Free «Air Pollution from Cars» Essay Sample

Air pollution is a threat to human survival in the modern USA. The earliest cause of air pollution can be traced back to the use of fire by man. However, the invention and increase in use of vehicles is also one of the leading causes of air pollution. 60% of carbon Monoxide (CO) emissions in the United States are attributed to increased exhaustion of poisonous gases by millions of cars that ply American roads (TMACOG, 2010). In fact, it has been established that the increase in travelling and ownership of vehicles has led to the deterioration of air quality.

Air pollution has also affected both urban and rural areas through acidic rains, which kill plants and crops, cause peeling of paint and rusting of metal and iron sheets, hence gradually destroying great monumental sites in the United States. These gases can also cause improper functioning of body immune system, thus making human defense system weak and vulnerable to diseases. The gases are also able to block the breathing system causing cancer of the lungs or poor breathing systems. Health experts advise the public to avoid traffic congested regions because of high concentration of the dangerous ambient gases like Ozone, PM-2.5 and CO. Thus, drivers in the cars are in a danger when cornered in traffic congested regions, because an engine that has been sitting is almost five times more dangerous compared to a warm engine. Moreover, these gases penetrate through rubber of the windshield into the car, which has already limited volume of fresh air. Therefore, private car owners should avoid using their personal cars and use public service vehicles, which pollute only 10% of air. If they have to use their cars they should at least service them regularly (The New York Times, 2011).

The above discussed article is very effective because it creates public awareness on air pollution. Thus, the public will be informed and will be able to take into consideration precautions that might help them to reduce air pollution, and may take some actions that will protect them from harm of air pollution.

New Rules Issued on Coal Air Pollution

President Obama’s administration has proposed new legislation to control coal burning power plant, which will reduce air pollution from Texas to EasternSea board. This act was a response to the federal court order. Texas and those regions are suffering from soot and smog. These new rules are to fix the gap left vacant when the federal court canceled other legislations implemented during the President George Bush rule (Broder, 2010). The court dismissed Bush’s legislation on grounds that they failed to observe several issues regarding the circulation of air quality effects. The new regulations will voluminously reduce the hundreds of thousands of tons of Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrous Oxide. These gases are responsible for premature deaths, smog in the cities, and various respiratory diseases. Thus, this will reduce the volumes of these gases in the atmosphere.

The legislations demand that coal-burning utilities should employ scrubbers and other technologies that will decrease emissions and air pollutants in the atmosphere. Some coal utilities have already complied with the regulations because that is what they were doing since 1990s. Thus, the legislation will be easily adopted by these concerned parties. Environmental advocates have acknowledged the new legislations. However, they feel that the EPA has still much to do (Broder, 2010). They claim that EPA should also control emission of mercury and other perilous pollutants.

This article has very important academic material, since it is pointing out the advances made by government in tackling the air pollution problem and its shortcomings. Thus, next researchers will be able to formulate policies that will further help in reducing air pollution. Thus, there are future guarantees that the air situation will be safer.

I chose this article because John Broder has addressed the subject matter comprehensively. Through this article, the author reveals how the proposed by the Obama administration rule has never been implemented or made public after being thrown out by a federal judge in 2008. Although another rule has been proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, the writer is of the opinion that the new rule, just like the preceding one, will not address the issue of global warming comprehensively.