For and Against Pollution

These days, more and more people are using their own cars to commute. The increasing number of vehicles in our cities contributes to the high levels of pollution in the air. When faced with taking private cars or public transport, people react in different ways. I will discuss the for and against arguments of using private cars or public transport. People prefer private cars over public transport for several reasons. Firstly, private cars are believed to be faster than public transport since people don’t have to spend their precious time waiting for a bus.

In addition, bus-shelters are usually crammed with people. Secondly, you can go directly from work to home much faster. Furthermore, there are people who don’t like to share places with unknown persons or they don’t like to be standing up during their journey. For instance, when taking a bus in rush hours it is very difficult to find a spare seat and eventually you end up grasping a hand bar and trying to keep your balance so as not be flung around when the bus brakes. On the other hand, there are other people who prefer public transport to private cars.

Using public transport is cheaper than using your own car. Ask people who use private cars on a regular basis how much  they spend on their cars every month. Not only do people have to pay for high parking prices and fuel, but also the expense incurred when they take their car to the garage to have it repaired. Unlike private cars, public transport has reserved lanes in many cities; so long delays due to traffic congestion can be avoided by taking a bus or a taxi. As far as the environment is concerned, the use of public transport instead of private cars makes a difference.

For example, if the people who use a bus were to use their own vehicles instead, this would definitely contribute to air pollution. In conclusion, using private cars is expensive and produces more atmospheric pollution than public transport does. All in all, public transport is proven to be more efficient and cheaper than private cars. For this reason, I feel that we should all try to use public transport whenever possible. It is beneficial for our finances, our time, and more significantly to our environment.

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Water Pollution Effects and Impact Analysis

Water is considered to be a vital resource for production growth, industrial development, have led to structured measures to ensure sustainable management of this important resource. Water scarcity and pollution rank equal to climate charge as the most complicated environmental problems for the 21st century[1].

Today, water pollution is one of the most important environmental problems in the world. The current rise in mortality is caused by the recent evaluation of drug- resistant, inaccessibility to effective health care facilities and the introduction of industrial by products to the environment. One of such industrial by-products threatening the environment worldwide today is pesticides residues. Reports have shown that presence of pesticide in the environment and the threat they pose to wild life and mankind have generated great concern in the past 20 years[2].

The on-growing and uncontrolled use of pesticides to fight pest and improve agricultural production constitutes a risk for water quality. Thus, pesticides have been detected in water by monitoring surface and underground waters. The most frequently found types of pesticides in water bodies are derivatives of urea, pyridazinone, phenoxy acetic acid, tryazin and the group of chlorinated pesticides[3].

Pesticides are broadly classified into two groups as chemical pesticides and biopesticides. Chemical pesticides are conventionally synthetic materials that directly kill or inactivate the pest. Pesticides are also classified according to the type of organism they act against as insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, rodenticides and Nematicides[4].

Herbicides are used to destroy other weeds that interfere with production of the desired crop. Based on their structure they are grouped into chlorophenoxy compounds (eg 2,4-D, 2,4,5,-T), dinitrophenols (2- methyl- 4,6- dinitro phenol), bipyridy compounds (paraquot, carbomate herbicides, substituted urea, triazines) and amide herbicides (alanine derivatives) [5].

Phenoxy herbicides (PHs) are among compounds among currently the most frequently used pesticides worldwide. They have been used on large scale in agriculture to control the growth of broad -leaved weeds on rice, maize and wheat and in post emergence application in most developing countries[6,7]. Among them, 2,4- dichlorophenoxy aceticacid ( 2,4-D) is a common important PHs (Figure 1) that is selective herbicide extensively used throughout the world including Ethiopia for the past 50 years. These types of herbicides family are popular among the farmers because of their low cost, effectiveness even in low doses and good water solubility.

Figure 1: Structural formula of 2,4- dichlorophenoxy acetic acid

However, there is information gap in our farmer about the toxicity level of herbicides [8].

Herbicides are commonly formulated into two forms including sprayed liquid and dry solids. Herbicids are widely used all over the world. figure 2 shows the statistic of pesticide usage worldwide, according to its categories for the year of 2011.. As shown in Figure 2, the total usage of herbicides in worldwide accounted as (36 %) followed by insecticides (25 %), fungicides (10%) and other pesticides including namaticides, rodenticides, fumigants, birds, fish and aquatic fish (29 %)[9].

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Why Should We Care About the Ocean

The Ocean is one of the major reasons why humans survive in this world. The Ocean provides us with water to drink and the fresh air we breathe. That’s why the issue of ocean pollution is important and needs to be addressed as soon as possible. We depend on the ocean for so much in our life.

Ocean pollution is becoming a major problem. Trash is piling up in our oceans but the question is, where is the trash coming from. According to the article “Ocean Pollution” by Maclnnes David F., Jr., Kahler Karen N, “Land-based sources account for approximately 80 percent of the pollutants that enter the marine environment.” All the trash comes from land. People seem to think that since the ocean is so large and vast, we can dump as much waste as we’d like into it, and it will never have an effect on us.

According to “Ocean Pollution”, “Ocean pollution includes trash, chemicals, and sewage introduced into the ocean by human activity.” We as humans need to stop littering and throw our trash away in order to reduce the amount of wastes going into the ocean. According to John H. Tibbetts, the author of the article, “Managing Marine Plastic Pollution says”, “by one estimate, the volume of plastic debris going into the world’s ocean could more than double by 2025.”

One of the major problems of ocean pollution is chemical pollution. Chemical pollution can also result from air pollution. For example, automobiles and coal-burning power plants release harmful particles into the atmosphere. These particles can eventually settle in the water carrying with them chemicals such as mercury. Mercury can accumulate in tiny plankton, which are eaten by fish, which may come down to be eaten by humans.

According to another Ocean Pollution article, “Chemical pollution can come from a single large event, such as an oil spill, but it also comes from many small sources, such as oil leaked by automobiles and carried by rain and waterways to the ocean. Only a small portion of oil in the ocean comes from major spills.” Chemical pollution can affect human health, but the greatest potential for large-scale effects on human health from chemical pollution is connected to consumption of contaminated seafood.

Another pollution in the ocean is sewage. Human sewage largely comes from toilet-flushing; doing the laundry, the showers you taake and dishwashing. According to an article, “Ocean Pollution since 1945”, “Sewage is another important kind of ocean pollution because it carries disease-causing microbes.

When it rains, sewage is often discharged into harbors and beaches. Towns may monitor bacteria levels in the water to alert beachgoers when the water is polluted with sewage.” Most sewage finds its way into the ocean during huge storms. Sewage is teaming with viruses and bacteria, and fecal contamination is a major cause of illness around the world.

With all the information provided, the question the effect it has on living species. Waste disposal, like sewage, has been recognized as a potential threat to the environmental quality of waters. Because of these dirty waters, the living resources in the water are deeply affected. The oils in the waters are less dense than the ocean, so for the most part, they harm birds that fly across hunting for fish. Everyday, marine animals are getting caught in some at least some kind of plastic or net.

Most think that only fish are affected from getting caught in these but not alot know that they also kill birds, turtles, dolphins and others mammals swimming in the sea. The marine creatures are being harmfully affected by this pollution. This pollution also affects humans. It is perhaps a cycle because humans are the reason for this pollution. The humans make the decision to harm the marine waters, thus harming the animal life, and therefore harming themselves.

At the end of the day, ocean pollution is harming both us human beings and killing marine animals in the sea. Ocean pollution is a huge problem that we need to solve, In the near future, I plan to build an organization where groups of clean up crews clean up the beach every weekend. I also plan on making a project where trash will be collected right before it even touches the water.

According to “Yes, No, Maybe So by Birdman,” says “The path toward major ethical lapses begins with minor transgressions and continues as a series of reasonable choices.” I plan on starting by building my team as soon as possible in order to solve this problem but for right now, I suggest everybody to pick up after their own trash or maybe pick up any trash you see in the streets.

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Waste minimising and recycle in construction

Table of contents

Introduction:

The building industry has a major impact on the environment, both in footings of the resources it consumes and the waste it produces. The building industry is responsible for bring forthing a whole assortment of different wastes, the sum and type of which depends on factors such as the phase of building, type of building work and patterns on site.

The building industry generates a big sum of waste every twelvemonth. As building professionals we should follow a hierarchal attack to blow direction by taking chiefly to cut down the sum of waste produced so purpose to recycle and recycle any waste that is produced. Whilst the tendency is to reject the traditional methods of waste disposal in favor of sustainable waste schemes, the bulk of the building industry has placed waste decrease at the underside of research dockets because of complexnesss over reuse and recycling. Construction waste has a important impact on the environment and more accent must be put on cut downing waste production and increasing recycling and reuse.

Waste

“ Sustainable waste direction means utilizing material resources expeditiously ; to cut down on the sum of waste we produce, and where waste is produced, covering with it in a manner that actively contributes to the economic, societal and environmental ends of sustainable development. ” [ 1 ]

Beginnings OF WASTE

CLIENT ROLE:

The client plays an of import function in the decrease of waste. This is for a ground that when the client changes his demands at a phase when building has already began, the stuffs which are already being used would be wasted as they no longer will be used in the new design.

IMPORTANCE OF SKILLED LABOUR:

The usage of skilled labors means that good techniques will be used and hopefully fewer errors will happen during the building stage. A error could take to the demand for replacing of stuffs. Thereby increasing the sum of waste generated.

LOGISTICS OF MATERIALS:

The logistics of stuffs to the site can besides play a portion in cut downing the waste ; this is for a figure of grounds. Packaging of stuff will make waste. Therefore, if a method is generated to cut down the sum of packaging so the waste will be reduced.

AFFECTS OF TRANSPORTATION OF MATERIALS:

Waste will besides be generated due to the transit of the merchandise. While transporting, goods can be damaged due to the vehicular motions if proper attention is non taken and therefore acquire wasted. Delivering goods in big measures could bring forth jobs at the site as more storage may be required which may necessitate impermanent constructions or heating to maintain the merchandises in the right conditions, this adding to the sum of waste generated.

Fabrication Defect:

During fabrication, the maker produces merely a specific size, but the client may necessitate a somewhat different size, therefore the stuff is trimmed down on site. This creates a big sum of wastage. Besides a hapless maker may bring forth a figure of low quality merchandises that ca n’t be used.

SITE Managements:

Site direction could besides be a factor that courses waste. Time direction and storage of stuff on site could class waste if the site direction is non every bit good as it should be. If stuffs are non used within a limited clip period or if when they are non stored decently, its belongingss might alter and therefore may non be suited for the undertaking. An illustration of this is if concrete arrives on site and is forced to wait for the site to be ready, so the concrete might get down to put and therefore ca n’t be used.

TYPES OF WASTE

There are two chief types of waste in the building industry, this include solid waste ( which may be recycled or taken to landfill ) or gasses waste which may be a pollutant.

Gaseous waste will be generated from a figure of different beginnings. In the building procedure a big sum of works and heavy machinery will be used. Most of this machinery will be driven by Diesel engines which will bring forth exhaust gases, these gases will be a waste merchandise generated in the contraction procedure. Waste gasses can besides indirectly be generated due to the building industry, gasses may be produced in the fiction and fabrication of different merchandises that are used.

Solid waste can besides be split into subdivisions, waste that can be recycled or re-used and waste which will be put into landfill. There are a big figure of different waste merchandises that could be generated from the building industries such as, lumber, metals, concrete and more serious waste, which may be harder to recycle and recycle. These wastes include plastics, plaster boards and asbestos.

How much Waste does the Construction Industry Produce?

Construction and destruction ( C & A ; D ) waste includes brick, concrete, hardcore, undersoil and surface soil, but it can besides incorporate measures of lumber, metal, plastics and on occasion particular ( risky ) waste stuffs. Wastes occur from the building, fix, care and destruction of edifices and constructions.

The Construction Industry Research and Information Association ( CIRIA ) have reported that an estimated 72.5 million metric tons of building and destruction waste are produced yearly. This is about 17.5 % of the entire waste produced in the U.K. Furthermore, 13 million metric tons of building stuffs are delivered to sites in the U.K. and thrown off fresh every twelvemonth. This is non sustainable. [ 3 ]

Effects OF CONSTRUCTION WASTE ON THE ENVIRONMENT

The two chief types of waste generated by the building industry are solid wastes and gaseous wastes. Liquid wastes may besides be generated during building procedures, such as cleansing, but the consequence of such wastes is minimum and by and large local to a peculiar site. Gaseous waste is a sub-product from the usage of machinery in the building procedure, transit of stuffs and from the production of building stuffs. This type of waste is emitted to the air and has built-in effects on air quality. Solid waste can be generated from destruction and digging or may be fresh stuff from the building procedure. Some solid waste may be recycled or reused nevertheless the bulk is put into landfill sites, because of this the overarching mark of the UK authorities ‘s scheme for sustainable building is to cut down the sum of building waste to landfill by 50 % by 20121. Solid waste hence adopts the associated effects on the environment that landfill has.

Of the solid waste that is put into landfill the bulk comes from the destruction of bing constructions and the digging of stuff to let building, nevertheless a comparatively little proportion consists of fresh stuffs generated from amongst others, design alteration, deficiency of skilled work force, site untidiness, hapless quality stuffs and industry and deficiency of merchandise information and cognition. Fresh stuffs will non merely lend to the environmental effects of landfill but will hold indirect environmental effects due to transit, production and packaging. The chief environmental effects of waste due to destruction and digging are emanations from transit and chiefly issues with landfill.

Landfills are widely considered to hold inauspicious effects on the environing environment and public wellness. The chief types of environmental impacts caused by landfill sites are change to environing landscape, ocular invasion, debasement of air quality, pollution of land H2O and debasement of dirt quality. The building industry makes a considerable part as it makes up a big proportion of the entire waste assigned to landfill in the UK.

Landfill sites by and large occupy a big country required for waste disposal itself every bit good as associated installations and adequate country to understate the effects on environing groundwater and dirt quality. Additionally in some instances digging and motion of stuff is required to make an country which is suited for the disposal of waste. Therefore, the environing landscape is adversely affected. The location of a landfill site is frequently sanely chosen so to understate the effects it has on the environing environment, nevertheless it may be impossible to turn up it so that it is wholly unseeable to the populace and the negative ocular impact a landfill site will hold on a community can non be avoided. Gaseous emanations from a landfill site come from the transit of waste, usage of machinery and more significantly the anaerobiotic digestion of organic affair bring forthing methane. Generation of gas in a landfill site is one of the largest beginnings of methane emanations to the ambiance ; methane holding a much greater planetary heating consequence than C dioxide every bit good as being harmful to worlds. Landfill sites hence have a negative consequence on air quality and public wellness. The precipitation that falls on a landfill coupled with the disposal of liquid wastes consequences in the extraction of H2O soluble compounds and particulate stuff, such as cement, dust and asbestos. Although nowadays steps are by and large taken to water-proof a landfill site ensuing solutions and mixtures will about surely end up in environing groundwater and dirt. Therefore, a debasement of groundwater and dirt quality occurs.

Gaseous wastes are a byproduct of any development but have increased badness in big graduated table developments which require a big sum of stuff and associated transit, usage of a greater sum and variable machinery and occur over a longer timescale. Transportation system of stuffs will normally be by route, rail or on occasion by sea. In any instance the method of transit will bring forth gaseous emanations that will hold an overall planetary heating consequence and cut down the air quality locally and regionally. An increased local decrease in air quality occurs in countries around big developments with longer building times due to the drawn-out changeless usage of machinery in the same country. The production of building stuffs besides has a important consequence on air quality due to emanations of peculiarly detrimental waste merchandises from industrial workss.

Godforsaken MINIMISATION:

Definition of waste minimization:

“ The decrease of waste at beginning, by understanding and altering procedures to cut down and forestall waste. This is besides known as procedure or resource efficiency. Waste minimization includes the permutation of less environmentally harmful stuffs in the production procedure. ” [ 4 ]

Planing out waste at the initial phases of the building procedure provides the greatest chances for waste minimization. The best manner to pull off waste, peculiarly risky waste, is to pull off the procedure so that there is no waste to pull off. This is decidedly non easy, but the whole purpose is that when a similar idea occurs, waste can be minimised if non eliminated.

Benefits of Waste Minimisation:

* Increase resource efficiency

* Reduce costs

* Improve environmental public presentation

* Demonstrate best pattern

* Ensure conformity with legal duties

* Reduce disposal to landfill

* economic inducements

* societal advantages

* internal concern benefits

* external concern benefits

Waste minimization contributes to the addition efficiency in the use of resources.

It besides helps in decrease of cost of overall undertaking, when the outgo over the waste is reduced ; thereby the cost of undertaking besides reduces.

Waste Minimisation understandsenvironmental improvementssuch as ameliorated pollution control, development of environmentally friendly merchandises

Waste Minimisation ensureslegal compliancewith European Directives, UK Legislation and Regulations.

Waste minimization will well cut down the disposal to landfill, thereby cut downing the landfill revenue enhancement.

Waste Minimisation haseconomic incentivessuch as diluted trade waste costs and better efficiency. It is of import that any industry respects in implementing the waste minimization enterprises because the debut of the landfill revenue enhancement means that waste disposal costs are set to increase in the hereafter.

Waste Minimisation hassocial benefitsas the recycling and reuse methods allow employment and economic chances for local charities, voluntary groups, the community sector and concerns that can recycle or recycle stuffs.

Waste Minimisation hasinternal concern benefitsby advancing a cultural alteration within any industry by fostering environmental consciousness. It besides provides an chance for staff preparation and makings every bit good as improved employee motive.

Waste Minimisation hasexternal concern benefitsby pull offing a assortment of your concerns stakeholder relationships. Industry ‘s investors, clients, the general populace, the regulator, companies within your supply concatenation and contractors may necessitate grounds of good environmental public presentation or expression for a ‘green ‘ image. [ 5 ]

How to accomplish the benefits:

Waste minimization demands action on three foreparts:

1. Peoples:

Many decreases in waste can be accomplished through improved housework. It is important that employees are cognizant of the issues related to waste and are motivated and trained to forestall it.

2. Methodology:

A systematic attack to measurement and command foregrounds lacks and jobs, alters marks to be set and maintains degrees of efficiency.

3. Technology:

Capital investing in new engineering can heighten productiveness and lessening waste coevals, giving really short paybacks.

METHODS OF WASTE MINIMISATION

The procedure of waste minimization through ‘Designing out Waste ‘ is still at the early phase of development. Many barriers and chances exist in developing waste minimization schemes in design. If this procedure is considered in the early phases of building activities, there are chances for it to be.

The waste hierarchy ( see figure 1 ) establishes waste decrease as one of the highest precedences for turn toing the increasing volumes of waste. The mark for any waste decrease scheme must be to concentrate on chances from the beginning, at the earliest phases of design. Many barriers and chances exist in developing a scheme of waste decrease in design.

Opportunities for waste minimization exist in four building countries:

1. Undertaking Planing

2. Pre-Construction

3. Off-site Activities

4. On-site Activities

Undertaking Planning:

During undertaking be aftering stage, it is indispensable that waste direction scheme is made for better net income borders. Focus on riddance of waste is the premier factor. Communicating schemes with client, developer, interior decorator, builder, undertaking director, contractors and providers is really of import. Analysis on waste decrease program should be done.

PRE Construction:

This phase involves three countries where waste decrease is possible.

* Designing: proper and accurate dimensions, suggesting standard stuff sizes, edifice for deconstruction ( can be easy reused if future alterations occur with easiness and minimal wastage ) and operational waste decrease.

* Estimating: over appraisal of needed stuffs leads to wastage.

* Buying: Buying environmental friendly points, utilizing procurance policy as stipulating makers and providers your exact demands reduces the sum of waste.

Off-site ACTIVITIES:

AA· Prefabrication: By preassembling frames and trusses, timber waste can be decreased to an extent.

On-site ACTIVITIES:

* Delivery and storage of stuffs.

* Packaging

* Separation of stuffs.

* Safe disposal of ineluctable waste.

WASTE MINIMISATION STRATEGIES

Pull offing and supervising the different waste watercourses on a building site requires a elaborate waste minimization scheme. This needs careful planning throughout the design, physique and tenancy stages, to guarantee its success, effectivity and conformity with edifice ordinances.

There are three basic schemes for covering with waste: cut down, reuse and recycle. Waste bar is the ideal, and this can be addressed foremost by placing possible waste watercourses early on in the physique procedure, and so planing for their minimization. Using standard sizes for edifice constituents ( Windowss, doors etc. ) can forestall future waste, as can plan for deconstruction, utilizing reclaimable constituents. It has been estimated that over telling histories for 13 million metric tons of new edifice stuffs being thrown out every twelvemonth. Better communicating between constructing professionals to guarantee exact computations of needed stuffs are made can intend that this waste is prevented. Just-in-time bringing schemes can farther cut down waste created by improper storage and conditions harm.

Once waste has been produced, the best method of pull offing it is through reuse either on the bing site, or a nearby site. Many stuffs can be usefully reclaimed, and even sold to countervail the costs of a edifice undertaking. Recycling stuffs is the concluding option for pull offing waste. Materials that can be reused or recycled demand to be identified early on the physique procedure, and segregated for easy storage, aggregation and transportation. For the scheme to be effectual, links besides need to be established with local recycling and reuse installations and contractors. [ 6 ]

OCCUPANCY WASTE

Sustainable edifice pattern goes one measure further than conventional pattern, by planing for waste minimization in the operation of the edifice, through gray H2O recycling, composting lavatories, on site nutrient composting and off-site recycling installations, therefore assisting to cut down residential waste. [ 7 ]

Legislative ASPECTS OF WASTE MANAGEMENT:

LANDFILL TAX

The landfill revenue enhancement purposes to promote waste manufacturers to bring forth less waste, retrieve more value from waste, through recycling or composting, and to utilize more environmentally friendly methods of waste disposal. The revenue enhancement applies to active and inert waste, disposed of at a accredited landfill site.

The purposes of the landfill revenue enhancement are:

* To advance the ‘polluter wages ‘ rule, by increasing the monetary value of landfill to better reflect its environmental costs ;

* To advance a more sustainable attack to blow direction in which less waste is produced and more is recovered or recycled.

There are two rates of revenue enhancement. Inactive waste is capable to the lower rate at ?2 per metric ton. Active waste is capable to ?15 per metric ton, lifting at ?3 per metric ton per twelvemonth from 2005/06 towards a long-run rate of ?35 per metric ton.

Her Majesty ‘s Customs and Excise has updated its General Note on the Landfill Tax. The counsel replaces the old version ( February 2000 ) to include the alterations to the revenue enhancement liability of stuffs re-used on landfill sites ; licenses issued under ordinances under subdivision 2 of the Pollution Prevention and Control Act ( 1999 ) that authorise sedimentations or disposals in, or on the land ; the alterations to the liability to pay landfill revenue enhancement and alterations to the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme.

The Landfill Tax Regulations have been clarified following a legal challenge brought by a waste direction company last twelvemonth. [ 8 ]

SITE WASTE MANAGEMENT PLANS ( SWMPS )

Site Waste Management Plans ( SWMPs ) are an of import tool for building companies and their clients, of all sizes, to better their environmental public presentation, meet regulative controls and cut down lifting costs of disposing of waste. This papers sets out the basic construction of SWMPs and how companies can outdo utilize them to better and pull off their operations at all phases of site activity. It includes utile checklists and other counsel to assist guarantee the Plan is a practical tool.

Note that it is non indispensable for there to be a separate SWMP papers for your site – the counsel given here can every bit good be included in a Waste Management Section of an overall Site Environmental Management Plan. [ 9 ]

THE PURPOSE OF SWMPS:

SWMPs purpose to turn to two cardinal issues:

1. Bettering stuffs resource efficiency, by advancing the economic usage of building stuffs and methods so that waste is minimised and any waste that is produced can be re-used, recycled or recovered in other ways before disposal options are explored ; and

2. Reducing fly-tipping, by curtailing the chances available for the illegal disposal of waste by guaranting conformity with bing legal controls and supplying a full audit trail of any waste that is removed from the building site. Although it is a legal demand to compose and implement a SWMP, the greatest cost nest eggs are likely to be achieved as a consequence of the consideration of stuffs resource efficiency which will be a necessary portion of the readying, before the SWMP is drafted. [ 10 ]

WASTE AS A VALUABLE RESOURCE

Effective waste direction can cut down edifice and operating costs, heighten the repute of the edifice industry, and besides bring forth new gross watercourses through developing recycling and repossessing markets. Reducing building waste besides saves landfill infinite, conserves valuable natural resources, saves energy and creates less pollution by cut downing transit and fabrication procedures, with a extenuating consequence on clime alteration.

Decision:

Harmonizing to the ODPM waste study ( 2001 ) , the C & A ; D industry in Wales produces about 5.02 million metric tons of waste per twelvemonth ; this is about 30 % of all controlled waste originating in Wales. Given the graduated table of the building industry in Wales and the measure of waste produced, it has great possible to take the manner in waste minimization, re-use and recycling. [ 11 ]

Waste minimization is now an instituted concern pattern for many administrations and a figure of industries have enforced waste decrease programmes. Reducing waste is a key to a cleaner universe and more competitory industry.

It would non be just to reason that edifice services should undergo radical redesign or standardization merely to cut down wastes in building. However, the decrease of waste, in footings of stuffs or clip is good to all because a decrease in cost will ensue in better systems within the same budget.

[ 1 ] CIOB. ( ) .Sustainability and Construction.Available: www.ciob.org.uk/filegrab/sustainability.pdf? ref=74. Last accessed 6 December 2009.

[ 2 ] CIBSE. ( ) .DESIGNING TO ENCOURAGE WASTE MINIMISATION IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY.Available: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.cibse.org/pdfs/Construction % 20waste % 20minim.pdf. Last accessed 6 December 2009.

[ 3 ] CIOB. ( ) .Sustainability and Construction.Available: www.ciob.org.uk/filegrab/sustainability.pdf? ref=74. Last accessed 6 December 2009.

[ 4 ] Welsh Assembly Government. ( ) .Waste bar and minimisation.Available: hypertext transfer protocol: //new.wales.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountryside/epq/waste_recycling/Waste_prevention_minimisation? lang=en. Last accessed 6 December 2009.

[ 5 ] Perth & A ; Kinross Council. ( 2008 ) .Benefits of waste minimisation.Available: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.pkc.gov.uk/Planning+and+the+environment/Waste+and+recycling/Commercial+waste/Waste+minimisation+for+business/Benefits+of+waste+minimisation.htm. Last accessed 6 December 2009.

[ 6 ] Sustainable Build. ( ) .Reducing and Pull offing Waste.Available: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.sustainablebuild.co.uk/ReducingManagingWaste.html. Last accessed 6 December 2009.

[ 7 ] Sustainable Build. ( ) .Reducing and Pull offing Waste.Available: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.sustainablebuild.co.uk/ReducingManagingWaste.html. Last accessed 6 December 2009.

[ 8 ] Welsh Assembly Government. ( ) .Landfill tax.Available: hypertext transfer protocol: //wales.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountryside/epq/waste_recycling/landfilltax/ ? lang=en. Last accessed 6 December 2009.

[ 9 ] dti. ( 2004 ) .SITE WASTE MANAGEMENT PLANS.Available: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/site_waste_management_plan.b230bcd7.2323.pdf. Last accessed 6 December 2009.

[ 10 ] defra. ( 2008 ) .Non-statutory counsel for site waste direction plans.Available: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/topics/construction/pdf/swmp-guidance.pdf. Last accessed 6 December 2009.

[ 11 ] Welsh Assembly Government. ( ) .Construction and Demolition.Available: hypertext transfer protocol: //wales.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountryside/epq/waste_recycling/construction_demolition/ ? lang=en. Last accessed 6 December 2009.

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The Socio-Cultural Effects of Technology on Society

Group research paper: The Socio-Cultural Effects of Technology on Society Technology and society or technology and culture refer to the recurring co-dependence, co-influence, co-production of technology and society upon the other (technology upon culture, and vice-versa) (Webster’s Dictionary 5060). There are an extraordinary number of examples how science and technology has helped us that can be seen in society today. One great example is the mobile phone. Ever since the invention of the telephone society was in need of a more portable device that they could use to talk to people.

This high demand for a new product led to the invention of the mobile phone, which did, and still do, greatly influence society and the way people live their lives. Now many people are accessible to talk to whomever they want no matter where any of the two people are. All these little changes in mobile phones, like Internet access, are further examples of the cycle of co-production. Society’s need for being able to call on people and be available everywhere resulted in the research and development of mobile phones.

They in turn influenced the way we live our lives. As the populace relies more and more on mobile phones, additional features were requested. This is also true with today’s modern media player. Society also determined the changes that were made to the previous generation media player that the manufactures developed. Take for example, today’s media players. At the beginning, cassettes were being used to store data. However, that method was large and cumbersome so the manufactures developed compact disks, which were smaller and could hold more data.

Later, compact disks were again too large and did not hold enough data that forced today’s manufactures to create MP3 players, which are small and holds large amount of data. Today’s society determined the course of events that many manufactures took to improving their products so today’s consumers will purchase their products. Looking back into ancient history, economics can be said to have arrived on the scene when the occasional, spontaneous exchange of goods and services began to occur on a less occasional, less spontaneous basis.

It probably did not take long for the maker of arrowheads to realize that he could probably do a lot better by concentrating on the making of arrowheads and barter for his other needs. Clearly, regardless of the goods and services bartered, some amount of technology was involved—if no more than in the making of shell and bead jewelry. Even the shaman’s potions and sacred objects can be said to have involved some technology. So, from the very beginnings, technology can be said to have spurred the development of more elaborate economies.

In the modern world, superior technologies, resources, geography, and history give rise to robust economies; and in a well-functioning, robust economy, economic excess naturally flows into greater use of technology. Moreover, because technology is such an inseparable part of human society, especially in its economic aspects, funding sources for (new) technological endeavors are virtually illimitable. However, while in the beginning, technological investment involved little more than the time, efforts, and skills of one or a few men, today, such investment may involve the collective labor and skills of many millions.

Technology has frequently been driven by the military, with many modern applications being developed for the military before being adapted for civilian use. However, this has always been a two-way flow, with industry often taking the lead in developing and adopting a technology that is only later adopted by the military. Winston (2003) provides an excellent summary of the ethical implications of technological development and deployment. He states there are four major ethical implications: – Challenges traditional ethical norms.

Because technology impacts relationships among individuals, it challenges how individuals deal with each other, even in ethical ways. One example of this is challenging the definition of “human life” as embodied by debates in the areas of abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, etc. , which all involve modern technological developments. – Creates an aggregation of effects. One of the greatest problems with technology is that its detrimental effects are often small, but cumulative.

Such is the case with the pollution from the burning of fossil fuels in automobiles. Each individual automobile creates a very small, almost negligible, amount of pollution, however the cumulative effect could possibly contribute to the global warming effect. Other examples include accumulations of chemical pollutants in the human body, urbanization effects on the environment, etc. A Lancaster dropping bundles of 4lb stick incendiaries (left), 30lb incendiaries and a “cookie” (right) – Changes the distribution of justice.

In essence, those with technology tend to have higher access to justice systems. Or, justice is not distributed equally to those with technology versus those without. – Provides great power. Not only does technology amplify the ability, and hence the strength, of humans, it also provides a great strategic advantage to the human(s) who hold the greatest amount of technology. Consider the strategic advantage gained by having greater technological innovations in the military, pharmaceuticals, computers, etc.

For example, Bill Gates has considerable influence (even outside of the computer industry) in the course of human affairs due to his successful implementation of computer technology. Lifestyle In many ways, technology simplifies life. * The rise of a leisure class * A more informed society,which can make quicker responses to events and trends * Sets the stage for more complex learning tasks * Increases multi-tasking (although this may not be simplifying) * Global networking * Creates denser social circles * Cheaper prices * Greater specialization in jobs In other ways, technology complicates life. Pollution is a serious problem in a technologically advanced society (from acid rain to Chernobyl and Bhopal) * The increase in transportation technology has brought congestion in some areas * New forms of danger existing as a consequence of new forms of technology, such as the first generation of nuclear reactors * New forms of entertainment, such as video games and internet access could have possible social effects on areas such as academic performance * Increased probability of some diseases and disorders, such as obesity * Social separation of singular human interaction.

Technology has increased the need to talk to more people faster. * Structural unemployment * Anthropocentric climate change Institutions and groups Technology often enables organizational and bureaucratic group structures that otherwise and heretofore were simply not possible. Examples of this might include: * The rise of very large organizations: e. g. , governments, the military, health and social welfare institutions, supranational corporations. * The commercialization of leisure: sports events, products, etc. McGinn) * The almost instantaneous dispersal of information (especially news) and entertainment around the world. International Technology enables greater knowledge of international issues, values, and cultures. Due mostly to mass transportation and mass media, the world seems to be a much smaller place, due to the following, among others: * Globalization of ideas * Embeddings of values * Population growth and control Environment Technology provides an understanding, and an appreciation for the world around us.

The effects of technology on the environment are both obvious and subtle. The more obvious effects include the depletion of nonrenewable natural resources (such as petroleum, coal, ores), and the added pollution of air, water, and land. The more subtle effects include debates over long-term effects (e. g. , global warming, deforestation, natural habitat destruction, coastal wetland loss. ) One of the main problems is the lack of an effective way to remove these pollutants on a large scale expediently.

In nature, organisms “recycle” the wastes of other organisms, for example, plants produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis, and oxygen-breathing organisms use oxygen to metabolize food, producing carbon dioxide as a by-product, which plants use in a process to make sugar, with oxygen as a waste in the first place. No such mechanism exists for the removal of technological wastes. Humanity at the moment may be compared to a colony of bacteria in a Petri dish with a constant food supply: with no way to remove the wastes of their metabolism, the bacteria eventually poison themselves. Spook Country” introduces us to the interesting world of information immersion through the eyes of Hollis Henry, a former rock band- Curfew’s musician and the lead character in the novel. She is confident and ambitious. She quit her band because she was not making enough money for living, so she decided to start her career as a journalist. She actually started writing when she was little, even before she became a rock band member. It was obvious that she had a passion for writing.

Hollis’s job is very complicated, she has to untangle all the mysterious things and find out information for the Node magazine which does not really exist yet. Hollis searches for a strange container throughout the entire novel and when she finally finds it in the end, she discovers that the container is ultimately filled with U. S. Government Money, “One hundred million dollars. In a set of fake pallets, along the floor. About fourteen inches deep. Little over a ton of U. S. hundreds” (Gibson 337). This makes her become a possible target for a Chinese / Cuban group intent on tagging the money with Cesium.

She starts in Los Angeles and ends up in Vancouver. Henry’s assignment is to interview locative art specialist Bobby Chombo, who took his last name from a computer program which, according to the Applied Numerical Algorithms Group, “provides a set of tools for implementing finite difference methods for the solution of partial differential equations on block-structured adaptively refined rectangular grids. ” Bobby is a computer geek with a fascination for the intersection of virtual space and real space. He specializes in geospatial technologies.

He got into locative art after a career working navigational systems for the US military, and uses his expertise to place works of art on a VR grid mapped over real cities and towns. In my opinion, Gibson’s story is not only about locative art and how weird our world is becoming: he also has the good graces to give us a spy story, which deals with the ubiquity of information in a different way. Agent Brown and his captive junkie Russian translator, Milgrim, are on the tail of a Cuban-Chinese Spetsnaz-trained ninja believed (rightly) by the US government to be smuggling information to an unknown entity for an unknown purpose.

Brown relies on satellite information to track him, another nod to the ubiquity of information, and keeps Milgrim in the dark about his actual affiliation and intent. Milgrim experiences a big shock in his life as he boards a Jet stream to Vancouver. He looses his mind completely which has never happened to him before. Prior to boarding a Jet stream, he was excited to get his hair and makeup done in Washington, DC free by Brown’s attache. Later in the novel, Milgrim crashes car in an attempt to kill Tito but he manages to escape and steals Hollis Henry’s purse which contains five thousand dollares given to her by proxy from a dead band mate, heroin overdose, Jimmy Carlyle. After all these activities are over, Milgrim wakes up in a nice bed with a nice egg breakfast next to him. As a drug addict, he is very calm and focused on what he is doing. He works with Brown very closely, their relationship is more like Brown takes control of everything and gives orders to Milgrim. They work in New York in the beginning. Milgrim is a prisoner of the world of information.

In “Spook Country,” Gibson’s use of these three characters together, lets the story of Tito, Brown and Milgrim, and Hollis build to a conclusion which amounts to a great big middle finger to the war in Iraq. Gibson has illustrated characters looking, literally, for their place in the world, and they have shown that the world we live in today did not turn out to be the futurist paradise we might have wanted, validating our inevitable escape into the digital. No flying cars, no magic pill hamburgers, and no pocket computers, but works of art that we can only see if we are wearing virtual reality goggles, standing on a particular street corner.

Information is all around us, rather than a thing into which we insert ourselves. The topics that I researched were the “Santeria” religion, Ochun, the National Security Agency (NSA), and the term “Big Brother”. These topics were all related in the novel “Spook Country” by William Gibson. Technology played a big a part in the plot from robots to cell phones to computers. Information as commodity was also a major influence in this novel with the use of Ipods, newspapers, and surveillance cameras. The characters depended heavenly on all these items as tools of survival.

I will discuss the history, the development, and impact among the “Santeria” religion, Ochun, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the term “Big Brother”. Santeria (also know as “La Regla Lucumi”) is a combination of the West African Yoruba religion and Catholicism. The Way of the Saints, Santeria or as the descendants of the Afro-Caribbean tradition in Cuba prefers to call it. Santeria rather overemphasizes the Catholic elements in the religion, which was essentially an African spiritual path, developed by their ancestors (www. african holocaust. net).

They attempted to covert Africans but while they accepted the teaching they found it did not provide “religious fulfillment”. They continued to practice their own rituals which they found was useful and effective, most importantly, filled the spiritual void in their lives. It was brought to Cuba originally by the African slaves who were brought by the Spaniards to that island. Santeria believes in one creator, one All Mighty God – (Olorun Olodumare), who created the other “semi-gods” or entities called Orishas, to deal with every facet of human life a nature itself.

They interceded in on our behalf just as the Catholic saints intercede. Although the African slaves were not allowed to express their religion freely they had to “disguise” their gods, with those of the slave owners (www. santeriaspells. com) below is a small list (marked with an asterisk) what are called the Seven African Powers: 1. Olodumare (God Almighty) 2. * Ellegua (Sant Anthony of Padua) 3. * Obatala (La Virgen de Las Mercedes) 4. * Yemaya (La Virgen de Regla) 5. * Chango (Santa Barbara) 6. * Oya (Santa Therese de Jesus) 7. * Ochun (Las Caridad del Cobre) 8. * Ogun (San Pedro)

In the Santeria religion “Eleggua” is the keeper of the roads and the world. Eleggua is the gatekeeper that stands in the path of life and celestial grounds. Ellegua is an Orisha (spirit) associated with “opening the ways”, or crossroads. Often depicted as a child or a small man, he is playful and a trickster god. During the ceremonies worshippers would often have a “cement head” this is apart of the ritual: A cement head with a metal spike in the top, and cowrie shells for eyes and mouth, as a representation of Ellegua which receives offerings and protects in return (wikipedia. org).

The “Babalu Aye” is the Orisha name for St. Lazarus it means “Father of the World” he is commonly referred to the Father of the World. His colors are brown, black and purple. His number is 17; his symbols are two dogs and crutches. He is portrayed dressed in burlap. He is offered white wine, popcorn, sesame seed candy and a variety of grains, beans, and seeds. Many Cubans hold a vigil starting the night of December 16th. They get together and light candles and make offerings to Babulu Aye and wait for him to arrive at midnight. Come midnight they ask for San Lazaro to watch over them nd keep them and their families safe and healthy. Today, December 17, is Babalu Aye day in the Afro-Cuban religion (www. babalublog. com). In Cuban Santeria, Oshun (sometimes spelled Ochun’ or Ochun) is the goddess of love, of money and indeed of happiness. She brings all the good things of life (www. angelfire. com). This goddess is adorned with jewelry she speaks to one of her birds, the parrot. She is the goddess of sweet water, she is found near fresh water, at rivers, ponds, and especially waterfalls. Offerings are sometimes left at the waterfalls for her.

Ochun loves to dance and make merry but she does have a serious side. Many offerings are sometimes left for her at the waterfalls. Many ceremonies are located at the river (www. angelfire. com). Her favorite day of the week is Saturday and the number she is associated with is 5 (wkipedia. org). It’s been known that she had to sell her body in order to feed her children and the other Orishas came and took her children away. Oshun went insane from heartache and became depress. She wore the same white dress everyday it turns yellow over time.

A gentleman by the name of Aje’-Shaluga, another Orsiha, they fell in love while she was washing her dress. He supplied her with money, and gems that he gathered from the bottom of the river. They became married and she was reunited with her children again. Ochun has played a great role in Cuban history, revealing herself as the Virgin Mary to three copper miners caught in a storm at sea in the seventeenth century and also assisted Cuban soldiers, who sewed portraits of her in their uniforms, during the second war of independence in 1895.

Ochun has been called La Virgin Mambisa, in commemoration of her fierceness in fighting for the independence of Cuba; Castro’s Movement the 26th of July used the colors red and black, which are the colors of Eleggua (www. african holocaust. net). This religion welcomes all doctors, lawyers, politicians, thieves and pimps. All those who seek the power to control their own lives and want to lead them in accord with the deepest parts of their beings are candidates for initiation into Santeria. This religion seems to be an open one that accepts all races there is no discrimination within this religion.

Santeria is a religion of trance, mystery, possession, blood and sex. If you want to know more, go to the ceremonies, burn the candles and dance to the drums. Skin color or language is no barriers. The ancient gods will recognize their own (www. Moonweb/Santeria/Intor. html). The National Security Agency (NSA) was created in November 1952 provided United States decision makers and leaders for more than 50 years (The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA form 9/11 to the eavesdropping on America. ).

The NSA is the largest, most secretive, and most powerful intelligence agency in the world. With a staff of thirty-eight thousand people, it dwarfs the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in budget, manpower, and influence (Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency). Cryptologists laid the foundation of the critical role of all major conflicts: “In 1956, the General Canine enlisted the help of an outside management firm to examine the agency’s problems. The consultants recommended a complete change.

The repercussions, according to a later National Security Agency (NSA) report, lasted more than thirty years. Signals intelligence would be organized according to target-countries; China and Communist Asia; and so on. Each of the section would include specific disciplines, such as cryptanalysis and traffic analysis (42). On November 23, 1956, Ralph Canine walked out of National Security Agency for the last time as Director. A message from Howard Campaigme “I was surprised to learn later that the people above him didn’t think nearly as much [of him] as we did. Mr.

Canine made a tremendous impression” (43). There efforts of the use of radio intercept, radio directional finding, and processing capabilities gave United States and its Allies a unique advantage in World War I. (www. nsa. gov/History. com). The use of the Radio intercept in the National Security Agency was a vital tool often used in tracking the location of planes, missiles and also served as a communication tool for the pilots. “For Years American intercept operators in Turkey had eavesdropped on Soviet radar installations as they tracked the occasional U-2 over flight.

But because the spy planes flew far too high for either Russian MIG’s or their SA-2 surface-to-air missiles, they were out of harm’s way. It was like throwing a rock at a passing jetliner. This time, however, something was different; something was very wrong “He’s turning left! ” the American heard a Soviet pilot shout. A few moments later the intercept operators watched the U-2 suddenly disappear from Russian radar screens near Sverdlovsk (49). The United States spends a lot of money to protect its National Security, in 2007 $572. 4 billion dollars on national defense.

In 2004 $456 billion dollars was counted for. The total estimated budget for 2007 was $2. 7 trillion dollars. Most expensive components of National defense were the cost for development and testing new highly sophisticated military equipment such as: aircraft, ships, and submarines. Spending on Nat’l defense spiked during World War II. , reaching nearly 90% of the nations total outlays. (National Security: The Information Series on Current Topics). The National Security Agency is oversea of several federal agencies: – United States Department of Defense (DOD) United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) certain components After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks law makers quickly put together a new law designed to help the US fight the terrorist threat. The new law that was implemented was the Patriot Act which stands for: The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required Intercepting and Obstructing Terrorism (Terrorism- Premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents. (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001. The act consists of ten titles: Title I. – Enhancing Domestic Security against Terrorism (Terrorism- Premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents). Title II. – Enhanced Surveillance Procedures, Title III. – International Money Laundering Abatement and Anti-terrorist Financing Act of 2001, Title IV. – Protecting the boarder, Title V. – Removing Obstacles to Investigating Terrorism, Title VI. – Providing for Victims of Terrorism, Public Safety Officers, and Their Families, Title VII. Increased Information Sharing For Critical Infrastructure Protection Title VIII. – Strengthening the Criminal Laws against Terrorism, Title IX. – Improved Intelligence, Title X. – Miscellaneous. One of the purposes of the act is to facilitate better cooperation and information sharing between government agencies, particularly between the IC and law enforcement agencies (National Security: The Information Series on Current Topics). In 2002 Congress and President George W. Bush created the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States to investigate all the circumstances relating to the terrorist attacks.

This investigation resulted in “For nearly two years the commission reviewed relevant documents and interviewed more than one thousand people as part of its investigation. In 2004 their findings were published in the 9/11 Commission Report (National Security: The Information Series on Current Topics). The term “Big Brother” came from a fictional character in George Orwell’s novel: Nineteen Eighty-Four. The novel was about a dictator of Oceania, a totalitarian state take to its utmost logical consequence. This is where the ruling elite (The Party) wield total power for its own sake over the inhabitants.

The term “Big Brother” is caused to refer to any ruler or government that invades the privacy of its citizens (www. barleby. com). Big Brother physical appearance is of Joseph Stalin or Lord Kitchener. His moustache is also similar to Adolf Hitler. After researching there was a lot of information that I learned about the “Santeria” religion, Ochun, the National Security Agency and the term “Big Brother”. I learned the history of the Santeria religion, the Seven African Powers, the gate keeper “Eleggua”, the Father of the World – “Babalu Aye”.

I read about The National Security Agency development and its functions within the Agency. I also discovered the birth of the term “Big Brother” affect this term had on the government. After reading the novel “Spook Country” by William Gibson the topics that I can relate to are the National Security Agency and the term “Big Brother”. The event that affects me the most is the bombing of the “Twin Towers” on September 11. From this event security has increased in airports, on planes, trains, subway stations, buses, malls, schools and also inside Federal Government and other buildings.

The term “Big Brother” is watching you are related also to today because of the September 11th terrorist attack, which brings this term to real life: “Someone is Watching You”. The National Security Agency has made it a top priority to keep the United States a safe and secured country for everyone. Work Cited Applied Numerical Algorithms Group. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley, California. 2007. 8 Nov. 2008 < http://seesar. lbl. gov/anag/>. Bamford, James. Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency: From the Cold War through the Dawn of a New Century.

New York: Doubleday, 2008. Becker, Ernest. The Structure of Evil. An Essay on the Unification of the Science of Man. New York: G. Braziller. 1968. Evans Masters, Kim. National Security: The Information Series on Current Topics. Wylie, Texas: Information Plus, 2007. Langone, John. National Geographic’s How Things Work: Everyday Technology Explained. Washington, D. C. : National Geographic Society, 1999. Technology, policy, ethics, and public health: a select bibliography Tavani, H. T. Technology and Society Magazine, IEEE Vol. 19, Issue 3 (2000): 26 – 34.

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Strengthening Federal Clean Air Standards

For Californians, not a day goes by without hearing some remark referring to smog or the quality of the air they breathe. One becomes accustom to shrugging such remarks off without a second thought after a while. Sure the air is getting cleaner, manufactures and people alike seem to be doing all they can do to clean up the air they breathe. Clean air folks are starting to be labeled as reactionaries. As with every organized group there are those among them that deserve such labels, but when it comes down to the air which people have to breathe very day, extra emphasis is a good thing.

Federal and local regulations along with public support are responsible for substantial gains in air quality in the last ten years. “Air quality in Southern California continues to improve, with 1995 registering some of the lowest levels in decades. Yet Southern California still experiences the worst air quality in the nation requiring continued diligence to meet air quality standards” These improvements provide the grounds for continuing the battle for air quality instead of grounds for a pat on the back and job well done.

Federal clean air standards should be strengthened. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) along with an arsenal of reputable agencies have drafted a plan known as the 1997 Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP) in which detailed summaries regarding current and future air quality measures are brought forward for critics and supporters alike to discern. It is in this plan along with supporting facts regarding beneficial economic gains and support from the medical community that make the case for continuous and stricter air quality standards.

The 1997 AQMP sets fourth the guidelines in which the Federal government should set standards for state and local governments along with private agencies to impose and enforce. The focus of the plan comes as a result of new understanding regarding pollutants known as ozone and M10. This new information flows from countless scientific studies. For example, “Use of the most current air quality information (1995), including special particulate matter data from the PM10 Technical Enhancement Program” .

There findings show direct links in ozone and the PM10 pollutants. In chapter three of the plan one can find the scientific data based on base year emission levels dating back to 1987 as they relate to current and future emission levels. Data clearly show’s improvement in Southern California’s quality of air in the ten year period between 1987 and 1997. The data also provides needed understanding of the major contributors to smog and other ozone depleting pollutants.

Overall, total mobile source emissions account for 61 percent of the VOC and 88 percent of the Nox emissions for these two pollutants” The knowledge of this information has been a major factor in the control of these pollutants produced by the vehicles driven by millions everyday weather on the job or just tooling around town with the top down. While the information in this plan requires a good deal of scientific knowledge to understand the general message is clear. Populations are increasing which increases the demands placed on the environment.

Without continual improvement regarding air quality there will be massive amounts of ozone depleting emissions created and unchecked in the environment. This plan should be imposed by the Federal government. It provides the method for promising futures not only for the environment but the economy as well. Along with the benefits in improved air quality that will result form the implementation of the 1997 AQMP substantial gains in technology will be achieved in the areas of zero emission vehicles and the development of alternative fuels.

On-road motor vehicles which include passenger cars, light duty trucks, medium duty vehicles, heavy duty vehicles, and motorcycles, currently number approximately 10 million in the South Coast Air Basin. ” If this seems an alarming number of vehicles of which contribute 61 percent of the VOC and 88 percent of the Nox emissions in the air; you better sit down. “In 1995 these vehicles traveled more than 300 million miles per day, and by the year 2010, vehicle miles traveled is projected to be about 380 million miles per day” . This is an alarming number of vehicles along with an alarming number of miles to boot.

The implementation of the 1997 plan will require the sale of zero-emission vehicles beginning in 2003. This demand places immense pressure on the automotive industry to come up with suitable alternatives for the combustion engine. The technology gains from this industrial effort have already begun to show themselves at car shows throughout the country. All manufactures will benefit from this new technology, from those who produce the batteries that run them to manufacturers of the lightweight materials needed to produce such automobiles.

The public reaps immediate gains from this technology such as the cell phone’s carried by thousands of people every day in Southern California. Some of the most notable technologies include nickel metal-hydride, lithium-ion, and sodium-nickel chloride. Nickel metal-hydride batteries are responsible for the ability to constantly charge ones cell phone battery without it developing a memory position resulting in limited to no use of the battery at all. Lithium-ion batteries provide extended use of many battery operated items used in every day life such as flash lights, cameras, radios…

Honda and Toyota have announced they will introduce pilot fleets of electric vehicles with nickel metal-hydride batteries in 1988 . The examples in technological advancements that result from stricter air quality controls are endless and cannot be fully realized without implementation of the controls described in the 1997 AQMP. As if the available information thus far were not enough to support the EPA’s plans for air quality, the medical community has stepped forward to support efforts for cleaner air as well.

The proposed plan clearly benefits air quality and the economy through advances in technology. Support from the medical community will convince the stragglers that don’t feel air quality and technology will directly benefit themselves. “Dr. Barry S. Levy, American Public Health Association president and an environmental health physician, called today for the adoption of EPA’s proposed regulations to lower levels of particulate (soot) matter and ozone (a chemical that helps cause smog) in the air.

This effort will protect children and adults from illness, disability and death, and reduce health care costs by billions of dollars” . Public health is of major concern when it comes to the environment. The air people breath daily is vital to their existence and the quality of that air is one of the major factors to their quality of life. According to DR. Levy, “The proposed EPA standard are based on well-designed scientific studies that link adverse health effect to the fine particulate matter and ozone” .

The American Public Health Association (APA) is considered on of the oldest and largest organizations devoted to public health. The APA credits itself with some of the top professionals in the field of public health. They have conducted more studies and published more information regarding public health than any other organization of its kind in the world so when they support the EPA’s findings for stricter air quality control measures they speak for a vast majority of health professionals.

Common sense requires one to feel a sense of dread at the possibility of death as a result of poor air quality. The EPA has built a sound case for enacting stricter air qualities and they have a great plan for its enactment. It is clearer now that the adoption of the 1997 AQMP has far reaching benefits for all. Scientifically sound evidence points to the reality of cleaner air from the plans enactment. Increases in technology will create economic growth and business opportunity. And finally health risks resulting from poor air quality can be substantially reduced for both children and adults.

The 1997 AQMP also provides measures for meeting the standards proposed in its regulations. Through, “Intercredit Trading Program, Air Quality Investment Program and Promotion of Catalyst-Surface Coating Technology Programs for Air Conditioning Units. These measures are designed to enhance compliance flexibility, to facilitate the implementation of the command and control measures” . The command and control measures of the plan are simply implementation and enforcement policies which incorporate assistance and rewards for complying to regulations.

Most of these programs are already successfully being operated at the present time. There is also an Air Quality Assistance Fund which has been enacted to help small businesses comply with stricter emission regulations. The plan provides a “loan guarantee for up to 90 percent of the loan amount, ranging from a minimum of $15,000 to a maximum of $250,000” . Money can be used for retrofitting operations to the point of complying with any portion of the AQMP. A study conducted buy Dr.

Steven Meyer, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Project on Environmental Politics and Policy says, “‘Job growth–not job loss– is associated with stronger environmental policies. The 10 states with the strongest environmental policies appear to have experienced annual employment growth rates almost . 6 percent higher than those of the 10 states with the weakest environmental policies'”. Opponents of Federal regulations often rely on job scare tactics to kill a useful initiative such as the one proposed by the EPA but the facts are, jobs are created when improvements in technology are made.

The plan provides a complete package from reasons for change through benefits of such changes right down to the actual implementation of its policy’s. It provides areas of assistance for those who have trouble with compliance and places adequate emphasis on continued improvement in all areas regarding air quality. With regard to the health of the planet and the there is little reason remaining for the Federal government not to enforce stricter air quality measures.

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The Effect of Pollution on Mount Everest

Nepal is the small, one of the poorest country of the world. Yet it is very rich in natural resources and scenic beauty including highest ranges of Himalayas. Nepal is the home of the eight highest mountains out often in the world. Mountaineers, trekkers and skilled professionals regularly visit to scale the Mountains in Nepal, which has increased the number of tourist in Nepal. In the last decade, people’s attraction toward the mountaineering has increased a lot, by which number of climbers visiting Mount Everest has also been increased.

Due to the increasing umber of climbers in the Everest, pollution in and around the Everest has increased and it needs a special attention to prevent from the pollution. Everest attracts people of all around the world. In the past only few climbers who know well about the mountains used to come but today most of the interested people who have enough economic sources visit Himalayas to climb the mountain. According to Norbu Sherpa, a mountain tourist guide, people come to climb Everest as they want to be famous scaling the tallest mountain in the world (Wawahare).

In the early 2000s the number f tourist arriving to Nepal was around 400,000 but in last two years people flowing to Nepal has increased rapidly reaching around 900,000 nearly triple of starting 2000s as per the statistics given by the Nepal Tourism Statistics in 2012 (Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation ). As the numbers of climbers has increased, pollution in the highest portion of the peaks has been increased.

Pollution in the Everest includes foods, plastics, cans, gas tanks, papers, climber’s equipment, human excreta, and also dead bodies of climbers. According to Norbu Sherpa in the article, “A Conversation with: Mountain Guide Norbu Sherpa”, if the flow of the climbers is frequent, more and more waste is created (Wawahare). The article “Everest Maxed Out” published on June 2013 in National Geographic Magazine by Mark Jenkins provides information about his climbing on Everest and the flow of climbers he saw near camp Ill and pollution in the Everest.

Jenkins says, “The two standard routes, the Northeast Ridge and the Southeast Ridge, are not only dangerously crowded but also disgustingly polluted, with garbage leaking out of the glaciers and pyramids of human excrement befouling the high camps. And then there are the deaths. ” Pollution due to death of climbers happens especially due to certain change in weather and climbers who is less experienced or trained. Despite of being polluted, Everest fascinates and attracts the climbers toward it every year.

As the increasing numbers of trekkers and climbers in the Everest has led to the pollution, government should try to clean up all the wastes in the Everest utilizing the revenue they had earned from the tourism industry. Norbu says, the government earnings through tourism has not been utilize in mountains nor for benefit of Sherpas (Wawahare). Government should make strict rules and laws to punish the people who makes pollution in the Everest.

If the Climbers did not bring back their all used equipment’s and the trash from Everest they should lose their deposit money and Sherpas should be rewarded if they brought wastes to the lower base of Everest. And also government, mountaineering agencies should limit the number of people climbing the mountain in every season or month which will not only helps to control pollution but also maintains the traffic Jams in Everest. A climbers, guides and Sherpas should be provided trainings to handle the severe eather condition in mountain so that deaths in the mountains decrease.

Decreasing the number of deaths and limiting the number of climbers on Everest pollution will be controlled and also government needs to be aware about the pollution on Everest and utilize their revenue for reducing pollution in mountains. Everest is one of the main factor that world recognizes Nepal, so every concerned individual as well as government and agencies should control pollution. Controlling pollution it will not only preserve the beauty of Everest but also more people can have the glory to scale the Everest in future.

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