SOC450 Strayer University Chapter 6 Different Types of Pollutants Paper The Most Critical Pollutants In Chapter 6: The Environment Part I, Hite and Seit
SOC450 Strayer University Chapter 6 Different Types of Pollutants Paper The Most Critical Pollutants
In Chapter 6: The Environment Part I, Hite and Seitz (2016) note that pollution and global warming were an important concern of the first world conference on the environment that was held in Sweden in 1972. Principle 6 of that declaration stated that we must stop the release of pollutants and heat that cannot be effectively processed by our environment (Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. 1972. Chapter 11. p. 2.
Thinking about the different types of pollutants and heat that cannot be effectively processed by our environment, which are the most critical to address? Identify three pollutants you consider to be the most critical to address and explain why you believe they are most important.
Be sure to inform your response with facts from sources. Use our ebook/textbook each week and at least one scholarly outside source. You must cite sources in-text and give a full citation at the end of your response.
Textbook: Kristen A. Hite. 2016. Global Issues: An Introduction. 5th edition. Wiley.
Sample response:
Thinking about the different types of pollutants and heat that cannot be effectively processed by our environment, which are the most critical to address? Identify three pollutants you consider to be the most critical to address and explain why you believe they are most important.
A notable conclusion that remains clear and consistent with science is that the effects caused from the numerous types of pollutants that cannot be effectively processed by the environment are depleting and contaminating the essential natural resources for life sustainability: the water, the air, and the land. Pollutants include any chemical or waste that causes pollution. The pollution then causes environmental effects such as ozone depletion, acid rain, global warming, and climate change. These environmental effects further contribute to health issues, death, poverty, food insecurity, extinction, and an altering of the balance of the ecosystem. Therefore, identifying and controlling the pollutants can help break the chain of events that lead to the severe consequences from the environmental effects and the potential inability of human sustainability.
All pollutants that cannot be effectively processed by the environment contribute to the state of the environment and therefore should be addressed; however, the three most critical pollutants are carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and CFCs. The consequences of these pollutants in the environment have had the power to actually change the climate of the world, break a hole through the ozone layer, intensify ultraviolet rays, and produce acid rain. These consequences threaten the sustainability of all life on earth, thus making the pollutants most critical to address.
Carbon Dioxide: I list this as the most critical pollutant because it is the primary pollutant responsible for greenhouse gas emissions that have led to global warming and climate change. This is the most critical environmental issue facing the world today. Industry and population growth are significant contributors to the Greenhouse Effect; however, deforestation also has a strong effect on CO2 emissions. The trees and soil in forests absorb carbon dioxide which not only prevents it from going into the atmosphere which helps control the increase of greenhouse gases, but trees are growing faster and bigger when carbon dioxide is absorbed (Hite & Seitz, 2016). The impact of scientific predictions of future carbon dioxide levels, as demonstrated through current trends, is the most severe threat to human sustainability and the total destruction of the ecosystem.
Sulfur Dioxide: Sulfur dioxide is a pollutant that produces acid rain. Sulfur dioxide is a gas that is released into the environment through practices which include coal-burning for energy, burning of fossil fuels, factories that produce materials that are sulfur-based (such as batteries for cars), vehicles, heavy equipment, and through the processing of mineral oars (United States Environmental Agency, 2019). When the sulfur dioxide in the air mixes with oxygen, the energy from the sun binds it to form sulfuric acid, which is what returns to the earth as acid rain (Hite & Seitz, 2016). Acid rain has serious environmental effects which reduce the balance of the ecosystem, kills fish in freshwater, produces human health concerns including breathing and lung functioning, affect tree life, affects food production by hurting crops and soli, contaminates water supplies, damages buildings, and structures, and affects visibility by producing haze (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2019).
CFCs: Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) is a pollutant responsible for causing a hole in the ozone layer and for the depleting of the ozone layer. It is released into the atmosphere most commonly through aerosol sprays and coolants. CFCs contain carbon, chlorine, and fluorine, and it is the chlorine when in that altitude that has the power to destroy the ozone (Welch, 2019). The depletion of the ozone intensifies ultraviolet rays in reaching the earth, which affects the health and survival of all living things on earth. Health concerns for humans from the contact of ultraviolet rays include the increase of skin cancer and eye problems.
Hite, K. A., & Seitz, J. L. (2016). Global Issues: An Introduction. West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
United States Environmental Agency. (2019, April 2). Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) Pollution. Retrieved from United States Environmental Agency: https://www.epa.gov/so2-pollution/sulfur-dioxide-b…
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2019, April 10). What is Acid Rain? Retrieved from United States Environmental Protection Agency: epa.gov/acidrain/what-acid-rain
Welch, C. (2019). CFCs. Retrieved from The Ozone Hole: http://www.theozonehole.com/cfc.htm
