Post by JuliaMichael on Mar 1, 2009 21:44:50 GMT -5
As I passed by the mountainous pile of trash, I opened my eyes to the destruction. The largest landfill in Monmouth county, located in Tinton Falls, seemed the size of a moon. The smell of the toxins slipped through the car. It was like being inside of a giant trash bag. If this is the largest landfill in the county, what does the largest one in the country look like? For that matter, what does the largest landfill in the whole world look like? But the pollution factor doesn’t stop there. What about the air pollution? In our country today, the place to start is car pollutants, and landfill pollutants. With each person’s contribution, the amount of pollutions can be reduced. However, this takes guidelines for the citizens of America. The government should start to control the amount of waste and pollution each person contributes to the environment.
Landfills are not just smelly mountains of garbage; they pollute our beautiful blue planet. Landfill leachates are pollutants from landfills that soak through the soil, enter the groundwater, and finally into a river. Typically, landfill leachates contain nitrogen, iron, carbon, manganese, chloride, phenols, pesticides, and sometimes heavy metals. Landfill leachates have been known to leak into community water sources. Some landfills have a bottom layer to collect the leachates, but the installment cost is high and the damage has usually already been done. It takes years upon years for an area to recover from landfill leachates. So, how do we change this?
Currently, There is no where to put these toxins besides onto the Earth. Therefore, if it is going to be done it should be done carefully. What would it take to make everybody produce less waste? The sacrifice is simply a change in lifestyle. It is the non-reusable items that fill garbage cans of America. By using less, each person makes the mountains of waste grow slower. People might even learn the advantages of creating a compost pile.
Trash pick-up could be more limited than it is. Laws should be passed stating that the amount of bags picked up from a house should depend on the number of people at a residence. For the first few weeks, this could create a hard time for Americans. But I trust that after time, everyone would adapt to being a less wasteful person.
It is no doubt that the fuel emission issue is known to the world. In the United States, the issue is huge, with rising gas prices and complete dependency on oil. But besides the economic chaos, there are a number of things cars do to harm Earth. Cars affect both the atmospheric ozone layer, and ground level ozone. Motor vehicles reduce the atmospheric ozone layer, which shields the planet from harmful ultraviolet radiation rays. Cars, however, increase the ground level ozone, which is the hazy smog that causes respiratory problems in our citizens. Cars account for much of the principal components of smog. Vehicles emit 20 pounds of carbon per gallon of gas burned, and CO2 levels are now at their highest point in 160,000 years with global temperatures at their highest since the Middle Ages. So what are the steps to changing this obviously harmful routine?
If we had known the terrible effects of cars, vehicle statistics wouldn’t be so high. In the United States, there are now 752 motor vehicles for every 1,000 people. The world had it right when the train was invented. If public transportation had advanced more than private transportation has, this wouldn’t be a problem. However, we cannot go back to public transportation. The fact is, America’s cars are simply too big and inefficient. SUV's put out 43% more global-warming pollutants (28 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon of gas burned) and 47% more air pollution than the average car. European cars are generally much smaller than those in the U.S., therefore being less polluting and more efficient. American cars should be made to be smaller; the use of so many SUV’s is unnecessary. The government should make limits on the size of our cars, and also fund more studies on the use of less polluting, more efficient fuels.
It is not a farfetched concept. The United States is not number one in pollution, but we’re pretty close. By changing our lifestyle, we could be a model for the rest of the world. We are not the only ones who care about the environment. If the government starts to limit our pollutants, something can actually be done. Otherwise, pollutant rates will only go up, destroying our beautiful world. We are placed in a solar system of perfection, with sources of our necessary living requirements. The possibility of otherwise life is unknown. Pollutants will only ruin this incredible oasis. The harmful effects humans have on this planet may not affect my generation or the next or the next, but it will eventually catch up to us. The government controls the way we live, and they should start doing something beneficial toward our environment. It’s time that everybody starts caring for the home of seven billion people.
Landfills are not just smelly mountains of garbage; they pollute our beautiful blue planet. Landfill leachates are pollutants from landfills that soak through the soil, enter the groundwater, and finally into a river. Typically, landfill leachates contain nitrogen, iron, carbon, manganese, chloride, phenols, pesticides, and sometimes heavy metals. Landfill leachates have been known to leak into community water sources. Some landfills have a bottom layer to collect the leachates, but the installment cost is high and the damage has usually already been done. It takes years upon years for an area to recover from landfill leachates. So, how do we change this?
Currently, There is no where to put these toxins besides onto the Earth. Therefore, if it is going to be done it should be done carefully. What would it take to make everybody produce less waste? The sacrifice is simply a change in lifestyle. It is the non-reusable items that fill garbage cans of America. By using less, each person makes the mountains of waste grow slower. People might even learn the advantages of creating a compost pile.
Trash pick-up could be more limited than it is. Laws should be passed stating that the amount of bags picked up from a house should depend on the number of people at a residence. For the first few weeks, this could create a hard time for Americans. But I trust that after time, everyone would adapt to being a less wasteful person.
It is no doubt that the fuel emission issue is known to the world. In the United States, the issue is huge, with rising gas prices and complete dependency on oil. But besides the economic chaos, there are a number of things cars do to harm Earth. Cars affect both the atmospheric ozone layer, and ground level ozone. Motor vehicles reduce the atmospheric ozone layer, which shields the planet from harmful ultraviolet radiation rays. Cars, however, increase the ground level ozone, which is the hazy smog that causes respiratory problems in our citizens. Cars account for much of the principal components of smog. Vehicles emit 20 pounds of carbon per gallon of gas burned, and CO2 levels are now at their highest point in 160,000 years with global temperatures at their highest since the Middle Ages. So what are the steps to changing this obviously harmful routine?
If we had known the terrible effects of cars, vehicle statistics wouldn’t be so high. In the United States, there are now 752 motor vehicles for every 1,000 people. The world had it right when the train was invented. If public transportation had advanced more than private transportation has, this wouldn’t be a problem. However, we cannot go back to public transportation. The fact is, America’s cars are simply too big and inefficient. SUV's put out 43% more global-warming pollutants (28 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon of gas burned) and 47% more air pollution than the average car. European cars are generally much smaller than those in the U.S., therefore being less polluting and more efficient. American cars should be made to be smaller; the use of so many SUV’s is unnecessary. The government should make limits on the size of our cars, and also fund more studies on the use of less polluting, more efficient fuels.
It is not a farfetched concept. The United States is not number one in pollution, but we’re pretty close. By changing our lifestyle, we could be a model for the rest of the world. We are not the only ones who care about the environment. If the government starts to limit our pollutants, something can actually be done. Otherwise, pollutant rates will only go up, destroying our beautiful world. We are placed in a solar system of perfection, with sources of our necessary living requirements. The possibility of otherwise life is unknown. Pollutants will only ruin this incredible oasis. The harmful effects humans have on this planet may not affect my generation or the next or the next, but it will eventually catch up to us. The government controls the way we live, and they should start doing something beneficial toward our environment. It’s time that everybody starts caring for the home of seven billion people.
