Gas Fumes are Number one Reason for Pollution - Term Paper Example

There are a number of major issues facing the world today, and two of the central ones are certainly pollution and transportation. As the human population grows by leaps and bounds, our interaction with the environment grows at the same time, and more of our actions could possibly have a negative impact on them. Furthermore, as we live in a more and more globalized and urbanized economy, more and more products are being shipped great distances before they reach their eventual destination, and more and more people are commuting great distances from home and work. Cars are the single most prevalent mode of transportation in the world (Ungemah, et. al., 3), but the problem is that they are also significant producers of a number of potentially harmful side effects. As a major concern with the environment is global warming caused by the production of large amounts of greenhouse gases, it is important to consider the benefits of replacing single driver cars with lower-carbon transportation alternatives, such as: public transportation such as buses, or light rail; carpooling; hybrid or electric vehicles. There is a fairly strong scientific consensus that carbon emissions from a variety of sources, including cars, are one of the major causes of the buildup of so-called “greenhouse gasses” in the atmosphere, which trap heat on Earth, and could eventually lead to significant global climactic and population problems (Schiermeier, 374).These problems include, but are not limited to: elevated sea levels which can cause flooding and may eventually lead to large scale land loss, increase in the rate of desert expansion, decrease in arable land, and a significant increase in dangerous weather. This could eventually affect anywhere between millions and billions of people, leading to significant loss of life due to drought, starvation, heat stress, flooding and the creation of large refugee communities fleeing areas that begin flooding. Global climate change is a major concern due to greenhouse gas emissions. This climate change will be a major world event, and probably affect the poorest countries in the world the most, but are disproportionately caused by the richest. America is the largest single producer of green house gases in the world, as well as being the largest per-capita producer among large nations (Crabtree). Though America only has about three hundred million people, or only about four to five percent of the world’s population, it produces a “whopping thirty-six point one percent of greenhouse gas emissions” as of 1990 (Crabtree). The United States, however, is not being a leader in environmental regulation, and is in fact falling behind the rest of the world on such efforts. It was one of the few countries not to ratify the Kyoto protocol (Crabtree), though this protocol did not have very much actual impact in environmental policies in the countries that did ratify it. Furthermore, America has relatively loose pollution standards for their vehicles, allowing large SUVs and other vehicles with very low gas-mileage that would not be permitted in many other countries. So global warming is a problem that will likely disproportionately affect the poorest countries, but is largely being caused by one of the richest. This means that Americans should look at ways to lessen their greenhouse gas emissions, drive less, and help take the burden off other countries. Greenhouse gases are not the only cause for concern with the massive driving of cars in society today. Though cars emit greenhouse gases which could cause global effects, cars also produce other fumes which can have significant impact on the health of individual people. A representative of the Lung Association has stated that “six out of ten Americans … live in areas where the air can be dirty enough to send people to the emergency room, dirty enough to shape how kid’s lungs develop, and even dirty enough to kill” (MSNBC). Pollution from smog, which is caused large by cars and other industrial factors can lead to a wide variety of health problems, from coughing to heart attacks and lung cancer (MSNBC). Not only that, but car pollution is even linked to higher rates of lightning (Priya). So car pollution not only causes large scale environmental problems, but can also have a significant impact to people who live in dense urban areas. Pollution caused by cars, both in the form of greenhouse gas emissions the world over and can cause health problems to those who live around them. There are, however, many possible solutions to this problem, and it is far from insurmountable. Though wholesale solving of the problem is certainly decades off, each individual making relatively small changes in a system involving this many people can have a huge positive impact. One of the biggest changes people can make is moving from the most energy inefficient method of transportation available, the single passenger car, to a more efficient mode of transportation (Bhatt and Ginsberg, 1). There are several tiers of changes people can make, each with a different impact on pollution production. The bottom tier consists of either carpooling or purchasing a hybrid car. Both of these options reduce carbon emissions drastically by combining resources – instead of four people driving to work individually, they can carpool, thus cutting emissions because much of the route would be the same anyways, or buy a hybrid vehicle which can have up to double the gas mileage of a non-hybrid car (Bhatt and Ginsberg, 3). Taking public transportation such as a bus or light rail system would further reduce carbon emissions, because it combines even more people into the same unit of transport increasing efficiency, while simply walking or biking to work would cut emissions and pollution almost entirely. While there is a good deal of evidence for the arguments stated above, there are also obviously counterpoints to each point raised above. For instance, while there is a strong concensus in the scientific community that global warming is a growing problem, many argue that it is impossible to truly know what its effects will be. It could be that many parts of the world would get colder as well as some getting warmer, and there is the possibility of large unused areas (such as northern Russia and Canada) becoming food producers. And all scientific models of this type of thing are obviously bound to have significant sources of error, which could change the predictions. Furthermore, it could be that the world would just warm up anyways at a slower rate without human intervention anyways, so changing our carbon habits might just be delaying the inevitable. Furthermore, for many people public transportation is incredibly inaccessible, and for some arranging a car pool would produce even more carbon than it reduced if they lived far apart. Finally, hybrid cars are financially expensive, barely even paying for their gas savings over the course of their life time, and some people are frankly to poor to manage it. Finally, a car can be very important. It can represent freedom, the ability to do what you want when you want, and be very important to people’s lifestyle. But balancing all that against the weight of evidence and the potential harm caused by driving cars too much, it would still be best to make changes. Risking such consequences is simply too much for such small changes in lifestyle. Driving cars is a central part of all American society today, but that is something that can and may eventually need to change. Technologies are advancing at a pace that may make that unnecessary, but at the current rate cars output fumes and pollution that do damage not just to other people but to the environment. Small changes in lifestyle, such as taking public transit, can make a huge difference. Works Cited Bhatt, Vastal and Mark Ginsberg. “Metro Solutions to Macro Visions: Partnerships between US – China – India Cities Promote Efficient and Progressive Green Futures.” ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, 6. 2009. http://eec.ucdavis.edu/ACEEE/2010/data/papers/2085.pdf Crabtree, Vexen. “The USA Versus the Environment: Oil, Pollution and Kyoto” V – International. 04 June 2002. http://www.vexen.co.uk/USA/pollution.html Web. 20 Oct, 2011. Priya. “How Does Your Car Fumes Affect the Environment” Med India. 17 January 2007. http://www.medindia.net/news/How-Does-Your-Car-Fumes-Affect-The-Environment-46442-1.htm. Web. 20 October 2011. Schiemreier, Quirin. “The Costs of Global Warming” Nature 439. 2006. pp. 374-375 "Worst, Best Cities for Air Quality Listed - US News - Environment - Msnbc.com."Msnbc.com - Breaking News, Science and Tech News, World News, US News, Local News- Msnbc.com. MSNBC, 29 Apr. 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. . Ungemah, David, Ginger Goodin, Casey Dusza, Mark Burris. “Examining Incentives and Preferential Treatment of Carpools on Managed Lane Facilities” Journal of Public Transportation 9. 2007. pp. 151-169 Read More