Environment Pollution
Table Content
Description
Page Number
Introduction
4
1) Sound Pollution
1.1) Causes of sound pollution
1.2) Effects of sound pollution
1.2.1) Human health effects
1.2.2) Environmental effects
1.2.3) Property effects
1.3) Solutions for sound pollution
5-11
2) Water Pollution
2.1) Causes of water pollution
2.2) Effect of water pollution
2.3) Solutions for water pollution
12-15
3) Land Pollution
3.1) Causes of land pollution
3.2) Effect of land pollution
3.3) Solutions for land pollution
16-20
4) Air Pollution
4.1) Causes of land pollution
4.2) Effect of land pollution
4.2.1) How can air pollution hurt our health?
4.2.2) Smog
4.2.3) Acid rain
4.2.4) Greenhouse effect
4.2.5) Ozone depletion
4.3) Solutions for air pollution
Description
21-26
5)Ways to control environmental pollution
5.1) Recycle
5.2) Reuse
5.3) Reduce
5.4) The benefit of recycling
27-30
6) Conclusion
30
7) Reference
31
8) Appendix
32-34
9) Presentation slide
35-37
Introduction Environment is the physical and biotic habitats that surround us, which we can see, hear touch, smell, and taste. However, the environmental natural resources are fully use by man kind for the purpose of daily activities, for example, the trees being cut to make paper or furniture. Besides that, activities such as open burning or disposable of solid waste will destroy and pollute the whole environment. Environmental pollution is contamination of air, water and land from man-made waste. It leads to depletion of the ozone layer, global warming and climate change. Environmental pollution can be divided into 4 main types which include, land pollution, water pollution, air pollution and sound pollution. Those pollutions will affect our health, damage the living organism, and destroy the plane. While, environmental ethics is relate to the environment. Environmental ethics is the discipline that studies the moral relationship of human beings and also the value and moral status of the environment and its nonhuman contents. As a field of study, it assumes that humans have certain responsibilities to the natural world, and it seeks to help people and their leaders become aware of them and to act responsibly when they do things that impact the natural world. In this assignment, we will focus on the environmental pollution. We will start by explain and giving the meaning for each of the environmental pollution which include sound pollution, land pollution, water pollution and air pollution. Next, we will determine the causes and effect of the pollutions. After that, we will identify the solutions to solve those problems. The objectives of doing this assignment are to give more information about our responsibilities to the natural world, to define about the environmental pollution, to give ideas on how to reduce pollution and to demonstrate a caring and responsible attitude. 1) Sound Pollution Sound pollution can be known as noise pollution or environment noise. It can be defined as unwanted or displeasing sound by human activities or machines which disturb our daily routines by bringing harmful effects on our health or welfare. While, pollution is different from air pollution, water pollution and land pollution. As noise does not last long and remain in the environment. However, its immediate effects in terms of annoyance will disturb human life.
Decibel (dB) is the unit to measure the loudness of a certain sound. For sounds with measurement more than 80 dB, in a long term exposure, they will hurt our ears. This is considered as sound pollution. When the loudness exceeds 130 dB, it is very dangerous as it can damage our eardrum. Table 1 shows the types of sound.
Table 1
1.1) Causes of sound pollution
First of all, the most common source of sound pollution is our transportation system. As we can see, at the urban areas, mostly noise come from the vehicles on the streets which includes the motors and exhaust system of cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles and so on.
Secondly, air craft noise can lead to sound pollution. Mostly due to the problems of low flying military aircraft, helicopters and aeroplanes that constantly landing and taking off. Especially if is near to the residential area, it will be very disturbing and affect people’s daily lives.
Besides that, noise from the railroads will contribute to sound pollution. These noises come from locomotive engines, horns and whistlers, switching and shunting operation in rail yards. Furthermore, when there are any constructions of buildings, housing areas, highways and city streets, the noise mostly come from those construction’s equipments such as jackhammers, bulldozers, air compressors, loaders, pavement breakers and dump trucks. Thus, resulting sound pollution and brings negative effects.
Another common source of sound pollution is the industrial noise. People who live near the factories and noisy manufacturing places are always disturbed by the noises like motors, fans and compressors at the outside of building. Meanwhile, noises from the inside of the factories can be transmitted through any open doors or windows and disturbing the residents.
Then, noise in building also will causes sound pollution. For those buildings which are not well-designed, the internal building noise from boiler, plumbing, generators, air-conditioner and fans can be heard and is disturbing. Besides, amplified music, voices, footsteps, noisy activities are audible too if the walls and ceilings are improperly insulated.
Eventually, noises may come from the consumer products. Several household’s equipments such as the vacuum cleaner, washing machine and some kitchen appliances like blender can cause certain annoying noise.
1.2) Effects of sound pollution
1.2.1) Human health effects:
Sound pollution will contribute to a person’s physical and mental problems. For example, if we live in an environment with serious sound pollution, we may get annoyance, aggression, hypertension, high stress level, tinnitus and sleeping disturbances. According to psychological studies, stress is the main component causing various health problems such as high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and cardiovascular effects. In addition, noise can damage our hearing, hurting our eardrums and we might suffer from temporary or permanent deafness.
People who work at big cities where their offices are located near to the main roads are lack of concentration when performing their jobs. As the noise of the traffic outside of their office, and the horns of vehicles will divert their attention and attract them from their current work. These people are more likely to feel fatigue and tired all the time because they need to spend more time to finish their works because they fail to focus on their works. Besides that, during pregnancy, the pregnant women should always stay at a calm and relaxing atmosphere. But, sudden noise or prolonged exposure to displeasing sounds might cause miscarriage.
1.2.2) Environmental effects:
The sound pollution will harm animals besides affect human’s health. It will damage their nervous system, attacking their minds until they lose control and thus become dangerous. Moreover, sound pollution will also cause high level of stress and increasing the risk of mortality.
The animals which communicate using sounds will be disturbed by the surrounding unwanted sounds. For example, it is found that there were certain species of beached whales died due to the loud sound of military sonar. Furthermore, the animal’s communication will get louder than before. It is because when they speak, it will mask other species’ voice. Hence, the whole ecosystem will speak louder at the end.
1.2.3) Property effects:
High rise buildings, monuments or even bridges are very dangerous if expose to noise pollution. As it will creates waves and then hit on the walls. Sometimes even creating cracks and weaken the whole building’s structure and stability.
1.3) Solution for sound pollution
Since the sound pollution brings a lot of harmful effects, hence the problem had been taken into consideration and the government is trying to solve it as soon as possible. Thus, scientific and technology method had been used and applied in order to curb these sound pollution.
First of all, to reduce roadway noise caused by the vehicles on the roads, there are ways like limitation of vehicles speeds, alteration of the road surface texture, tyre’s design, the use of noise barriers along the roads, use of traffic controls that smooth vehicles flow to reduce braking and acceleration.
In addition, motor vehicles are encouraged and advised better to be fitted with silencers or noise suppressing equipment so that it can minimize the noise pollution. There is an example where at Melbourne, Australia, they had built a unique structure along the roadway which is called the sound tube and it was specially designed so that it can reduce the noise on the road. The picture 1 shows the sound tube which built along the roadway.
Picture 1
Besides that, the aircraft noise can be reduced by redesign the quieter jet engines. Several consideration and alteration had been made on the pathway of the aircraft and the time of day they use. Meanwhile, new airports such as KLIA are located away from residential areas to prevent sound disturbance.
Next, the industrial noise can be solved by make changes on the industrial equipment, operation of machines, vibration control, sound proof cabin and sound absorbing materials. Workers are to be provided extra protection against the sound pollution, for instance by wearing the earplugs when operating machines. Any new factories have to be moved to places far away from housing areas and prohibited from operating at night. Trees and shrubs may be planted too around the building to absorb the sounds.
Other than these solutions, the government has implemented the noise laws to reduce the sound pollution. This may contain a prohibition against making noise and set firm limits and provide guidelines for the level of noise allowable at certain period of a day and only for specific activities. For example, most city ordinance had prohibited sound above a threshold level at night, during 10pm to 6am.
Honking of honks should be banned in certain places such as, hospital or residential area. Furthermore, silent zones should be created near schools and hospitals to encourage those buildings to make them noise proof. Besides that, firecrackers should be banned as well especially during festive season as it will cause serious sound pollution.
Lastly, is to create public awareness through education. The public should be aware of sound pollution and must know how to control and prevent it. Through the radio, TV, newsreels in cinema halls, the public can be educated about the ways to reduce noise. At home, parents are encourage to teach their kids to keep radio or TV volume low, not to honk unnecessarily on the road, talk with a softer tone and other ways of minimizing unwanted noise.
2) Water pollution The term “water pollution” generally refers to human-induced changes to water quality. According to the dictionary, pollution is defined as make something dirty or impure, especially by adding harmful or unpleasant substances. Thus, the discharge of toxic chemicals from a pipe or the release of livestock waste into a nearby water body and unfit for intended use is considering polluted. The contaminations are affects drinking water, river, lakes and oceans all over the world. It’s not only affected the natural environment, but also directly threatens the health of humans and aquatic life. There are two general categories of water pollutants. The first is direct sources or point-source pollution, in which the pollution comes from harmful substances and discharged from a discrete location. Sewage outfalls and oil spills are examples of direct source. The second category is indirect source or non-point Source pollution, referring to all of the other discharges that deliver contaminants to water bodies. Acid rain and unconfined run off from agricultural or urban areas are example of indirect sources. 2.1) Causes of Water Pollution The sources of water pollution are such as domestic households, industrial and agricultural practices which produce wastewater that can cause pollution of many lakes and rivers. First of all, sewage as well as domestic and farm waste are often allowed to pollute rivers and dams. Sewage is the wastewater that often contain urine and laundry waste. Clean the sewage is the major problem in developing countries as many people in these areas do not have access to sanitary conditions and clean water. Unclean sewage water in such areas can contaminate the environment and cause diseases such as diarrhea.
Next, industrial waste is one of the serious problem that causing the water pollution. It produces pollutants that are extremely harmful to people and the environment. For example, the pollute water occur as many industrial facilities use freshwater to carry away waste from the plant into the river, lakes and oceans. There are several industrial sources are pollutant water, which include sulphur, ails, oil and petrochemicals. Sulphur is a non-metallic substance that is harmful for marine life. While, ails is the common source that pollute the oceans seriously. Then, oil will forms a thick layer on the water surface and does not dissolve in water. Further, petrochemicals are formed from gas or petrol that can be toxic and harm marine’s life. Another source of water pollution is agriculture which including commercial livestock and poultry farming. Agriculture consider as the source of many organic and inorganic pollutants in surface waters and groundwater. For example, animal wastes are demanding high in oxygen, material, nitrogen and phosphorus, and they often harbor pathogenic organisms. Moreover, wastes from commercial feeders are contained and disposed of on land. Furthermore, water pollution also can cause by oil pollution. Oceans are polluted by oil on a daily basis from oil spills, routine shipping, run-offs and clumping. Although, oil spills cause is a localized problem but it can be harmful for local marine wildlife such as fish, birds and the others. On the other hand, the oil spill from a tanker is considered as severe problem because there is such a huge quantity of oil being sprit into one place. When the oil split into water, oil cannot dissolve by the water, and later, a thick sludge is form in the water. This suffocates fish, gets caught in the feathers of marine birds and stopping them from flying. Lastly, atmospheric deposition is the pollution of the water which caused by air pollution. In the atmosphere, water particles mix with carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
This forms a weak acids. Air pollution means that water vapor absorbs more of these gases and becomes even more acidic. When it rains, the water is polluted with these gases and this is called acid rain.
2.2) Effect of water pollution Basically, all types of water pollution are harmful to human, animals and environment, it may not damage our health immediately, only will affect after long term exposure. It is very common that the water we drinking, cooking, bathing, washing are all being suffer by wastewater. If we look around the Klang Valley, we can see the obvious wastage and pollution of water such as, leaking pipes, water thefts, garbage floating on rivers and our own careless use of these resources. Besides that, industrial waste often contains many toxic compounds that damage the health of aquatic animals. Those who eat the poisoned aquatic animals may get food poison. Some of the toxins in industrial waste may only have a mild effect whereas other can be fatal. Yet, sulfate particles from acid rain can cause harm the health of marine life in the rivers and lakes it contaminates, and can result in mortality. In addition, suspended particles in freshwater reduces the quality of drinking water for humans and the aquatic environment for marine life. Meanwhile, suspended particles can often reduce the amount of sunlight penetrating the water and disrupting the growth of photosynthesis plants and micro-organisms.
2.3) Solutions for water pollution Water pollution is harmful to whole planet, if we still choose to do bother these problem, we may face on to death. To prevent water pollution, long-term solutions are needed not just addressing immediate needs with no regard for the consequences. Here are some simple guidelines in everyday life. Firstly, turning off the tap when running water is not necessary, it is to conserve water. This helps prevents water shortage and reduces the amount of contaminated water that needs treatment. Next, don’t throw paint oils or other forms of litter down to the drain. Try to be careful when using the sink or toilet by throwing something. Beside that, take great care not to overuse pesticides and fertilizers. This can prevents runoff of the material into nearby water sources. Furthermore, by having more plants also tend to prevent fertilizer, pesticide and contaminated water from running off into nearby water sources. Next, do not throw litter into rivers, lakes or oceans. In contrast, we need to help clean up any litter when see on beaches or in rivers and lakes, make sure it is safe to collect the litter and put it in a nearby dustbin. Eventually, government also can give penalty to the industries that use freshwater to carry away waste into rivers and oceans.
3) Land Pollution Land pollution is the degradation of earth’s land surfaces which often caused by human activities, misuse of the soil and the addition of undesirable matter to the land that damage the terrestrial organisms.
3.1) Causes of land pollution There are several causes that lead to land pollution. Firstly is cause by disposal of solid waste. There are several useless, unwanted, or hazardous solid wastes that typically may be classified as follows:
Garbage:
Decomposable waste from food.
Rubbish
Non- decomposable wastes, either combustible such as paper, wood, and cloth or non-combustible, such as metal, glass and ceramics.
Ashes
Residues of the combustion of solid fuels
Large wastes
Demolition and construction debris and trees, death animals.
Industrial wastes
Such materials are chemicals, paint and sand.
Agricultural wastes
Farm animal manure and crop residues.
Large wastes
Material retained on sewage treatment screens, settled solids, and biomass sludge.
Besides that, there is increase in mechanization will also contributed to the pollution of land. In some areas, more metal ores had to be extracted out of the ground, melted and cast using coal out of the ground and cooled using water, which raised the temperature of water in rivers. Thirdly, increased in urbanization will causes land pollution. As the demand for labor grew, the land around the factories and mines were given over to housing. The demand for more housing meant the demand of raw materials to make bricks, slates for roofing and timber will increase as well. In addition, industrial activities also consider as the contributing factor to land pollution. For example, in open cast mining, huge holes are dug in the ground and these form dangerously deep mining pools. Heaps of mining waste is left behind and these wastes often contain several poisonous substances that will contaminate the soil. Next, land pollution may due to increased agricultural land and field size. As the number of population increase, the demand for food has grown higher and causes increase in field size. Increased agricultural will increase the chemical substances in the soil because the usage of chemical substances are added to kill the pets such as pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides. At last, land pollution may due to soil pollution. After the lush vegetation of a rain forest is removed, an area rarely recovered. As, forest protect the underlying soil from direct effect of rainfall, runoff is generally reduced.
3.2) Effect of land pollution
Land pollution tends to bring a lot of harmfulness that affect the whole environment. For example, the growth of the population and the wider use of 'throw-away ' bottles and cans will spoil the beauty of our environment. In addition, the discarded solid waste, if untreated, will decay which producing bad smells and polluting the environment. Besides that, land pollution that cause by the excavation of metal ores, sand and limestone will lead to large scale quarrying and defacing the countryside. Next, increased in urbanization will increase the demand of raw materials as the demand for housing is increased. This will directly lead to destruction of forest. Moreover, the land pollution which due to increased agricultural land and field size will results in loss of habitat and shelter for wildlife disappear. Another consequence of more intensive agriculture is the move to monoculture. This is unnatural, because it wastes the soil of nutrients, allows disease and pests to spread. Lastly, the land pollution which due to deforestation will cause there is no longer good root system to anchor the topsoil or decaying plant matter to replenish its nutrients. In most cases, erosion produced by forest removal will be in form of widespread surface stripping. In other case, erosion will also occur in form of mass movement such as landslide, and mudflows.
3.3) Solutions for land pollution There are several ways to overcome the land pollution. Firstly, we may use landfill method to solve the land pollution. In the modern landfill, refuse is spread in thin layers, and is compacted by a bulldozer before the next is spread. When about 3m of refuse has been laid down, it is covered by thin layer of clean earth, which also is compacted. Hence, pollution of surface and groundwater can be minimised. Secondly, we may use compositing method to overcome land pollution. Composting is a process to prepare refuse and degrading organic matter by aerobic micro organisms, which increase the efficiency of the decomposition process. A compost pile may be built by layering different kinds of waste in a bin, leaving space between the layers for air to circulate. Nitrogen is added to the pile in the form of manure, meal, or greenery to generate heat. Heat facilitates rotting and kills all undesirable organisms. Once the pile is slightly dampened, it is covered. As heat and steam build up, the waste decomposes over time into a nutrient-rich substance called compost. The compost is then applied to plants as a fertilizer. Picture 2 shows the steps of using compositing method.
Picture 2
Thirdly, in order to overcome land pollution, we may use re-vegetation method. Re-vegetation is the process of replanting and rebuilding the soil of disturbed land. This may be a natural process produced by plant colonization and succession, or an artificial (manmade). Accelerated process designed to repair damage to a landscape due to wildfire, mining, flood, or other cause. The process was simply applying seed and fertilizer to disturbed lands, usually grasses or clover. The fibrous root network of grasses is useful for short-term erosion control, particularly on sloping ground. Establishing long-term plant communities requires the establishment of woody plants. In addition, crop management (rotation) can avoids a decrease in soil fertility, as growing the same crop repeated in the same place eventually depletes the soil of various nutrients. In other words, crop rotate add nutrient to the soil. A typical crop rotation is the replenishment of the nitrogen through the use of green manure in sequence with cereals and other crops. Furthermore, recycling is a way out from land pollution because recycling help the environment to reduce the amount of rubbish that is produced everyday. We have to cut down waste in our dustbins with a little thought and effort. We can separate household waste at home for recycling. More than half of our domestic waste could be recycled or reused but once it is mixed up it becomes more difficult to separate different components for recycling. For instance, when we recycle the paper that we have used, we actually decrease the number of trees that being cut down and prevent deforestation and soil erosion. At last, government play an important in restrict the law to prevent deforestation illegally. A healthy forest soak the rain when they come, when the tree cut down, the forest ecosystem dies and can no longer perform this function. Rain water will rushes directly into streams, soil and causes soil erosion. Besides, government should ban clear cutting, keep logging out of pristine national forests.
4) Air Pollution
Air consists of 99.9% nitrogen, oxygen, water vapour and inert gases. Air is important for us because it supplies us with oxygen which is essential for our bodies to live. However, air pollution is defined as the release of chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere. Air pollution can be divided into two categories which are indoor air pollution and outdoor air pollution. The main type of outdoor air pollution is the release of particles into the air from burning fuel such as diesel smoke. This type of pollution is sometimes referred to as "black carbon" pollution. For example, the exhaust from burning fuels in automobiles, homes, and industries is a major source of pollution in the air. In addition, even the burning of wood and charcoal in fireplaces and barbeques can release significant quantities of soot into the air. Next, another type of pollution is the release of noxious gases which include sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and chemical vapours. These can form smog and acid rain in the atmosphere. While, the indoor pollution is occur inside the buildings such as our homes, offices, and schools. Indoor activities such as tobacco smoke, cooking and heating appliances, vapours from building materials, paints, furniture, can create pollution. The researcher found out that most of us spend our time inside buildings, and so our exposure to harmful indoor pollutants can be serious. Hence, we must consider both indoor and outdoor air pollution, as both of them are harmfulness.
4.1) Causes of air pollution First of all, we must determine the causes of air pollution and how the pollution affects us in order to find the ways to solve those problems. There are a lot of sources which can lead to air pollution. The main sources include industrial and development activities, motor vehicles, power generation, everyday routine and open burning. Besides the sources that we mentioned, air pollution might causes by the natural incidents such as eruption of volcanoes, biological decay and lightning-caused forest fire. Naturally, Earth already has its own air pollution loading. However, industrialization or just everyday routines has become added burden to the existing air pollution loading. Firstly, industrial and development activities consider as the important sources that lead to air pollution. In Malaysia, manufacturing especially electronics, chemical and rubber industries play an important role in economic growth. All those industries will lead to higher emissions of organic and inorganic gases, chemicals and dust. However, different industries will release different pollutants. For example, the chemical industry releases emissions that contain many nitrogen and sulphur compounds while refineries discharge sulphur dioxide and hydrocarbons. Furthermore, the metal working industry is partially release sulphur dioxide and large amounts of toxic dust. Secondly, motor vehicle is one of the main sources for air pollution. Nowadays, modern society is highly dependent on motorized transportation such as cars, trucks, and railways. Due to the research, in 2004, the number of registered vehicle had increase to 14 million which doubled the number of 10 years ago.
Higher disposable incomes, rural-urban migration and the lack of efficient public transport systems will causes the number of vehicle increase continually in the next few years. This is a serious phenomenon as the air pollution is getting more and more serious. Next, another sources for air pollution is power generation. Most of the energy such as natural gas, oil or coal is produced in conventional power plants by burning fossil fuels. The effectiveness of these power plants is about 35 to 40 per cent with the remaining chemical energy converted into heat. At the moment, the researcher found out that Malaysia produces 86% of its electricity in conventional power plants and 14% in hydroelectric power plants. Furthermore, everyday routines also can contribute to air pollution. For example, the energy is required to run machines and electrical appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners. Refrigerators and air conditioners not only consume energy but they pollute the environment when their coolant fluids release Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, chemicals used in houses and gardens are also sources of pollution as well as toxic waste. Last but not least, open burning is the serious sources that pollute the whole environment. For example, burning of older existing plantations for re-planting creates large amounts of soot particles. These soot particles can be blown over long distances and are mainly causes for the haze that often covers the sky above Malaysia.
4.2) Effect of air pollution Air pollution can affect our health and contribute to harmfulness problems such as, smog, acid rain, the greenhouse effect, and ozone depletion. Each of these problems has serious implications for our health and well-being as well as for the whole environment.
4.2.1) How can air pollution hurt our health? Air pollution can cause short-term and long-term effects. Both of the effects tend to affect our health. People such as patient, children and old people are more easily to affect by air pollution. Patient with health problems such as heart and lung disease, asthma, will suffer more when the air is polluted. The short-term effects include irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, and upper respiratory infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia. While, long-term health effects can lead to lung cancer, heart disease, chronic respiratory disease, and even damage to the brain, nerves, liver, or kidneys. Moreover, children may suffer from lung disease in the future, if they continually expose to air pollution. Meanwhile, the researcher had determined that half a million people die prematurely every year in the United States as a result of smoking cigarettes.
4.2.2) Smog Next, smog is one of the consequences that result from air pollution. It is caused by chemical reactions between pollutants derived from different sources, such as automobile exhaust, industrial emissions and open burning.For example, land and forest fires in Indonesia often cause this problem. Those fires mainly affect Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The smog had cause damages in agriculture production, destruction of forest lands, health, transportation, tourism, and other economic endeavors.
4.2.3) Acid rain In addition, air pollution also will contribute to acid rain. Acid rain is form by the combination of pollutant such as sulphuric acid with droplets of water in the air. It can bring seriousness effect to the whole environment. For example, acid rain can destroy plants, poisons the soil, and it changes the chemistry of lakes and streams. Besides that, acid rain also can damage, kills and harm trees, animals, fish, and other organism.
4.2.4) Greenhouse Effect Furthermore, greenhouse effect is another consequence of air pollution. It can be generally known as global warming. It is built up of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is produced when fuels are burned, while, plants can convert carbon dioxide back to oxygen. Greenhouse effect will occur when the release of carbon dioxide from human activities is higher than the oxygen produced by world 's plant. The amount of carbon dioxide in the air will continuing to increase as the earth 's forests are being removed, and plant life is being damaged by acid rain.
4.2.5) Ozone depletion Ozone depletion is another result of air pollution. Chemicals released by our activities such as, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC 's) from aerosol cans, cooling systems and refrigerator equipment can affect the stratosphere. Stratosphere is one of the atmospheric layers which surrounding earth. While, the ozone layer in the stratosphere can protects the earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Some of the ozone will remove by the chemical release and causing holes. This will open up the ozone layer and allowing the radiation to reach the earth. At the moment, ultraviolet radiation will lead to skin cancer and damage plants or wildlife.
4.3) Solutions for air pollution There are three main bodies that play an important role to solve air pollution which are scientific groups, legislative bodies and educators. Legislative bodies define and determine laws to control air pollution and the scientific groups are help to find out the effects of the problem. However, educators in schools and universities are responsible to teach students about the consequences of air pollution. Firstly, the researchers have to investigate the causes of air pollution and measuring the types of air pollutants. Then, scientists need to determine the effect of the pollutants and determined its harmfulness to the whole environment. After find out the effect of the air pollution, steps can be undertaken to reduce and solve the problem. Meanwhile, these can be accomplished by regulation of man-made pollution through legislation. For example, many countries have set controls on pollution emissions for transportation vehicles and industry. This is usually done to through a variety of coordinating agencies which monitor the air and the environment. Moreover, cigarette smoke is considered as one of the most dangerous air pollutants. Thus, restricting smoking is an important key to a healthier environment. Legislation to control smoking is in effect in some locations, but personal exposure should be monitored and limited wherever possible Besides, adequate ventilation is also a key to controlling exposure to indoor air pollution. Home and work environments should be monitored for adequate air flow and proper exhaust systems installed. Finally, the amount of air pollution on the planet can only be reduced and solved through the efforts of legislators, individuals, scientists and business leaders. All of us need to solve the problem together to make sure that healthy and clean environment will exist for us.
5) Ways to control environmental pollution
3R’s Principle
The 3R’s Principle of recycling consists of reduce, reuse and recycle.
5.1) Recycle The definition of recycle is the separation and collection of materials for processing, remanufacturing into new products, and use it to complete the cycle. In order words, to recycle means to take things that otherwise become garbage, breaks them down into basic materials, and then use those materials to make new things. Items which can be recycled include drink containers, detergent bottles, food wrappings, newspapers, magazines, brochures and so on. Collect these items and separate them according to their grade. Clearly, recycling is a process by which materials once used are again transformed into new products. It can be consider as reusing materials and objects in original or changed forms rather than discarding them as wastes. By the way, it minimizes the total waste products all over the world. 5.2) Reuse Reuse is using an item more than one time. This includes conventional reuse where the item is used again for the same function and new life reuse where it is used for a new function. Items which can be reused include envelopes, news paper, old clothes, carrier bags and others. We can reuse materials in their original form instead of throwing them away or pass those materials on to other who could use them too. For example, we can reuse the plastic cups, plastic food storage bag. Besides that, a lot of restaurants will be glad to refill our mugs, so we can take away travel mugs instead of disposables. In additional, we can reuse the doorstep delivery of milk in reusable bottle. These can reduce the rubbish and led to environmental protection.
5.3) Reduce Reduce is to make something smaller or use less, resulting in smaller amount of waste. Waste prevention, or “source reduction”, means consuming and throwing away less. Waste prevention or source reduction is reducing waste before you purchase products, or by purchasing products that are not wasteful in their packaging or use. Besides that we can purchase durable and long-lasting goods. Items that need to reduce are paper cups, plates, utensils, condiments, paper and water. For example, we should buy and use less. It means buy only what you need and use all of what you buy. When you want through something, you can pass it along to your friend or other people who can continue to put it to good use. Besides that, make wise “package” selection. When we want purchasing a product, we must choose the best product not the best in “packaging”. Therefore, we want purchasing products we must purchasing products in material or packaging that can be readily recycled. Try to avoid single-serve containers whenever possible.
5.4) Benefits of recycling
There are many benefits of recycling. Firstly is help to reduce solid waste. Recycling reduces waste, which in turn reduces the need for landfills and dumpsites. For example, over 38,000 tons of plastic and metal are saved from landfills each year as a result of cartridge remanufacturing. Secondly is saves our environment. Recycling reduces pollution such as air pollution, water pollution, and land pollution. The maximum environmental benefit is gained by waste minimization which reducing the amount of waste produced and reusing items in their current form such as refilling bottles. Thirdly, recycling helps to saves energy. Manufacturing paper, plastics, glass and metal from recycled materials requires less energy than manufacturing these products from virgin materials because the recycled materials have already been processed. For example, Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy cost of processing new aluminum because the melting temperature is reduced from 900 °C to 600 °C. Recycling plastic saves 70% of the energy used in creating new plastic, and paper recycling saves 40% of the energy required to make a new product. Recycling can save over 900 trillion BTUs, which is the same amount of energy used in 9 million households annually. Recycling is cheaper in the long run compared to maintaining landfills and other systems. When recycling programs become more efficient, there will be less rubbish to dispose of. Recycling can bring out about economic and environmental benefits. The recycling industry has made a vital contribution to job creation and economic development. For every 10,000 tons of waste that is recycled, 36 new jobs are created. In addition, for every employee there is collecting items that can be recycled, there are 26 employees that turn these items into new products. Apart from that, recycling improves cleanliness and quality of life. Experts believe a landfill can last 10 years longer if Malaysians recycled 50% of their garbage the residents of Johor Bahru generate 1300 tons of waste every day. It will take only 3 days to fill the entire length of the Johor Causeway with this amount of garbage. Trees are very important to environment and organisms because it provide oxygen. If a ton of newspaper is recycled, 12 trees would be spared. Hence, recycling one ton of office paper would save 24 trees.
Conclusion In conclusion, we had learnt that environmental pollution will bring a lot of harmfulness to us. If we do not consider and solve this problem immediately, all of us may suffer seriously as our planet will be destroyed. In order to save the planet and our lives, we must stop doing any activities which contribute to environmental pollution.
In addition, people should refer or imply the morality theory in their daily live. Environment ethic should be behaved by people to improve and protect their living environment. Society needs to give examples or models so that administrator, minister, parents and children can recognize their roles. By referring from the models role, people will know what the right way to do in the environmental protection.
If people can control their behavior and attitude to protect the environment individually, the pollutions will be totally reduced. Meanwhile, the safety and cleanness environment will exist for us and our children.
References
Dubay, Lapinski, Schoch, and Tweed. Environmental Science 3rd Ed. New York: SFAW, 1999.
Kaufman, D. G., and Franz, C. M. Biosphere 2000: Protecting Our Global Environment. New York: HaperCollins, 1993.
Terry, LA Water Pollution ENVIRON. LAW PRACT., vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 19-29, 1996
Poppe, Wayne; Hurst, Renee Water Pollution WATER QUAL INT, pp. 39-43, 1997
Rita Putatunda.(1 March 2008). Land Pollution. Retrieved on 20 June 2008 from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/land-pollution.html.
“Land Pollution” Retrieved on 20 June 2008 , from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_pollution.
Think Quest .Land pollution. Oracle thionk Quest Education Foundation. Retrieved on 19 June 2008, from http://library.thinkquest.org/C005137F/land%20pollution.htm.
Roy Volkwyn .(5 November 2007). Land Pollution. Pollution. Retrieved on 19 June 2008 from http://www.botany.uwc.ac.2a/sci_ed/grade10/ecology/index.htm.
“Environmental ethics” Retrieved on 12 June 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_ethics
“ Environmental pollution” Retrieved on 23 June 2008, from http://www.cep.unt.edu/reviews/whole.htm
“Cases of Pollution” Retrieved on 25 June 2008, from http://library.thinkquest.org/11353/gather/malaysia.htm
“Pollution” Retrieved on 28 June 2008, from http://www.fab.utm.my/download/ConferenceSemiar/JSPSVCC2007PM10.pd
Appendix
Environmental pollution diagram
Land Pollution
Water Pollution
Air pollution
Recycle logo
Types of Recycle Bin
References: Dubay, Lapinski, Schoch, and Tweed. Environmental Science 3rd Ed. New York: SFAW, 1999. Kaufman, D Terry, LA Water Pollution ENVIRON. LAW PRACT., vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 19-29, 1996 Poppe, Wayne; Hurst, Renee Water Pollution WATER QUAL INT, pp Rita Putatunda.(1 March 2008). Land Pollution. Retrieved on 20 June 2008 from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/land-pollution.html. Roy Volkwyn .(5 November 2007). Land Pollution. Pollution. Retrieved on 19 June 2008 from http://www.botany.uwc.ac.2a/sci_ed/grade10/ecology/index.htm.
Description
Page Number
Introduction
4
1) Sound Pollution
1.1) Causes of sound pollution
1.2) Effects of sound pollution
1.2.1) Human health effects
1.2.2) Environmental effects
1.2.3) Property effects
1.3) Solutions for sound pollution
5-11
2) Water Pollution
2.1) Causes of water pollution
2.2) Effect of water pollution
2.3) Solutions for water pollution
12-15
3) Land Pollution
3.1) Causes of land pollution
3.2) Effect of land pollution
3.3) Solutions for land pollution
16-20
4) Air Pollution
4.1) Causes of land pollution
4.2) Effect of land pollution
4.2.1) How can air pollution hurt our health?
4.2.2) Smog
4.2.3) Acid rain
4.2.4) Greenhouse effect
4.2.5) Ozone depletion
4.3) Solutions for air pollution
Description
21-26
5)Ways to control environmental pollution
5.1) Recycle
5.2) Reuse
5.3) Reduce
5.4) The benefit of recycling
27-30
6) Conclusion
30
7) Reference
31
8) Appendix
32-34
9) Presentation slide
35-37
Introduction Environment is the physical and biotic habitats that surround us, which we can see, hear touch, smell, and taste. However, the environmental natural resources are fully use by man kind for the purpose of daily activities, for example, the trees being cut to make paper or furniture. Besides that, activities such as open burning or disposable of solid waste will destroy and pollute the whole environment. Environmental pollution is contamination of air, water and land from man-made waste. It leads to depletion of the ozone layer, global warming and climate change. Environmental pollution can be divided into 4 main types which include, land pollution, water pollution, air pollution and sound pollution. Those pollutions will affect our health, damage the living organism, and destroy the plane. While, environmental ethics is relate to the environment. Environmental ethics is the discipline that studies the moral relationship of human beings and also the value and moral status of the environment and its nonhuman contents. As a field of study, it assumes that humans have certain responsibilities to the natural world, and it seeks to help people and their leaders become aware of them and to act responsibly when they do things that impact the natural world. In this assignment, we will focus on the environmental pollution. We will start by explain and giving the meaning for each of the environmental pollution which include sound pollution, land pollution, water pollution and air pollution. Next, we will determine the causes and effect of the pollutions. After that, we will identify the solutions to solve those problems. The objectives of doing this assignment are to give more information about our responsibilities to the natural world, to define about the environmental pollution, to give ideas on how to reduce pollution and to demonstrate a caring and responsible attitude. 1) Sound Pollution Sound pollution can be known as noise pollution or environment noise. It can be defined as unwanted or displeasing sound by human activities or machines which disturb our daily routines by bringing harmful effects on our health or welfare. While, pollution is different from air pollution, water pollution and land pollution. As noise does not last long and remain in the environment. However, its immediate effects in terms of annoyance will disturb human life.
Decibel (dB) is the unit to measure the loudness of a certain sound. For sounds with measurement more than 80 dB, in a long term exposure, they will hurt our ears. This is considered as sound pollution. When the loudness exceeds 130 dB, it is very dangerous as it can damage our eardrum. Table 1 shows the types of sound.
Table 1
1.1) Causes of sound pollution
First of all, the most common source of sound pollution is our transportation system. As we can see, at the urban areas, mostly noise come from the vehicles on the streets which includes the motors and exhaust system of cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles and so on.
Secondly, air craft noise can lead to sound pollution. Mostly due to the problems of low flying military aircraft, helicopters and aeroplanes that constantly landing and taking off. Especially if is near to the residential area, it will be very disturbing and affect people’s daily lives.
Besides that, noise from the railroads will contribute to sound pollution. These noises come from locomotive engines, horns and whistlers, switching and shunting operation in rail yards. Furthermore, when there are any constructions of buildings, housing areas, highways and city streets, the noise mostly come from those construction’s equipments such as jackhammers, bulldozers, air compressors, loaders, pavement breakers and dump trucks. Thus, resulting sound pollution and brings negative effects.
Another common source of sound pollution is the industrial noise. People who live near the factories and noisy manufacturing places are always disturbed by the noises like motors, fans and compressors at the outside of building. Meanwhile, noises from the inside of the factories can be transmitted through any open doors or windows and disturbing the residents.
Then, noise in building also will causes sound pollution. For those buildings which are not well-designed, the internal building noise from boiler, plumbing, generators, air-conditioner and fans can be heard and is disturbing. Besides, amplified music, voices, footsteps, noisy activities are audible too if the walls and ceilings are improperly insulated.
Eventually, noises may come from the consumer products. Several household’s equipments such as the vacuum cleaner, washing machine and some kitchen appliances like blender can cause certain annoying noise.
1.2) Effects of sound pollution
1.2.1) Human health effects:
Sound pollution will contribute to a person’s physical and mental problems. For example, if we live in an environment with serious sound pollution, we may get annoyance, aggression, hypertension, high stress level, tinnitus and sleeping disturbances. According to psychological studies, stress is the main component causing various health problems such as high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and cardiovascular effects. In addition, noise can damage our hearing, hurting our eardrums and we might suffer from temporary or permanent deafness.
People who work at big cities where their offices are located near to the main roads are lack of concentration when performing their jobs. As the noise of the traffic outside of their office, and the horns of vehicles will divert their attention and attract them from their current work. These people are more likely to feel fatigue and tired all the time because they need to spend more time to finish their works because they fail to focus on their works. Besides that, during pregnancy, the pregnant women should always stay at a calm and relaxing atmosphere. But, sudden noise or prolonged exposure to displeasing sounds might cause miscarriage.
1.2.2) Environmental effects:
The sound pollution will harm animals besides affect human’s health. It will damage their nervous system, attacking their minds until they lose control and thus become dangerous. Moreover, sound pollution will also cause high level of stress and increasing the risk of mortality.
The animals which communicate using sounds will be disturbed by the surrounding unwanted sounds. For example, it is found that there were certain species of beached whales died due to the loud sound of military sonar. Furthermore, the animal’s communication will get louder than before. It is because when they speak, it will mask other species’ voice. Hence, the whole ecosystem will speak louder at the end.
1.2.3) Property effects:
High rise buildings, monuments or even bridges are very dangerous if expose to noise pollution. As it will creates waves and then hit on the walls. Sometimes even creating cracks and weaken the whole building’s structure and stability.
1.3) Solution for sound pollution
Since the sound pollution brings a lot of harmful effects, hence the problem had been taken into consideration and the government is trying to solve it as soon as possible. Thus, scientific and technology method had been used and applied in order to curb these sound pollution.
First of all, to reduce roadway noise caused by the vehicles on the roads, there are ways like limitation of vehicles speeds, alteration of the road surface texture, tyre’s design, the use of noise barriers along the roads, use of traffic controls that smooth vehicles flow to reduce braking and acceleration.
In addition, motor vehicles are encouraged and advised better to be fitted with silencers or noise suppressing equipment so that it can minimize the noise pollution. There is an example where at Melbourne, Australia, they had built a unique structure along the roadway which is called the sound tube and it was specially designed so that it can reduce the noise on the road. The picture 1 shows the sound tube which built along the roadway.
Picture 1
Besides that, the aircraft noise can be reduced by redesign the quieter jet engines. Several consideration and alteration had been made on the pathway of the aircraft and the time of day they use. Meanwhile, new airports such as KLIA are located away from residential areas to prevent sound disturbance.
Next, the industrial noise can be solved by make changes on the industrial equipment, operation of machines, vibration control, sound proof cabin and sound absorbing materials. Workers are to be provided extra protection against the sound pollution, for instance by wearing the earplugs when operating machines. Any new factories have to be moved to places far away from housing areas and prohibited from operating at night. Trees and shrubs may be planted too around the building to absorb the sounds.
Other than these solutions, the government has implemented the noise laws to reduce the sound pollution. This may contain a prohibition against making noise and set firm limits and provide guidelines for the level of noise allowable at certain period of a day and only for specific activities. For example, most city ordinance had prohibited sound above a threshold level at night, during 10pm to 6am.
Honking of honks should be banned in certain places such as, hospital or residential area. Furthermore, silent zones should be created near schools and hospitals to encourage those buildings to make them noise proof. Besides that, firecrackers should be banned as well especially during festive season as it will cause serious sound pollution.
Lastly, is to create public awareness through education. The public should be aware of sound pollution and must know how to control and prevent it. Through the radio, TV, newsreels in cinema halls, the public can be educated about the ways to reduce noise. At home, parents are encourage to teach their kids to keep radio or TV volume low, not to honk unnecessarily on the road, talk with a softer tone and other ways of minimizing unwanted noise.
2) Water pollution The term “water pollution” generally refers to human-induced changes to water quality. According to the dictionary, pollution is defined as make something dirty or impure, especially by adding harmful or unpleasant substances. Thus, the discharge of toxic chemicals from a pipe or the release of livestock waste into a nearby water body and unfit for intended use is considering polluted. The contaminations are affects drinking water, river, lakes and oceans all over the world. It’s not only affected the natural environment, but also directly threatens the health of humans and aquatic life. There are two general categories of water pollutants. The first is direct sources or point-source pollution, in which the pollution comes from harmful substances and discharged from a discrete location. Sewage outfalls and oil spills are examples of direct source. The second category is indirect source or non-point Source pollution, referring to all of the other discharges that deliver contaminants to water bodies. Acid rain and unconfined run off from agricultural or urban areas are example of indirect sources. 2.1) Causes of Water Pollution The sources of water pollution are such as domestic households, industrial and agricultural practices which produce wastewater that can cause pollution of many lakes and rivers. First of all, sewage as well as domestic and farm waste are often allowed to pollute rivers and dams. Sewage is the wastewater that often contain urine and laundry waste. Clean the sewage is the major problem in developing countries as many people in these areas do not have access to sanitary conditions and clean water. Unclean sewage water in such areas can contaminate the environment and cause diseases such as diarrhea.
Next, industrial waste is one of the serious problem that causing the water pollution. It produces pollutants that are extremely harmful to people and the environment. For example, the pollute water occur as many industrial facilities use freshwater to carry away waste from the plant into the river, lakes and oceans. There are several industrial sources are pollutant water, which include sulphur, ails, oil and petrochemicals. Sulphur is a non-metallic substance that is harmful for marine life. While, ails is the common source that pollute the oceans seriously. Then, oil will forms a thick layer on the water surface and does not dissolve in water. Further, petrochemicals are formed from gas or petrol that can be toxic and harm marine’s life. Another source of water pollution is agriculture which including commercial livestock and poultry farming. Agriculture consider as the source of many organic and inorganic pollutants in surface waters and groundwater. For example, animal wastes are demanding high in oxygen, material, nitrogen and phosphorus, and they often harbor pathogenic organisms. Moreover, wastes from commercial feeders are contained and disposed of on land. Furthermore, water pollution also can cause by oil pollution. Oceans are polluted by oil on a daily basis from oil spills, routine shipping, run-offs and clumping. Although, oil spills cause is a localized problem but it can be harmful for local marine wildlife such as fish, birds and the others. On the other hand, the oil spill from a tanker is considered as severe problem because there is such a huge quantity of oil being sprit into one place. When the oil split into water, oil cannot dissolve by the water, and later, a thick sludge is form in the water. This suffocates fish, gets caught in the feathers of marine birds and stopping them from flying. Lastly, atmospheric deposition is the pollution of the water which caused by air pollution. In the atmosphere, water particles mix with carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
This forms a weak acids. Air pollution means that water vapor absorbs more of these gases and becomes even more acidic. When it rains, the water is polluted with these gases and this is called acid rain.
2.2) Effect of water pollution Basically, all types of water pollution are harmful to human, animals and environment, it may not damage our health immediately, only will affect after long term exposure. It is very common that the water we drinking, cooking, bathing, washing are all being suffer by wastewater. If we look around the Klang Valley, we can see the obvious wastage and pollution of water such as, leaking pipes, water thefts, garbage floating on rivers and our own careless use of these resources. Besides that, industrial waste often contains many toxic compounds that damage the health of aquatic animals. Those who eat the poisoned aquatic animals may get food poison. Some of the toxins in industrial waste may only have a mild effect whereas other can be fatal. Yet, sulfate particles from acid rain can cause harm the health of marine life in the rivers and lakes it contaminates, and can result in mortality. In addition, suspended particles in freshwater reduces the quality of drinking water for humans and the aquatic environment for marine life. Meanwhile, suspended particles can often reduce the amount of sunlight penetrating the water and disrupting the growth of photosynthesis plants and micro-organisms.
2.3) Solutions for water pollution Water pollution is harmful to whole planet, if we still choose to do bother these problem, we may face on to death. To prevent water pollution, long-term solutions are needed not just addressing immediate needs with no regard for the consequences. Here are some simple guidelines in everyday life. Firstly, turning off the tap when running water is not necessary, it is to conserve water. This helps prevents water shortage and reduces the amount of contaminated water that needs treatment. Next, don’t throw paint oils or other forms of litter down to the drain. Try to be careful when using the sink or toilet by throwing something. Beside that, take great care not to overuse pesticides and fertilizers. This can prevents runoff of the material into nearby water sources. Furthermore, by having more plants also tend to prevent fertilizer, pesticide and contaminated water from running off into nearby water sources. Next, do not throw litter into rivers, lakes or oceans. In contrast, we need to help clean up any litter when see on beaches or in rivers and lakes, make sure it is safe to collect the litter and put it in a nearby dustbin. Eventually, government also can give penalty to the industries that use freshwater to carry away waste into rivers and oceans.
3) Land Pollution Land pollution is the degradation of earth’s land surfaces which often caused by human activities, misuse of the soil and the addition of undesirable matter to the land that damage the terrestrial organisms.
3.1) Causes of land pollution There are several causes that lead to land pollution. Firstly is cause by disposal of solid waste. There are several useless, unwanted, or hazardous solid wastes that typically may be classified as follows:
Garbage:
Decomposable waste from food.
Rubbish
Non- decomposable wastes, either combustible such as paper, wood, and cloth or non-combustible, such as metal, glass and ceramics.
Ashes
Residues of the combustion of solid fuels
Large wastes
Demolition and construction debris and trees, death animals.
Industrial wastes
Such materials are chemicals, paint and sand.
Agricultural wastes
Farm animal manure and crop residues.
Large wastes
Material retained on sewage treatment screens, settled solids, and biomass sludge.
Besides that, there is increase in mechanization will also contributed to the pollution of land. In some areas, more metal ores had to be extracted out of the ground, melted and cast using coal out of the ground and cooled using water, which raised the temperature of water in rivers. Thirdly, increased in urbanization will causes land pollution. As the demand for labor grew, the land around the factories and mines were given over to housing. The demand for more housing meant the demand of raw materials to make bricks, slates for roofing and timber will increase as well. In addition, industrial activities also consider as the contributing factor to land pollution. For example, in open cast mining, huge holes are dug in the ground and these form dangerously deep mining pools. Heaps of mining waste is left behind and these wastes often contain several poisonous substances that will contaminate the soil. Next, land pollution may due to increased agricultural land and field size. As the number of population increase, the demand for food has grown higher and causes increase in field size. Increased agricultural will increase the chemical substances in the soil because the usage of chemical substances are added to kill the pets such as pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides. At last, land pollution may due to soil pollution. After the lush vegetation of a rain forest is removed, an area rarely recovered. As, forest protect the underlying soil from direct effect of rainfall, runoff is generally reduced.
3.2) Effect of land pollution
Land pollution tends to bring a lot of harmfulness that affect the whole environment. For example, the growth of the population and the wider use of 'throw-away ' bottles and cans will spoil the beauty of our environment. In addition, the discarded solid waste, if untreated, will decay which producing bad smells and polluting the environment. Besides that, land pollution that cause by the excavation of metal ores, sand and limestone will lead to large scale quarrying and defacing the countryside. Next, increased in urbanization will increase the demand of raw materials as the demand for housing is increased. This will directly lead to destruction of forest. Moreover, the land pollution which due to increased agricultural land and field size will results in loss of habitat and shelter for wildlife disappear. Another consequence of more intensive agriculture is the move to monoculture. This is unnatural, because it wastes the soil of nutrients, allows disease and pests to spread. Lastly, the land pollution which due to deforestation will cause there is no longer good root system to anchor the topsoil or decaying plant matter to replenish its nutrients. In most cases, erosion produced by forest removal will be in form of widespread surface stripping. In other case, erosion will also occur in form of mass movement such as landslide, and mudflows.
3.3) Solutions for land pollution There are several ways to overcome the land pollution. Firstly, we may use landfill method to solve the land pollution. In the modern landfill, refuse is spread in thin layers, and is compacted by a bulldozer before the next is spread. When about 3m of refuse has been laid down, it is covered by thin layer of clean earth, which also is compacted. Hence, pollution of surface and groundwater can be minimised. Secondly, we may use compositing method to overcome land pollution. Composting is a process to prepare refuse and degrading organic matter by aerobic micro organisms, which increase the efficiency of the decomposition process. A compost pile may be built by layering different kinds of waste in a bin, leaving space between the layers for air to circulate. Nitrogen is added to the pile in the form of manure, meal, or greenery to generate heat. Heat facilitates rotting and kills all undesirable organisms. Once the pile is slightly dampened, it is covered. As heat and steam build up, the waste decomposes over time into a nutrient-rich substance called compost. The compost is then applied to plants as a fertilizer. Picture 2 shows the steps of using compositing method.
Picture 2
Thirdly, in order to overcome land pollution, we may use re-vegetation method. Re-vegetation is the process of replanting and rebuilding the soil of disturbed land. This may be a natural process produced by plant colonization and succession, or an artificial (manmade). Accelerated process designed to repair damage to a landscape due to wildfire, mining, flood, or other cause. The process was simply applying seed and fertilizer to disturbed lands, usually grasses or clover. The fibrous root network of grasses is useful for short-term erosion control, particularly on sloping ground. Establishing long-term plant communities requires the establishment of woody plants. In addition, crop management (rotation) can avoids a decrease in soil fertility, as growing the same crop repeated in the same place eventually depletes the soil of various nutrients. In other words, crop rotate add nutrient to the soil. A typical crop rotation is the replenishment of the nitrogen through the use of green manure in sequence with cereals and other crops. Furthermore, recycling is a way out from land pollution because recycling help the environment to reduce the amount of rubbish that is produced everyday. We have to cut down waste in our dustbins with a little thought and effort. We can separate household waste at home for recycling. More than half of our domestic waste could be recycled or reused but once it is mixed up it becomes more difficult to separate different components for recycling. For instance, when we recycle the paper that we have used, we actually decrease the number of trees that being cut down and prevent deforestation and soil erosion. At last, government play an important in restrict the law to prevent deforestation illegally. A healthy forest soak the rain when they come, when the tree cut down, the forest ecosystem dies and can no longer perform this function. Rain water will rushes directly into streams, soil and causes soil erosion. Besides, government should ban clear cutting, keep logging out of pristine national forests.
4) Air Pollution
Air consists of 99.9% nitrogen, oxygen, water vapour and inert gases. Air is important for us because it supplies us with oxygen which is essential for our bodies to live. However, air pollution is defined as the release of chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere. Air pollution can be divided into two categories which are indoor air pollution and outdoor air pollution. The main type of outdoor air pollution is the release of particles into the air from burning fuel such as diesel smoke. This type of pollution is sometimes referred to as "black carbon" pollution. For example, the exhaust from burning fuels in automobiles, homes, and industries is a major source of pollution in the air. In addition, even the burning of wood and charcoal in fireplaces and barbeques can release significant quantities of soot into the air. Next, another type of pollution is the release of noxious gases which include sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and chemical vapours. These can form smog and acid rain in the atmosphere. While, the indoor pollution is occur inside the buildings such as our homes, offices, and schools. Indoor activities such as tobacco smoke, cooking and heating appliances, vapours from building materials, paints, furniture, can create pollution. The researcher found out that most of us spend our time inside buildings, and so our exposure to harmful indoor pollutants can be serious. Hence, we must consider both indoor and outdoor air pollution, as both of them are harmfulness.
4.1) Causes of air pollution First of all, we must determine the causes of air pollution and how the pollution affects us in order to find the ways to solve those problems. There are a lot of sources which can lead to air pollution. The main sources include industrial and development activities, motor vehicles, power generation, everyday routine and open burning. Besides the sources that we mentioned, air pollution might causes by the natural incidents such as eruption of volcanoes, biological decay and lightning-caused forest fire. Naturally, Earth already has its own air pollution loading. However, industrialization or just everyday routines has become added burden to the existing air pollution loading. Firstly, industrial and development activities consider as the important sources that lead to air pollution. In Malaysia, manufacturing especially electronics, chemical and rubber industries play an important role in economic growth. All those industries will lead to higher emissions of organic and inorganic gases, chemicals and dust. However, different industries will release different pollutants. For example, the chemical industry releases emissions that contain many nitrogen and sulphur compounds while refineries discharge sulphur dioxide and hydrocarbons. Furthermore, the metal working industry is partially release sulphur dioxide and large amounts of toxic dust. Secondly, motor vehicle is one of the main sources for air pollution. Nowadays, modern society is highly dependent on motorized transportation such as cars, trucks, and railways. Due to the research, in 2004, the number of registered vehicle had increase to 14 million which doubled the number of 10 years ago.
Higher disposable incomes, rural-urban migration and the lack of efficient public transport systems will causes the number of vehicle increase continually in the next few years. This is a serious phenomenon as the air pollution is getting more and more serious. Next, another sources for air pollution is power generation. Most of the energy such as natural gas, oil or coal is produced in conventional power plants by burning fossil fuels. The effectiveness of these power plants is about 35 to 40 per cent with the remaining chemical energy converted into heat. At the moment, the researcher found out that Malaysia produces 86% of its electricity in conventional power plants and 14% in hydroelectric power plants. Furthermore, everyday routines also can contribute to air pollution. For example, the energy is required to run machines and electrical appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners. Refrigerators and air conditioners not only consume energy but they pollute the environment when their coolant fluids release Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, chemicals used in houses and gardens are also sources of pollution as well as toxic waste. Last but not least, open burning is the serious sources that pollute the whole environment. For example, burning of older existing plantations for re-planting creates large amounts of soot particles. These soot particles can be blown over long distances and are mainly causes for the haze that often covers the sky above Malaysia.
4.2) Effect of air pollution Air pollution can affect our health and contribute to harmfulness problems such as, smog, acid rain, the greenhouse effect, and ozone depletion. Each of these problems has serious implications for our health and well-being as well as for the whole environment.
4.2.1) How can air pollution hurt our health? Air pollution can cause short-term and long-term effects. Both of the effects tend to affect our health. People such as patient, children and old people are more easily to affect by air pollution. Patient with health problems such as heart and lung disease, asthma, will suffer more when the air is polluted. The short-term effects include irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, and upper respiratory infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia. While, long-term health effects can lead to lung cancer, heart disease, chronic respiratory disease, and even damage to the brain, nerves, liver, or kidneys. Moreover, children may suffer from lung disease in the future, if they continually expose to air pollution. Meanwhile, the researcher had determined that half a million people die prematurely every year in the United States as a result of smoking cigarettes.
4.2.2) Smog Next, smog is one of the consequences that result from air pollution. It is caused by chemical reactions between pollutants derived from different sources, such as automobile exhaust, industrial emissions and open burning.For example, land and forest fires in Indonesia often cause this problem. Those fires mainly affect Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The smog had cause damages in agriculture production, destruction of forest lands, health, transportation, tourism, and other economic endeavors.
4.2.3) Acid rain In addition, air pollution also will contribute to acid rain. Acid rain is form by the combination of pollutant such as sulphuric acid with droplets of water in the air. It can bring seriousness effect to the whole environment. For example, acid rain can destroy plants, poisons the soil, and it changes the chemistry of lakes and streams. Besides that, acid rain also can damage, kills and harm trees, animals, fish, and other organism.
4.2.4) Greenhouse Effect Furthermore, greenhouse effect is another consequence of air pollution. It can be generally known as global warming. It is built up of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is produced when fuels are burned, while, plants can convert carbon dioxide back to oxygen. Greenhouse effect will occur when the release of carbon dioxide from human activities is higher than the oxygen produced by world 's plant. The amount of carbon dioxide in the air will continuing to increase as the earth 's forests are being removed, and plant life is being damaged by acid rain.
4.2.5) Ozone depletion Ozone depletion is another result of air pollution. Chemicals released by our activities such as, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC 's) from aerosol cans, cooling systems and refrigerator equipment can affect the stratosphere. Stratosphere is one of the atmospheric layers which surrounding earth. While, the ozone layer in the stratosphere can protects the earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Some of the ozone will remove by the chemical release and causing holes. This will open up the ozone layer and allowing the radiation to reach the earth. At the moment, ultraviolet radiation will lead to skin cancer and damage plants or wildlife.
4.3) Solutions for air pollution There are three main bodies that play an important role to solve air pollution which are scientific groups, legislative bodies and educators. Legislative bodies define and determine laws to control air pollution and the scientific groups are help to find out the effects of the problem. However, educators in schools and universities are responsible to teach students about the consequences of air pollution. Firstly, the researchers have to investigate the causes of air pollution and measuring the types of air pollutants. Then, scientists need to determine the effect of the pollutants and determined its harmfulness to the whole environment. After find out the effect of the air pollution, steps can be undertaken to reduce and solve the problem. Meanwhile, these can be accomplished by regulation of man-made pollution through legislation. For example, many countries have set controls on pollution emissions for transportation vehicles and industry. This is usually done to through a variety of coordinating agencies which monitor the air and the environment. Moreover, cigarette smoke is considered as one of the most dangerous air pollutants. Thus, restricting smoking is an important key to a healthier environment. Legislation to control smoking is in effect in some locations, but personal exposure should be monitored and limited wherever possible Besides, adequate ventilation is also a key to controlling exposure to indoor air pollution. Home and work environments should be monitored for adequate air flow and proper exhaust systems installed. Finally, the amount of air pollution on the planet can only be reduced and solved through the efforts of legislators, individuals, scientists and business leaders. All of us need to solve the problem together to make sure that healthy and clean environment will exist for us.
5) Ways to control environmental pollution
3R’s Principle
The 3R’s Principle of recycling consists of reduce, reuse and recycle.
5.1) Recycle The definition of recycle is the separation and collection of materials for processing, remanufacturing into new products, and use it to complete the cycle. In order words, to recycle means to take things that otherwise become garbage, breaks them down into basic materials, and then use those materials to make new things. Items which can be recycled include drink containers, detergent bottles, food wrappings, newspapers, magazines, brochures and so on. Collect these items and separate them according to their grade. Clearly, recycling is a process by which materials once used are again transformed into new products. It can be consider as reusing materials and objects in original or changed forms rather than discarding them as wastes. By the way, it minimizes the total waste products all over the world. 5.2) Reuse Reuse is using an item more than one time. This includes conventional reuse where the item is used again for the same function and new life reuse where it is used for a new function. Items which can be reused include envelopes, news paper, old clothes, carrier bags and others. We can reuse materials in their original form instead of throwing them away or pass those materials on to other who could use them too. For example, we can reuse the plastic cups, plastic food storage bag. Besides that, a lot of restaurants will be glad to refill our mugs, so we can take away travel mugs instead of disposables. In additional, we can reuse the doorstep delivery of milk in reusable bottle. These can reduce the rubbish and led to environmental protection.
5.3) Reduce Reduce is to make something smaller or use less, resulting in smaller amount of waste. Waste prevention, or “source reduction”, means consuming and throwing away less. Waste prevention or source reduction is reducing waste before you purchase products, or by purchasing products that are not wasteful in their packaging or use. Besides that we can purchase durable and long-lasting goods. Items that need to reduce are paper cups, plates, utensils, condiments, paper and water. For example, we should buy and use less. It means buy only what you need and use all of what you buy. When you want through something, you can pass it along to your friend or other people who can continue to put it to good use. Besides that, make wise “package” selection. When we want purchasing a product, we must choose the best product not the best in “packaging”. Therefore, we want purchasing products we must purchasing products in material or packaging that can be readily recycled. Try to avoid single-serve containers whenever possible.
5.4) Benefits of recycling
There are many benefits of recycling. Firstly is help to reduce solid waste. Recycling reduces waste, which in turn reduces the need for landfills and dumpsites. For example, over 38,000 tons of plastic and metal are saved from landfills each year as a result of cartridge remanufacturing. Secondly is saves our environment. Recycling reduces pollution such as air pollution, water pollution, and land pollution. The maximum environmental benefit is gained by waste minimization which reducing the amount of waste produced and reusing items in their current form such as refilling bottles. Thirdly, recycling helps to saves energy. Manufacturing paper, plastics, glass and metal from recycled materials requires less energy than manufacturing these products from virgin materials because the recycled materials have already been processed. For example, Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy cost of processing new aluminum because the melting temperature is reduced from 900 °C to 600 °C. Recycling plastic saves 70% of the energy used in creating new plastic, and paper recycling saves 40% of the energy required to make a new product. Recycling can save over 900 trillion BTUs, which is the same amount of energy used in 9 million households annually. Recycling is cheaper in the long run compared to maintaining landfills and other systems. When recycling programs become more efficient, there will be less rubbish to dispose of. Recycling can bring out about economic and environmental benefits. The recycling industry has made a vital contribution to job creation and economic development. For every 10,000 tons of waste that is recycled, 36 new jobs are created. In addition, for every employee there is collecting items that can be recycled, there are 26 employees that turn these items into new products. Apart from that, recycling improves cleanliness and quality of life. Experts believe a landfill can last 10 years longer if Malaysians recycled 50% of their garbage the residents of Johor Bahru generate 1300 tons of waste every day. It will take only 3 days to fill the entire length of the Johor Causeway with this amount of garbage. Trees are very important to environment and organisms because it provide oxygen. If a ton of newspaper is recycled, 12 trees would be spared. Hence, recycling one ton of office paper would save 24 trees.
Conclusion In conclusion, we had learnt that environmental pollution will bring a lot of harmfulness to us. If we do not consider and solve this problem immediately, all of us may suffer seriously as our planet will be destroyed. In order to save the planet and our lives, we must stop doing any activities which contribute to environmental pollution.
In addition, people should refer or imply the morality theory in their daily live. Environment ethic should be behaved by people to improve and protect their living environment. Society needs to give examples or models so that administrator, minister, parents and children can recognize their roles. By referring from the models role, people will know what the right way to do in the environmental protection.
If people can control their behavior and attitude to protect the environment individually, the pollutions will be totally reduced. Meanwhile, the safety and cleanness environment will exist for us and our children.
References
Dubay, Lapinski, Schoch, and Tweed. Environmental Science 3rd Ed. New York: SFAW, 1999.
Kaufman, D. G., and Franz, C. M. Biosphere 2000: Protecting Our Global Environment. New York: HaperCollins, 1993.
Terry, LA Water Pollution ENVIRON. LAW PRACT., vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 19-29, 1996
Poppe, Wayne; Hurst, Renee Water Pollution WATER QUAL INT, pp. 39-43, 1997
Rita Putatunda.(1 March 2008). Land Pollution. Retrieved on 20 June 2008 from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/land-pollution.html.
“Land Pollution” Retrieved on 20 June 2008 , from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_pollution.
Think Quest .Land pollution. Oracle thionk Quest Education Foundation. Retrieved on 19 June 2008, from http://library.thinkquest.org/C005137F/land%20pollution.htm.
Roy Volkwyn .(5 November 2007). Land Pollution. Pollution. Retrieved on 19 June 2008 from http://www.botany.uwc.ac.2a/sci_ed/grade10/ecology/index.htm.
“Environmental ethics” Retrieved on 12 June 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_ethics
“ Environmental pollution” Retrieved on 23 June 2008, from http://www.cep.unt.edu/reviews/whole.htm
“Cases of Pollution” Retrieved on 25 June 2008, from http://library.thinkquest.org/11353/gather/malaysia.htm
“Pollution” Retrieved on 28 June 2008, from http://www.fab.utm.my/download/ConferenceSemiar/JSPSVCC2007PM10.pd
Appendix
Environmental pollution diagram
Land Pollution
Water Pollution
Air pollution
Recycle logo
Types of Recycle Bin
References: Dubay, Lapinski, Schoch, and Tweed. Environmental Science 3rd Ed. New York: SFAW, 1999. Kaufman, D Terry, LA Water Pollution ENVIRON. LAW PRACT., vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 19-29, 1996 Poppe, Wayne; Hurst, Renee Water Pollution WATER QUAL INT, pp Rita Putatunda.(1 March 2008). Land Pollution. Retrieved on 20 June 2008 from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/land-pollution.html. Roy Volkwyn .(5 November 2007). Land Pollution. Pollution. Retrieved on 19 June 2008 from http://www.botany.uwc.ac.2a/sci_ed/grade10/ecology/index.htm.
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