Running Head: POLLUTION

Pollution: Causes, Effects, and Solutions for Today and Tomorrow

High Point University

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Abstract

This paper utilizes information from academic journals and books in order to explore the harmful
effects of pollution on water sources and air quality; and how to terminate the causes of
pollution. These sources determine the origins of pollution and pollutions social and global
economic implications. In order for policies to be created and employed to protect the
environment, solutions are investigated by the sources. The main questions to be answered from
this research are what are the causes of pollution, how does pollution affect the global economy
and society as a whole, and what must be done to uncover and execute solutions.
Keywords: air pollution, water pollution, greenhouse gases, pollutants

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Pollution: Causes, Effects, and Solutions for Today and Tomorrow

Since people living in the twenty-first century have the likelihood of experiencing the
effects of harmful pollution, looking at the causes of this water and air pollution is definitely
vital in halting its devastating consequences. The causes of pollution have been heightened
within the past fifty years because the sources of pollution have become in higher demand by
humans (Foley, 2010). Consequently, the implications have widened to encompass social and
economic aspects worldwide. Due to the necessity to take action in order to protect humankind,
pollution has become a global issue with governmental policy being greatly affected. Therefore,
the immediate requirement to pursue a better environmental health for our planet has been seen
and is now being acted upon by society. Research demonstrates the need for change in the form
of policy making and individual solutions because of the witnessed and recorded effects of
pollution on both water sources and air quality.
With pollution defined as dirt or waste that enters the air, soil, or water, the Earth is
greatly distressed by these pollutants (Kobasa, 2009). While Earth is trying to maintain its
biosphere consisting of land, water, and air connections, Earth cannot compete with human
activities which are disrupting the natural cycles of Earth (Kobasa, 2009). Being heightened
to the point of forcing aspects of the biosphere to alter, pollution is currently to the point of
threatening living things (Kobasa, 2009). Before looking to the specific causes and effects of
the types of pollutions, the two must be defined. In the The Mcgraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia
of Environmental Science, air pollution is said to be the presence in the atmospheric
environment of natural and artificial substances that affect human health or well-being, or the
well-being of any other specific organism (Air Pollution, 2002). Water pollution is stated as a
change in the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological quality of water that is injurious to

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its existing, intended, or potential uses (Water Pollution, 2002). The implications of pollution
on the Earth began many years ago with the inconsiderate behaviors and careless attitude toward
the environment.
Throughout history, the population has expanded physically across our nation due to the
thought that inexhaustible riches were available and land was abundant on which to pollute
and not feel the repercussions (Foley, 2010). One of the main events that contributed to the
heightened pollution in Europe and the United States was the Industrial Revolution which began
in the 1780s and continued for the next one hundred years in the United States. Although the
Industrial Revolution made goods cheaper with mass production, factories, the energy industry,
and transportation networks gave off huge amounts of pollution (Kobasa, 2009). Since the
population has surged from about one billion in 1800 to nearly seven billion today, people are
beginning to feel the effects of their previous misconceptions about the Earths land and
environment (Foley, 2010). Consequently, the staggering population growth has led to the facts
that global consumption of food and freshwater more than tripled in the past fifty years and
fossil-fuel use has risen fourfold (Foley, 2010). According to the recently published article in
Scientific American, Foley concludes the expansion of society and mans inadequate concern for
the Earth to be resulting in a full world with limited resources and capacity to absorb waste
and, therefore, negatively influencing our surrounding environment (Foley, 2010).
When considering air pollution, the two main contributors of transportation and power or
chemical plants must be considered. The use of automobiles has grown to the point that now
there is one automobile for every seven people on the planet which cause the usage of
petroleum to be increased (Kobasa, 2009). From research completed in Great Britain, pollution
from automobiles is linked to trends of urbanization and increased prosperitywhich drives the

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greater uptake of personal motorized transport (Marszal, 2010). The source of the actual
pollutants is the burned petroleum from the means of transportation which releases carbon
monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides (Kobasa, 2009). Traveling by airplanes is another
means of transportation that in 2007 carried six hundred seventy-seven million passengers on
commercial flights in the Unites States alone which creates a great deal of exhaust (Kobasa,
2009). The exhaust from airplanes leaves the air with the same dangerous pollutants that
automobiles emit which include carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates (Kobasa,
2009).
Industrialization and population growth has contributed to some of the harmful causes of
air pollution. One of the main greenhouse gases found in the atmosphere is carbon dioxide
which has increased by nearly forty percent over the last two hundred years (Kobasa, 2009).
Even though carbon dioxide is supposed to trap some of the suns heat within the atmosphere,
carbon dioxide is now trapping too much heat which is creating the greenhouse effect (Kobasa,
2009). Therefore, the earth may become too heated to support many of the life forms that now
live on it (Kobasa, 2009). Power plants utilize coal, the most abundant fossil fuel, to generate
electricity (Kobasa, 2009). Surprisingly, about fifty percent of electricity is generated by coalburning power plants in the United States which contributes to the release of an immense
amount of sulfur dioxide (Kobasa, 2009). Sulfur dioxide mixes with nitrous oxides in the damp
atmosphere to become acid rain which is usually associated with lung problems (Kobasa, 2009).
The emission of pollutants into the atmosphere can directly originate from chemical plants or
factories. With manufacturing being a key industry, chemicals are easily released into the air in
the creation of products which makes the emissions by-products of the processes (Kobasa, 2009).

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There are other causes of air pollution, but humans and ecosystems are greatly affected by means
of transportation and manufacturing plants.
When looking at research completed about the environmental and social implications of
air pollution, one can find numerous aspects such as the effects on ozone, human health, and
ecosystems. Especially in larger cities, ozone can be found as smog, but bad ozone is basically
an air pollutant that damages human health, vegetation, and many common materials (Miller,
2007). The good ozone, the guard for humans against the sun, is slowly being damaged by
man-made chemicals and is thinning which is leading to higher rates of skin cancer, cataracts,
and impaired immune systems (Miller, 2007). Through prolonged or short-term exposure to
ozone pollution, humans also acquire health issues such as lung problems, chest pains,
coughing, nausea, throat irritation, and congestion (Miller, 2007). Consequently, awareness on
indoor pollution especially in confined areas such as homes and workspaces has been heightened
because of the known effects of outdoor pollution on human health (Air Pollution, 2002). When
placing this apprehension in context, the World Health Organization has shown that indoor
pollution is responsible for the deaths of 1.6 million people each year (Kobasa, 2009).
Feeling the reverberations of air pollution, poor air quality is now thought to cause
35,000 or more premature deaths in the UK each year (Marszal, 2010). An ever-increasing
medical understanding of air pollutions impact is now occurring which makes such statistics
even more frightening and eye-opening (Marszal, 2010). A pesticide factory in Bhopal, India,
sustained a malfunction because of a lack of proper maintenance which ended devastatingly with
a poisonous chemical, methyl isocyanate or MIC, being released in an explosion. The toxic
cloud of MIC spread rapidly which led to people trampling each other to death and over twenty
thousand people dying from exposure. As with other chemical leaks, the leaking of MIC into the

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water supply of the population led to future birth defects and disabilities for exposed people
(Kobasa, 2009).
The effect of ozone on plant life is also evident because some crops such as soybeans do
not produce as fruitfully with too much sun. The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
states that ground-level ozone is responsible for five-hundred million dollars in reduced crop
production in the United States each year (Miller, 2007). Other pollutants are also destructive
to vegetation such as hydrogen fluoride and nitrogen dioxide, which are devastating to citrus
trees, and sulfur dioxide, which halts the growth of alfalfa and pine trees (Air Pollution, 2002).
Acid rain, mainly formed from sulfur dioxide from coal-burning power plants, is another factor
which kills forests, poisons animals in lakes and streams, and slowly dissolves stone in
buildings and statues (Kobasa, 2009). Air pollution and water pollution are tightly integrated
because of air pollution in the clouds creating water pollution in the form of rain (Kobasa, 2009).
Water pollution can be categorized into two main divisions of point-source pollution
and non-point-source of diffuse pollution (Water Pollution, 2002). Point-source is considered
when contaminants are discharged from a discrete location which could be found in oil spills
(Water Pollution, 2002). Acid rain would be a prime example of non-point-source pollution
where all of the other discharges that deliver contaminants to water bodies create pollution
(Water Pollution, 2002). Chemicals from factories, cleaning products, medicines, cosmetics,
and agriculture spread rapidly because of the interconnectedness of bodies of water (Kobasa,
2009). An example of water pollution from chemicals is mercury which, as seen in the late
1950s and 1960s in Minamata, Japan, causes devastating effects on human health such as
severe brain damage and paralysis (Kobasa, 2009). Due to a chemical factory dumping
mercury-tainted waste into Minamata Bay since 1932, the Minamata populace had been

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consuming the local contaminated fish and, therefore, suffering the shocking effects (Kobasa,
2009). In considering the impact of these types of water pollution, scientists and researchers take
into account the interconnectedness of fresh and salt water bodies as well as the fact that
seventy-one percent of Earths surface is covered by ocean water (Kobasa 2009).
The industry of agriculture also produces harmful chemicals which run off into water
sources in the forms of fertilizers, pesticides to control insects, fungicides to control diseases,
and herbicides to kill weeds (Kobasa, 2009). Another cause of water pollution is the POPs,
persistent organic pollutants, which is a group of sixteen dangerous human-made organic
chemicals such as those found in pesticides (Kobasa, 2009). The negative impact from POPs
stems from the fact that they do not break down easily, spread quickly through water, and build
up in body tissues (Kobasa, 2009). With tankers carrying nearly forty-two million gallons of
crude oil, a fortuitous occurrence may lead to a ruptured tanker where those millions of gallons
of oil can penetrate into the water with damaging effects. Especially in areas that do not have the
means by which to remove toxins and kill germs in wastewater, water pollution from sewage is
a crisis (Kobasa, 2009). Creating increase nutrients in bodies of water to unsafe levels, sewage
leads to devastating effects on human populations just as other types of water pollution do
(Kobasa, 2009).
The implications of contaminated water are felt in the lives of humans and aquatic
wildlife. Aquatic organisms are affected by water pollution with damages in reducing the
growth, survival, reproductive output, and disease resistance of these organisms (Water
Pollution, 2002). Through the food chain, water pollution is transferred from the smaller
organisms such as plantlike organisms and accumulates in the larger organisms such as fish
(Kobasa, 2009). When looking at POPs, a prime example would be PCB, polychlorinated

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byphenyl, which is seen to cause birth defects, cancer, liver damage, and nerve disorders in
humans (Kobasa, 2009). Even though the United States prohibited the use of PCBs in 1979,
PCBs remain to be found stored in the fat of Antarctic penguins which exemplifies the
resounding effects worldwide (Kobasa, 2009). When millions of gallons of oil spill into a water
source, marine animals such as fish, shellfish, otters, and seals, birds, and plant life suffer
calamitous consequences (Kobasa, 2009). Envisioning birds suffocating, drowning, or dying of
toxic exposure because of the oil spills demonstrates the thought-provoking message of the
reverberating effects of such water pollution (Kobasa, 2009). Since agricultural practices are not
being handled properly, the effects are seen especially from the usage of fertilizer bringing a
doubled amount of the flows of nitrogen and phosphorus through the environment (Foley,
2010). Without consideration of supporting the environments health, agriculturalists carry out
practices which cause water pollution that is degrading numerous lakes and rivers and
disrupting coastal oceans by creating large, hypoxic dead zones (Foley, 2010). Farming also
leads to the removal of animal wastes which are usually placed into a lagoon which is basically
storage for the wastes. Consequently, the wastes can escape the lagoons and navigate into other
water sources (Kobasa, 2009). This scenario surprisingly occurred in North Carolina in 1995
when a hog waste lagoon released twenty-five million gallons of manure into the New River
(Kobasa, 2009). Over ten million fish were killed and three hundred sixty-four thousand acres of
coastal areas used for shellfishing were devastated to the point of being shut down (Kobasa,
2009). The negligence of society in taking care of the environment leads to years of correcting
the damage but some of which cannot be reversed.
When humans have pollutants enter the body via skin exposure or through the direct
consumption of contaminated food or drinking water, water pollution can be a major hazard

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(Water Pollution, 2002). Developing countries have the danger of the consumption of untreated
drinking water which could lead to a waterborne disease such as cholera, a bacterial disease of
the intestines (Kobasa, 2009). The World Health Organization, WHO, states that more than
five million people die every year from contaminated water or water-related diseases (Miller,
2007). Cholera comes with symptoms such as diarrhea and possible dehydration which could
lead to death if not treated properly. According to the WHO, toxic drinking water contributes to
nearly two million deaths each year from cholera and related waterborne diseases (Kobasa,
2009). Surprisingly, the world is greatly affected by improper sewage handling. For example,
the WHO estimates that over one million liters of raw sewage are dumped into the Ganges
River in India every minute (Kobasa, 2009). The United States took action on water pollution
with the Clean Water Act of 1972 because of an unexpected tragedy in 1969 in Cleveland, Ohio
(Kobasa, 2009). After decades of manufacturing factories placing harmful chemicals into the
Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, a spark from a railroad train ignited an oily patch in the river
(Kobasa, 2009). This spark immediately led to an explosion of flames which was widely
reported and brought national attention to the problem of water pollution (Kobasa, 2009). With
this realization of the harmful effects of dumping chemicals into water sources, the United States
government passed the Clean Water Act which regulated the wastes that industries could
release into streams and rivers (Kobasa, 2009). Regulations of water pollution were just
beginning here in the United States, but such legislation would affect economics worldwide.
The economic implications of pollution are seen worldwide, and therefore, the United
States and other countries are taking steps to protect the environment. With industry being a
major contributor to Chinas economic growth, factories are producing over seventy percent of
the national total of pollution in China (World Bank, 2000). Since the factories are generally

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situated in more populated areas, the World Bank has seen negative implications both
economically and socially. Governments are performing research in which pollutants are being
distributed by which particular industries, so movements are being made toward more effective
environment policy making which would include aspects of contributions to environmental
change and differences in the costs of controlling them [the industries] (World Bank, 2000).
The Clean Air Act of 1990 made Congress have authority over what companies are polluting
into the air and water (Miller, 2007). In terms of environmental protection legislation, the state
governments have moved forward more than the federal government. For example, after the
federal agencies neglected to generate the needed emission standards, California took the matter
into its own hands by passing new emission rules on mobile sources (Miller, 2007).
Taking on the challenge of greenhouse gas emissions, nations are trying the cap and trade
system to give an economic motivation for countries to avoid producing carbon dioxide
(Kobasa, 2009). When the worlds economic leaders met in 1997, they decided on the Kyoto
Protocol which would set limits for the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
that countries could produce (Kobasa, 2009). Through this Protocol, the carbon credit system
would be implemented where a carbon credit stood for freedom to produce a certain amount of
greenhouse gas, but countries could benefit economically by selling or trading their credits to
other countries (Kobasa, 2009). Therefore, countries are motivated to conserve energy with new
and innovative methods in order to have the opportunity to trade or sell their credits. This
concept has been implemented in numerous countries as well as smaller communities (Kobasa,
2009). Since the United States Environmental Defense is striving for the goal of reducing
greenhouse gas emission eighty percent by the year 2050, the United States is searching for the
solution through national legislation (Gerder, 2009). Included in the legislation would be a

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similar cap and trade tactic towards fighting harmful greenhouse emissions which would more
specifically be a strict cap on emissions, coupled with a flexible market-based trading system to
reduce emissions at lowest cost (Gerder, 2009). With policies being enacted both in the United
States and worldwide, solutions are being tested in order to lessen the pollution being released
into both the air and water sources.
Companies, governments, and environmental experts are creating solutions to the
pollution problem each and every day. In a recent Scientific American article, Foley speaks of
obtaining revolutionary agricultural practices that would include new plant varieties and
precision agriculture techniques, as well as far more efficient use of water and fertilizer (2010).
Foley also incorporates the use of energy efficiency by bringing low-carbon energy sources to
scale quickly (2010). As far as automobile exhaust pollution, projects are being implemented to
reduce the vehicle emissions of the new cars, but less progress has been made in reducing
emissions from older heavy-duty diesel trucks, non-road vehicles such as cranes and
bulldozers, and malfunctioning automobiles (Miller, 2007). This concept also pertains to power
plants with the more recently built plants being more environmentally friendly than the power
plants that have been around for years (Miller, 2007).
Especially as individuals, recycling is an effective solution to making pollution less
prevalent. By the reuse of materials, natural resources are preserved along with less energy
being utilized in the making of new products. When recycling, landfills are less likely to be
filled with products that are difficult to disintegrate such as plastic which contains oil.
Businesses are also working towards greener practices such as smelters and coal-burning
power plants which are now including high-tech scrubbers into their smokestacks to remove
harmful sulfur and nitrates (Kobasa, 2009). Whether by companies or individuals, a reduction

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of gasoline is needed in order to lessen the amount of greenhouse gases and other harmful
pollutants being emitted (Kobasa, 2009). Pioneering approaches are being frequently created
with the employment of pilot projects which allow countries and businesses to view the
strengths and limitations of prospective solutions (World Bank, 2000).
With the first eighty percent of Americas history being filled with European settlers
who were merely concerned with their needs and who had not enough concern for the long-term
damage they were doing to the surroundings, America has become a careless populace with a
generally high disregard for the impact of its habits and emissions on its population and
environment (Blatt, 2005). Whether in a developing or a developed country, the way in which
humans are living is having repercussions on the environment. This worrisome aspect can be
seen from the improper disposable of sewage to the overabundance of transportation usage and
power plants. The effects of water and air pollution have profound and devastating impact on
wildlife, the land, the water sources, and humans. Not only have social implications been
evident, but negative economic implications have generated innovative reforms on both the
national and global levels. In order for the population of the Earth to live healthy and prosperous
lives in the future, man must continue to uncover and propose strategic solutions to implement in
both the business world and individual lives.

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