GLOBAL POLLUTION

 

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Pollution is a phenomenon caused by the use of toxic substances and products, harmful for other beings and the environment as a whole, by human beings. These harmful substances can have serious consequences for the environment, and can contaminate the air, the ground and the water, thus having deep consequences for the flora and fauna which live in our planet.

 

Global pollution is a problem which involves the whole world and is probably leading to global warming.

 

What causes global warming? What are the effects? What are the consequences? What can we do to reduce the problem? See also References

 

What causes global warming?

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Global warming has various causes: coal-burning power plants, automobiles, domestic heating, trash, industries, housing boom. These are only some of the many reasons for the existence of this big problem we have to face today.

One of the countries to be considered the biggest producer of pollution in the world is the USA: every day each American generates 4 pounds of trash per day. Consider that Americans are only 4% of the world population, but they exploit 25% of the natural disposable resources in the world.

 

Studies have demonstrated that, even if pollution is first of all a local problem, it becomes global in the end, since polluted particles and elements are transported all around the world, affecting the environment and the air quality of every region, even those far from industrial activities.

 

Humans are destroying their planet. We are in a critical situation nowadays: the problem of global warming is very serious, but something can still be done. According to statistics, we only have a few decades to change the way we are living, otherwise there will be no more chances to save the planet.

 

Human population is three times the size the planet can sustain. The problem with this is not only related to the actual amount of people living in the world, but also to how these human beings and their resources are distributed. It is a problem of rational distribution of natural resources (water, food, energy and so on) among the population, not only of overpopulation. Developing countries are doing a lot to destroy the planet, for example nuclear experiments (see Inquinamento radioattivo), ozone distruction through the use of damaging products, polluting gas, car abuse, waste of energy, oil abuse, etc.

 

What are the effects?

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• Acid rains: although oceans can dissipate large quantities of CO2, scientists say that this substance is likely to have disruptive effects on corals and other living creatures;

 

• desertification (see Desertification);

 

• global warming (see Riscaldamento globale);

 

• the ozone hole (see Riduzione dello strato di ozono);

 

• rising sea levels: according to scientists, the permafrosts in many areas of the northern hemisphere - such as in Siberia - are disappearing, thus causing the rise of sea levels. If sea levels continue to rise, many countries will disappear.

 

• increased extreme weather events: hurricanes and tornados have always affected American coasts and country areas, but what most worries scientists is the fact that these phenomena are getting stronger. In fact, once hurricanes and tornados reached coasts at force category 3, but now they reach them at force category 4 or even 5. According to the scientists who work in the World Meteorological Organization, this phenomenon is directly related to rising temperatures;

 

• diseases: some diseases, especially those which affect poor countries, have started to appear again within the richest countries as well, and areas which had never been affected by mosquitoes and dangerous insects in the past, have now big problems in dealing with these insects;

 

• Gulf Stream slow down(see Gulf Stream);

 

• glacier retreat.

 

 

What are the consequences?

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The consequences of our behaviour and choices don’t concern only our future life, but also our economic matters. Extreme weather and hurricanes are rapidly increasing, and so are the costs related to them.

 

In the USA - where hurricanes and tornados are common- extreme weather is increasing, not in the number of episodes but in the power with which it encounters coasts and countries. This directly affects:

 

• the insurance industry: Insured losses have rapidly increased and nowadays many insurance industries have decided to no more insure industries which don’t use renewable and cleaner sources and energy, and which don’t take part in programmes aiming at reducing pollution;

 

• economy: costs to adapt to climate change are growing and, if no action is taken to solve the problem, climate change will affect global economical growth by reducing it by one-fifth;

 

• agriculture: rising temperatures, the ozone hole and air pollution can be positive in areas in which agriculture is now impossible, but they will have extremely negative consequences in many other countries. Some countries, in which agriculture was impossible because of low temperature or other negative conditions, are now cultivated areas. Rising temperatures have changed the environment, thus making some areas hotter (such as Northern European countries), but in other countries (such as those of Africa) the rise of temperature has increased the problem of desertification, so that cultivating the land and irrigating the fields becomes impossible. Desertification will expand and, as a consequence, there will be migrations and wars to obtain the use of natural sources, such as water, which in the meanwhile will have become rare;

 

• transport: costs to maintain and renew roads, airports, etc. will grow as long as climate change affects the world;

 

• migration: if climate change grows, areas which today are hospitable will become impossible to live in, so that people will be obliged to move and find another place to live. With more than 7 billion people in the world, this could be a really serious situation;

 

• water scarcity: as a consequence of growing temperatures, ice will melt and ice sheets which provide us with drinkable water will disappear, thus creating the big problem of water scarcity.

 

What can we do to reduce the problem?

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We should reduce the use of fossil fuels by using renewable sources, such as wind or the sun. We should learn to use things more than once and be aware of our choices, trying to eliminate everything which is not necessary. We should try to save food, money, water and the environment, by thinking that the world is not only ours, but that of coming generations as well.

 

See also

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• Climate change

• Global warming

• Ice melting

• Glacier retreat

• Gulf Stream

 

 

References

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• Microsoft Encarta (2006). Microsoft Corporation.

• NASA's Terra Satellite Tracks Global Pollution. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved December 11, 2006 from http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2004/0517mopitt.html

• Inquin.Industr.

• Houghton, Sir John. Global pullution and climate change. Retrieved December 11, 2006 from http://www.jri.org.uk/brief/climatechange.htm

• Foster, Brion, Spring 2001. Global Pollution: Everyone's Problem. Retrieved December 11, 2006 from http://www.seattlecentral.org/faculty/jshoop/foster.html

• Greenpeace International.Stop Climate change. Retrieved December 11, 2006 from http://www.greenpeace.org/international

• A Guide to the Climate Negotiations in Nairobi, November 2, 2006. Retrieved December 11, 2006 from

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/Guide-to-Nairobi

• Global Warming in Depth. Retrieved December 11, 2006 from

Global Warming in Depth

• U.S. Law & Policy

• the Gulf Stream

• Sea change

• Loop Current