Rise in Motor Vehicles: Impact on Air Pollution and Environment - Essay Sample

Introduction

The United States has experienced a significant increase in the number of motor vehicles in recent years. This trend has not only led to traffic congestion in urban settings but has also increased vehicle emissions that pollute the environment. A significant proportion of automobiles in the US and other parts of the world use fossil fuels such as diesel and petrol, which release impurities into the air when they burn. The main pollutants that come from cars, buses, and trucks include carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter. These elements can harm the environment, including human beings. In this perspective, air pollution from automobiles is either secondary or primary pollution. The latter occurs when vehicles emit harmful gases into the air. Secondary pollution results from the reaction of emissions from cars and other elements in the atmosphere. Air pollution from motor vehicles is detrimental to the living environment, and the United States should address it because it is a risk factor for respiratory diseases in human beings and low productivity in plants.

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Pollutants From Automobiles

Carbon-Monoxide (CO)

This colorless and poisonous gas enters the atmosphere when trucks and cars burn gasoline. Most of the carbon monoxides come from automobile exhausts. Often, this element enters the air since internal combustion engines in buses, trucks, and cars do not burn fossil fuel completely into water and carbon dioxide. Vehicle engines exhaust unburned fuel to the atmosphere in the form of carbon monoxide and other small components. This gas is harmful to human beings since it obstructs oxygen from the heart, brain, and other organs when it enters the respiratory system (Bolaji & Adejuyigbe, 2006). This way, carbon monoxide is harmful to the environment as it can damage organs in the human body besides causing respiratory diseases.

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

The combustion of petrol and other fossil fuel in the engines of heavy vehicles release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The accumulation of this gas in the air may result in global warming or the heating of the earth's atmosphere. In this perspective, carbon dioxide has these effects on the environment since they are opaque to radiations that the earth's surface radiates back to space (Bolaji & Adejuyigbe, 2006). Accumulation of carbon dioxide in the air can result in acid rainfall that can destroy plants and animals (Bolaji & Adejuyigbe, 2006).

Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx)

Automobiles are the primary source of nitrogen compounds in the air. Research has shown that the compounds of nitrogen contribute to the pollution of the environment in three ways, namely, the production of acid rain, general air pollution, and the depletion of the ozone layer (Bolaji & Adejuyigbe, 2006). The ground-level ozone is the primary effect of this compound to the environment, while its particulate matter is the secondary impact.

When these vehicle pollutants enter the body as well, they can weaken the immune system against respiratory diseases such as influenza and pneumonia (Bolaji & Adejuyigbe, 2006). Also, it can cause lung irritation when it enters the breathing system. A significant proportion of people in urban settings are at a higher risk of these infections, especially with an increase in automobiles. Nitrogen oxide, in itself, is moderately toxic, implying that it has adverse impacts on the human body (Bolaji & Adejuyigbe, 2006).

A compound called methemoglobin that arises when hemoglobin reacts with the oxides of nitrogen can reduce the transportation of oxygen in the body (Bolaji & Adejuyigbe, 2006). This aspect can cause chronic health complications to the human being.

Lead Emissions and Greenhouse Gases

Vehicle exhaust is one of the leading causes of lead emissions in the atmosphere. Gasoline containing lead compounds often burn in vehicle engines, releasing lead particulates. These compounds pose long-term threats to human health since they can infiltrate deep into the lungs. Lead compounds can react with sulfur dioxide, among other pollutants in the air to form fine particles that pose health risks, especially to young people (Wilson, 2010). The transport sector and specifically automobiles have about seventy percent contributions to global warming pollution compared to trains, ships, and airplanes that have thirty percent (Wilson, 2010).

Particulate Matter

The soot in automobile exhaust is an example of a substance that harms the environment through air pollution. These pollutants consist of small particles that can enter deep into the lungs during inspiration and expiration. Notably, particulate matter can be secondary pollutants from sulfur dioxides, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides or secondary pollutants. Trucks that use diesel are examples of primary sources of particulate matter.

Volatile Organic Compounds

These impurities from buses, trucks, and cars react with the oxides of nitrogen to form smog, which refers to the ground-level ozone that forms when compounds of nitrogen react with volatile organic elements in the presence of sunlight. While smog is beneficial when in the upper atmosphere, it increases health risks to human beings. More specifically, volatile organic compounds irritate the respiratory system, thus reducing lung capacity. These impurities, as well, can cause choking and coughing when it enters the breathing system. In severe cases, however, these elements from cars, trucks, and buses can cause different types of cancer (Wilson, 2010).

How It Affects Plants

Effects on Plant Physiological Functions

Pollution from automobiles causes undesirable stress that adversely impacts the growth of plants. For plants to achieve optimum growth, they require appropriate soil conditions, adequate moisture, heat, nutrients, and light. Pollutants from automobiles, including sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and oxides of nitrogen, provide extra undesirable stress that slows the growth of plants. As an example, acid rain that comes as a result of the interaction of pollutants in the atmosphere can damage crops. While plants have biological defense mechanisms such as the rebuilding of damaged tissues, they can die if the stress that results from the absorption of water and nutrients containing pollutants is too high. This aspect may cause foliage markings and retarded growth, depending on the impurities within the living environment.

Automobiles increase the volume of carbon monoxide and harmful compounds of nitrogen that can damage plant cells and tissues. In this case, plants can easily absorb gaseous pollutants from automobile exhaust since the absorption of atmospheric gases is one of the functions of leaves. Small particulates and gases from vehicles enter into the plants through leaf pores or stomata to the innermost cells through the airspaces of mesophyll. Some of the symptoms of damage to plants that occur as a result of the intake of harmful compounds from vehicle exhaust are stippling or flecking of upper surfaces and bleaching of leaf margins (Bolaji & Adejuyigbe, 2006). Other symptoms include loss of chlorophyll (chlorosis), silvering, or glazing of surfaces and necrosis, to mention a few (Bolaji & Adejuyigbe, 2006).

Swami (2018) identified six different ways in which automobiles affect plants directly and indirectly. First, the deposition of particulates from motor vehicle engines makes the soil unsuitable for the growth of plants. Toxic metals, particularly lead compounds, negatively affect the quality of the soil. Because this compound is toxic, it can potentially damage genetic materials in crops, including deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) (Swami, 2018). Other effects of the accumulation of lead in the soil include the inhibition of seed germination, root elongation, transpiration, seedling development, and the production of chlorophyll.

Secondly, automobile pollutants in the form of particulates can inhibit the rate of transpiration, since they can block stomata in plants. Some of the particulates that cause such effects to plants of different types are soot, fog, and dust (Swami, 2018). Thirdly, particulates from cars, buses, and tricks slow the rate of photosynthesis in plants as particulates deposited on the surface of leaves can restrict the absorption of carbon dioxide. The ultimate effect is that these pollutants cause a decline in crop production since it retards the growth of plants. Lastly, solid impurities from automobile exhaust inhibit the process of the plant enzyme system. This effect is severe in crops or plants that are highly sensitive to traces of lead and other toxic metals.

Effects on Diversity of Species

Environmental pollution from automobiles adversely affects the growth of roadside plants. Research has shown that an increase in pollutant concentration in air leads to a decline in the diversity of the plant community (Swami, 2018). As an example, there is evidence that the photosynthetic rate of plant species like alfalfa decrease with an increase in the concentration of Sulphur dioxide (Swami, 2018). The effects of other air pollutants from trucks on this plant community include foliar injury, wilting of younger leaves, distortion of fruits or flowers, and the appearance of chlorotic spots on leaves (Bell et al., 2011).

The leaves of Mirabilis, among other plants with epidermal hairs, according to Swami (2018), absorb large quantities of particulate pollutants from automobiles. As a result, these plants suffer severe injuries from air pollution. This situation negatively affects the diversity of plants, especially those growing on the roadside Swami (2018).

Urban Air Pollution From Automobiles and Its Effects on Human Being

Automotive emissions are the leading cause of greenhouse gases in the United States and other parts of the world (WHO, 2018). Also, motor vehicles are the most significant contributor to air pollution in urban settings, according to WHO (2018). The data of WHO as of 2012 indicated that ambient air pollution from buses, trucks, and cars caused more than 4.2 million premature deaths across the globe (WHO, 2018). People in urban areas, where there is a high concentration of pollutants from automobiles, are at a higher risk of adverse birth outcomes. Also, such populations are at a higher risk of cancer, respiratory, and cardiovascular diseases.

Illnesses and deaths that occur as a result of air pollution from motor vehicles, according to WHO (2018), arise because of the exposure to particulate matter. In most instances, these particles have a diameter of about 10 or 2.5 microns, suggesting that they can penetrate through the lungs (WHO, 2018). In other words, such particulate matter can penetrate deep into the respiratory system as they can easily bypass the defense of the body against dust. Some automobiles, however, emit more harmful substances like benzene derivatives, carbon compounds, and carcinogens that pose serious health consequences (WHO, 2018).

The ground-level ozone, another pollutant from automobiles, is a risk factor for asthma, among other chronic respiratory diseases (WHO, 2018). This compound is a mix of impurities from the exhaust and other air pollutants in urban areas. Carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen, among other precursors of ground-level ozone, pose health risks to people in closed spaces, including the passengers and vehicle operators in garages (WHO, 2018). Besides, exposure to greenhouse gases such as methane can cause severe health effects.

Residents in areas with high diesel traffic, according to WHO (2018), are vulnerable to premature deaths because of the existence of high particulate matter in the atmosphere. In such areas, automobiles ca...