Statistics on Pollution
1052 words by ttran24
The criteria for week 7 are to find some statistics on my project which is pollution/global warming. After doing some research, I found many things in our world that can be destroyed if nothing is done with this problem. Higher temperatures threaten dangerous consequences like drought, disease, floods, and lost ecosystems. And from scorching heat to rising seas, global warming’s effects have already begun.
There is scientific agreement that air pollution from human activities is partly responsible for global warming. Climatic changes will alter natural vegetation, wildlife habitats, crop growing seasons, and distribution of pests and diseases. America’s cars, trucks and buses account for twenty percent of U.S. global warming pollution, as well as soot and smog that damage human lungs. The country’s largest industrial source of the pollutants that cause acid rain, mercury poisoning in lakes and rivers is the electric power plants. Our air, rivers, lakes and drinking water supplies are much cleaner than they were before the passage of America’s basic environmental laws in the 1970’s, but even today they can’t be called safe. Unlike people in other parts of this world, Americans take safe, clean drinking water for granted, which they should not. Scientists estimate that each year up to seven million Americans become sick from contaminated tap water, which can be very lethal. Industrial pollution, tailpipe exhaust, agricultural runoff and poor sewage treatment continue to put dangerous levels of contaminants into our air and water, causing a range of health problems from asthma attacks, cancer and developmental disorders. Even as pollution pours into the water bodies, development and water diversions drain and destroy them. More than half the wetlands in the lower forty-eight states are gone, and with them are complex ecosystems that intercept and filter pollution. Harmful chemicals can infiltrate even the most familiar and comfortable environments such as the places we live, work and play. Some, like lead, may remain from an earlier period, while newer threats from chemicals in household pesticides, pet products and even furniture are not acceptably regulated. Regardless of the hazards that pesticides pose to the environment and human health, especially children’s health, farmers apply greater than ever amounts of these toxic chemicals to their fields. Global warming will expose millions of people to new health risks. Infectious diseases are emerging and undergoing redistribution on a global scale. In the past twenty years, about thirty new infectious diseases have emerged. Children are more vulnerable to environmental health threats than adults. Their systems are still developing, and their small bodies receive greater exposures to these chemicals. By the year 2050, up to one million additional deaths from malaria may be occurring annually as a result of climate change.
The second major one would be our coastal wetlands around the world. The world will be warmer than any time in the last ten thousand years because our climate is changing at a fast rate. Over the past century, the world has warmed by 0.5 degree Celsius and by 2100 an average of 2 degrees Celsius warming is predicted. Global sea level has risen between ten to twenty-five centimeters in the last one hundred years and will continue to rise faster sill in the coming decades. Half of the world’s coastal wetlands are being threatened due to a continuous and accelerated rise in sea levels because of global warming. A rise of sea level, about one-meter, will also threaten half of the world’s coastal wetlands. If the temperature increases about three to four degrees Celsius, eight-five percent of the remaining wetlands in the semi-arid regions of southern Europe could be eliminated, and all open waters of the prairie pothole region in the US, an area where half of the wild duck population hatch out. Local populations of turtles and birds can be extinct if the wetlands in the flood plains of rivers in the African Sahel are loss. Temperature increase can also lead to collapses of the snow caves where female seals bear their young. Tundra’s available to Arctic species like the seals will have a thirty percent reduction if greenhouse gas concentrations double. Scientists suspect that declines in seal populations will occur in this manner, and will ultimately lead to declines in polar bear populations. Many of the world’s most distinctive mammals are found only in the Arctic. As sea ice becomes thinner due to increased temperatures, animal intruders from the south, such as grizzly bears and moose, are penetrating the north affecting local populations. Even with all this information, how serious will people take it? To some people, this does not cross their mind at any point in their life. We are not the only ones that will be affected if global warming continues. Everything on this planet may disappear in front of our eyes if nothing is done.
The Promised Land was a land that God assured to Abraham and Moses when they made a covenant, a two way promise between God and the other person, with him. God also made a promise to Abraham that his descendants will take over the Promised Land. The Israelites were the ones who God referred to the Promised Land. They had both made a deal with him and expected each other to live to their part in order for them to receive the Promised Land.
God’s house is pretty detailed in the way that he wanted it. Known as the Tabernacle, God’s house was built by Moses but God gave him detailed directions on how he wanted it to be like. His house was built like a tent that had a courtyard. There were three things that a person will see when they first step into his home. The first is an altar which is for sacrifices. The second is a lavatory which is for someone to clean their hands. The third one is a room directly behind the lavatory which is the Holy of Holies. This tent consists of incense to fight odors away from sacrificed animals. By the way God described his house, it seems like he wants everyone to respect his rules and if not then they will have consequences.
http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/default.asp
http://www.gdrc.org