Eng 102
Jolly
Final Draft- Essay 4

Pollution and Global Warming Proposals
We all know that the earth and Mother Nature are being destroyed day after day, and one of the biggest contributors to this world-wide problem is pollution and its effect on our health and safety. Also, the American west could suffer prolonged droughts increased, wildfires, floods, and water shortages as a result of climate change (Ariz., west tackle greenhouse gases). But we are the major contributors, as we choose not to highly care for this problem that is very obvious. As Gelbspan states “we have loosed a wave of violent and chaotic weather, we have altered the timing of the seasons, we are living on a very precarious outcropping of stability, and the evidence is everywhere around us.” Pollution is caused by car and large machine emissions and releases gases into the air. Global warming is the biggest and by far, the most impacting result of pollution. As Gadebusch states that “most Americans know that coal burning factories, agricultural dust, nuclear power plants, and vehicle emissions all contribute to pollution, yet people continue to consume without taking responsibility for the results.” There are many side effects to the earth from pollution which are “black carbon” pollution from burning fossil fuels for energy, smog and acid rain, from noxious gases such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and chemical vapors, and holes in the ozone layer (which are known to cause skin cancer). In this essay I will introduce the problems, causes, and possible proposals to aid this problem. The earth and all life are at danger and the ones responsible for these problems are us as it is supported by Gadebusch as well.
There are many problems associated with global warming and pollution and many of them cause serious health problems to humans, animals and the earth itself. As Freinkel states in her “ Chemical Contaminants Threaten Public Health” that “laboratory and epidemiological studies do point to a link between the growing numbers of chemicals we’ve been exposed to in the past 50 years and the rising incidence of health problems, including asthma, autism, various cancers , diabetes, premature births , Parkinson’s disease , heart disease, infertility and learning attention-defect disorders.” We have support from Freinkel that pollution (chemicals in the air) is a very large threat to our health and that many health problems and risks come from this pollution and we need to take in mind that our life and health are at risk. Also, Eisele states that “Children who lived in high –ozone areas and were involved in several team sports were three times more likely to develop asthma than couch potatoes living in less polluted communities.” Also we need to take care of our earth’s temperature (global warming) in order for us to prolong our life and the longevity of the earth. Kandel states in “Our Changing Climate” that “this see-sawing also affects winds; level of sea itself and the temperature of low-pressure…coincide with the
appearance of “El Niño”. In his sentence by Kandel, we see that the unstable temperatures of the earth did coincide with “El Niño” and notice that global warming has a huge impact on the earth and takes a big part in forming “natural disasters.” Smith says in his article “linked to the destabilizing effects of global warming, extreme weather(EW) is characterize by higher (and lower) temperatures, fiercer winds, deadlier floods, longer droughts and an increase frequency of dust storms, tsunamis , storm surges, tornadoes, hurricanes and cyclone.” Climate change is very serious, yet difficult topic to debate, and we need to act fast to help this planet to reduce emissions, and to reduce health problems and spreading diseases caused by deadly floods and hurricanes or tornadoes. Cooper states that “ the panel’s findings prompted the united States and more than 150 other nations to sign the 1997 Kyoto Protocol calling for a reduction in carbon emissions, which the panel said are emitted primarily by the burning of fossil fuels. Failure to act, the panel warned, would cause polar ice caps and glaciers to melt, coastal regions to flood, disruptions in agriculture and the spread of malaria and other insect-borne diseases.” We want to prevent any such catastrophe as much as we can, and by reducing carbon emissions, the world is going to benefit and be a lot cleaner for everyone around the world.
Among the many problems associated with global warming and pollution there is to try and improve the living standards and the physical standards of the air and soil. My proposal solutions are very different from one another and also range in manageability, but I can truly say if you want to really do something to help this earth to help yourself, and not be selfish, it would benefit you a lot more than putting up excuses not to try these proposed solutions. My first proposed solution is to start the “lottery” system among American drivers. This program chooses different license plate numbers to run in different weeks. For example, the license number 877-CRJ may not run a certain week because the 877 is the chosen number not to run. By doing this, the car emissions, which can be very harmful, can decrease. As Holtz Kay states in her “Curtailing Automobile Use Would Reduce Global Warming” that “Curbing the car to protect the climate is good financial as well as an environmental policy”. My second proposed solution is to use alternative fuel vehicles and carpooling. By doing this, the earth will live longer and we will live healthier lives in the future to come by reducing the chemicals emitted into the atmosphere and the air we breathe. My fourth proposal is to encourage alternative ways of mobility. These can run from walking, using a bike, running, rollerblades or scooters. These activities will benefit you in many ways, and one really good reason to use alternative ways of mobility is that you are going to help the conserve the earth and your health to the best of your ability.
Now that I have offered the proposals in the previous section, I will demonstrate the benefits of each proposal in the next paragraph. With “lottery” and using alternative fuel vehicles, or carpooling you would reduce the car emissions by 50% or more and help prolong the life of the earth, you would contribute to cleaner air, and help reduce global warming. When it comes to the topic of using alternative mobility of walking, running, or biking, the benefits are more than helping to reduce the amount of chemicals in the air we breathe completely, but you would also feel good about yourself, physically and mentally speaking. With this you get a work out and a healthier body on your way to work or to wherever you need to go. As we say we could “kill two birds with one stone.” With all of the benefits that come from using alternatives to go places, you also save a lot of money. By using alternative fuel vehicles, the gas prices rising, the alternative fuel is not a high demand and will be a lot inexpensive compared to gasoline. When you ride the bike or walk, you save money by not having to use a car and spending hundreds of dollars a month on gas on repairs, you could save that money for your retirement or treat yourself to something you’ve always wanted. When you carpool or you take a bus or public transportation, the price would only be about one quarter of what you used to spend on a car. A yearly bus card costs about 60 dollars, that’s a lot less than having to pay thousands of dollars a year on repairs, car accidents and gas.
The feasibility of these offered options are among many to be discussed in the next paragraph. The alternative fuel vehicles cost around the same amount as gas vehicles do. For this, you would need around 16 thousand dollars to get yourself started on the alternative fuel vehicle and spend the same amount of money on fuel as you did when you used a gas vehicle. Because of the price range of alternative fuel, people would rather stay with a gas vehicle. Taylor states that “even if current regulatory costs are insufficiently reflective of true environmental costs “getting prices right” will not significantly affect consumer choices of fuel.” With the gas prices rising daily (gas has risen 65 cents a gallon a year ago this month). With the “lottery” program, a large amount of desire to help the earth is a necessity, because otherwise, you would think it’s not worth all of the “hard work”. With this program, we would need to start a petition, in hopes of making it a bill, and hopefully into a law. If you were the lucky number not to run, you would need to find other means of transportation for yourself like carpooling or using public transport. When it comes to the alternative method choice (bikes, walking, running, etc.), you would need to purchase a bike or a good pair of running/walking shoes comfortable enough to suit you. You would also need to make the hard effort of maybe getting up a few hours earlier to get to where you need to get. And the hardest part would be to actually do the running/walking, and this would require your body to be in a good physical fit state. The best part of this is that it can be implemented as soon as you wish and done as often as you want. Carpooling is also a very difficult strategy because you would need to find a carpool organization or maybe start one yourself. You would also need to organize the rotations and the cycle of which driver/car you would use per month, and also the gas monies towards the vehicle being used for carpool. When it comes to using public transportation your would need to find time in your schedule to wait for the bus or the subway and purchase tickets daily for the ride or buy a bus/subway card.
Despite all of the really good things that using alternative methods of transportation gives the earth and us, there are still some rebuttals about the certain methods I have chosen. The alternative fuel vehicles are pricy and hard to maintenance, and the “alternative” fuel might even cost more than the regular gasoline. As Taylor states in Alternative Energy Should Not Be Pursued, that “ Cracking down on greenhouse gas emissions to comply with the Kyoto Protocol would provide economic help for renewable energy technologies , but such initiatives would result in only a 7 percent market share for renewable energy and a 43 percent increase in electricity prices.” We are not fully convinced that global warming indeed is caused by humans, and we do not have as much proof of it as necessary to prove this. As Rosken states that “it is solar activity, not human industrial activity that causes global warming.”, with this statement, he is supporting that global warming is not caused by humans, but by the sun and its rays, and we would not need to reduce the vehicle emissions whatsoever. Alternative fuel vehicles also would need a lot of hard work and effort towards the purchasing and fueling daily for the fuel. Some argue that the fuel that is necessary for the vehicle is the same amount per gallon as gas. With the “lottery” program, would be too much hard work and effort, and would also take up a lot of time. This program can also interfere with the lives of busy business men/women who need their car everyday (don’t we all?). This program would also be too much of a hassle and preparation would take a long time, besides, not everybody is going to like it, as it will interfere with their daily lives, and they would have to shift their schedules to work along and around with this program. Also, the effect of this program is not proven to help reduce pollution, if there is such large problem with pollution and global warming. Over seventeen thousand scientists have signed a petition saying, in part “there is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide , methane or other greenhouse gases is causing…catastrophic heating of the earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the earths climate”(Greening Earth Society 44). Carpooling is very inconvenient as you have to be willing to give up your privacy time when driving to work, give up listening to your station or having the windows down or up. With carpooling, you also depend on someone else to take you to work everyday, and having to risk your punctuality. Another big issue with carpooling is the insurance liability, because then, if an accident were to happen, are you insured? Or will you have to pay for medical expenses out of you own pocket? Now speaking about riding a bike to work or walking, a large effort is going to need to be made to get up earlier and pack a backpack with our belongings. We would also need to be physically fit in order for our bodies to be able to sustain the hard work out. If you get up early, how early? Maybe you need to get up before sunrise, or leave before sunrise, and risk your life being alone and in the dark in the early mornings.
As we have examined the benefits, feasibility and rebuttals, we have come a long way and we really need to start thinking about our future, because after all, that is why we work so hard at what we do. We live for the future and we need to work together to conserve the life that gives us life, the earth. As we get older, the planet will be left to our offspring, to our children. What are we going to leave them? A planet full of garbage, chemically filled air and uncontrollable temperatures? We know that human activity is causing global warming through the emissions of green house gases into the atmosphere (Watson 66). We need to protect ourselves, the earth and our children, but most we need to be caring and loving and unselfish. We need to be cautious about all of the chemical contaminants that cause cancer, breathing problems, and serious health problems to our health. If this problem of pollution can be helped, why not help? What we do to the world today will still be there tomorrow. We need to understand that in order for human race to exist for centuries to come; proper care needs to be enforced on the planet to keep a healthier earth and human race. It benefits us; we are the only ones who dominate this planet, if we love to live, why don’t we love where and how? The future is in our hands.