Essay #3- Pollution (516 words)

Pollution is a major problem in the world today. It affects us in many ways: asthma, lung cancer, global warming, climate changes, etc. There are many types of pollution and many different causes. If the government took more care and created more laws to fight against pollution, our mother earth would be much healthier today, and so would we.
One type of pollution is air pollution. This is a very big one too. Breathing in dirty air is not exactly welcoming to most people, but in some cities such as Mexico City and Sao Paulo, this is the only type of air they breathe. Urban air pollution has climbed higher and higher over the years, and is a major concern. This pollution skyrockets in mega cities that have over ten million people (Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Cairo, etc). Can you imagine how air pollution affects all those people? Over one million of the 18 million Mexico City residents suffer permanent breathing difficulties, headaches, coughs and eye irritations. New studies suggest that children living in neighborhoods with the worst air could suffer permanent alterations to cells in their nose and throat linings which could lead to cancer later in life. Mexico City’s air was recently ranked by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the most contaminated in the world. WHO studies indicate that it is unhealthy for human beings to breathe air with more than 100 to 120 parts per billion (ppb) of ozone contaminants for more than one day a year. Yet Mexico City residents breathe this level, or more, for over 300 days a year. Air-borne lead is an important air pollutant where leaded petrol is still sold. In high concentrations it is known to impair liver and kidney functions and is associated with reduced mental development of infants and children. Although lead is emitted b y vehicles as small particles, it can agglomerate into large particles that circulate through wind and traffic. For the cities surveyed, high levels of lead were recorded in the air of Cairo and Karachi and, to a lesser extent, in Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila and Mexico City. What’s frightening the most though, is that each and every person living in these cities around the world contributes daily to air pollution.
Water pollution is another major pollution problem that affects everybody. There’s very little fresh water left in the world, and 2/3 of it is frozen. We have to share 1/3 of it with 9-11 billion people in the world, plus we waste it and pollute it. Sewer overflows and runoff from farms and city streets threaten the life-sustaining properties of our waters, endanger human health and wildlife, and result in thousands of beach closings each year. Principal sources of water pollution are: industrial chemical waste and byproducts, poorly-treated or untreated sewage, surface runoff containing pesticides,
slash and burn farming practice, spilled oil/petroleum, acid rain, underground storage tank leakage, leading to soil contamination, thence aquifer contamination.
Lacrista is against pollution and the nation is doing all it can to help fight against it and keep this earth clean and green.

Sources:
1) http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/mexenv.html
2) http://tinyurl.com/fdoed
3) http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-29135-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
4) http://tinyurl.com/p967x
5) http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/default.asp
6) http://www.crystalinks.com/pollution.html
7) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/byproducts
8) http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/
9) http://www.epa.gov/superfund/students/wastsite/soilspil.htm