Introduction
Global warming which refers to an increase in the mean temperature in the earth’s atmosphere especially an increase held constant at a particular level enough to cause a change in the climate, has been a debatable issue with some people even associating it with some positive effects such as an increase in crop production due to increased level of carbon dioxide concentration that enhances photosynthesis in the plants as well as an increase in agricultural production in areas such as the northeast China by causing a longer period for crop growing, moving accumulated temperature belts towards the north, and by decreasing the cold stress. On the other hand, global pollution which refers to the contamination of soil, water or the atmosphere by the discharge of harmful substances is a factual issue that is absolutely impacting negatively on life throughout the world. It is also understood that global warming results from global pollution and therefore addressing the issue of global pollution will solve the issue of global warming. In this paper, a discussion is going to be carried out on this issue of global pollution under the main areas that include industrial pollution, transportation pollution, and human waste pollution.
Industrial Pollution
This is the kind of pollution that can directly be connected to industries as opposed to the rest of the sources of pollution. According to Smith (1) this is one of the biggest sources of pollution all over the world. For instance, in the United States of America, the Environmental Protective Agency gives an estimate that indicates that 50% of the total pollution in the country is caused by industrial pollution. And since this country is very large, the industrial pollution turns out to be a major problem for the whole world, particularly in countries that are getting industrialized at a very high rate such as China. Industrial pollution is among the major sources of air pollution together with water pollution. These industries emit gases in the air that are quite harmful to the human health and also contribute to global warming. The release of untreated industrial wastes that contain chemical substances in the water sources turns out to be very harmful to human health and on life on earth in general.
Considering the case in China, Brian (1) reports that while reforms in the economic sector have brought about a transformation in China in a positive way over the past years, the drastically growing industrialization in the region has brought about water and air pollution that endangers the health of the people in China and destruction of the environment in general.
According to Dwyer (1), one of the most effective solutions that look so much capable of clearing off the industrial problem is cleaner production. This solution involves several practices that are market-oriented ranging from avoiding pollution, managing the environmental structures, and bringing down wastage to clean technology.
Cleaner production targets utilizing natural resources in a more efficient manner to bring down wastage and also to bring down pollution as well as dangers to the health of people. Practically, cleaner production brings in alteration in the manufacturing processes to minimize inefficiencies to cut back on waste and discharge resulting in higher quality product production.
According to Gosh (1), most of the industries are unable to utilize “Air Pollution control” plants in an appropriate way as a reason of deficiency in equipment structural design. Some of these industries as well do have appropriate practices in their operations and carrying out maintenance. With the appropriate knowledge, there is a possibility to bring about improvement in the current “Air Pollution control” plants through small adjustments on the equipment and carrying out operation on them in an appropriate way.
Transportation Pollution
This kind of pollution can be defined as the emission of harmful chemicals and the production of unhealthy sounds by vehicles used to transport people as well as goods. These may involve cars, trains, construction vehicles, and ships among others. The effects on health stemming from transport-related air pollution are among the main concerns about transport.
Taking the situation in the United Kingdom, Anonymous, (Transport and Urban Air Pollution, 1), the major source of air pollution is transported, especially for emissions into the air of such gases as the oxides of nitrogen, hydrocarbons, and particulates. More so, according to Anonymous, (Ethanol: the Pollution Solution, 1), transportation in the United States of America is the biggest source of air pollution counting for about seventy percent of the carbon monoxide in the air, about thirty percent of nitrogen oxides in the air, and about twenty-five percent of the hydrocarbons found in the atmosphere. A suggestion has been made that the addition of ethanol to gasoline can bring about tremendous changes to this threatening trend to form a great solution to this big problem. It is explained that the burning of oxygen is cleaner than the burning of gasoline. Therefore, as more and more ethanol is added to the mixture of fuel, the less the cars will bring about pollution.
Another suggestion to bring down pollution resulting from transport concerning the use of appropriate fuels is given by Anonymous (Transport and Urban Air Pollution,
12). It is suggested that there should be promotion of fuels that are less polluting as alternative fuels to take the place of the existing fuels that cause much pollution. By doing this, emissions from the road transport are reduced. So far, the fuels that have been developed are alcohol fuels, natural gas, vehicles that operate using batteries, and hydrogen among a few others. Another way suggested that helps in reduction of transport pollution is exhaust gas circulation that brings about taking back exhaust air to the air-fuel inlet that brings about a decrease in peak temperatures of the engine and the emissions of the oxides of nitrogen from the engines of petrol. This also results in the reduction of the levels of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons in the air. Another solution can also be realized by use of vehicles with Lean Burn engines which are more efficient in terms of fuel use as compared to other types of engines. They produce minimal oxides of nitrogen and carbon monoxide although they produce emissions of hydrocarbons in large quantities. Currently, these types of engines are still being developed in order for them to meet the European Union emission standards.
Human waste pollution
Human waste pollution in most cases occurs where human waste is disposed of in water due to poor sewerage systems. According to Wilhelmus (1), disposing of human waste that has not been treated together with untreated domestic waste has turned to be the biggest contributor to the marine environment pollution in Fiji. Many problems exist which have a direct link to the disposal of these wastes. The untreated sewage has bacteria, viruses together with parasites which are quite harmful to human health among other living organisms. Pollution of water is a problem that is drawing people’s concern all over the world and mechanisms to be employed in order to find out the original sources is high of need since the danger that arises from coming in contact with human waste may be bigger as compared to coming in contact with wastes from other animals.
According to Hobart (1), the human waste is being disposed of in the Antarctica and over half of the scientific stations in this region, which were surveyed during the Swedish study, did not have any sewage treatment structure. The effect of this waste on the large ice-covered continent is made bigger because stations crowd together largely on very small ice-free Antarctic rock-terrain that is inhabited by both people and wildlife.
Wilhelmus (7) in the case of Fiji in offering a solution to this problem says that several options that are innovative do exist. It should be ensured that there is no contaminant released into the environment. A combination of plants, micro-organisms and on some occasions the use of animals like fish to process the organic materials should be used to change these organic materials including the human waste into a form that has a value like food, fuel, and fertilizer. Other solutions to this problem may involve educating people to build up composting toilets. The sewerage system should be well set up to avoid leakages into the water sources.
Conclusion
Pollution is currently a major problem facing the world. Therefore, all the nations in the world need to take the appropriate measures to curb this problem. All the nations should work jointly with the main goal of finding the most viable measures that can solve this problem. This is of great importance especially putting into consideration that the problems associated with global warming are resulting from global pollution. Dealing with global pollution will be an automatic way of clearing off global warming. It is like in the case of killing two birds using one stone.
Works Cited
Anonymous. “Ethanol: the Pollution Solution”. Range Fuels. Web.
Anonymous. “Transport and Urban Air Pollution”. Urban Air Quality. Web.
Brian, Tilt. “Perceptions of risk from industrial pollution in China: A comparison of occupational groups”. Society for Applied Anthropology, Oklahoma City. Web.
Dwyer, Graham. “A Win-Win solution to Industrial pollution”. Asian Development Bank. Web.
Ghosh, Shyamal. “Is it possible to have CLEAN AIR in Industries?” Control Air Pollution. Web.
Hobart, A. Darby. “Big stink brews in Antarctica”. The Age. Web.
Smith, S.E. “What is Industrial Pollution?” Conjecture Corporation. Web.
Wilhelmus, Marijke. “Marine Pollution and Domestic wastes”. Blue Oceans Environment. Web.