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Effects of pollution on human health essay
Effects of pollution on human health essay
Effects of pollution on human health essay
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Pollution. Many people know what this term means in the aspect of how it negatively affects the lives of human beings. However, many people generally don’t care about this problem (Buchanan and Horwitz). Pollution is a serious problem that deserves to have immediate action done to prevent it. This issue has ruined the lives of many people, especially the elderly and young children (Bily 42, 43). Pollution is a deadly and lethal problem, but can be fixed by passing new laws, having people conserve resources, and have jobs that are made for pollution clean up.
As a whole, pollution affects people and the environment. Statistics from the EPA show that about 630,000 children in the US are born with a risk of brain damage due to elevated levels of mercury in the mothers (Bily 58). And, according to a study in Sweden, lymphoma occurs five-times more in people exposed to herbicides (Bily 73). This means that farmers are at the highest risk of lymphoma because of their constant exposure to herbicides. An unfortunate fact about the US is that 45 states have issued warnings of fish having mercury poisoning (Bily 124). Another issue that has negative impact on society is acid rain. When rain and nitric acid mix together to form acid rain, it can destroy trees, buildings, and statues (Tennesen).
One pollution problem our planet has is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This floating mass of 3 1/2 million tons of trash is about twice the size of the state of Texas. The main component of the Patch is plastic. Specifically, they are tiny pieces of plastic. A downside to having plastic garbage is that it will not biodegrade for hundreds of years. On average, the Patch kills about one million birds and 100,000 ocean animals every year. Furthermo...
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...Showers.” Scientific American 303.3 (2010): 23. MAS Ultra – School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 2 Mar. 2011.
The Economics of Pollution Control at the Local and Global Levels. 01 April 2006. University of Michigan. 18 February 2011. .
Tran, Tu-Uyen. “EERC’s technology turns waste into power and jobs: At UND, they can turn turkey poop and wood chips into hydrogen, garbage into gas and, now, old railroad ties coated with possibly carcinogenic coal tar into pollution-free electricity.” Grand Forks Herald (ND) 22 May 2009: Newspaper Source. EBSCO. Web. 25 Feb. 2011.
Winters, Sevastian. The Pros and Cons of the United States "Going Green". 03 August 2009. March 15, 2011. .
To give if the service user the choice they would like to have a wash/shower/bath and when they would to have one. Encourage them and be positive. Ask what products they would like to use and how they would like to wash, if they would prefer to wash themselves or if they would require some help. Explain how well they would feel after a wash and how it would make them feel better about themselves and perhaps more relaxed. You may suggest products they can use based on their own preferences.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is sometimes referred to as the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch and the Pacific Trash Vortex is a floating patch of garbage that has collected in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, which is located in the middle of two high-pressure areas between Hawaii and California. The majority of the garbage, which is also called marine debris, in the patch is plastic, but items made from other materials such as glass and rubber are also present. Though the garbage patch is too large and goes too deep under the surface of the ocean for scientists to determine exactly how much garbage is in it, they have collected up to 750,000 bits of plastic one square kilometer (CITE). This sort of debris floating around in the ocean is dangerous for several reasons. One important reason is that marine animals mistake some of the garbage, especially plastics, for food (CITE). Another reason that the floating debris is so dangerous is because it can block sunlight from reaching deeper levels of the ocean, and thus, it removes the energy source for many autotrophs like alga...
Recently, an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean was found to be polluted with 38 million pieces of plastic that had been carried over by currents (Wang, “No one lives on this remote Pacific island”). The island, dubbed ‘trash island’, is home to diverse animal populations that have all been devastated by the pollution. On the beach, hundreds of birds were seen dead by reporters and scientists. When analyzed, the primary cause of death turned out to be consumption of plastic. When animals ingest plastic, it clogs their stomach and poisons their body with toxic chemicals. These toxic chemicals cause an array of issues, such as reproductive and endocrine problems. Eventually, this leads to death (Knoblauch, “The environmental toll of plastics”). But due to the nature of plastics, it can take hundreds or even thousands of years to completely degrade, meaning that as plastic pollution continues to build up, more places like ‘trash island’ will be discovered. According to conservation scientist Alex Bond, “…[The island] is just an indicator of what’s floating around out there” (Wang, “No one lives on this remote Pacific
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest garbage dump in the world. According to estimates made by experts, the patch holds approximately three and a half million tons of garbage. Majority of this garbage is made of plastic. This waste is a threatening problem to the patch’s surrounding wildlife. Many animals are caught in the floating pieces of trash and it is the cause of the deaths of about one million birds and about one hundred thousand other sea animals. Due to the oceans nature and constant moving currents, the trash is also constantly moving. Therefore the size of the patch never stays the exact same. However, scientists believe it be approximately two times the size of Texas. The plastic is mostly broken down from larger materials into small pieces. The patch has been referred to as one scientist as a, “plastic soup”. This garbage poses such a threat mainly because it does not biodegrade. These plastics will be in the ocean essentially forever. Many plastics also contain chemicals, and absorb other chemicals and pollutants they become exposed to. These newly absorbed toxins are then leaked and distributed back into the ocean over time. The chemicals can directly enter the bodies of the animals which consume them. A study was being conducted by scientists of the fish that inhabit the area around the patch. What the researchers found inside the belly of one fish (that was no larger in size than that of a finger), was eighty four small fragments of plastic. It does not take scientists to recognize the impact of this problem, Zach Gold, who is sixteen, is from Santa Monica California. Zach enjoys s...
This pollution problem is so ubiquitous plastic can be found throughout the marine environment from coastlines to near shore lagoons to remote ocean hotspots where plastics caught up in marine currents. And gathered up into huge garbage patches that swirl
The ocean is an abundant source of life. It is home to thousand of different creatures, provides a great source of food, and provides the earth with about one half of the oxygen needed to sustain life. (National Geographic) Pollution especially plastic, is a catastrophic problem. Ironically plastic, which is a material designed to last forever is generally used for things we tend to throw away. Every year about one hundred to two hundred billion pounds of plastic are manufactured. Only 31% of that plastic is actually recycled. Biomass packaging estimates 10% of that plastic ends up in the ocean annually. About 20% of it coming from ships and other platforms, and the other 80% coming from land derived sources, such as international garbage dumping, winds or tides either way it finds its way to the ocean.(Biomass Packaging Co., et al)
The Web. The Web. 04 Feb. 2014 -. Chaszeyka, Michael A. & Co. The "Objections On Climate."
The world population is living, working, and vacationing along the coasts. They are contributing to an unprecedented tide of plastic waste. Pollution is defined as the process that alters a substance or molecule on planet earth, the pollution is caused by the physical contact of an organic decaying particle with a clean particle in the same spot, at the time the two particles join together is when occurs pollution in which the environment is greatly altered. Too many, plastic is a modern day miracle, versatile, inexpensive and durable (Rochman 2014). To others, it is a scourge, a non-degradable pollutant that threatens to choke the global environment. Plastic pollution has led to the deaths of many animals, natural resources, and people (Rochman 2014). It is time to change America’s thinking and to learn from past mistakes.
Evo Morales stated, “Sooner or later, we will have to recognize that the Earth has rights too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans” (Pollution Quotes, 2013). Hence, attention must be provided to this devastating issue. Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that causes adverse changes (Wieman, 2013). There are numerous types of pollution, such as light, air, land, water, noise, thermal and radioactive pollution. In an article, the author highlighted that according to Richard Buckminster Fuller, “Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting, we allow them to disperse because we’ve been ignorant of their value” (Farrell, 1971, p. 52). Pollution is created mostly by human actions, but can also be a result of natural disasters. Pollution can harm the environment of the world and its inhabitants in many ways. Pollution has a detrimental effect on any living organism in an environment, making it virtually impossible to sustain life (Enclyopedia - Pollution, 2008).
It is sad to say but humans have played their part in deteriorating the earth. We have polluted and killed the very thing that takes care of us. If you ride by any lake or river you find trash and debris around it. In the “The Call of the Wild” the author says that we have committed war against the earth by the dumping of poisons and explosives upon it (337). Unfortunately, plastics are the things that are doing the most harm to our environment. Plastics are convenient and we use them everyday and these are the things that we find in the oceans, rivers and lakes. They are harmful to the earth as well as human health by directly intoxicating us with lead, cadmium and mercury. Plastic debris laced with harmful chemicals are often found inside of our marine life and can poison them. Plastic can survive for thousands of years and many invasive species are found in them which can disrupt our habitats. We need to limit our consumption of plastics and make sure that they are disposed of in their proper places.
Research from the University of California San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography said that species in the ocean consume a projected 12,000 to 24,000 tons of plastic every year in the Pacific Ocean (Nall, 2014). Pollution of recyclable materials in the oceans is one of the leading causes of why some marine species are nearing extinction. Many authors of articles and books analyzing this topic tend to agree that pollution of our oceans is a problem. The future of this problem is where their ideas tend to differ. The following four literature reviews attempt to demonstrate and support my belief that pollution is getting worse in the ocean and more marine life ecosystems are being affected, but there are things that we as humans can do
Every other day a new industries are being set up, new vehicles on roads and trees are being cut to make way for new homes. All of them, indirect way lead to increase in CO2 leads to melting of polar ice caps which increase the sea level and pose danger for the people living near coastal areas. Pollution can have an impact in our health not only affects people with impaired respiratory system such as asthmatics, but very healthy adults and children too. Exposure to pollution for 6 to 7 hours, even at relatively low concentrations, reduces lung function and induces respiratory inflammation and, healthy people during periods of moderate
There are many different types of pollution such as air, water, and land. The pollution of our environment is due to garbage. Garbage is improperly disposed into rivers or other water bodies leading to water pollution. Some countries do not have the technology to treat large amounts of water before letting it back into the rivers and ocean. As a kid from a developing country, I noticed a lot of things when I was on the road with my friend visiting neighboring states in India. I found that piles of garbage were placed near the villages. These piles of garbage were producing a liquid that would flow down and infect the only water source of the villagers. When I came back and researched the topic, I found that garbage could also have other negative effects. Dumping the waste materials on the ground could lead to ground poisoning. Ground poisoning occurs when the ground is regularly in contact with poisonous materials, leading to the ground water being polluted and the land losing its fertility, causing great damage to the ecosystem. Loss of fertility in land can lead to drought. The methane gas produce by the decomposing piles of garbage causes air pollution. Apart from pollution, there is depletion of natural resources because raw materials are constantly being used to produce new products rather than being reused. Furthermore, global warming will become
Efforts to improve the standard of living for humans--through the control of nature and the development of new products--have also resulted in the pollution, or contamination, of the environment. Much of the world's air, water, and land is now partially poisoned by chemical wastes. Some places have become uninhabitable. This pollution exposes people all around the globe to new risks from disease. Many species of plants and animals have become endangered or are now extinct. As a result of these developments, governments have passed laws to limit or reverse the threat of environmental pollution.
07 Dec. 2011. . " Eco-Friendly State Laws and Green Mandates. " Black News, Opinion, Politics and Culture - The Root.