Epp1 final htmc
II. The summary of personal understanding and knowledge gained from the
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| II.
The summary of personal understanding and knowledge gained from the presentation Thanks to the subject “English for Environmental Science” at university, I have gained a lot of new information about Environment in general, especially different types of environmental pollution, hence my knowledge has significantly been broadened. Before that, I just simply knew that air pollution was caused by factory emissions, human activities, or agricultural practices. However, air pollution has two types (Byju’s, n.d): primary pollutants, which are released directly from sources like industrial processes and transportation, while secondary pollutants form when primary pollutants interact with each other. It can be understood that the air we breathe everyday always contains emissions from various sources like industry, vehicles, household fuels and tobacco smoke ...etc. There were an estimated 7 million deaths-related to air pollution per year globally (World health organization, 2022). Therefore, the adverse effects of air pollution on human’s health have always been the priority of studies and research in recent years. Nevertheless, as far as I know, the economy of every country all over the world is also seriously affected by air pollution. It leads to substantial economic loss in numerous ways such as increase in healthcare costs, less worker productivity, reduction in crop yields as well as tourism revenue. According to a report by the World Bank Group in 2018 (The Cost of Air Pollution: Strengthening the Economic Case for Action), air pollution costs the economy worldwide about $5.7 trillion every year, accounting for 4.4% of GDP global in terms of healthcare costs and productivity loss. Moreover, being exposed to high levels of air pollution reduced worker productivity by 1.2%, leading to an yearly economic loss of around $24 billion. About the tourism industry, air pollution can reduce the attractiveness of tourist destinations, hence affecting the overall profits. For example, in 2017, Delhi, India suffered from a decrease in tourism revenue by around $1.4 billion (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, 2017). Generally, people often discuss the wide-ranging effects of air pollution on the public's health and environment. The influences on the global economy, however, are significant too. 2 Moving on to the presentation of group 8, they covered the definition, main causes as well as effects of air pollution. When listening to their presentation, I learned a lot of new things and got the full picture about this topic. Surprisingly, not until the group 8’s explanation did I know the ins and outs why wildfires are also a significant cause of air pollution. In fact, when a wildfire happens, the plants and organic matter are burned together, which will release numerous pollutants into the air such as particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, as well as volatile organic compounds. The smoke from wildfires can worsen the air quality in surrounding areas and even in other regions of countries as it can move far long distances. Beside the direct health impacts, wildfires also pose threat to loss of biodiversity, and increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, I found information about the effects of air pollution on Ozone quite useful. From what group 8 presented, I dug deeper in how air pollution made a hole in the ozone layer. It will release ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) through refrigeration and air conditioning systems or industrial processes. A process of releasing chlorine and various reactive substances will happen, which gradually destroy ozone molecules and lead to the thinner ozone layer. This facilitates UV radiation reaching the Earth's surface easilier and harms the human’s skin as well as restricts plants’ development. In addition, I was provided with a new term “stomata”, which are tiny pores on the underside of leaves that allow the plants to breathe, release oxygen and water vapor. Air pollution harms plants by causing the stomata to close, destroying cell walls surrounding the stomata, as well as disrupting the plant's metabolism. These result in plant’s reduction in growth and productivity but increase of susceptibility to diseases and pests. If all the harmful impacts of air pollution are not eliminated in advance, they will continue to contribute to climate changes and global warming - the pressing challenges of all time. Imagine that air pollution releases greenhouse gas, reduces the Earth's albedo, and impacts cloud formation and precipitation patterns, all ways that lead to climate change. Then what will happen to humankind's existence? Abating air pollution, therefore, is significantly prominent as it also mitigate the impacts of climate change. tải về 143.97 Kb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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