Our Common Atmosphere: CONTINENTAL POLLUTANT PATHWAYS
Pollutant pathways are continental in scope and involve four mechanisms and two different types of processes – active and passive.
The first mechanism, source materials, is an active process and involves getting raw materials out of the ground (like oil from a well head) and transporting it by tanker or pipeline to a production facility (like a refinery). There are a few impacts on the environment from this pathway but most of them can be controlled through pollution abatement techniques at the well head and at the refinery.
The second mechanism is product distribution, another active process, involving the transport of products like gasoline, plastics, solvents and pesticides from the refinery to the end users. These pathways have few environmental impacts.
The third mechanism is a passive process known as the release and transport of residuals. It is a passive process because we humans have little control over it. Here the pathways involve emissions from cars, incinerators and volatilization (like the gases that are released when solvents are used or the vapour that is put back into the air when the sun heats up pesticide residue). This group of pathways involves gases, vapours and particles being carried by the wind and then deposited by falling rain and snow. The environmental impacts can be widespread, and the pathways are indirect.
The fourth mechanism is another passive process called bioaccumulation and exposure. The final pathways are direct from the grass to the dairy cattle or from the soil to our vegetables. The bioaccumulation pathway is from the surface of the water eaten by bugs that are eaten by fish that we eventually have for dinner. This pathway is shown in the figure.
These pathways are part of the major pollution concerns we face – acid rain, mercury, ozone, particulate matter and persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
One thing that is clear is that, whether you are a vegetarian or a meat eater, there are multiple pathways to you through the environment for some pollutants and that the life cycle of products is very important to your exposure.
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6 年Good analysis of a very big problem. I think that if atmospheric emissions could be better tracked and a price placed on those emissions -- like the carbon pricing model -- there would be fewer emissions. Right now, companies can get away with externalizing the problem. Do you think that if we let the market work, so that they pay the full price of those emissions, we'll have a cleaner world?