Current Causes Of Pollution In The U.S.
April 13th, 2010 Posted in Green Living & News
Pollution has become an increasing problem in the United States and throughout the world. In the past three decades the rise of pollution has been contributed to a variety of different sources.
All of these sources of pollution are man-made, which brings up the question whether we will cause our own planet to become polluted beyond repair. Thus, understanding the ways in which we are causing pollution will help bring an awareness to the issue and will hopefully help curtail any further harmful effects.
Harmful Pesticides
Dangerous chemical pesticides have long been one of the main reasons for pollution throughout the United States because of their widespread use in the agricultural sector. On February 2, 2010 a study by the Environmental Science and Technology highlighted some startling findings. The study links pesticides as the source of river pollution in many areas and that it has increased to high levels in some bodies of water.
Looking at selected areas of the American River and the San Joaquin River, showed high enough to kill some invertebrates found in these rivers. These pesticides end up in rivers mostly by the run-off from urban areas.
When chemical pesticides are used in agricultural production and sewage treatment; they often end up in water through the food cycle as well. One of the few ways to end this issue is by using any of the many natural pesticide options in the place of conventional chemical pesticides.
Unsympathetic Big Business
The world’s top firms may account for accumulating the most profit in the world; they also account for some of the most widespread pollution the world has ever seen. If these top companies were financially accountable for the pollution they helped cause, over 1/3 of their profits would go to the cleanup of this pollution.
However, most of these companies are not financially accountable for their actions, which leaves the opportunity for continually pollution almost endless. The United Nations believes that by making some of these companies financially responsible for their actions it would help curtail some of their more harmful pollution habits, but much progress needs to be made before this will happen.
For instance, the practice of using unregulated smokes tacks on factories, improperly disposing of waste, and continuing the use of harmful chemical mixtures, could all be altered and replaced with more environmentally friendly practices.
Cars & Trucks
This is the least surprising major cause of pollution in the United States because we’ve known about the harmful effects of car exhaust for decades. The development of suburban areas has facilitated a need for cars, trucks, buses, and other motor-vehicles in our day-to-day lives.
Without the ease of public transportation that many cities have setup and utilized, air pollution has increased alongside the development of these suburban areas requiring cars to get around. For the average person, driving a car is the most air pollution they contribute to the earth’s atmosphere.
Air pollution causes bad air for breathing, produces airborne infections and chemicals, and changes interactions between the sun, atmosphere, weather, ocean, and planet for the worse. In-order to help curtail this problem trying carpooling as often as possible, using public transportation when it is available, and attempt to purchase energy efficient, alternatively fueled cars.
