Hank Kim

Speech

 

       ‘Early in the morning on the 5^th in December 1952 the London sky was clear; the weather was considerably colder than usual, as it had been for some weeks. As a result the people of London were burning large amounts of coal. The winds were light and the air near the ground was moist, conditions ideal for the formation of radiation fog. The fog was not particularly dense. It possessed a dry smoky character. However when nightfall came the fog thickened and visibility dropped to a few metres. In central London the visibility remained below 500 meters continuously for 114 hours and below 50 meters continuously for 48 hours. Road, rail and air transport were brought to a standstill. Theatres had to be suspended when fog in the auditorium made conditions intolerable. Most importantly the smoke laden fog that shrouded the capital brought premature death to an estimated 12,000 people and illness to many others. This "pea soup" smog stewed for five days from the 5th to the 10^th of December as more and more pollution entered it before winds from the west blew it down the Thames Estuary and out into the North sea.’ Great London Fog mirror our future if air pollution is not stopped. In major cities throughout world,it has reached a critical level and became a huge global problem as human industry and technology advance. Therefore, everyone including governments and civilians need to take action against air pollution. 

Due to chemicals such as Sulfur Dioxide, Carbon monoxide, Nitrogen Oxide, and lead that are often produced by cars, and industrial factories the impact of air pollution is immense, often fatal. Due to damage on the membrane of lung cells and blood cells, people who are constantly exposed to these hazards are likely to suffer from asthma, allergic reactions, respiratory infection, lung cancer, heart disease and other chronic diseases. All can lead to death. Furthermore, not only does air pollution affect human health, it also significantly damages to vegetation and wildlife. For example, Sulfur Dioxide disturbs plants’ photosynthesis process, which is how the plant produces its food through sun light. As a result, it kills the plant, which is often indicated by the change of color of the plants. Since we humans are dependant on plants and wildlife in almost every perspective of our life including food and clean air, if air pollution destroys plants and animals, mankind might face extinction. 

      

China, with many rural mountanious areas might appear to be a safest place to live in regarding air pollution. Unfortunately, according to research done in recent years, it is proven that China is one of the worst places to live regarding air pollution. For example, according to WHO’s research done in 2000, the concentration of dangerous chemical substances in the major cities of China, as shown, is well beyond WHO guidelines and other cities’ chemical concentration such as Bangkok, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Due to China’s large population, air pollution will impact more people if this trend continues. Therefore, solutions are desperately needed.

 

Since automobiles are one of main sources of air pollution, controlling the usage of cars can be beneficial to fight against this problem in China. One method to combat automobile pollution is further development of catalytic converters. As the data shows, Catalytic converters are capable of reducing fair amount of chemicals produced by automobiles. However, there is room for improvement in decreasing the emission rate of these chemical. Therefore, through developing more advanced catalytic converters and equipping them on the cars, it will definitely help to reduce air pollution. Ordinary people like us, we can reduce these chemicals through using other forms of transportation such as walking and public transportation. Through these combined efforts, considerable amounts of CO, CO2 and lead can be reduced.

Also, the government need to do more to control industrial emissions due to Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide. These can be solved by changing companies’ policies and installing new kinds of equipment that can reduce the emission rate of these chemicals. For example, by installing Selective Catalytic Reduction inside the plants, 80% - 90% of NO can be reduced. Although cost is going to be a major factor in adopting these systems, companies should consider the impact of chemicals on.