Defending A Particular Point Of View On An Environmental Health And Energy Issue Related To Chemistry

Defending A Particular Point Of View On An Environmental Health And Energy Issue Related To Chemistry

Chemistry is a scientific discipline that deals with the composition, properties, and structure of compounds and elements. Air pollution remains an environmental issue that has health consequences. The Industrial Revolution saw the conception of several industries, with the focus being on the production of human utilities (Kanawade et al., 2020). Its benefits notwithstanding, industrialization has resulted in significant compromises in air quality. Urban areas are the worst affected (Liang & Gong, 2020). Air quality compromises have been implicated in poor health outcomes. As urbanization and the need for the production of human products increase, air pollution becomes apparent, and the morbidity attributable to air pollution increases (Chiarini et al., 2021). This paper focuses on air pollution as an environmental issue with health concerns.

Air pollution refers to the indoor or outdoor contamination of the environment by chemical, biological or physical agents. Chemical contaminants are the most commonly implicated contaminating agents that result in air pollution (He et al., 2019). These contaminants often result from chemical interactions that result in the production of chemical substances that compromise the integrity of environmental air. Burning fossil fuels, wildfires, industrial emissions, microbial decaying processes, motor vehicle emissions, and open burning of wastes have been implicated as causal factors to air pollution. Urban areas are disproportionately affected by air pollution due to higher concentrations of industries, motor vehicles, and people in these areas. Tran et al. (2020) report that air quality in urban areas remains worse due to the high volume of particulate matter released into the environment as a consequence of urbanization processes. Close to 70% of the particulate matter responsible for air pollution in these areas is related to the built environment and includes but is not limited to traffic, construction, and heating of building that often characterizes urban settlements.

Air pollution seen in rural areas is mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels. Burning of fossil fuels releases a significant proportion of air contaminants. Open burning of agricultural residues, which is a common feature in rural settlements, accounts for up to 10 % of the pollution witnessed in these areas. Other common causes of air pollution include wildfires, dust and sand storms, and coal fires. Natural contaminants such as pollen and dander that are more common in rural settlements are known triggers to asthmatic attacks.

Exposure to considerably high levels of air pollution has been linked with several adverse health outcomes. In the short term, exposure to air pollutants has been implicated as a trigger factor for asthma in asthmatic patients (Tiotiu et al., 2020). Additionally, air pollutants can trigger health conditions such as allergic reactions, as evident in rash and other skin conditions, as well as in rhinitis (Li et al., 2020). Long-term exposure to air contaminants results in respiratory illnesses such as congestive obstructive pulmonary illnesses. Manisalidis et al. (2020) report that urban pollutants have a positive correlation with respiratory illnesses. COPD, resulting from chronic exposure to industrial emissions, is increasingly being reported in urban areas (Doiron et al., 2019). Higher levels of nitrogen dioxide, a common industrial waste, have also been implicated in chronic bronchitis (Kelly, 2021). This points to the need for addressing air pollution as an initiative to promote and preserve community lives.

Several measures have been rolled out to curtail the health effects of air pollution in urban and rural settlements. Interventions to minimize air pollution include the development of sustainable transport in urban settlements to mitigate air pollution attributable to motor vehicle emissions, the development of solid waste management approaches, the shift from fossil fuel use as a source of energy to green energies, and the imposition of policies on industrial emission among others. These interventions may significantly reduce air emissions and improve air quality.

In conclusion, air pollution remains an environmental concern with negative impacts on healthcare. Causal factors for air pollution include industrial and motor vehicle emissions, which are more prominent in urban settlements. The dawn of urbanization and the industrial revolution has compounded air pollution issues in these settlements. Interventions to reduce emissions may provide the much-needed benefits of improving the quality of air in urban areas.

References

Chiarini, B., D’Agostino, A., Marzano, E., & Regoli, A. (2021). Air Quality in urban areas: Comparing objective and subjective indicators in European countries. Ecological Indicators, 121, 107144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.107144

Doiron, D., de Hoogh, K., Probst-Hensch, N., Fortier, I., Cai, Y., De Matteis, S., & Hansell, A. L. (2019). Air Pollution, lung function and COPD: Results from the population-based UK Biobank Study. European Respiratory Journal, 54(1), 1802140. https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.02140-2018

He, Liu, He, & Zhou. (2019). Relationship between air pollution and urban forms: Evidence from prefecture-level cities of the Yangtze River Basin. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(18), 3459. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16183459

Kanawade, V. P., Srivastava, A. K., Ram, K., Asmi, E., Vakkari, V., Soni, V. K., Varaprasad, V., & Sarangi, C. (2020). What caused the severe air pollution episode in November 2016 in New Delhi? Atmospheric Environment, 222, 117125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.117125

Kelly, F. (2021). Air pollution and chronic bronchitis: The evidence firms up. Thorax, 76(8), 744–745. https://doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2021-216883

Li, C. H., Sayeau, K., & Ellis, A. K. (2020). air pollution and allergic rhinitis: Role in symptom exacerbation and strategies for management. Journal of Asthma and Allergy, Volume 13, 285–292. https://doi.org/10.2147/jaa.s237758

Liang, L., & Gong, P. (2020). Urban and air pollution: A multi-city study of long-term effects of urban landscape patterns on air quality trends. Scientific Reports, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74524-9

Manisalidis, I., Stavropoulou, E., Stavropoulos, A., & Bezirtzoglou, E. (2020). Environmental and health impacts of Air Pollution: A Review. Frontiers in Public Health, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00014

Tiotiu, A. I., Novakova, P., Nedeva, D., Chong-Neto, H. J., Novakova, S., Steiropoulos, P., & Kowal, K. (2020). Impact of air pollution on asthma outcomes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(17), 6212. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17176212

Tran, V. V., Park, D., & Lee, Y.-C. (2020). Indoor air pollution, related human diseases, and recent trends in the control and improvement of Indoor Air Quality. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(8), 2927. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082927

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In this paper, you will defend a particular point of view on an environmental, health, and/or energy issue related to chemistry and the concepts we have discussed in CHEM 121. You will support your point of view with relatively current (using sources published within the past 10 years) scientific primary and secondary sources supporting your point of view. See the APA Tutorial to learn more about primary and secondary sources.

In addition to meeting the college writing essentials listed above, your position paper should meet the following grading criteria:

Grading Rubric for Position Paper