A Dream for a Better World

In recent years, entanglements about noise pollution can be found more and more. The government in England had to compensate 20 billion pounds to 100 to 200 thousand residents who live near to the Heathrow Airport because they suffered from the noise pollution from the airport at night. From 11:30 pm to 6:00 am, noise of 16 planes affects people’s normal and peaceful life so they turned to the lawsuit and won. If residents living near to Gatwick Airport and Stansted Airport also turn to laws for noise pollution, the government would compensate much more. More than 200 thousand fresh-water turtles with soft shell in Henan province of China were killed by noise pollution but no solutions yet. That was not an exaggeration. Big machines for road construction gave out high decibel noise which killed more than 200,000 turtles. The Government did not want to compensate the loss up to 1600 thousand RMB and the turtle bodies were still stored in the refrigeration house as evidence. In the past 20 years, noise pollution has increased in the globe.
Noise pollution, air pollution and water contamination are considered as the leading pollution in the world but noise pollution can not be paid much attention compared with the other two kinds of pollution. On the contrary, if the terrible results like the two examples above are not caused, noise pollution is always ignored by human beings. The WHO has made some surveys about noise pollution. They found that noise in developed countries had become more and more terrible. In America, the number of people living in the environment with decibel more than 80 has increased by some times during the past 20 years. In European countries, 40% people suffer from noise from vehicles every day. In some cities of developing countries, people also suffer from noise pollution. In some regions, the noise can be up to the decibel of 75 to 80 all day and all night. WHO said that noise pollution had affected people’s health and the quality of life and they called upon all countries to take pressures to control and reduce noise pollution.
Noise pollution not only comes from the environment outside but also the family itself. People often complain the noise pollution from vehicles, industrial production etc which we can not control. But they always ignore the noise pollution which they can control and reduce. Nowadays, people have more and more electronic appliances such as TV, computers, refrigerator, speakers etc. According to some test, TV, speakers etc can produce noise with decibel up to 60 to 80 and washing machine can produce the noise up to 42 to 70 decibel. Actually, some criterions from the government tell us that the noise in the day should be no more than 50 decibel and in the night should be less than 40 decibel. Otherwise, the noise would impose bad effects on people’s health, especially to children. Family noise even can cause some diseases to children. For example, kids would be deaf and dumb if they often suffer from terrible family noise.
Therefore, the government and people should struggle for noise pollution together for the sake of our health. If people are not healthy, everything they do seems meaningless.

Accompanied by rapid economic and technological development, more and more electric equipments have entered into people’s life, for example, refrigerator which can keep food fresh. However, fluorine released by refrigerator terribly destructs ozone layer which can protect the creatures on the earth. Of course, ozone layer destruction also lies on other substances such as Halons, CTC, Methyl chloroform and Bromomethane and so on and so forth.
According to analysis from scientists, ozone layer destruction imposes the following bad effects on the earth. Firstly, harm to people’s health. As we all know, appropriate amount of UV is good for people’s health but if the amount is too large, people will suffer from some diseases such as cataract, skin cancer and destruction of immune system. Some analysis reports that if stratospheric ozone decreases 1%, incidence of cataract will increase by 0.6% to 0.8% and people losing their sight will increase 10000 to 15000 people all over the world. Ozone layer can prevent too much UV reaching on the earth to protect people’s health. But if ozone layer is damaged, much more UV absolutely reaches on the earth. Consequently, people will suffer from skin diseases, mainly skin cancer. And people with white skin have more chance to suffer from skin cancer because the white skin is lack of natural protection for sunlight. In addition, too much UV would change DNA in the cell and damage normal immune system. Secondly, harm to land plants. If UV reaches on the earth too much, plants can not get enough light and nutrients in photosynthesis and then slow down growth. Beside, excessive UV can change genetic in the cell and plant quality will not up to standard. If land plants are badly affected, we can imagine that the whole biosphere circle will be destroyed. Thirdly, harm to aquatic creatures. 30% animal protein of the world is from the sea. UV is harmful to many animals when they are at early developmental stages such as fish, shrimps, crab etc. and the worst point is that animals would suffer from fertility decline and larval hypoplasia. Phytoplankton also decreases because of UV. Phytoplankton plays an important role to absorb carbon dioxide which is the main source for greenhouse. that means if UV increases, the earth will suffer more from greenhouse. Fourthly, harm to urban environment and building materials. Too much UV can accelerate chemical reaction among different harmful emissions from factories and vehicles and pollution will become more terrible. UV also promotes materials ageing of building, package and cables and so on, especially in those regions with abundant sunlight and high temperature. Such destruction from UV can cause economic loss up to some billion dollars all over the world.
The above destruction caused by UV is estimated by scientists and if we want to get accurate results of destruction from UV, much more research and experiment have to be put into practice. Anyhow, the above bad results are indeed in front of us and all of us ought to try our best to reduce toxic emissions to protect our planet.

What is white pollution? Actually, it is another way to describe plastic pollution which means that daily plastic items made from polystyrene, polypropylene, PVC and other polymers become solid waste after use. At present, white pollution has seriously polluted the global environment because it is very difficult to degrade plastic items.

White pollution mainly causes two kinds of pollution, visual pollution and potential pollution. Visual pollution means plastic pollution damages the good image of cities when plastic bags, plastic bowls, plastic bottles and other plastic items are abandoned in our living environment. As for potential pollution, it endangers too much to human beings. Firstly, disposable plastic foam lunch boxes and plastic bags for food heating and packing are harmful to people’s health. When the temperature is up to 65℃, hazardous substances will infiltrate into food and the liver, kidneys, central nervous system and other organs will also be damaged. Nowadays, the ultrathin plastic bags we use are generally made from PVC which contains VCM. When people touch VCM, they would suffer from wrist and fingers swelling, skin sclerosis, splenomegaly, liver damage and other illness. We can find that many people often use plastic bags for food packing. They do not know such behavior not only pollutes our environment but also does harm to their health. Secondly, degradation of plastic waste destroys soil condition and inhibits the growth of crops. And if livestock eats plastic bags, they would suffer from digestive disease and even goes to die. Thirdly, plastic bags landfill is a way to reduce pollution in many countries and toxic substances will permeate into underground and contaminate groundwater. Fourthly, many countries burn plastic waste directly and it produces terrible secondary pollution.

In order to reduce white pollution, some countries have issued environmental-protection laws. Indian government forbids plastic bags use in dairy industry, government in South Africa bans all use in plastic bags, Italy government imposes environmental tax on plastic bags packing, Japanese government bans non-degradable plastic bags use and imposes tax and government in China stipulates that people pay for plastic bags use etc.

However, it is far enough to protect environment just by eco-friendly laws. We also ought to take some measures. First, we should try our best not to use plastic bags and reduce white pollution as much as we can. If we use less plastic bags, plastic pollution will be less. Second, we ought to recycle waste plastics and change them into available resources, which is the most important and the fundamental way to remove plastic pollution. In recent years, some developed countries such as America, Japan, and Germany etc. have successfully realized the virtuous circle of plastic bags production, usage, recycling and reuse. But many other countries have a long way to go for white waste dealing. Third, people all over the world should improve eco-friendly awareness. Adults should teach children how to protect our living environment and ask them not to throw rubbish at random. If people can know how to protect environment when they are young, there is nothing to worry about the problem of pollution.

When we talk about pollution, we often talk about nature pollution such as air pollution, water contamination, and soil pollution and so on and so forth, which is outdoor pollution. People are paying more and more attention to outdoor but indoor pollution also can not be ignored. At present, indoor pollution mainly comes from the smell of hazardous substances which adhere to furniture, decorative materials and other house wares. How does the indoor pollution come into being?

First, indoor pollution still exists though people have made use of eco-friendly materials for furniture, door, ceiling and other house wares. Why? Because hazardous substances from furniture and other items mix together and they can release more terrible pollution. Second, it is difficult to judge if the indoor environment is polluted or not according to smell of the gas. Of all harmful gases, some odoriferous such as Benzene with aromatic smell, Formaldehyde with irritating odor, Ammonia with foul smell of urine etc. On the contrary, some others are colorless and odorless such as TVOC, Radon and so on and so forth. Therefore, when these gases are mixed together, it is difficult for us to distinguish if there are toxic substances or not. But people always judge by the smell, which is not right. If they can not smell any odor then they will ignore the harmful substances. Third, some so-called hi-tech materials are actually “gas bomb”. More and more enterprises involve into decoration pollution control industry and in order to get high profits, they deceive consumers and sell inferior products in the name of hi-tech items. As a result, indoor pollution gets more serious. Fourth, Market of building materials is lack of standardized management and materials are not qualified. So many houses can be described as gas chambers when they are built. Such problem is more terrible in China than that of other developed countries. Fifth, people are lack of environmental awareness and knowledge. Some ignore the indoor pollution and they think keeping ventilated is ok. Some pay attention to it but they always want to get instant results. After all, removing indoor pollution is a long-term task. Some others start to control the pollution after they suffer from it, for example, there are ill by breathing in harmful gas.

As for indoor pollution, experts think prevention is better than taking pressures for pollution and give us some suggestions: firstly, we ought to choose environmental-protection materials and products which are also up to national standard. That is the most important. Secondly, we‘d better choose decorative companies with environmental-protection logo. Thirdly, after decoration is finished, we should not live in the house at once because some harmful gases remain in the house and we’d better test the air quality before living in the house. Fourthly, we should try our best to buy eco-friendly house wares.

Indoor environment is closely related with our life and our health, especially for kids and old man because their immune systems are not as good as young people. So what should we do now for our family health? The answer is obvious.

Representatives from more than 140 countries committed to reduce global mercury pollution, which will help protect the world’s citizens from the dangerous neurotoxin. This agreement was propelled by the United States’ reversal in policy, which also influenced policy reversals of other countries, including China and India. The announcement is a historic step forward in the fight against mercury pollution, according to scientists and policy experts at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).   The committed countries will reduce risks to human health and the environment from mercury by coordinating global cuts in the use and release of mercury into our air, water and land.

Japan has ruled out cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020 from 1990 — the most ambitious possible action according to a reference target set by a U.N. panel of climate scientists.  Agreeing a 2020 target to curb greenhouse gases is one of the most contentious aspects for rich countries of U.N. climate talks meant to end with a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol in December this year.  Japan is expected to announce its 2020 goal by June. The country argues that because it is so energy efficient already, it will be more expensive to meet the same emissions-cutting target of other rich countries.

The Environmental Protection Agency will reopen the possibility of regulating carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants, tossing aside a December Bush administration memorandum that declared that the agency would not limit the emissions.  The decision could mark the first step toward placing limits on greenhouse gases emitted by coal plants, an issue that has been hotly contested by the coal industry and environmentalists since April 2007, when the Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide should be considered a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

The battle to control air pollution moved indoors such as homes and businesses. Studies have shown that people are exposed to higher concentrations of air pollution for longer periods of time inside buildings than out-of-doors. Furthermore, evidence indicates that this exposure is contributing to a rapidly increasing incidence of illness, thus costing businesses, taxpayers, and the government billions of dollars in health care costs and lost work time. The typical U.S. home contains many hazardous chemicals and substances, including radon, which has been linked to lung cancer and other ailments. Congress has responded to public concern about indoor air quality by requiring the EPA to establish a program to study the problem and make appropriate recommendations.

New California laws will force ships to use low-sulphur fuel, saving lives and reducing pollution on land according to the state’s Air Resources Board. The laws also open the door to a major legal brawl.  In steps beginning in 2009 ocean-going vessels within 24 nautical miles of California’s coast will have to use lower-sulphur fuels in their engines and boilers, in place of heavy and dirty bunker oil. The board says around 2,000 vessels will be subject to the rules, which will be the strictest in the world.  Whether it will stand up to legal scrutiny remains to be seen.

Dee Boersma, a biologist at the University of Washington, has just written a new article in the journal BioScience warning that penguins, the animals that she has been studying for 30 years, are ‘sentinels’, and these ‘canaries in the mine’ are telling that danger is present with their declining population numbers.  The danger is a combination of climate change, fishing and pollution.  She says that penguins are among those species that show us that we are making fundamental changes to our world.  The fate of all species is to go extinct, but there are some species that go extinct before their time and we are facing that possibility with some penguins.

Coal is finally getting a bad rap.  For example, in America, a judge in Georgia has cancelled a permit for a new coal power station citing carbon dioxide emissions concerns. Environmentalists think this is the beginning of the end of conventional coal-fired power plants, because of the enormity of their emissions.  In the UK, a think tank is recommending a minimum two-year block on coal-power investment. The Institute for Public Policy Research says this is needed to hit Europe’s 21% reduction in heavy industry greenhouse emissions by 2020.  Finally, in Australia, eco-campaigners have decried a new AU$750 million coal power plant as “complete madness”.

Thanks to these different kinds of emission controls, the air in the United States is better than it used to be. Amounts of most major air pollutants have gone down. For example, amounts of carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide in the air dropped an average of more than 30 percent while the amount of lead dropped 70 percent.  New technology in pollution prevention, emission reductions, and improved manufacturing methods has cut down emissions and removed pollutants from emissions.  In addition, since the 1970s, cars now come equipped with catalytic converter for the engine system. The converter changes the harmful hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide that a car produces when it burns fuel into harmless carbon dioxide and water. Since a car with a converter uses unleaded gas, converters also reduce the amount of lead in the air.

In the developing countries, it is the rural areas that face the greatest threat from indoor pollution, where some 3.5 billion people continue to rely on traditional fuels such as firewood and charcoal for cooking and heating. Burning such fuels produces large amount of smoke and other air pollutants in the confined space of the home, resulting in high exposure. Women and children are the groups most vulnerable as they spend more time indoors and are exposed to the smoke. In 1992, the World Bank designated indoor air pollution in the developing countries as one of the four most critical global environmental problems.  Although many hundreds of separate chemical agents have been identified in the smoke from biofuels, the four most serious pollutants are particulates, carbon monoxide, polycyclic organic matter, and formaldehyde.

City folk have better carbon footprints than their country cousins, according to a new report.  Produced by the Brookings Institution, the report is all over the US press although it doesn’t yet appear to be online. Researchers looked at electricity, heating and transportation in the 100 largest metropolitan areas in 2005. They then compared this data to the US national average.  While urbanites put out 2.47 tons of carbon dioxide on average, the overall US figure was 2.87 tons, a clear 0.4 ton victory for the city dwellers.  The worst area looked at was Lexington-Fayette, at 3.4 tons, while the best was Honolulu at 1.3.