Figure 1 – Presence of CFC-113 per picomole in Cape Grim, Australia. Sourced from NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory.

The plot presented shows how much of CFC-113, a type of CFC is present in Cape Grim, Australia. This data was collected over a period of 30 years, from 1991 to 2021. This data is collected using Flask Samples, when air is stored into flasks and then further experimented on.

CFCs are responsible for depleting the ozone layer in the stratosphere, an essential shield against the harmful rays of the UV rays that come from the Sun. As such, it is important to measure the presence of such gasses in the atmosphere. An increase in atmospheric CFC is a concern for ozone depletion.

This specific data trend shows that in Cape Grim, the presence of CFCs has been on a decline for the last two decades. It is notable that the peak happened in around 1995 and has been on a decline ever since then. This data is important because it shows that, over a period of time, the presence of CFC-113 has gone down in this specific area, meaning that the ozone layer is largely preserved.

A very interesting article on Dioxins by the Oxford Academic sheds light on the impact this chemical has on human health. It is a detailed article talking about the effects Dioxins have after human exposure. The article first talks about how cancer mortality has been noticed to increase invariably in humans exposed to this chemical as opposed to those who have not. In particular, it is observed that humans exposed to the chemical 2 to 3 times more than the general population show the strongest evidence for this cause. Other interesting effects are Thyroid function and effects on reproductive system where signs like low testosterone and increased gonadotrophin concentrations would be observed. It is important to know that the size of the sample used in the study was niche, and that many more effects may occur to this chemical not observed in the sample studied.

Today, Dioxins are mainly just a by- product of industrial waste. They are also released in the environment through improper waste management. Every living being has been exposed to this chemical at some point. One of the uses of this Chemical was in production of Agent Orange, a defoliant used in the Vietnam War. Dioxins are known to cause chloracne, which is now strongly linked to Dioxin exposure. It is interesting to see that Dioxin not only impacts humans, but every vertebrate species, at every stage of development.

References-

Paper and paperboard make up the largest share of total waste generated by material. In 2018, paper and paperboard contributed to about 23.1% in total MSW.

Some of the common uses for paper and paperboard can be seen mostly in products like paper containers and packaging materials. Ever since the rise in e-commerce businesses, demand for packaging is soaring, hence more dependancy on materials like paper and paperboard. In the United States, about 41 million tonnes of paper and paperboard were generated in 2018 alone. Overall, the recycling rate for this material is at a 68.2%, with more non-durable goods made of this material have a recycling rate of 43.1%. The United States is not the highest consumer of paper and paperboards. China comes in at the highest consumer for this material with 103 million tonnes of paper consumption annually. China however, has a lower recycling rate for paper materials, at an average of 47% in 2018. Recycling paper materials helps save a lot of energy and water. To put this in context, recycling a tonne of paper has the potential to save enough energy needed to power one average U.S. home for six months and can save an upwards of 7000 gallons of water.

One of the advantages of recycling paper, and also why its recycling rate is high, is that this material has a lot of alternative uses. Paper and paperboard can even be recycled into something called recycled paper, that can further be used to make notebooks for final consumption. What we can learn from this is that we can improve our recycling rates as we identify more alternative uses for the materials we generate as waste.

References:

1. Facts and Figures about Materials, Waste and Recycling. EPA.gov. https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/guide-facts-and-figures-report-about-materials#Materials
2. Top Paper Producing Countries, Meet the Top Paper Consuming Countries. PG Paper. https://pgpaper.com/paper-producing-consuming-countries/
3. Recycling Rate for Paper and Cardboard in China from 2009 to 2019. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1076772/china-paper-recycling-rate/
4. Blue, Marie-Luise, The Advantages of Recycling Paper. Seattle Pi. https://education.seattlepi.com/advantages-recycling-paper-3440.html

Industrial smog, better understood as the classic smog forms in areas with high sulfur emissions. This is usually caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Sulfur particles dissolve in the water droplets in the atmosphere to form sulphuric acid, causing smog. Industrial smog was well associated with London in the 1950s.  (Robinson)

Smog is caused by the smoke particles generated in industrial waste mixing with the naturally occurring fog. That is why smog is more commonly seen during the winter season. Industrial smog is mostly caused by the burning of coal. Burning of coal releases in smoke and sulfur, and when these air pollutants mix with the fog, it creates smog.

Industrial smog has severe impacts on the health of humans. A notable incident of this can be the health impacts caused by smog in London before proper emission controls were in place. In just the year of 1973, smog in London caused the death rate of the city to rise by over 40% (Deziel). Biggest health concern that smog carries is bronchitis. Bronchitis, caused mostly due to the inhalation of smog can lead to people developing chronic coughing. Inhaling these pollutants increases the chances of lung cancer, and is known to decrease the lung capacity especially in children.

One solution that was implemented in my city of New Delhi during a bad smoke event during 2017 was controlling the number of vehicles on the street. The solution here was that on certain days of the week, Only vehicles with license plates ending in an even number would be allowed to drive, and on other days it would be for license plates ending in an odd number. This was a strategy that was implemented to at least stop the smog from getting worse due to air pollution caused by vehicles, though I can not comment on how effective it was.

References –

1. Robinson, Nick. “What Is Industrial Smog?” sciencing.com, https://sciencing.com/what-is-industrial-smog-13638919.html. 8 March 2021.

2. Deziel, Chris. “The Effects of Industrial Smog” sciencing.com,       https://sciencing.com/effects-industrial-smog-8152.html. 8 March 2021.

While on the surface a country like Pakistan usually does not come up when the topic of population control is brought up, they have been seeing a boom in the increase of their population, stemming mainly from their birth rates. It is interesting to see how a country like Pakistan, with its strong religious beliefs attempts to put in place policies to bring their population growth rate under control.

In the year 2010, the Pakistani government revised their National Population Policy, aimed at bringing stability to their population growth. Their overall goal is to bring the fertility rate of the country to 2.1 in the next ten years, so they would probably be observing whether they achieved their target this year.

The government is also promoting the use of contraception, most notably condoms and IUD, which was met with resistance with the citizens over the concern of not staying true to their religious beliefs. All in all, I think Pakistan makes for a very interesting case of population control and I will keep my eye out for the data they release and see how successful their policies were.

Source:

(n.d) Gender Aware Policy Appraisal, Government of Pakistan.Retrieved on February 5, 2021. Accessed on UNDP. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj969b709PuAhUFheAKHbH8CJUQFjABegQIBBAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.undp.org%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2Fundp%2Fdocuments%2Fprojects%2FPAK%2Fgapa.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0lQpzVMsXpc7AI_NrdLfw4

I noticed that over time, Germany gradually fell on the track to improve their ecological footprint. I thought that this particular observation is interesting because I did not expect a first world state to have a relatively consistent declining ecological footprint. I wanted to understand more about why Germany’s ecological footprint peaked in the 1970s and what has caused it to be on a constant decline since then.

Germany’s ecological footprint in the year 1973 was 568,337,947.14. In the year 2015, it was 386,178,015.56 (Global Footprint Network). Observing that the biomass capacity has been relatively consistent over time, it was interesting to notice this change in their ecological footprint.

It is not surprising to notice that during that time, environmental activism in Germany was not prominent. There was also a belief during the 1970s that the Western economic growth could only be achieved by sacrificing the environment (Library of Congress). I believe that this ideology played a significant factor in their ecological deficit during that time period. One identifiable moment where environmental activism was not prioritised in Germany was during the Oil Crisis of 1973 and the looming global recession. It was not until 1986 that environmental activism went on a rise in Germany. The year 1986 had a series of ecological disasters, most notably the accident at Chernobyl (Library of Congress). I think that this is when environmental conservatism began in Germany, and it can be observed through an extent in their ecological footprint over the years.

It is interesting to see how a country’s belief in strong economic growth was rooted in the belief that the environment must be scarified to achieve it, and how after observing the downfalls of such growth, environmental conservatism took priority. I hope we continue to see the importance of protecting our environment in the near future, and keep the decline of ecological deficit going wherever possible.

References :

(n.d), Country Trends, Germany. Open Data Platform. Retrieved from https://data.footprintnetwork.org/#/countryTrends?cn=79&type=BCtot,EFCtot

(n.d) Eric Solsten, ed. Germany: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1995. Retrieved from http://countrystudies.us/germany/81.htm