Two Response

Essay 1: Vehicles In Mexico City

In many ways pollution can be caused by us humans to the earth we live in. not only water and soil can be polluted, but also air pollution is a major factor. Air pollution is a major problem facing our environment today alongside soil and water pollution. This dilemma is harmful to every single living creature on this planet. Air pollution results primarily from the lack of combustion of several fuels, such as coal, petrol and wood. The main sources of pollution from burning are furnaces in factories, engines in vehicles and burning of trash, in the form of particles or gases. Another form of air pollution that can be caused is natural pollution. Environmental affects such as windblown dust, pollen or fog can cause by natural pollution. Air pollution is a harmful effect to the atmosphere causing major damage to the environment, human health, and the quality of life. For this blog I have picked an article written by Isabella Cota and Benjamin Bain that explains the effect of vehicles on air pollution in Mexico City.

Many major cities across the world suffer from air pollution because of the population of the city. Mexico city for example has a population of more than 20 million, owning roughly 10 million vehicles that live in Mexico City's metropolitan area, and is well known for its polluted air. Old vehicles are also very common across Mexico City. Millions of people in Mexico City are suffering from the air quality they are living in. Consequently there has been an increase in the death rates resulting from various diseases caused by air pollution varying from breathing problem to lung cancer. Government data in Mexico City recorded as many as 2,700 people killed every year from air pollution. Furthermore, a large amount of old cars and trucks are adding to the pollution with their vehicles. Although Mexico City has access to the best technology; however, pollution limits are not set on many vehicles locally. Thus, many automobiles especially old ones do not have the suitable emissions standards to be driven in the street. At one point Mexico City officials asked people to stop driving one day per week after a smog alert and a low air quality that was announced during march of 2016. The reason for this is to protect the health of people during the dry and hot season and to prevent air pollution. Transportation alone accounts for half of the air pollution in Mexico City. After announcing the smog alert, officials have banned almost 40 percent of all vehicles from driving in Mexico City. In order to prevent such hazards in the future, Mexico City should start campaigning against air pollution. Moreover, set laws and banned cars that have low emissions standards. Many cities across the world especially big ones that are similar to Mexico City should learn from this situation Mexico City is dealing with.

China is one of the unhealthy nations of the world. The simple reason is because the authorities never paid attention to ecological impacts of their environmental. New studies have revealed the true situation of pollution in china. Particularly in five cities in China. Which are the following Beijing, Guangzhou,Shanghai, Chengdu and Shenyang. During this study, it was revealed that the pollution emissions had "reduced" considerably. But this does not mean that has been completely eliminated. For example, the contamination limit establish by the World Health Organization  is 35 micro grams of PM 2.5 per meter square. Based in this, the levels of PM 2.5 of these cities exceed this limits. As Beijing that fell from 99 to 81, Shanghai from 61 to 50 and Guangzhou from 54 to 39. Technically, this levels are acceptable for the simple reason that the numbers decreased. This was due to two factors; by strict regulation that took in January of 2015, and by a slower economy. Thanks to this deal between President Obama and President Xi Jinping. In which they agreed to reduce emissions by 30%.

Among these 5 cities the most affected by air pollution is the city of Beijing and Chengdu. These two cities, their emissions readings surpass the 150. A comparison of Shanghai and Guangzhou between this two cities does not exceed the 37 % which is called "good" air. These only demonstrates the challenge that China faces to solve this problem. Many of this studies where conducted by by the Chinese government. Therefore many scientist especially Mr. Chen Songxi a statistician. In which he conducted the same test in the same cities. His conclusion of the study  revealed that the data of the Chinese government wasn't altered. This show the seriousness of the Chinese authorities towards this problem.

On the website provided by the minister of environment issues, everyone can get all the latest information on these studies. The only bad thing s that it does not include enough information about it. Mr. Chen said,"we could not find data on consumption, especially of petroleum products. We do not know how much gasoline was sold in 2013, we think petroleum products may be a bigger problem than coal in Beijing". This only indicates that the Chinese government wants to help but also refuses to provide the sufficient information on this matter. Mr. Chen explained that the geographical areas where most of the cities are located like Beijing and Chengdu. These cities are not apt to have high industrial zone in their areas. Shanghai and Guangzhou are the luckiest areas because they are closer to the sea and therefore they have more rainfall.One of the recommendation that Mr. Chen suggested was to reduced the emission for completely. Seeing the levels of pollutions that china has reached among the years is alarming. Because it would take years to reduce the air pollution in china.It is a long-term goal than Mr. Chen proposed but it would take more effort to reduce it , but by following all the regulations it can be done.