The Progression of Pollution
In 2019, we had some of the most consequential wildfires ever, we had 2 tsunamis that killed thousands of people, and along with that, there have been many other natural disasters that had been caused by global warming. Across the globe, we are breaking record after record for environmental issues. These issues didn’t just show up in one day, they started to build up as problems. Over time, we have not noticed that the problem is ever-growing, and is creeping towards us little by little. Changes in human activity during the 18th century started to make changes in the environment that led to global warming, but, by the time people started to do something about it, it was too late.
Although the people of the 18th and 19th centuries would be celebrating their success, the belching smokestacks of the Industrial Revolution would have a greater impact on the years to come. Everyone was so caught up in all the commotion of the Industrial Revolution, that they completely missed something which would be more revolutionary than any of the new manufacturing processes.
A picture of a factory with smoke coming out would be a symbol of accomplishment back in the 1800s because at the time it would show that you have achieved a well-working factory. The notion that their activity could cause climate change and global warming would be difficult for some people to wrap their heads around. The way people started progressing their manufacturing processes began to create ripples of problems that we would understand in about a century. Humans are wired to think of the short term threat, during the Industrial Revolution we couldn’t think of any short term threat, that is why we ignored climate change back in the 1800s.
As human beings, we aren’t wired to think of the long term effect, so people living during the Industrial Revolution weren’t even thinking of the effect of their actions because of all the new manufacturing processes being implemented in all of the factories. The amount of carbon in the air went 39% up after the Industrial Revolution, the number of parts per million increased by 280 (NASA). Carbon dioxide isn’t the only thing which was effected, methane, another greenhouse gas increased by 715 part by billion as well. To put those numbers into perspective, parts per million (PPM) or parts per billion (PPB) are the numbers of units used to denote the concentration of a gas. These units are used for a smaller amount of concentration. Carbon dioxide and methane are greenhouse gases, which like a greenhouse, traps heat. This is why we are able to survive on Earth, because we have enough heat to support life, with the right proportions of greenhouse gases. When the proportions go out of order, that has an effect on how much heat they trap inside the atmosphere. The tangible effects on the environment might have been hard to see at that time, but in about a century peoples will start to see the visible effects.
About a century later, people were starting to become curious about what might happen to the atmosphere. 100 years later people realize that global warming can have dire consequences on the planet. In 1970, Earth Day was created, not only because the senator of Wisconsin at the time, Gaylord Nelson, thought that environmental issues weren’t getting enough attention from the media. It was because when we first went to the moon we didn’t land, we circled it, and then for the first time we saw Earth from the outside. We got a different perspective, we realized we need to start to take care of our planet. We also saw a world with no boundaries, a planet not different continents, different nations, we saw one planet. With that new perspective and realization, lots of organizations to help the environment were founded a few years after we went to the moon. One of the organizations was Doctors Without Borders, that whole idea came from seeing Earth from the moon. The plaque which was kept on the moon was, “ We come in peace for all mankind”, this was especially important because on Earth, we were dealing with many wars back on Earth and this type of specie bondage was needed among everyone. James Hansen, a NASA scientist, delivered testimony and presented models to congress in June of 1988, he said that he was 99% sure that global warming was upon us. A lot of other scientists have done experiments saying the exact same thing as Hansen was. People didn’t really trust scientists even though they had the evidence and the facts, it would be hard to believe that out of nowhere, the planet is in danger. (History.com Editors)
Now in the 21st century, people are struggling to go back to the way things were, to a healthier environment. Now that the consequences are slowly seeping into reality. Countries like India and China have about 90% of kids suffering from lung diseases due to the polluted air. People are starting to trust the data from scientists because of all the different effects which are visible now. In 2019, there was a company called Planetly which was created for the sole purpose of spreading awareness, along with so many other companies that were also created to spread awareness to more people all around the world. So much of the news is about new data which is showing up from all the satellites circling our planet. For example, one of NASA’s satellites called SMAP spins at 15 rpm and tracks the moisture levels in the soil. This can help predict droughts, monitor floods, and help predict crop yields. Almost half of all NASA satellites are devoted to help us predict the further effects of climate change on our planet.
Over the years, the amount of attention global warming is getting has change and so the perspective of everybody and how they view this problem. Scientists have also created more organizations to help track the changes and react accordingly. The problem started in the mid-1800s during the Industrial Revolution, but now, we are more aware than we ever have with environmental issues, by publishing stories in the news, companies.
Reference:
- Editors, History com. “Climate Change History.” HISTORY, https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/history-of-climate-change
- “Industrial Revolution.” Wikipedia, 30 Apr. 2020. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Industrial_Revolution&oldid=953984316.
- The Carbon Cycle. 16 June 2011, https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/CarbonCycle/page4.php.
- “Industrial Revolution.” Saving Earth | Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 Mar. 2019,
- Global Warming Timeline. https://history.aip.org/climate/timeline.htm. Accessed 1 May 2020.
- Saha, Pritam, et al. “Impact of Maternal Air Pollution Exposure on Children’s Lung Health: An Indian Perspective.” Toxics, vol. 6, no. 4, Nov. 2018. PubMed Central, doi:10.3390/toxics6040068.
