Air pollution 2

Air Pollution

Then the sky turned red,
toxins over head,
everybodies dead,
everybodies dead.
(GutterMouth; Nitro Records; 1995)


In 1948, the industrial town of Donora, Pennsylvania
suffered 28 deaths because of the thick smog. Air pollution is
an ecological problem having to do with toxins in the air.
There are a few things the human race has done to try to
prevent air pollution from taking such a serious toll. Two of
these are the Clean Air Acts and the increased use of solar
power over coal power. By creating electric cars, the pollution
caused by gasoline powered cars will be lessened. If the
pollution is not stopped, it will cause life on earth as we know
it to cease.
Air pollution causes a number of health and ecological
problems. It causes health problems like cancer, emphysema,
and asthma. It also causes the depletion of the ozone layer
which results in global warming and melting of the ice caps.
Up until the industrial era, the air was fairly clean. The use of
smokestacks and the burning of fuels put many pollutants in
the air during this period of time. The increased use of fossil
fuels today also builds on this.
There have been many attempts at stopping air pollution.
The Clean Air Acts were effective for a little while. They made
using some polluting substances illegal. This did not work
because people simply did not listen. Solar Energy is another
attempted solution. This type of energy is good because it is
an alternative energy source to coal and other polluting fossil
fuels. The problem with solar energy is that it is extremely
expensive, but it has been used extensively throughout the
world.
One of the more effective ways of eliminating air pollution
is the making of electric cars. The use of these electric cars
would completely reduce the amount of pollution in the air
caused by gasoline powered cars. These cars are run on
batteries instead of gasoline or other fuel. Though the use of
solar cars seems more realistic, it would also be very expensive
and unreliable. The difference primarily between solar and
electrical power is the fact that solar cars would be much more
expensive to make. The possibilities of making a cost efficient
electric car are much more realistic than making a cost
efficient solar car.
By making the ecologically safe and inexpensive electric
car, the pollution caused by gasoline powered cars would go
down. Without making these changes, the globe will continue
to heat up at an annual rate of .2 degrees a year which will
result in the melting of the ice caps. If this were to happen,
the water would rise 200 feet, flooding most of the earth.
The Earth's ecosystem is a little bit like a web. It is very
fragile and depends on all of its strands to maintain
stableness. If the air is polluted it disrupts this web creating a
total imbalance. This "total imbalance" would also occur if the
water was polluted. In effect, when one part falls they all do.
Believe me, "total imbalance" is not cool.