Running Head: POLLUTION 1

Pollution: Causes, Effects, and Solutions for Today and Tomorrow

High Point University

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Abstract

This paper utilizes information from academic journals and books in order to explore the harmful

effects of pollution on water sources and air quality; and how to terminate the causes of

pollution. These sources determine the origins of pollution and pollution‟s social and global

economic implications. In order for policies to be created and employed to protect the

environment, solutions are investigated by the sources. The main questions to be answered from

this research are what are the causes of pollution, how does pollution affect the global economy

and society as a whole, and what must be done to uncover and execute solutions.

Keywords: air pollution, water pollution, greenhouse gases, pollutants

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Pollution: Causes, Effects, and Solutions for Today and Tomorrow

Since people living in the twenty-first century have the likelihood of experiencing the

effects of harmful pollution, looking at the causes of this water and air pollution is definitely

vital in halting its devastating consequences. The causes of pollution have been heightened

within the past fifty years because the sources of pollution have become in higher demand by

humans (Foley, 2010). Consequently, the implications have widened to encompass social and

economic aspects worldwide. Due to the necessity to take action in order to protect humankind,

pollution has become a global issue with governmental policy being greatly affected. Therefore,

the immediate requirement to pursue a better environmental health for our planet has been seen

and is now being acted upon by society. Research demonstrates the need for change in the form

of policy making and individual solutions because of the witnessed and recorded effects of

pollution on both water sources and air quality.

With pollution defined as “dirt or waste that enters the air, soil, or water,” the Earth is

greatly distressed by these pollutants (Kobasa, 2009). While Earth is trying to maintain its

biosphere consisting of land, water, and air connections, Earth cannot compete with “human

activities” which are “disrupting the natural cycles of Earth” (Kobasa, 2009). Being heightened

to the point of forcing aspects of the biosphere to alter, pollution is currently to the point of

“threatening living things” (Kobasa, 2009). Before looking to the specific causes and effects of

the types of pollutions, the two must be defined. In the The Mcgraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia

of Environmental Science, air pollution is said to be “the presence in the atmospheric

environment of natural and artificial substances that affect human health or well-being, or the

well-being of any other specific organism” (Air Pollution, 2002). Water pollution is stated as “a

change in the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological quality of water that is injurious to

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its existing, intended, or potential uses” (Water Pollution, 2002). The implications of pollution

on the Earth began many years ago with the inconsiderate behaviors and careless attitude toward

the environment.

Throughout history, the population has expanded physically across our nation due to the

thought that “inexhaustible riches” were available and land was abundant on which to pollute

and not feel the repercussions (Foley, 2010). One of the main events that contributed to the

heightened pollution in Europe and the United States was the Industrial Revolution which began

in the 1780‟s and continued for the next one hundred years in the United States. Although the

Industrial Revolution made goods cheaper with mass production, “factories, the energy industry,

and transportation networks… gave off huge amounts of pollution” (Kobasa, 2009). Since the

population has “surged from about one billion in 1800 to nearly seven billion today,” people are

beginning to feel the effects of their previous misconceptions about the Earth‟s land and

environment (Foley, 2010). Consequently, the staggering population growth has led to the facts

that “global consumption of food and freshwater more than tripled” in the past fifty years and

“fossil-fuel use has risen fourfold” (Foley, 2010). According to the recently published article in

Scientific American, Foley concludes the expansion of society and man‟s inadequate concern for

the Earth to be resulting in a “‟full‟ world with limited resources and capacity to absorb waste”

and, therefore, negatively influencing our surrounding environment (Foley, 2010).

When considering air pollution, the two main contributors of transportation and power or

chemical plants must be considered. The use of automobiles has grown to the point that now

“there is one automobile for every seven people on the planet” which cause the usage of

petroleum to be increased (Kobasa, 2009). From research completed in Great Britain, pollution

from automobiles is linked to “trends of urbanization and increased prosperity—which drives the

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greater uptake of personal motorized transport” (Marszal, 2010). The source of the actual

pollutants is the burned petroleum from the means of transportation which releases carbon

monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides (Kobasa, 2009). Traveling by airplanes is another

means of transportation that in 2007 carried “six hundred seventy-seven million passengers on

commercial flights in the Unites States” alone which creates a great deal of exhaust (Kobasa,

2009). The exhaust from airplanes leaves the air with the same dangerous pollutants that

automobiles emit which include “carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates” (Kobasa,

2009).

Industrialization and population growth has contributed to some of the harmful causes of

air pollution. One of the main greenhouse gases found in the atmosphere is carbon dioxide

which has “increased by nearly forty percent over the last two hundred years” (Kobasa, 2009).

Even though carbon dioxide is supposed to trap “some of the sun‟s heat within the atmosphere,”

carbon dioxide is now trapping too much heat which is creating the greenhouse effect (Kobasa,

2009). Therefore, the earth may become too heated to “support many of the life forms that now

live on it” (Kobasa, 2009). Power plants utilize coal, “the most abundant fossil fuel,” to generate

electricity (Kobasa, 2009). Surprisingly, “about fifty percent of electricity is generated by coal-

burning power plants” in the United States which contributes to the release of an immense

amount of sulfur dioxide (Kobasa, 2009). Sulfur dioxide mixes with nitrous oxides in the damp

atmosphere to become acid rain which is usually associated with lung problems (Kobasa, 2009).

The emission of pollutants into the atmosphere can directly originate from chemical plants or

factories. With manufacturing being a key industry, chemicals are easily released into the air in

the creation of products which makes the emissions by-products of the processes (Kobasa, 2009).

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There are other causes of air pollution, but humans and ecosystems are greatly affected by means

of transportation and manufacturing plants.

When looking at research completed about the environmental and social implications of

air pollution, one can find numerous aspects such as the effects on ozone, human health, and

ecosystems. Especially in larger cities, ozone can be found as smog, but “bad” ozone is basically

an “air pollutant that damages human health, vegetation, and many common materials” (Miller,

2007). The “good” ozone, the guard for humans against the sun, is slowly being damaged by

“man-made chemicals” and is thinning which is leading to higher rates of “skin cancer, cataracts,

and impaired immune systems” (Miller, 2007). Through prolonged or short-term exposure to

ozone pollution, humans also acquire health issues such as lung problems, “chest pains,

coughing, nausea, throat irritation, and congestion” (Miller, 2007). Consequently, awareness on

indoor pollution especially in confined areas such as homes and workspaces has been heightened

because of the known effects of outdoor pollution on human health (Air Pollution, 2002). When

placing this apprehension in context, the World Health Organization has shown that “indoor

pollution is responsible for the deaths of 1.6 million people each year” (Kobasa, 2009).

Feeling the reverberations of air pollution, “poor air quality is now thought to cause

35,000 or more premature deaths in the UK each year” (Marszal, 2010). “An ever-increasing

medical understanding of air pollution‟s impact” is now occurring which makes such statistics

even more frightening and eye-opening (Marszal, 2010). A pesticide factory in Bhopal, India,

sustained a malfunction because of a lack of proper maintenance which ended devastatingly with

a poisonous chemical, methyl isocyanate or MIC, being released in an explosion. The toxic

cloud of MIC spread rapidly which led to people trampling each other to death and over twenty

thousand people dying from exposure. As with other chemical leaks, the leaking of MIC into the

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water supply of the population led to future birth defects and disabilities for exposed people

(Kobasa, 2009).

The effect of ozone on plant life is also evident because some crops such as soybeans do

not produce as fruitfully with too much sun. The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

states that “ground-level ozone… is responsible for five-hundred million dollars in reduced crop

production in the United States each year” (Miller, 2007). Other pollutants are also destructive

to vegetation such as hydrogen fluoride and nitrogen dioxide, which are devastating to citrus

trees, and sulfur dioxide, which halts the growth of alfalfa and pine trees (Air Pollution, 2002).

Acid rain, mainly formed from sulfur dioxide from coal-burning power plants, is another factor

which “kills forests, poisons animals in lakes and streams, and slowly dissolves stone in

buildings and statues” (Kobasa, 2009). Air pollution and water pollution are tightly integrated

because of air pollution in the clouds creating water pollution in the form of rain (Kobasa, 2009).

Water pollution can be categorized into two main divisions of point-source pollution

and non-point-source of diffuse pollution (Water Pollution, 2002). Point-source is considered

when “contaminants are discharged from a discrete location” which could be found in oil spills

(Water Pollution, 2002). Acid rain would be a prime example of non-point-source pollution

where “all of the other discharges that deliver contaminants to water bodies” create pollution

(Water Pollution, 2002). Chemicals from “factories, cleaning products, medicines, cosmetics,

and agriculture” spread rapidly because of the interconnectedness of bodies of water (Kobasa,

2009). An example of water pollution from chemicals is mercury which, as seen in the late

1950‟s and 1960‟s in Minamata, Japan, causes devastating effects on human health such as

“severe brain damage and paralysis” (Kobasa, 2009). Due to a chemical factory “dumping

mercury-tainted waste into Minamata Bay since 1932,” the Minamata populace had been

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consuming the local contaminated fish and, therefore, suffering the shocking effects (Kobasa,

2009). In considering the impact of these types of water pollution, scientists and researchers take

into account the interconnectedness of fresh and salt water bodies as well as the fact that

“seventy-one percent of Earth‟s surface is covered by ocean water” (Kobasa 2009).

The industry of agriculture also produces harmful chemicals which run off into water

sources in the forms of fertilizers, “pesticides to control insects, fungicides to control diseases,

and herbicides to kill weeds” (Kobasa, 2009). Another cause of water pollution is the POP‟s,

persistent organic pollutants, which is “a group of sixteen dangerous human-made organic

chemicals” such as those found in pesticides (Kobasa, 2009). The negative impact from POP‟s

stems from the fact that they “do not break down easily, spread quickly through water, and build

up in body tissues” (Kobasa, 2009). With tankers carrying nearly forty-two million gallons of

crude oil, a fortuitous occurrence may lead to a ruptured tanker where those millions of gallons

of oil can penetrate into the water with damaging effects. Especially in areas that do not have the

means by which to “remove toxins and kill germs in wastewater,” water pollution from sewage is

a crisis (Kobasa, 2009). Creating “increase nutrients in bodies of water to unsafe levels,” sewage

leads to devastating effects on human populations just as other types of water pollution do

(Kobasa, 2009).

The implications of contaminated water are felt in the lives of humans and aquatic

wildlife. Aquatic organisms are affected by water pollution with damages in reducing “the

growth, survival, reproductive output, and disease resistance” of these organisms (Water

Pollution, 2002). Through the food chain, water pollution is transferred from the smaller

organisms such as plantlike organisms and accumulates in the larger organisms such as fish

(Kobasa, 2009). When looking at POP‟s, a prime example would be PCB, polychlorinated

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byphenyl, which is seen to cause “birth defects, cancer, liver damage, and nerve disorders” in

humans (Kobasa, 2009). Even though the United States prohibited the use of PCB‟s in 1979,

PCB‟s remain to be found stored in the fat of Antarctic penguins which exemplifies the

resounding effects worldwide (Kobasa, 2009). When millions of gallons of oil spill into a water

source, “marine animals such as fish, shellfish, otters, and seals,” birds, and plant life suffer

calamitous consequences (Kobasa, 2009). Envisioning birds “suffocating, drowning, or dying of

toxic exposure” because of the oil spills demonstrates the thought-provoking message of the

reverberating effects of such water pollution (Kobasa, 2009). Since agricultural practices are not

being handled properly, the effects are seen especially from the usage of fertilizer bringing a

doubled amount of “the flows of nitrogen and phosphorus through the environment” (Foley,

2010). Without consideration of supporting the environment‟s health, agriculturalists carry out

practices which cause water pollution that is “degrading numerous lakes and rivers and

disrupting coastal oceans by creating large, hypoxic „dead zones‟” (Foley, 2010). Farming also

leads to the removal of animal wastes which are usually placed into a lagoon which is basically

storage for the wastes. Consequently, the wastes can escape the lagoons and navigate into other

water sources (Kobasa, 2009). This scenario surprisingly occurred in North Carolina in 1995

when “a hog waste lagoon… released twenty-five million gallons of manure into the New River”

(Kobasa, 2009). Over ten million fish were killed and three hundred sixty-four thousand acres of

coastal areas used for shellfishing were devastated to the point of being shut down (Kobasa,

2009). The negligence of society in taking care of the environment leads to years of correcting

the damage but some of which cannot be reversed.

When humans have “pollutants enter the body via skin exposure or through the direct

consumption of contaminated food or drinking water,” water pollution can be a major hazard

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(Water Pollution, 2002). Developing countries have the danger of the consumption of untreated

drinking water which could lead to a “waterborne disease such as cholera, a bacterial disease of

the intestines” (Kobasa, 2009). The World Health Organization, WHO, states that “more than

five million people die every year from contaminated water or water-related diseases” (Miller,

2007). Cholera comes with symptoms such as diarrhea and possible dehydration which could

lead to death if not treated properly. According to the WHO, toxic drinking water contributes to

“nearly two million” deaths “each year from cholera and related waterborne diseases” (Kobasa,

2009). Surprisingly, the world is greatly affected by improper sewage handling. For example,

the WHO “estimates that over one million liters of raw sewage are dumped into the Ganges

River in India every minute” (Kobasa, 2009). The United States took action on water pollution

with the Clean Water Act of 1972 because of an unexpected tragedy in 1969 in Cleveland, Ohio

(Kobasa, 2009). After decades of manufacturing factories placing harmful chemicals into the

Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, a spark from “a railroad train ignited an oily patch in the river”

(Kobasa, 2009). This spark immediately led to an explosion of flames which was “widely

reported and brought national attention to the problem of water pollution” (Kobasa, 2009). With

this realization of the harmful effects of dumping chemicals into water sources, the United States

government passed the Clean Water Act “which regulated the wastes that industries could

release into streams and rivers” (Kobasa, 2009). Regulations of water pollution were just

beginning here in the United States, but such legislation would affect economics worldwide.

The economic implications of pollution are seen worldwide, and therefore, the United

States and other countries are taking steps to protect the environment. With industry being a

major contributor to China‟s economic growth, factories are producing “over seventy percent of

the national total” of pollution in China (World Bank, 2000). Since the factories are generally

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situated in more populated areas, the World Bank has seen negative implications both

economically and socially. Governments are performing research in which pollutants are being

distributed by which particular industries, so movements are being made toward more effective

“environment policy making” which would include aspects of “contributions to environmental

change and differences in the costs of controlling them [the industries]” (World Bank, 2000).

The Clean Air Act of 1990 made Congress have authority over what companies are polluting

into the air and water (Miller, 2007). In terms of environmental protection legislation, the state

governments have moved forward more than the federal government. For example, after the

federal agencies neglected to generate the needed emission standards, California took the matter

into its own hands by passing “new emission rules on mobile sources” (Miller, 2007).

Taking on the challenge of greenhouse gas emissions, nations are trying the cap and trade

system to give “an economic motivation for countries to avoid producing carbon dioxide”

(Kobasa, 2009). When the world‟s economic leaders met in 1997, they decided on the Kyoto

Protocol which would “set limits for the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases

that countries could produce” (Kobasa, 2009). Through this Protocol, the carbon credit system

would be implemented where a carbon credit stood for freedom to “produce a certain amount of

greenhouse gas,” but countries could benefit economically by selling or trading their credits to

other countries (Kobasa, 2009). Therefore, countries are motivated to conserve energy with new

and innovative methods in order to have the opportunity to trade or sell their credits. This

concept has been implemented in numerous countries as well as smaller communities (Kobasa,

2009). Since the United States‟ Environmental Defense is striving for the goal of reducing

“greenhouse gas emission eighty percent by the year 2050,” the United States is searching for the

solution through national legislation (Gerder, 2009). Included in the legislation would be a

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similar cap and trade tactic towards fighting harmful greenhouse emissions which would more

specifically be “a strict cap on emissions, coupled with a flexible market-based trading system to

reduce emissions at lowest cost” (Gerder, 2009). With policies being enacted both in the United

States and worldwide, solutions are being tested in order to lessen the pollution being released

into both the air and water sources.

Companies, governments, and environmental experts are creating solutions to the

pollution problem each and every day. In a recent Scientific American article, Foley speaks of

obtaining “revolutionary agricultural practices” that would include “new plant varieties and

precision agriculture techniques, as well as far more efficient use of water and fertilizer” (2010).

Foley also incorporates the use of energy efficiency “by bringing low-carbon energy sources to

scale quickly” (2010). As far as automobile exhaust pollution, projects are being implemented to

reduce the vehicle emissions of the new cars, but “less progress has been made in reducing

emissions from older heavy-duty diesel trucks, „non-road‟ vehicles such as cranes and

bulldozers, and malfunctioning automobiles” (Miller, 2007). This concept also pertains to power

plants with the more recently built plants being more environmentally friendly than the power

plants that have been around for years (Miller, 2007).

Especially as individuals, recycling is an effective solution to making pollution less

prevalent. By the reuse of materials, natural resources are preserved along with less energy

being utilized in the making of new products. When recycling, landfills are less likely to be

filled with products that are difficult to disintegrate such as plastic which contains oil.

Businesses are also working towards “greener” practices such as “smelters and coal-burning

power plants” which are now including “high-tech scrubbers into their smokestacks to remove

harmful sulfur and nitrates” (Kobasa, 2009). Whether by companies or individuals, a reduction

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of gasoline is needed in order to lessen the amount of greenhouse gases and other harmful

pollutants being emitted (Kobasa, 2009). Pioneering approaches are being frequently created

with the employment of pilot projects which allow countries and businesses to view the

“strengths and limitations” of prospective solutions (World Bank, 2000).

With the “first eighty percent of America‟s history” being filled with European settlers

who were merely concerned with their needs and who had “not enough concern for the long-term

damage they were doing to the surroundings,” America has become a careless populace with a

generally high disregard for the impact of its habits and emissions on its population and

environment (Blatt, 2005). Whether in a developing or a developed country, the way in which

humans are living is having repercussions on the environment. This worrisome aspect can be

seen from the improper disposable of sewage to the overabundance of transportation usage and

power plants. The effects of water and air pollution have profound and devastating impact on

wildlife, the land, the water sources, and humans. Not only have social implications been

evident, but negative economic implications have generated innovative reforms on both the

national and global levels. In order for the population of the Earth to live healthy and prosperous

lives in the future, man must continue to uncover and propose strategic solutions to implement in

both the business world and individual lives.

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Kobasa, P. (Ed.). (2009). Living green: Pollution. Chicago: World Book, Inc.

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