Select one important sustainability issue of global significance and express this issue.
Air pollution from the automobile industry can be regarded as one of the most significant threats to humankind which is of global significance and nitrogen oxide is an extremely reactive harmful gas that is produced while the fuel burns at high temperature and when the gas comes in contact with oxygen and water, nitric acid is produced and this is one of the main causes of acid rain which have the potential to cause respiratory problems in human and an increase lungs disease as well as destroy vegetation and plants (Zhang et al., 2017).
In the modern industrial economy, the automobile industry plays a significant role and it helps in shaping our modern life. But due to the increase of globalization of the business, the automobile industry is booming and in the year 2017, the global automobile manufacturing sector has manufactured 97.31 million automobile vehicles of which 73.46 million are cars and 23.85 million are commercial vehicles (www.statista.com, 2018).
This is really a concern for the global environment as air pollution from the motor vehicles continuously gives rise to air pollution with the help of nitrogen dioxide which mixes with water as well as with oxygen in order to produce acid rain. But this is not a new issue at all as the global environmental concern and air pollution concern started since the beginning of 13th century while coal burning took place in London for production of energy (www.sustainable-environment.org.uk, 2018).
But, air pollution is not only the concern that is caused by the motor vehicle industry but also the chemical industry and various other industries that are present in the world also cause air pollution. Air pollution is very harmful for the humankind and also the natural environment due to the fact that it can cause acid rain which is very harmful for the vegetation and the natural environment. The acid rains harm the pH of the soil and also destroy the significant minerals that are present in the soil and thus are also harmful for the plants and vegetation to survive which has the potential to destroy the ecosystem of a place (Izuta, 2017).
Also, though the acid rain is the most significant environmental concern in some places of the earth, there are some cities of the world which are highly polluted and have air quality very low like across the some cities of China, India, Iran and some countries of Middle east as well.
While air pollution degrades the quality of natural vegetation and destroys the ecosystem, it can cause problem for the human beings too and when human being comes in contact with nitrogen oxide contents that is high in the air, for a long period of time, it can cause lungs problem for the individuals and furthermore, sulphur dioxide can also cause breathing problem for human beings which is also regarded as a highly dangerous greenhouse gas that is responsible for global warming as well (Lelieveld et al., 2015). Also there is carbon monoxide gas that is present when the burning of fossil fuel takes place which have high capability to mix with the blood and can also reduce the capacity of the blood to carry oxygen and high amount of inhaling this gaseous substance can also result in death of human beings as well.
Sulphur dioxide is another substance that is produced by the burning of fuels such as petroleum, diesel and so on which can cause various kinds of problems in the body of individuals hat include chest tightness, wheezing as well as breath shortness. Moreover it can also cause lung as well as heart ailments (www.ucsusa.org, 2018). Moreover, the air pollution due to the automobile industry and other industries of the world can also cause particulate maters that floats in the air and once it enters the eyes, it can cause eye irritation, irritation of throat as well as nose and also lung and heart ailments. Moreover, when the individuals are left exposed to particulate matters for a long period of time; it can cause death due to cardiovascular diseases and individuals can also due premature.
Thus, modern day life and pollution goes hand in hand and can be regarded as an issue of sustainability in the present time due to increase of air pollution which is an effect of globalization of the businesses and technologies (Kurt et al., 2016).
There are economic elements that are also attached with the air pollution and the problems that are related to the human health and its effect upon the natural vegetation of the world. Air pollution is known to cause and affect the mortality as well as the rate of morbidity. Moreover, the vegetation and the crop yield per year are also affected by the acid rain that is caused by the air pollution (Crippa et al., 2016). These are highly concerning for the economy of the world and also affect the population of the world as well. In the year 2015, OECD and WHO stated that the cost of the disability and premature death that has resulted in the world has an economic expenditure of more than US$ 1.6 trillion and the air pollution costs the human life as well as it can reduce the ability of the people to work due to disability and also degrades the ecosystem for performing functions of the requirements of the societies (www.oecd.org, 2018).
As per the report of World Economic Forum, in India it can be found that due to massive pollution of ozone and dirt, India losses tonnes and hectares of crop yield per year and in the states where the population density is more, there is more loss to the crop yield and the highest is recorded as 50% loss of crop yield which has contribution of air pollution. This results in economic downturn of the economy and it is also a fact that in the year 2010, India lost one fifth of rice yield due to air pollution and bad quality of air (www.weforum.org, 2018).
Thus, the air pollution also contributes towards the changes in the economic condition of a place and results in the downturn of the economy of all over the earth which requires massive actions.
Air pollution is one of the largest growing problems in the world and there are many ethical issues that are connected to the growth of the air pollution. The foremost is that there are many developing countries in the world which lacks in proper healthcare facilities against the air pollution and thus the mortality rate and the morbidity rate of the individuals of those countries suffers, while the loss of ecological balance in the environment can also be considered as another ethical issue which has come to surface due to increasing amount of air pollution (Lave et al., 2013).
As stated by Yang (2010), the ethics in terms of environment is very necessary in order to maintain the discipline hat consists of ethical relation and moral relation of individuals with the environment they live in. the businesses that exists in the present world in order to manufacture the products and the services of the organization pollutes the environment which is very harmful for the living beings in the society as it has the potential to decrease the quality life and also increase the rate of morbidity and decrease the rate of mortality. The automobile industry and the chemical industries are the highest polluting industries of the world that contributes towards more than 40% of the air pollution in US, while global automotive industry contributes towards 50% of the air pollution at total in the global environment (www.bizfluent.com, 2017). This is a highly detrimental factor for the health of the individuals as in the underdeveloped countries and also in the countries which are developing, the healthcare facilities are not advanced and also a lot of poor population are there who do not have financial power to support their health related aspects.
Thus, this can be regarded as one of the ethical issues of air pollution and more over, in many countries where there is huge amount of air pollution, the crop yields and vegetation can be affected by the air pollution which can result in the loss of ecological balance. When the vegetation or the natural habitat of a place is affected by the air pollution it can give rise to ethical issues and the pollution causing industries of that place. In developing countries like India and China, where there are large amount of fertilizer industries and high number of cars running in the roads, the air pollution is generally high with no measures or laws implemented to control the air pollution, the quality of maintenance of ecological balance is lower as the tress are cut down in some parts of these countries in order to build industries which rises as an ethical concern for the businesses that exists (Ma et al., 2010). Cutting down the trees in these countries in order to build factories for the industry losses ecological balance of the place and thus ethical questions are raised against these industries causing air pollution.
Thus, the businesses that exists in the developing economies and under developed economies should keep in check the ethical issues in related to their business so that the legal problems can be avoided.
While there are various threats for the businesses that exist in the industry due to air pollution, the air pollution can also be viewed as a positive factor which provides a lot of opportunities of the businesses as well. Some of the threats and the opportunities are mentioned below:
Threats:
One of the major threats that can be faced by the businesses is the health of the employees due to rising amount of air pollution in the air which can affect the health of the employee negatively. This can result in more absence of the employees in the workplace which have the potential to decrease the productivity of the work of the employees (Walters, 2010). Moreover, one of the threat that can be counted in this concern is the attraction of the talents in the industry and if the location of the business is at a place with inferior air quality it can cause threat for the business and in addition to this, the policies form the government in the upcoming years can be strict that can decrease the revenue earning capacity of the business as well.
Opportunities:
But there are opportunities for the businesses as well with air pollution reaching high level in the country. The businesses that never before cared about the air pollution as a factor will recycle the products of the organization in order to control the pollution in the environment and also the foreign companies will be able to enter the market of the developing and underdeveloped countries with their technological advanced products which can help in pollution control of the environment (Gurjar et al., 2010).
It is a fact that is known to everyone that the global automotive industry is the highest contributor towards the pollution of the environment and it contributes towards 50% of the world pollution in terms of air (www.ucsusa.org, 2018). That is the reason; this industry should think about solutions that can help them to pollute the environment less and also maintain the sustainability of the industry as well as maintain the ethics while conducting their business.
Reason of un-sustainability:
The world population is booming at the present moment and due to the globalization of the business all over the world, it has caused an increase in the demand of the automobiles so that the individuals can carry themselves to other places at a short point of time. Thus, increase in the usage of the automobiles has enhanced the rate of air pollution in the air and this has caused a un-sustainability in the automobile industry throughout the world.
There are also a few barriers in removal of this un-sustainable situation as presented below:
Financial Barriers:
The world economy has gained its strength after the financial crisis of 2008 and in the developed countries like US, Australia, UK and so on; the disposal income of individuals has increased which is causing them to afford more luxury cars and also the cars with sports engine (Hayden, 2012). Also the developed countries like India and China are also financially becoming stronger which is causing in booming of the car industry and more cars have got sold in the last 10 years than the entire car sales in the last decade.
Technological Barriers:
With the globalization of the technologies in the industries all over the world, the automotive industry is also getting developed in terms of technology and this is also helping in creating cars at cheaper prices than ever before which is allowing the manufactures to sale their cars at less price to the customers. This is causing problems for the governments of the country to cut down the amount of car sales.
Behavioural Barriers:
People in the developing and developed countries nowadays have become more dependent upon the technologies and this is causing a lot of problem to cut down the sale of cars in these countries. People believe in technology in order to move from one place to other and thus it has become impossible create a sustainable environment in this aspect (Harwit, 2016).
References:
Crippa, M., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Dentener, F., Guizzardi, D., Sindelarova, K., Muntean, M., Van Dingenen, R. and Granier, C., 2016. Forty years of improvements in European air quality: regional policy-industry interactions with global impacts. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 16(6), pp.3825-3841.
Gurjar, B.R., Molina, L.T. and Ojha, C.S.P., 2010. Air pollution: health and environmental impacts. CRC press.
Harwit, E., 2016. China’s Automobile Industry: Policies, Problems and Prospects: Policies, Problems and Prospects. Routledge.
Hayden, D., 2012. “I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE” Selling the Unsustainable City. Journal of urban history, 38(1), pp.3-15.
Izuta, T. ed., 2017. Air pollution impacts on plants in East Asia. Springer.
Kurt, O.K., Zhang, J. and Pinkerton, K.E., 2016. Pulmonary health effects of air pollution. Current opinion in pulmonary medicine, 22(2), p.138.
Lave, L.B. and Seskin, E.P., 2013. Air pollution and human health (Vol. 6). Routledge.
Lelieveld, J., Evans, J.S., Fnais, M., Giannadaki, D. and Pozzer, A., 2015. The contribution of outdoor air pollution sources to premature mortality on a global scale. Nature, 525(7569), p.367.
Ma, J., Chen, Y., Wang, W., Yan, P., Liu, H., Yang, S., Hu, Z. and Lelieveld, J., 2010. Strong air pollution causes widespread haze?clouds over China. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 115(D18).
Walters, R., 2010. Toxic atmospheres air pollution, trade and the politics of regulation. Critical Criminology, 18(4), pp.307-323.
www.bizfluent.com. (2017). Air Pollution Caused by Industries. [online] Available at: https://bizfluent.com/about-5407184-air-pollution-caused-industries.html [Accessed 26 May 2018].
www.oecd.org. (2018). The economic consequences of outdoor air pollution. [online] Available at: https://www.oecd.org/environment/indicators-modelling-outlooks/Policy-Highlights-Economic-consequences-of-outdoor-air-pollution-web.pdf [Accessed 26 May 2018].
www.statista.com. (2018). Worldwide automobile production from 2000 to 2017 (in million vehicles). [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/262747/worldwide-automobile-production-since-2000/ [Accessed 26 May 2018].
www.sustainable-environment.org.uk. (2018). Sustainable Environment. [online] Available at: https://www.sustainable-environment.org.uk/Environment/Air_Pollution.php [Accessed 26 May 2018].
www.ucsusa.org. (2018). Cars, Trucks, and Air Pollution. [online] Available at: https://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/vehicles-air-pollution-and-human-health/cars-trucks-air-pollution#.Wwj99zSFPIU [Accessed 26 May 2018].
www.weforum.org. (2018). Why air pollution reduces crop yields. [online] Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2014/11/air-pollution-reduces-crop-yields/ [Accessed 26 May 2018].
Zhang, Q., Jiang, X., Tong, D., Davis, S.J., Zhao, H., Geng, G., Feng, T., Zheng, B., Lu, Z., Streets, D.G. and Ni, R., 2017. Transboundary health impacts of transported global air pollution and international trade. Nature, 543(7647), p.705.
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