submitted by Jon Alongi   Class of 2004

Pollution

        Pollution in our world has become a major problem that is debilitating the entire world slowly, but efficiently.  This pollution is being caused by many different factors, mostly coming from us, the people who make this world their home.  Things such as means of transportations, smoke stacks from factories, as well as the every day wear and tear that the world takes from its inhabitants.  Our planet earth is abused everyday by the people who live on it, as well as the things that exist on it.  The burning of fossil fuels is another major aspect of pollution.  Those burning of fuels causes more pollution than any one could imagine.  

        Air pollution has become a major concern among world leaders as well.  Research has indicated that the air pollution on earth continues to increase while the air quality is deterioting as well.  Air pollution has made many of the people on earth scared.  They are scared because of what it can do to someone’s personal health as well as the overall health of the world.    There are many short term effects of air pollution such as irritating eyes, nose, throat, as well as infections such as pnuemonia and bronchitis.  Long term effects can result in chronic respiratory disease, heart disease, and even brain, nerve, liver or kidney damage.  All of these results came from this air pollution that has been mentioned before.  Air Pollution can consist of smog, which is cuase by chemical reactions between pollutants derived from different sources, primarily from the aforementioned automobile exhaust as well as industrial emissions.  Another example of air pollution that is killing the animals as well as people in our world is acid.  Acid rain results from sulfuric acid combining with water in the air which become pacified.  This acid rain can brutally damage plants by destroying their leaves as well as poisoning the soil and changing the chemistry of streams and even lakes.  The most important part of air pollution, the Greenhouse effect, also known as global warming, has haunted our earth for so many years.  The building up of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere that is produced when fossils are burned is what makes up this greenhouse effect.  The Greenhouse effect is causing change in the earth’s temperature to rise and for the earth, that is bad news.  

        Because of all this air pollution, which is one of the five events we have talked about in our biodiversity class, animals, as well as humans all over the world are being effected by pollution in everyday life.  A certain animal group such as the invertebrate family, including the earthworm, or an animal with thick moist skin, is affected by absorbing this pollution through their skin.  Mammals such as dogs, horses and wild animals have similar physiological systems to humans.  Thus this makes them vulnerable to the effects of air pollution among the world.  Those domestic animals such as dogs, cats, etc. are affected by the indoor air pollutants including tobacco smoke, allergens and household chemicals, toxins or fumes.

        It is very simple, pollution can be stopped, if we ourselves put forth and effort to stop it in and of itself.  It is us who is slowly killing this country year by year, decade by decade, as the temperature of the earth increases with the extinction rate as well.  If we work together, as a whole world, as one, we can put a dent in this huge deficit we are facing.  The pollution that is going on in our world today, is from us, and needs to be solved by us.  The temperature of the earth is rising, and it can’t be stopped, because we, as inhabitants of this earth are to greedy.  We need to put an end to pollution, and this biodiversity class is the first step towards finding an answer.