Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Effect of pollution on planet earth
Harmful effects of pollution
Pollution and its effects on human health
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Effect of pollution on planet earth
In the modern world, we as despicable humans have consumed the most raw materials of
all the living organisms of Earth. We also have produced the most waste of all the living
organisms of Earth. From food scraps to plastics to carbon dioxide, we have polluted this planet
to its limit. The existence of the human race has turned our home into a giant landfill. Of the
many pollutants we put into the environment, one type stands out: plastics. Plastic was created to
be a convenient and cheap material for domestic use, but it has caused many problems like the
deaths of animals and the contamination of soil and water. One specific type of plastic that has
affected the community is polystyrene. Polystyrene, more commonly known as Styrofoam, has
created serious issues including problems connected waste disposal, global warming, and cancer.
From its original use as an industrial material in the early twentieth century to its use in
packaging currently, polystyrene has been proven to cause cancer, pollute the environment, and
cause a myriad of issues in the environment and community
The history of polystyrene began in 1839, when polystyrene was discovered by a German
apothecary named Eduard Simon who was completely unaware of the various effects the
chemical and physical composition of polystyrene would cause. Polystyrene, also known as
Styrofoam is an aromatic polymer made of styrene monomers. When it was discovered, Eduard
Simon isolated it from natural resin a well-known source of natural plastics. Later in 1922,
Hermann Staudinger had published his research on the rubber and plastic like structure of
polystyrene, which earned him a Nobel Prize in chemistry. The complete chemical and physical
characte...
... middle of paper ...
...foam cups
as reported in 2012 by Go Green In Asia especially, the lack of bans and regulates accelerated
the accumulation of polystyrene in the environment. In all Polystyrene is a major issue around
the world affecting regions from Asia to North America.
Figure 1
With 25 billion Styrofoam cups thrown away each year (Go Green, Green Living),
Styrofoam poses a problem to the entire world. From its health effects to its accumulation in
landfills, Polystyrene is a major pollutant. It is used in packaging, insulation and food storage
and its light weight and cheap price makes it easy for business. It leaks Styrene, contaminating
water, affecting humans and animals, and it is not easy on the environment. From its discovery
in 1839 to its widespread usage in the early twenty-first century, it has been a gift to businesses
but a curse to the environment.
The rattling commencement of plastic was appointed by Aleksander Parkes He presented a material called Parkesine ,which was both named after him and an non- synthetic material derived from cellulose ,which when heated could be molded and wrought, and after cooling the substance sustain the shape it was primitively wrought into. As time advanced plastic had become more in demand and is now one of the most common materials of our time. In terms of quantity us humans are using twenty times more plastic today than fifty years ago.
When people burn fossil fuels to accumulate and produce energy a substance called carbon is produced. Carbon is released into the air in a form known as carbon dioxide. Carbon moves throughout the biosphere on the planet as it is recycled and reused. Carbon exists in the earth’s atmosphere in two common forms which are methane and carbon monoxide. These gases absorb and retain heat in a process known as the greenhouse effect. The Planets natural greenhouse effect makes life possible by regulating our temperature. It turns out that adding too much to the greenhouse effect can have horrible consequences on the environment. Each year, five and a half billion tons of carbon is released by burning fossil fuels and of that three billion tons enters the atmosphere. The remaining carbon usually gets absorbed by the oceans.
Plastic is not something that can grow, live, or die. It is artificially created by pe-
Ironically, plastic, which is a material designed to last forever, is generally used for things we tend to throw away. Every year, about one hundred to two hundred billion pounds of plastic are manufactured. Only 31% of that plastic is actually recycled. Biomass packaging estimates 10% of that plastic ends up in the ocean annually. About 20% of it coming from ships and other platforms, and the other 80% coming from land derived sources, such as international garbage dumping, winds or tides, either way it finds its way to the ocean.
Plastic has an extreme impact on the environment. Trash, consisting of paper or organic waste, decomposes after a while, unlike plastic in which one plastic bottle takes from 450 up to 1000 years to decompose. Considering that the United States produces over 300 million tons of plastic a year, most of which is only used once and then thrown away, it is clear that pollution will become worse each year. It becomes even more shocking when this number is put in other terms; 300 million tons of plastic is comparable to the weight of all the adults living on the planet. By not
It covers 70% of our planet, makes up 75% of our body, it is necessary for survival and it is declining at a rapid rate (http://www.sscwd.org). It is water. Unfortunately, clean water is rare, almost 1 billion people in developing countries do not have access to water everyday. “Yet, we take it for granted, we waste it, and we even pay too much to drink it from little plastic bottles” (The Water Project). Use of earth’s natural resources should be seen as prosperity, although it is taken for granted, every aspect of daily life revolves around the environment, forcing water conservation to be necessary for future on this planet. Many people grab a water bottle to go as they head to life as normal, others in developing countries spend their lives searching for water that is rarely found. Even if they do obtain water, it is seldom clean and usually comes with the risk of disease. As more developed countries pay a dollar or so for a bottle of water, others in less fortunate places worship water as if it is gold.
...n. Many American shares a common image of not living in a finite world and are used to exponential growth in almost all aspects of that a developed country would attempt to obtain positively. Though when comparing the United States to other countries around the world with the amount of garbage produced annually, we top the scales around two hundred and thirty-six million tons. Even japan, ranked third and half the size of America, has less then fifty-five million tons of garbage annually. (Forbes) As we continue to diminish our sources at alarming rate, people often forget the treatment and infrastructure required to manage all our garbage. The sad but inevitable process of wiping out forests and preserved land for more space for urban living hugely hurts not only American population but foreign companies who wish to do future international business in our country.
that can endanger the health of human beings, plants, and animals, or that can damage
According to World WildLife Fund, many ecosystems around the world are being destroyed, eliminating many plant and animal species that inhabit them (“Pollution”).
The process of recycling is costly and if the polymer contains other type of material then it can contaminate the whole melted batch. The recycled product did not have good strength and may not last longer. The recycling sites are very unhygienic and spreading disease and other harmful chemical and waste.
One huge aspect of recycling is that it gives the recycler the fulfillment of helping the environment. W. Kip Viscusi a professor at Vanderbilt University said, “The warm glow environmental benefit that a person receives from recycling will be greater for those who place a higher value on the environment .” Therefore, the benefit of helping our environment is the greatest benefit of all. Although it might seem as if plastic is thrown away than it can not harm the environment, however, that is incorrect. Plastic is not biodegradable, therefore, it will never be able to completely decompose into the earth. With plastic not being able to decompose it takes up a large amount of space while also being capable of traveling through the air. Sati Manrich, the author of Plastic Recycling said, “The mounting volume of plastic residues, coupled with their extremely low biodegradability, generated a serious problem regarding the amount of space they took up.” Therefore, when plastic is thrown away it will last for at least four-hundred and fifty years before degrading in the landfills; thus allowing all the plastic that was thrown away in the last four-hundred and fifty years to start a stockpile in the landfills or even travel somewhere else.(Manrich
from different resins. In order to recycle plastics, the different types must be kept separate.
These fragments absorb all the toxins that pollute waterways, contaminate soil, and sicken animals (which are then consumed). Plastic trash also absorbs organic pollutants such as BPA. They take centuries to decompose while sitting in landfills, amounting to billions of environmentally poisonous time bombs. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical compound used to create polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins. Polycarbonate plastics are found in a wide range of products, but food and drink containers are the most concerning.
Water pollution is also a major thing in the world because almost 60% of it is fishes. It occurs due to several factors; the industrial waste dumped into the rivers and other water body’s cause am imbalance in the water leading to its severe contamination and deaths. And the infamous Global warming is the emission of greenhouse gases particularly CO2 is leading to global warming.
Millions of tons of plastics are disposed of into oceans and other water sources (i.e. rivers, ponds, etc.). The incorrectly discarded plastics are swept up by large ocean currents, and over time degrade into microscopic particles. These microparticles may be the cause of various adverse human and wildlife health effects, such as infertility and the inhibition of growth. This distressing issue must be brought further to the public’s opinion, and heavily regulated to reduce the effects.