Who decides how much air pollution is allowed to be released?

By: Mark Groom and Houman Qadir

The Perspectives
Agricultural producer CEO of industrial sites Industrial Employees Humanitarian Environmental Scientist Average person (class)

Three Interview Questions

How does air pollution affect their lifestyle? Do they believe the benefits from burning fossil fuels outweighs the consequences of air pollution? How much air pollution do they believe should be allowed to be released?

Agricultural Producer

Agricultural Producer
The amount of Air pollution released greatly affects my lifestyle. The greater percent of green house gasses released into the atmosphere results in a lower amount of light reaching my crops. If my crops do not receive enough light they will not grow fast enough before changing seasons thus leading to a massive loss of crops Not only that air pollution, if potent enough will damage or destroy my crops. If the rate of air pollution continues to grow the amount of crops I would be able to raise without using a controlled environment would decrease by over 50% in years.

Agricultural Producer
No I do not believe that the benefits that air pollution outweighs the consequence that it brings. I believe this because the two major contributors to air pollution is vehicle transportation and factory exhaust. Now I dont know what more important to you folk but I would much rather have a good edible dinners for life compared to one of those smart phones that break when you drop it? And for transportation why cant people use horses like the good old days the only vehicle I use is my tractor to get the large amount of crops grown cut and sold in time.

Agricultural Producer
I believe that only that little to no air pollution should be allowed to be release. We need to cut back on fossil fuels and resort to more pure clean energy such as solar or wind energy. If fossil fuels could be illuminated completely we could save and preserve our way of living and ecosystem. So I say who care about air travel and new tech gadgets when there were be no food on the table or any birds to listen to sing. Why should be kill the environment and vegetation for our person entertainment its not fair to nature and not fair to ourselves, and thats why I say we put an end to air pollution.

Japans Nuclear meltdown caused from tsunami

CEO of Industrial Sites

CEO of Industrial Sites

Unfortunately I'm sad to say that my entire life depends on the amount of air pollution my factories are allowed to produce. However, who cares about the amount of pollution I release when I manufacture TVs, cars, and computers. Why do you not want these fabulous devices? We cant produce these items in the time we do without fossil fuels. It would decrease productivity by 90% if we use solar energy. And besides it would inflate prices drastically resulting in a financial depression.

CEO of Industrial Sites

Of course I believe that the pros of air pollution outweigh the cons. Who cares if the earth temperature increase by a degree? I surely dont mind, in fact I enjoy the heat. Honesty what do you enjoy more, television or some silly plants. It is obvious that air pollution is having such a minimal effect on the ecosystem that it doesnt even matter the amount we release.

CEO of Industrial Sites

I personally believe that there should be no regulation on the amount of air pollution my factories are allowed to release. Firstly it decreases my companies productivity resulting in millions of dollars lost. Secondly my employees lose possible work time. Thirdly the combined amount of green house gasses my factories release is so minimal that it does not affect the ecosystem at all. So why do I have to be the first company to shorten the amount of pollution I release. It is not reasonable in any way to limit the amount of air pollution legal to dump.

Industrial Employees
Employees in a China factory

Industrial Employees
Air pollution does not really affect my life directly, other than I have to breathe it at work. In my professional life, it has no effect because the company I work in needs to burn fossil fuels in order to run the business and produce the goods. If production decreases, so does my salary pay. At I home I try to be as green as possible, for example I take the metro to go to work everyday instead of driving in heavy traffic everyday. But there is nothing I can do to stop air pollution from industrial sites like the one I work in.

Industrial Employees
I feel that the benefits and consequences for the production of pollution can be equally balanced. By burning fossil fuels, people can travel around the world if they want to, or even go into outer space. We can heat our homes, mow our lawns, and complete small tasks easier. The only consequence I see right now is the thinning of the ozone layer. The atmosphere is the only thing thats keeping me alive right now and I would like to live in a world that fits me. So the production of pollution can is good and bad for me.

Industrial Employees
I dont know the exact data analysis of how much exactly the problem is for air pollution right now, but I know it is bad. To be honest, I have no control over the amount of air pollution given so I dont believe I can give you an exact amount of how much it should be released. I think some pollution is good because it is a natural process, but not too pollution because it can personally affect me. For now, I just go with the flow and follow what everybody else is doing about the pollution problem.

Humanitarian
Hong Kong

Humanitarian
Honestly, air pollution does affect my life because it harms mother nature. All my favorite rivers have gotten hotter and less habitat able to sustain life. Also, acid rain has started to corrode cities and infrastructure. Friends of mine have inhaled noxious gases released into the air, such as the radiation particles that were released into the air during the tsunami in Japan in 2011. I have dedicated my life to helping people/animals/ and plants, and throughout the years I have witnessed a great amount of increase in casualties caused from released pollution

Humanitarian
Of course I believe that the benefits from burning fuel does not cover up the problems from air pollution. We have hybrid cars and renewable resources that we can use, so burning fossil fuels is not our last resort. Burning fossil fuels may help individuals financially, but I believe that in the long run that it will cause major problems for everybody in the future. What is more important to society? The killing of mass people and animals? Or driving around town in your SUV? That is the question, and I believe this is why it is obvious that burning so much fuel is not worth it.

Humanitarian
I believe that air pollution should be controlled so much that I never have to hear about it again. To do this, not only can we control how much waste should be released, we should also take note on accidents that can occur and be prepared on natural disasters that can accidently release harmful pollution. So everybody that is listening to this interview, PLEASE STOP POLLUTING THE AIR. You will regret it when the world will become inhabitable.

Environmental Scientist
CO2 Present in Hawaiis atmosphere trend

Environmental Scientist
Well, I have been studying air pollution for the last 35 years and I have reached many conclusions about pollution. Air pollution does not personally affect my life yet, however the environment we live in is in a major threat. I live in an average lifestyle as a normal human being, with a regular car and a regular house. My job is to give people the facts about air pollution, and give them exact data to visually show how much and how fast this problem is increasing. It is the publics decision whether or not they would like to give their part in helping.

Environmental Scientist
According to my findings, this air pollution problem can not be fixed as easy some people may think. It will have to gradually decrease in trends periodically and sufficient technology. We need new technology because realistically people are not going to cut down on technology. According to the US Census, in 2006, 61 percent of Americans within the driving age drive a motor vehicle. According to the trends, this will not decrease any time soon. Thus, scientists like me are finding new technologies such as solar-powered devices to create a more clean energy sources and accomplishing the same tasks used from harmful sources.

 I believe that the minimal amount of air pollution required to prevent an economic recession or an inflation of the currency. We need to slowly remove our technological dependence of the use of fossil fuels until we can operate all our countries system without the use of them. Because if we continue to use the amount of fossil fuels we are currently using our ecosystem will become on the brink of extinction. To conclude my analysis, we need to remove our dependence on the use of fossil fuels in yearly increments until the time comes where our technology will allow us to function equally without the releasing of harmful air pollutants.

Environmental Scientist

Survey Time!
How does air pollution affect your lifestyle? Do you believe the benefits from burning fossil fuels outweighs the consequences of air pollution? How much air pollution do you believe should be allowed to be released?

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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