Is Pollution Getting Worse? | Teen Ink

Is Pollution Getting Worse?

February 16, 2015
By blk20 BRONZE, Hartland, Wisconsin
blk20 BRONZE, Hartland, Wisconsin
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Pollution is a huge worldwide problem. Many people don’t know the bad things they are doing to the planet, pollution is one of those many things. But, people are doing things that are helping reduce pollution. Some things that are working to reduce pollution are the cap and trade program, electric cars, and satellites, that can analyze pollution.  


One thing that is helping reduce pollution is the cap and trade program. Cap and trade is when factories get a certain amount of emissions, that they can’t go over or they have to pay.  Emissions are the discharged elements, like gas. Factories that don’t use all their emissions can sell them to other factories that need more.  According to the website, http://www.epa.gov/captrade/documents/ctessentials.pdf, on their article, “ Cap and Trade Esscentials,” they claimed, “ While achieving significant reductions on a regional scale, cap and trade programs can deliver substantial air quality improvement.” Emission gas released in the air has dropped 10% since 2005. On the other hand, people might say that is not a lot of decrease, but everything helps in stopping pollution. 


A second thing that is helping reduce pollution is electric cars. They reduce the amount of vehicle emissions released into the air. According to Patricia Carey, in her article, “ Green Guru: Do Electric Car Really Reduce Pollution,” she said, “ Studies show that in some cases, certain plug-in electric vehicles that pull electricity from gas fired plants produce up to  60% fewer emissions that a conventional car with an internal combustion engine.” On the other hand, people might say that’s only for certain electric cars. But, if people know that it’s that car that does that they would be  more likely to buy that car. Electric cars can transport at an energy cost of 15 kilowatts per hour, (kWh) per 100 kilo-miles. That is 5 times better than a regular car.


A third thing that is helping reduce pollution is satellites that can track it. The satellites can locate the source of pollution, and track to see where it ends up.  According to the article, “ NASA Satellite Confirms Sharp Decline in Pollution from US Coal Power Plants,” NASA said, “ The ground based instruments have logged a 46% decline in sulfur dioxide levels since 2005, a finding consistent with the 40% reduction observed by OMI.”  Some people say pollution tracking satellites cost a lot of money, but most space satellites cost more than the ones that track pollution. The OMI satellite that can locate pollution more accuracy than any other, it’s a Dutch and Finnish built satellite.


In conclusion, there are inventions that don’t help pollution. But, there are some that do help reduce pollution, like cap and trade, electric cars, and satellites that can analyze pollution. Those are some inventions that help reduce pollution.



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