Automobiles and Pollution

In years past, levels of air, noise, and sight pollution were much lower than they are today. There are
more cars on the road today, and because of this we experience higher levels of pollution than before.
The automobile is probably the leading contributor pollution in our cities. They release toxic emissions into
our atmosphere. Automobiles are linked particularly to carbon monoxide pollution. They are noisy
(especially if you are living near the highway), and they take up valuable space in the form of vast parking
lots that are unpleasing to the eye. Why are there more automobiles on the road today than there was in
the past? Understanding the answer to this question is important when trying to propose an effective
solution to the increasing levels of pollution that we are experiencing. Our current levels of high pollution
are the result of an increased number of vehicles on the road. Water Pollution

Water pollution is increasingly becoming a large problem that we as humans need to confront. Water is
our most valuable resource. Just think of how much we humans are dependent upon clean water. Water is
way more valuable than gold, what can you go a day, week, year with out, gold or water? Besides the fact
that we drink the water, we use it for irrigation of farm fields, cooking, washing clothes, flushing toilets, etc.
and every industrial process requires water to function. Everyone knows that the Earth's surface is
covered by 70% water, so why fuss of protecting water? Only 3% of all water is fresh and drinkable and of
that 3%, 75% is frozen, which leaves a grand total of only 1% of the Earth's surface water that is readily
available for consumption. After taking that fact into account, one can see why the conservation and
protection of our remaining water supply is so vital. Before water pollution can be stopped, the sources of
the pollution must be known.

The major sources of water pollution are organic pollution, agricultural pollution, runoff, toxic waste, and
thermal pollution. Organic pollution is becoming more and more pressing on the environment, because of
the growing population of the world. It's a simple concept, the more people there are in one area, the
more waste they will produce. For example, in a city there are so many people that the sewage plants and
the environment can't take care of all of the waste and function in its usual manner. The sewage plants do
their best, but the secondary discharge that gets into the water supply causes great problems. The excess
waste acts as a fertilizer or food source for algae and the growth rate is uncontrollable. Everyone has
been in a lake where there is a lot of dead algae on the shore and the water is clouded with algae. This
situation is known as eutrophication, where algae growth is out of control and the water becomes oxygen
depleted. There are natural cycles of eutrophication in the spring and fall, but the body of water can deal
with those amounts. When excess waste is added to the water the body of water can no longer control the

growth of the algae and the water soon becomes algae ridden and oxygen depleted. The water becomes
oxygen depleted, because the dead algae goes to the bottom and uses the oxygen in the deeper water to
decompose, but if there is too much dead algae all the oxygen is depleted. Oxygen from the surface
doesn't reach the bottom, because the warmer water is less dense than the deeper cooler water, therefor
the warmer water floats on the colder water and they never mix, much like oil and water. Soon the dead
algae piles upon itself and makes the lake shallower, until it totally fills in and dries up.

Eutrophication effects all bodies of water, great and small. In the summer of 1971 at the Chicago South
Water Filtration Plant on the coast of Lake Michigan, the filters were clogged with so much algae it had to
be removed by hand. In the winter the turbidity(sediment in the water) was so high that the water wasn't
drinkable. In a third case, the water smelled and tasted like dead fish and huge amounts of chlorine had to
be added to make the water drinkable. If eutrophication can happen in lakes like Lake Michigan and Lake
Erie, than no lake is safe. When eutrophication become extreme the water isn't usable any more. To stop
the eutrophication of our lakes we need to devise a better system to treat sewage so it can be reused or
released back into the environment without a catastrophic reaction. Currently there are some new
systems that take raw sewage and convert it into usable water through biological means. The plant takes
the water and feeds it to various plants. The nutrients are taken from the waste and used to grow plants.
The excess water becomes clean after a four day operation. This idea is like controlled eutrophication
where the plants are feed the excess nutrients to get plant growth instead of algae growth. This has only
be attempted on a small scale. In the future if this could be done on a large scale the plants that are feed
the waste to clean the water could be used as a food source. This idea isn't very new, infact, it is millions
of years old. Basically the new sewage plant is an artificial wetland.

A wetland as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, "a lowland area, such as a marsh or swamp,
that is saturated with moisture, especially when thought of as the natural habitat for wildlife." Wetlands
perform a very important function in nature. First off they provide habitat for a high percentage of
endangered and threatened species of plants and animals. The survival of the species depends upon the
survival of the wetland. When wetlands are reduced the population of water foul, fish, and animals
reduces drastically. Not only are they just a home for the animals, they serve as a purification system.
Water moves slowly through the wetland and the soil and the plants pick up the nutrients and
contaminants and clean the water. They serve as a large filter, dirty water passes into the wetland and
clean water is the final result. Wetlands also serve as water retention and flood prevention areas. If there
were no wetlands all the water that is in the wetlands and the rain and snow would flood into our cities and
neighborhoods. All the excess water is held in the wetlands were it is purified and slowly dispersed.
Wetland act as an erosion control along coastlines and prevent wind erosion. They also safeguard that

the soil will keep its nutrients. Wetlands are economically important also. Over 95% of the fish and
shellfish that the US commercial industry harvest are dependent on the wetlands. Sport fishermen spend
large amounts of money on fishing equipment and licensees. Valuable timber is harvested from the many
forested wetland. Fur bearing mammals and alligators are harvested in wetlands. The vegetation of the
wetlands can also be harvested. The US hasn't taken advantage of this option yet, but other countries
such as China do. As one can see there are countless reasons for the preservation of wetlands. Wetlands
need to be protected and preserved for the future. Another type of water pollution is one most people
don't really think about, runoff.

Rainfall, snowmelt and irrigation cleanse the surface of the Earth. Any pollutants that are on the ground
will eventually come in contact with water. So what? The water is just cleaning the streets and everything
it comes in contact with, right? Wrong, the water picks up everything that is in it's path. This can range
from pieces of food to motor oil to fertilizer or any pollutants that might lie on the millions of roads and
expressways of the US. Now the polluted water makes its down fall into the ground water, which intern
ends up in nearby streams, rivers, and lakes. This means that any pollutant left on the ground will
eventually end up as contamination of the water supply. We need this water to drink and we use the rivers
and lakes as recreation. Water runoff presents a major problem.

Polluted water runoff is hard to calculate, but some attribute as high as 80% to runoff. Most people think
that only the big companies are to blame for the poor quality of water, but that isn't so. The large
companies are regulated by the Clean Water Act. There is no way to control the amount of pollution that is
taken by water runoff. Police can not find everyone that has spread their old motor oil on their driveway to
keep the dust down or keep track of how often people fertilize their lawn. This is much more difficult to
detect and prevent. This comes down to each persons own values and environmental values. Each
individual is responsable for their actions and there is no way to police that. The average person doesn't
cause any large quantities of water pollution, it comes from an unlikely source.

Larger sources of runoff pollutants come from farms and pastures. On the farms all the excess fertilizer
gets into the streams and ends up in the lakes. When the fertilizer reaches the lake or stream, it cause
eutrophication to occur. This means that less fish can survive and the water will go from clear to cloudy.
No one wants to swim in water that you can't see your feet in. Another problem farms present is the loss
of soil and sediment in rivers. The precious soil is stolen by erosion and carried off in the rivers. The lose
of the soil is bad enough, but the horrible part is that along with the soil goes all of the fertilizer, pesticides

and herbicide used on the fields. In other words, any chemical put on the crops to prevent animals or bugs
from eating them ends up in the water we drink. In the 1960's and 1970's the pesticide DDT was heavily
used. This chemical was applied on the farms and runoff took it to the lakes. The plants absorbed the
DDT and then the herbivores ate the plants. The carnivores ate the herbivores and the second
carnivore(Humans or birds) eat them. As the DDT moves up the food chain it intensifies and the
concentration is very dense by the time it reaches the carnivores. What goes on the farm ends up in our
food, one way or the other.

On ranches the problem becomes the excess of excretion from the cattle.(25,000 cattle produce 300,000
gallons of waste a day) All of this urine and manure goes straight to the ground water and right back to the
rivers and lakes. At least the human waste is sent to a sewage system, which does some good. This
cattle waste is being sent straight to the water supply, untreated. In Oregon, Tallamook Bay is closed to
oyster growing at certin times of the year, because of the high levels of contamination from the cattle.
Where do we draw the line?

Polluted runoff is hard to control. Currently there are efforts being taken to stop polluted runoff from
entering the water supply, but they are all on a voluntary basis. Most people will help, but what of the
others? Legislation needs to be made to enforce what some will not do. Runoff water pollution is serious
and it effects everyone. Thermal pollution is simmilar to runoff in the fact that no one ever gives it any
thought.

Thermal pollution occurs when the water is heated up by power plants. Fossil fuel power plants, Neucular
power plants and hydrolic dams heat the water. The industrial process requires large quanities of cooling
water and water runnign through danm turbines is heated. After the water is heated, it is then discharged
into lakes and rivers. Certin types of fish, animals, and plankton die if the water temperature is raised to
much. Fish can't spwan when the water temperature is to high. If temperatures are hot enough the life in
the water becomes minimal. Also, when the water is warmed, it promotes the growth of algae. With high
concentratiuons of algae, the problem of eutrophication is introduced again. Neucular power plants cause
thermal pollution, but they also cause radioactive waste. Little is known about radioactive waste, but it is
know that small amounts of this material can destroy life in large quanities of water. There is one last
source of pollution, toxic waste.

Toxic waste comes form a great variety of industrial plants. In mining opperations and many industrial
processes heavy metals such as lead, copper, cadium, iron and others are released into the water. These
heavy metals accumulate in fish and make them harmful to anything that eats them and to the fish itself.
In pulp-mill paper production, a combination of organic waste and toxic waste combind to cause horriable
effects. As mentioned before, DDT is a toxic waste that ravashises any environment it comes in contact
with. PCB's are anothe rtoxic waste that are byproducts of many industrial processes. PCB's work in the
same way as DDT by concentrating as it moves up the food chain until it is highly toxic by the time it
reaches Humans and other animals high on the food chain.

Water is a necessity of life and it needs to be conserved and protected. >From all of the above pollutants,
our water supply is in peril. If we value life as we know it, we need to change our way of life and look at
water in a different way. Air Pollution

Air Pollution is not a new topic. It is a problem that we have noticed since the industrial revolution, when
trees, houses and cars were covered in soot from the factories. People demanded change then, just as
they are demanding it now. With all the talk of acid rain, global warming and ozone depletion it seems
hopeless, but it isn't. Everyone can make a difference. After reading this you will understand the causes,
effects and possible solutions to the problems of acid rain, global warming and ozone depletion. You will
also see that things are bad but not hopeless.

Acid Rain is the term given to any precipitation that is above normal acidity, this includes snow and fog.
The acidity or causticity of a solution is measured in pH. A neutral pH is 7, acidic is lower then 7 and a
base is greater than 7. The normal pH of rainwater is 5.5 (slightly acidic). In Scotland on April 20, 1974
the rain measured 2.4 and in West Virginia in 1978 the rain had a pH of 2.0! This was in the 70's and air
pollution since then hasn't gotten any better. This very highly acidic rain kills plants and animals and
destroys buildings.

Acid rain occurs when the moisture in the air mixes with Carbon, Nitrogen, and Sulphur gases. These
gases are released into the air by the burning of fossil fuels (natural gas, coal and oil). The primary source
of the gases comes from electric companies that burn coal.

Damage caused by acid rain is tremendous. The acid in the rain bonds with the minerals in the soil, tying
them up so that plants can not use them. The plant becomes mineral deficient and weak. The rain also
kills the plant's leaves, further weakening it and making the plant more susceptible to fungus and other
diseases. This is a major agricultural problem.
The rain effects lakes, rivers and the animals living within them. The plants in the lakes and rivers are
killed in the same way as land plants. The fish and other animals are left with no food. The animals that
do survive are killed from the metals being drawn into the water from the soil, when the acid bonds to
them.

Many architectural structures are destroyed from the acid rain. Most of the cement used to make our
buildings. are made from lime which is very reactive with acid. You can see the effects of this weathering if
you look at old gravestones or statues. The words etched in some of the gravestones can barely be read
anymore because they are so worn away. Weathering is a natural process. Rain is normally slightly acidic
but because of air pollution and the higher acidity of the rain, the process is sped up greatly.

Industry is looking for solutions to the air pollution problem. The best solution would be to stop burning
fossil fuels all together but at this time we have no other alternatives. Scientists are trying ways to cut
down on pollution. One way is to wash the coal before they burn it. Washing it takes off most of the
sulphur but not all of it. The rest would have to be removed chemically but this process is still being
researched. The problem with this is what to do with all the excess sulphur. Another solution is to clean
the smoke before it is released into the air. Many filters have been installed in smoke stacks but again this
solution is not 100% effective.

Another major environmental problem caused by air pollution is global warming or the "greenhouse
effect". The greenhouse effect is caused by solar energy being trapped by CO2, Methane, Ozone (O3),
Nitrous gas, and Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that are in the air. The solar energy comes into the
atmosphere as light, it hits the Earth, looses some of its energy and becomes heat. Because the heat
does not have as much energy it can not penetrate back through the blanket of gases. The Earth has a
natural greenhouse effect caused by the CO2 in the atmosphere. If we didn't have this natural greenhouse

effect, the Earth would be too cold to live on. We have increased this effect through the release of all the
gases I have mentioned above.

CO2 is released into the air from factories and from the exhausts of cars. Some of this CO2 in the
atmosphere is used when the plants make their food but with many of our forests being cut down it makes
our problems worse. CFCs are released into the air from aerosol cans. They are also used in air
conditioners and refrigerators and leak from these places. Ozone is created when the sunlight strikes
nitrogen oxide from car exhaust and the oxygen from it bonds with oxygen gas. Ozone is a very toxic gas
and is good at filtering out UV light in the stratosphere but is bad for us when it is in the lower atmosphere.

Some people may wonder why global warming is bad. Who wouldn't want summer year around? The
reason it is bad is because it wouldn't stop at a comfortable warm all year around. The winters would be
warm and the summers would be unbearably hot! Some scientists believe that if the trend continues and
becomes worse, we will have to abandon the southern areas and keep moving north to escape the heat.
Many places will become dry arid dessert. This great warming also brings up the idea of what will happen
to all the ice at the poles? With the temperature rising, the ice will melt and sea levels will rise significantly.
Most of our costal land is only a few feet above sea level. A rise would flood all of it including most of the
state of Florida!

The average yearly temperature has been going up by .5 degrees Celsius. This is much lower than what
scientists have predicted and some say that this proves there is no such thing as global warming. The
reason for this is that the air pollution surrounding the earth is having two effects. One is the warming and
the trapping of the heat in the atmosphere and the other is keeping the heat out. Most of the sunlight is
getting in and once it is in it stays in but the pollution is also acting like a shield and deflecting some of the
light so it never enters the atmosphere. The prevailing trend, although, will be a warming because not
enough light will be deflected.

We can slow down the greenhouse and maybe even stop it by slowing down and stopping the release of
the greenhouse gases. One of the ways this is being done is by putting the catalytic converter on cars.
The device goes on the exhaust pipe of the car and reduces the amount of CO2 that is released into the

atmosphere. Another way is to control the use of CFCs. Aerosol cans are supposed to be banned by the
year 2000 and they are working on new coolants for refrigerators and air conditioners. We can also slow
down the rate of deforestation and plant more trees.

The last major environmental problem caused by air pollution is ozone depletion. As mentioned before
ozone is three oxygen molecules (O3). It is concentrated in the stratosphere about 20-25 km above the
earth's surface. Ozone is what protects us from shriveling up under the sun's powerful rays. It blocks out
the harmful ultraviolet (UV) light which causes skin cancer. Two major holes have been discovered in the
ozone layer: a large one above the south pole and a smaller one above the north pole. These two areas
have absolutely no protection from UV light.

CFCs, as mentioned before, are commonly used in aerosol cans, air conditioners, and refrigerators. They
do not break down in the lower atmosphere and are carried up into the stratosphere. Ozone is a very
unstable molecule and reacts readily with the Chlorine in the CFC compound. When a CFC compound is
hit by ultraviolet radiation it frees one of the chlorine atoms. The chlorine reacts with one of the oxygen
atoms in an ozone compound forming a chlorine monoxide and oxygen gas (O2). A second reaction then
releases the chlorine again so it can react with another ozone molecule. The two poles are where these
gases collect because of wind currents and this is why the two holes in the ozone are located there.
Another pollutant that is destroying the ozone is Nitrous gas. It is released from jet engine's exhaust. The
high flying jets put the pollutants right where they need to be to cause the destruction.

Some of the solutions to help slow the depletion is to use hydro- fluorocarbons (HFCs) instead of CFCs,
cutting down on the use of CFCs, and using alternative jet fuel which doesn't release Nitrous gas. Ozone
is constantly being created. The reason we have a problem is that it is being destroyed at a much faster
rate then it is replenishing itself. All we need to do is slow down the emission of these gases. This will give
the ozone time to repair itself. Then we need to keep the emissions low so that this problem will not
reoccur.

These problems may seem serious and they are but for right now they are not irreversible. We can do
some everyday things that will help the environment. Make sure that you only have lights on in the room
you are in. If you turn lights off as you leave a room and don't leave every light in the house on, less

electricity has to be produced at Detroit Edison, that means less coal will be burned and less CO2 and the
other gases will be produced and released into the air. Another easy way to help is to plant a tree in your
yard or to get involved in a tree planting program. Buy pump bottles instead of aerosol cans or you can
car pool to school or work. There is no reason why you should have to drive alone when you know about
10 people who are going to the same place you are every single day. Drive slower, this may seem like an
odd one but the faster you go the faster your engine works, the more fuel it uses and the more gases that
are being put into the air. Just by driving the speed limit or five under you can help to save the
environment.