon dioxide. Other "biofuels" are promising but require a major shift in infrastructure priorities. See Biofuels
Electric Cars are on the road, under development and promise to become vehicles of choice for urban transportation. The new cars represent advances in technology that link computers, electric motors and batteries into systems that drive well, self-regulate, and require little maintenance. The main components are modules that are removed to be refurbished in specialized factories and recycled. The main limitation is battery technology. Batteries are heavy, wear out quickly with repeated recharging and require expensive, rather scarce materials such as lithium.
Even if all the technical problems of building reliable electric cars were solved, there remains a daunting list of infrastructure problems yet to be solved. While electric cars produce little air pollution, generating electricity continues to be a major source of air pollution. If an electric car is recharged with electricity produced by a fossil fuel burning generator, there may be no net benefit to the atmosphere.
A real solution for car technology would reduce air pollution beginning at source materials and would continue through the use cycle of the vehicle. While is it feasible to use fossil fuels in generation plants with all the latest techniques of emission control and C02 recycling, these plants are uncommon in 2009. Before more people plug in electric vehicles, a new infrastructure of non-polluting, affordable electricity production will have to be built.
In the immediate future reduced car use is the best solution. A gas-inefficient clunker driven twice a week for 20 km is a better choice than a new expensive hybrid car driven everyday for 100 Km. No solution is better than fewer vehicles and reduced vehicle use.
Hydrogen The ultimate cars burn hydrogen in fuel cells, but despite working prototypes, a hydrogen fuel infrastructure is a distant fantasy. One problem is that producing hydrogen requires a large amount of energy. In Canada, there are opportunities to dam more rivers and produce electricity with falling water, a non polluting, renewable energy resource. A more problematic energy source for hydrogen production would be be nuclear reactors that "burn" uranium or plutonium, but new technologies for recycling spent fuel are required. A science fiction fantasy might include a novel way of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen with less energy consumed but no-one knows how to do this in 2009.
Truth is Beauty and Beauty is Truth.
That is all you need to know.
Driving a car is the most air polluting act an average citizen commits. Air pollution is not a good idea for a variety of reasons, large and small. The right ideas for remediation of environmental degradations involve unselfish and compassionate behavior, a scarce commodity. The right ideas involve long-term planning, conservation and a deep commitment to preserving the natural world. Without a healthy natural environment, there will be few or no healthy humans.
Developments in the media made "green" the slogan for action to limit the adverse effects of air pollution. The media often suggested that this is a relatively new consensus that there is an environmental crisis. They excused people who have ignored the effect of greenhouse gases on climates global warming over the past 40 years. Some know what is really going on out there, but most people do not know or know but deny the obvious for selfish reasons. Green refers to the color of chlorophyll in plants. Human action destroys plants and replaces healthy ecosystems with concrete and asphalt. Another slogan that emerged was "save planet earth." Humans will not save the planet. The task for humans is to stop destroying the environments that sustain us. If we fail, the planet will do just fine without us.
The deepest problem for humans is that we cannot predict the future with any accuracy. Even the best informed scientist with the most recent data cannot know what is going to happen next. When we talk about prudence, we refer to methods of minimizing risk and preparing to deal with events beyond our control which can injure or kill us. Preparation for natural catastrophes, accidents and illness consumes a large chunk of our resources. Smart humans notice adverse changes and take action to minimize adverse consequences. But not all human are smart or prudent.
The year 2008 will be remembered as the collapse of capitalist economies. Among the corporations in trouble in the US and Canada were General Motors and Chrysler. All the US/Canada car and truck manufacturers had promoted their larger vehicles on customers by exploiting the innate human tendency to seek domination over others. Bigger is better.
In 2009 the GM and Chrysler refurbished their operations and offered smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles for sale. Ford appears to be unscathed by the recession. The only certainty is that the future should look very different from the past. The focus is on car manufacturers, but the people who buy and drive cars are really responsible for creating a better future for themselves and their children. The challenge for vehicle users is not to replace existing vehicles with more fuel efficient versions, but to reduce use and participate in a new vision of car-free living environments. They must end the madness of traffic, gridlock, superhighways and lethal accidents.
Cars have two opposite personalities. One is friendly and attractive the other is destructive and can be lethal. The desire to own a car is linked to pleasure, sexuality, convenience and freedom. Men lust for big, prestigious cars they way they lust for women and women desire men with big, prestigious cars. Men are also interested in power, performance and want to know something about the engine, although modern engines are sufficiently complex to discourage even the professional mechanic. Some of the engine complexity involves emission control systems that require electronic monitoring and adjustment of engine performance under different operating conditions. Several devices are added to the engine to handle air flow in, fuel delivery and exhaust out. Computers have been added to monitor and control engine performance. The design of new hybrid vehicles involves even more complexity with electronic sensors feeding data to computers that manage the drive train. The cost of repairs will increase as will the demand for new sophistication from mechanics. The most advanced designs use only black box modules that cannot be repaired at the local garage but can be replaced with rebuild modules. This might be a wonderful solution, but only if you can afford it.
Extravagant Car Use
The decision to drive cars long distances to work was common among people in North America and Europe in the past 60 years. Cities grew larger. The development of suburbs often placed homes far from work places; massive road construction encouraged extravagant car use. In retrospect, it is clear that commuters made a mistake and they should stop commuting. Their mistake had health and economic consequences for them personally and for every other inhabitant of planet earth.
Emissions from passenger vehicles increased in Canada and the US despite attempts to make engines more fuel efficient and despite the addition of antipollution devices. The two main reasons were: 1. vehicle use increased 2. in the US and Canada, cars were getting bigger; pick-up trucks, vans and sports vehicles often replaced smaller, lighter passenger cars. An average new vehicle in 2003 consumed more fuel that its counterpart in 1988. In the USA in 1987 cars averaged 25.9 miles to the gallon. Fuel efficiency dropped to 24.6 miles/gallon by 1998 and it dropped further as larger vehicles replace smaller ones.
Despite scientific evidence of climate change, governments in many affluent countries have avoided their responsibility to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The USA is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases worldwide. US emissions increased to 7 billion tones of CO2 in 2004, 16% higher than emissions in the late 90's. The UK did better reducing their emissions to about 0.6 billion tons, 14% below 1990 levels. An accurate analysis of total greenhouse gas emission is difficult or impossible to achieve since there many variable and unknowns. Take the US estimates, for example, and pursue the argument that the US is also responsible for some emissions from other countries, which provide raw materials and manufacturing for the US economy. Romm argues: "U.S. businesses have offshored more and more of the U.S. economy’s and CO2 emissions to parts of the world where the carbon intensity is higher but labor is cheaper. The U.S. has essentially offshored its emission problem to the rest of the world, turning their economies into dumping grounds for our own air pollution. "
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that originates form multiple sources, most of which are not measured. Nitrogen gases are also important, but are usually ignored in favour of CO2 estimates. Catalytic converters added to gas-burning engines reduce CO2 emissions but increase nitrogen dioxide emissions.
Car exhaust is toxic at ground level
Exhaust from all combustion engines combine to produce local adverse effects on the health of car users and all innocent bystanders. Cities have become islands of toxic chemicals from the unrestrained use of vehicles burning fossil fuels. Cars are noisy, ugly, often dangerous and dominate the experience of modern living. We are now used to the carnage on roads and highways- attempts to reduce death and disability from our motorized containers have not substantially altered the negative impact on society. The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.
See Exhaust Chemicals.
Advertising and Delusions
Television Ads for sports and recreation vehicles show solitary, impeccable machines in wilderness locations. One TV ad shows a couple making a mad dash to escape the city core in their expensive, luxury upholstered clone of the land-rover. The ads are selling a fantasy of wilderness, fresh air and escape. Is the consumer is completely deluded? These vehicles are mostly found in suburban driveways and in the traffic jams of polluted cities. They have nowhere to go to escape the environmental degradation they help to create. 4x4 drives and large tires are rarely useful in cities and are not suited to highway driving. You see these machines, submerged in suburban driveways by the floods they helped to create.
Pollution and Climate Change
Combustion engines contribute to greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere and are responsible for climate changes. A sane, sober revision of vehicle use is long overdue. While ethanol has been championed as an alternative to petroleum fuels, it mainly helps to reduce dependency on oil producing countries. Ethanol can be blended with gasoline to reduce petroleum dependency. Gasoline engines can use up to 10% ethanol without modification. New engines can be designed to use higher percentages of ethanol.
There are problems however in the bigger picture of carbon consumption and emission. When ethanol is made from corn, some its energy value ( up to 70% in the least efficient plants) must be spent on its production. While innovations in production technologies continue, there will be an ongoing requirement to invent new methods of production. Investment in new technologies will require government policy changes, subsidies and research grants. Burning ethanol still produces carbon dioxide. Climate change with extreme weather events may reduce corn production in the US, where for decades corn surpluses were common. The new competition between ethanol plants and food production suddenly in 2008 became an international issue. If you are an optimist, you might argue that improved technologies will save the day --- corn yields per acre have been increasing mostly because of genetic engineering so that food and ethanol production need not compete in the future. The ethanol industry uses only the carbohydrate fraction of the corn; the protein and oil fractions are used as animal feed to be consumed by humans as dairy products, eggs and meat. If you are a pessimist you might point to the recurrent droughts in recent years in the US corn producing regions and predict more crop failures in years to come.
Understanding Complex Ecosystems.
Our ability to monitor and understand the atmosphere has taken a quantum leap in recent years. We have gone beyond naïve linear models and now appreciate that if complex systems such as the atmosphere, the oceans, and land ecosystems change, they may become unstable and more unfriendly. Extra heat will cause more turbulence, and weather patterns will change in unpredictable ways. We have to understand that actions such as driving cars whenever and wherever we please can change the atmosphere and lead to more catastrophes. Smart humans notice adverse changes and take action to minimize adverse consequences. But not all human are smart or prudent.
What Can I do? Drive Less
Both local and global pollution would be reduced if each car-driving person pledged to use their car 30% less starting immediately. This is a responsible, individual contribution to a global problem. At least 30% of vehicle is is optional - either recreational or lazy driving when walking, cycling or public transit would be a better choice.
Cities can reduce vehicular traffic by more than 30% over the next 3 to 5 years by improving public transportation. Commuter trains are a model of urban access for suburban residents who drive their cars short distances, park in terminal lots and ride the train into town. Cities can create car free zones and develop park-like corridors that would allow movement through the city by walking, cycling and limited use of small, light electric vehicles in vehicle corridors specially designed to be safe and efficient.
The rising cost of crude oil in 2008 quickly altered driving habits and big auto companies closed plants that produced SUVs and pickup trucks. If you are interested in longer term human survival, then high cost oil is a real benefit. With or without high fuel prices, each person can drive less and resist the temptation to buy larger, heavier cars, vans, trucks and sports vehicles. If you really need a 4x4 to drive off-roads in wilderness settings, you need a rugged clunker that's already got scratches, dents and mud on the tires. Carry a shovel, axe, chain saw, and a come-along in the back. If you can afford it, add a heavy duty winch up front. Stay off city streets and highways. See Disease Effects, Car Exhaust
Solutions: Reduce Air Pollution by changing the design and use of motor vehicles
The use of cars must be re-defined. Car use has to be considered a privilege, not a right. The cost of environmental damage and reclamation has to be added to the cost of owning and operating a car. Vehicle use should no longer be subsidized.
Reduce number of Vehicles - Urban areas need to set vehicular quotas and issue permits to limit the number of vehicles to control regional traffic congestion and air pollution.
Small hybrid or 100% electric cars are desirable, but make their occupants specially vulnerable when they collide with much larger vehicles. A sane city would separate small, efficient passenger vehicles from buses and trucks.
Improve efficiency of vehicles - reverse the trend to larger vehicles; engineering solutions to emissions of combustion engines. Hybrid cars are a step in the right direction but in small numbers will not have a significant impact on air pollution.
Reduced vehicle use and traffic reform can be a bigger and more immediate remedy for urban air pollution. Improved efficiency of traffic is important. Examples are: dedicated bus lanes and priority for car-pools and vehicles with 3 or more passengers. Traffic can be scheduled to optimize road usage; e.g. commercial traffic at night; large companies can stagger working hours and decentralize administrative operations. Commuting long distances in cars to work needs to be phased out. Single passenger commuting to work should be strongly discouraged.
The most accessible measure of air pollution contribution is the amount of fossil fuel burned.
Recreational driving can be reduced immediately. Car owners need to pay for miles driven and fuel burned on an escalating scale. Each person can have a "free driving" allotment per year and pay increasing insurance and/or taxes on fuel consumption beyond this limit.
Governments can encourage the reduction of vehicular use by:
* Promoting Voluntary abstention
* Increase Public Transit - diversify options and limit access to existing roads.
* Separate commercial and private traffic to increase efficient use of roads
* Stop building car-oriented roads and highways
* Replace 30% of the existing roads designed for cars with park-like corridors
* In cities, build more walking paths, bicycle routes and roads for small electric vehicles
* Reduce commuting - link residence and business activities by rezoning and rebuilding cities.
* Reward car-pools and car-sharing plans
* Redefine road use by defining access privileges - no longer a right
* Road Tolls and increased gasoline and vehicle registration taxes
* Base car license fees on fuel consumption in the previous year. Use exponential fee rate increase for high fuel consumption individuals.
* Provide generous development grants and tax incentives for all non-polluting transportation alternatives.
Governments can use a combination of
* Voluntary and Reward Schemes
* Compulsory and Penalty Schemes
* Incentives for New Technology and Changes in Industrial Fuel Consumption
Long term solutions require that vehicles use less polluting energy sources such biofuels, propane, natural gas and hydrogen. I am sorry to say that the marketing of "green solutions" to global warming is becoming yet another scam. One problem is that producing alternate fuels and hybrid cars often requires CO2 emissions that offset or cancel the benefits of improve vehicular design. When ethanol is made from corn, up to 70% of its energy value is spent on its production. Burning ethanol still produces carbon dioxide. Other "biofuels" are promising but require a major shift in infrastructure priorities. See Biofuels
Electric Cars are on the road, under development and promise to become vehicles of choice for urban transportation. The new cars represent advances in technology that link computers, electric motors and batteries into systems that drive well, self-regulate, and require little maintenance. The main components are modules that are removed to be refurbished in specialized factories and recycled. The main limitation is battery technology. Batteries are heavy, wear out quickly with repeated recharging and require expensive, rather scarce materials such as lithium.
Even if all the technical problems of building reliable electric cars were solved, there remains a daunting list of infrastructure problems yet to be solved. While electric cars produce little air pollution, generating electricity continues to be a major source of air pollution. If an electric car is recharged with electricity produced by a fossil fuel burning generator, there may be no net benefit to the atmosphere.
A real solution for car technology would reduce air pollution beginning at source materials and would continue through the use cycle of the vehicle. While is it feasible to use fossil fuels in generation plants with all the latest techniques of emission control and C02 recycling, these plants are uncommon in 2009. Before more people plug in electric vehicles, a new infrastructure of non-polluting, affordable electricity production will have to be built.
In the immediate future reduced car use is the best solution. A gas-inefficient clunker driven twice a week for 20 km is a better choice than a new expensive hybrid car driven everyday for 100 Km. No solution is better than fewer vehicles and reduced vehicle use.
Hydrogen The ultimate cars burn hydrogen in fuel cells, but despite working prototypes, a hydrogen fuel infrastructure is a distant fantasy. One problem is that producing hydrogen requires a large amount of energy. In Canada, there are opportunities to dam more rivers and produce electricity with falling water, a non polluting, renewable energy resource. A more problematic energy source for hydrogen production would be be nuclear reactors that "burn" uranium or plutonium, but new technologies for recycling spent fuel are required. A science fiction fantasy might include a novel way of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen with less energy consumed but no-one knows how to do this in 2009.
Truth is Beauty and Beauty is Truth.
That is all you need to know.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Air Pollution Health Effects
August 12, 2007
Polluted air contains one, or more, hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant that creates a hazard to general health. It is usually measured in terms of "particulate matter", or, the number of particles of these potentially hazardous substances as a percentage of air. According to the National Resources Defense Council, some 64,000 people in the USA may be dying prematurely each year from cardiopulmonary causes linked to air pollution. This link was made when the National Resources Defense Council applied findings from a 1995 study by the American Cancer Society and the Harvard Medical School. Air pollution from coal-fired power plants accounts for about 30,000 premature deaths in the USA each year. It is estimated that in the most polluted cities, lives are shortened by an average of one to two years.
emissions%.jpg (68912 bytes)
Sources of some major pollutants
Click on image to enlarge
Particulate matter includes a wide range of pollutants — road dust, diesel soot, fly ash, wood smoke, nitrates in fertilizers, sulfate aerosols, lead, arsenic, etc. The principal source of such particle emission is the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline, and wood. Air pollution from coal burning in electric utilities is a dominant cause of smog, deadly soot, global warming, pollution in our National Parks, toxic contamination of fish and polluted estuaries.
What is "Unhealthy Air?"
The suggested Federal limit of an "average" of 50 micrograms of "particulate matter" per cubic foot of air (in a one year period) is considered poor air quality. There is evidence that the daily peak levels that contribute to the year average, can have significant impact on an individual’s health. The elderly and those with heart, lung, or asthma problems are most at risk. The exact impact of poor air quality on health is not thoroughly understood, but long term exposure to particulates may increase susceptibility to infections. Those with chronic lung diseases or heart disease may also have their conditions exacerbated. Monitoring the daily pollution forecasts may be useful for those with chronic conditions, so that outside exposure can be limited on bad days. See Health Effects of Air Pollution
.
These young boys, like everything else in Copsa Mica, Romania, are covered with coal dust — one of the many pollutants spread into the air and water by humans.
Burning coal releases particulates, lead, mercury, arsenic, radioactive elements, and other toxic elements into the air. The particles and gasses often drift thousands of miles. Pollution from coal has increased birth defects and contributed to many diseases by weakening immune systems.
Mercury poisoning can cause birth defects and other problems
Son With Birth Defects Due to Mercury Poisoning
mercury_minamata.jpg (95476 bytes)
Click on image to enlarge.
Birth defects, brain damage, weakening of immune systems and many other severe problems were traced to a factory that dumped mercury contaminated waste into the bay at Minamata, Japan. The mercury became reconcentrated as it worked its way through the food chain back to people.
Mercury is released in gaseous form when coal is burned. It falls to earth and enters the food chain. Most humans have already accumulated mercury in their bodies while breathing, drinking, and eating.
Lung Function Tied to Pollution Level
September 9, 2004
In the first long-term study of the effects of air pollution on children, researchers reported Wednesday that children and teenagers in Southern California communities with higher levels of air pollution were more likely to have diminished lung function.
In their study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, James Gauderman of the University of Southern California and his colleagues followed 1,759 children ages 10 to 18 in a dozen Southern California communities. The pollutants they considered came primarily from car exhaust, they said.
The investigators found that 7.9 percent of the 18-year-olds in the highest pollution areas had lung capacities that were less than 80 percent of what they should have been. Among those subjected to the least-polluted air, 1.6 percent had underperforming lungs.
The investigators added that the lung effects were similar to those that occur when children live in the home of a mother who smokes.
"This is some of the most convincing evidence that air pollution has chronic effects," Dr. Gauderman said. "We see the effects in all kids. And it's an unavoidable exposure. It's not like smoking, where you can advise people to stop."
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. C. Arden Pope III noted that the air quality in Southern California and elsewhere had improved considerably since the 1990's, when the study was done. There will be debate, Dr. Pope said, over the costs and benefits of making additional improvements, but "continued efforts to improve our air quality are likely to provide additional health benefits."
What can We do to reduce exposure?
The American Lung Association recommends three steps to protect yourself indoors:
1. Use a heat recovery ventilator or an energy recovery ventilator to quietly provide the fresh filtered air you need while quietly removing stale polluted air.
2. Seal leaks in the building shell to block entry of unfiltered outdoor air during the heating and air conditioning seasons. NOTE: Sealing leaks also blocks entry of dust and insects.
3. Use space and water heating systems that cannot put combustion gasses into the building interior.
Individuals can contribute to cleaner air by choosing cleaner sources of energy and using energy more efficiently. For instance, carpooling or taking public transportation, maintaining automobile emissions controls on one’s cars, walking or biking to work or school can make a difference. Limiting the use of fireplaces or wood and coal burning stoves, and seeking out more efficient heating and cooling systems can also contribute to cleaner air.
Additional Sources of Information:
* Health Effects of Air Pollution
* Air pollution causes healthy blood vessels to constrict — American Heart Association
* Links between air pollution, human health clarified
* Air Pollution May Trigger Heart Attacks
* Chemical Pollution Database
* E.P.A. Office of Air and Radiation
* NEPA Net
* Technology Transfer Network 2000 BBS
* Scott Evans' Air Quality Resources
* Clean Air Clearinghouse
* Directory of Air Quality Economic Incentive Programs
* California Air Resources Board
* Atmosphere, Climate and Environment Program
* Solstice
* American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy
* International Institute for Energy Conservation
* International Project for Sustainable Energy Paths
* Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies
* Policy.com Energy Page
* California Energy Commission
* California Public Utilities Commission
* Clean Air Act and Its Amendments.
* EcoNet
* The Earth Times
* Environmental News Network
* Society for Environmental Journalism's Links Page
* Environmental Web Directory
* Island Press' Eco-Compass
* Envirolink Network
* US League of Conservation Voters
* CA League of Conservation Voters.
* Environmental Advocates (NY)
* Environmental Links on the Web
* Your Next Car
Home Up
August 12, 2007
Polluted air contains one, or more, hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant that creates a hazard to general health. It is usually measured in terms of "particulate matter", or, the number of particles of these potentially hazardous substances as a percentage of air. According to the National Resources Defense Council, some 64,000 people in the USA may be dying prematurely each year from cardiopulmonary causes linked to air pollution. This link was made when the National Resources Defense Council applied findings from a 1995 study by the American Cancer Society and the Harvard Medical School. Air pollution from coal-fired power plants accounts for about 30,000 premature deaths in the USA each year. It is estimated that in the most polluted cities, lives are shortened by an average of one to two years.
emissions%.jpg (68912 bytes)
Sources of some major pollutants
Click on image to enlarge
Particulate matter includes a wide range of pollutants — road dust, diesel soot, fly ash, wood smoke, nitrates in fertilizers, sulfate aerosols, lead, arsenic, etc. The principal source of such particle emission is the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline, and wood. Air pollution from coal burning in electric utilities is a dominant cause of smog, deadly soot, global warming, pollution in our National Parks, toxic contamination of fish and polluted estuaries.
What is "Unhealthy Air?"
The suggested Federal limit of an "average" of 50 micrograms of "particulate matter" per cubic foot of air (in a one year period) is considered poor air quality. There is evidence that the daily peak levels that contribute to the year average, can have significant impact on an individual’s health. The elderly and those with heart, lung, or asthma problems are most at risk. The exact impact of poor air quality on health is not thoroughly understood, but long term exposure to particulates may increase susceptibility to infections. Those with chronic lung diseases or heart disease may also have their conditions exacerbated. Monitoring the daily pollution forecasts may be useful for those with chronic conditions, so that outside exposure can be limited on bad days. See Health Effects of Air Pollution
.
These young boys, like everything else in Copsa Mica, Romania, are covered with coal dust — one of the many pollutants spread into the air and water by humans.
Burning coal releases particulates, lead, mercury, arsenic, radioactive elements, and other toxic elements into the air. The particles and gasses often drift thousands of miles. Pollution from coal has increased birth defects and contributed to many diseases by weakening immune systems.
Mercury poisoning can cause birth defects and other problems
Son With Birth Defects Due to Mercury Poisoning
mercury_minamata.jpg (95476 bytes)
Click on image to enlarge.
Birth defects, brain damage, weakening of immune systems and many other severe problems were traced to a factory that dumped mercury contaminated waste into the bay at Minamata, Japan. The mercury became reconcentrated as it worked its way through the food chain back to people.
Mercury is released in gaseous form when coal is burned. It falls to earth and enters the food chain. Most humans have already accumulated mercury in their bodies while breathing, drinking, and eating.
Lung Function Tied to Pollution Level
September 9, 2004
In the first long-term study of the effects of air pollution on children, researchers reported Wednesday that children and teenagers in Southern California communities with higher levels of air pollution were more likely to have diminished lung function.
In their study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, James Gauderman of the University of Southern California and his colleagues followed 1,759 children ages 10 to 18 in a dozen Southern California communities. The pollutants they considered came primarily from car exhaust, they said.
The investigators found that 7.9 percent of the 18-year-olds in the highest pollution areas had lung capacities that were less than 80 percent of what they should have been. Among those subjected to the least-polluted air, 1.6 percent had underperforming lungs.
The investigators added that the lung effects were similar to those that occur when children live in the home of a mother who smokes.
"This is some of the most convincing evidence that air pollution has chronic effects," Dr. Gauderman said. "We see the effects in all kids. And it's an unavoidable exposure. It's not like smoking, where you can advise people to stop."
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. C. Arden Pope III noted that the air quality in Southern California and elsewhere had improved considerably since the 1990's, when the study was done. There will be debate, Dr. Pope said, over the costs and benefits of making additional improvements, but "continued efforts to improve our air quality are likely to provide additional health benefits."
What can We do to reduce exposure?
The American Lung Association recommends three steps to protect yourself indoors:
1. Use a heat recovery ventilator or an energy recovery ventilator to quietly provide the fresh filtered air you need while quietly removing stale polluted air.
2. Seal leaks in the building shell to block entry of unfiltered outdoor air during the heating and air conditioning seasons. NOTE: Sealing leaks also blocks entry of dust and insects.
3. Use space and water heating systems that cannot put combustion gasses into the building interior.
Individuals can contribute to cleaner air by choosing cleaner sources of energy and using energy more efficiently. For instance, carpooling or taking public transportation, maintaining automobile emissions controls on one’s cars, walking or biking to work or school can make a difference. Limiting the use of fireplaces or wood and coal burning stoves, and seeking out more efficient heating and cooling systems can also contribute to cleaner air.
Additional Sources of Information:
* Health Effects of Air Pollution
* Air pollution causes healthy blood vessels to constrict — American Heart Association
* Links between air pollution, human health clarified
* Air Pollution May Trigger Heart Attacks
* Chemical Pollution Database
* E.P.A. Office of Air and Radiation
* NEPA Net
* Technology Transfer Network 2000 BBS
* Scott Evans' Air Quality Resources
* Clean Air Clearinghouse
* Directory of Air Quality Economic Incentive Programs
* California Air Resources Board
* Atmosphere, Climate and Environment Program
* Solstice
* American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy
* International Institute for Energy Conservation
* International Project for Sustainable Energy Paths
* Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies
* Policy.com Energy Page
* California Energy Commission
* California Public Utilities Commission
* Clean Air Act and Its Amendments.
* EcoNet
* The Earth Times
* Environmental News Network
* Society for Environmental Journalism's Links Page
* Environmental Web Directory
* Island Press' Eco-Compass
* Envirolink Network
* US League of Conservation Voters
* CA League of Conservation Voters.
* Environmental Advocates (NY)
* Environmental Links on the Web
* Your Next Car
Home Up
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