Question

1. Which of the environmental policy options discussed during class would you recommend if a hypothetical society were facing the environmental problems listed below? In each case, briefly explain the justification(s) for your choice:

1. Pollution from an estuary from multiple irrigation runoffs;
2. Air pollution of a major metropolitan area;
3. The clean up of a toxic waste dump;
4. Damage to lakes, streams, forests and soil resulting from acid rain;
5. A threat to human health due to stratospheric ozone depletion;
6. Marine pollution;
7. A well-founded fear for gradual extinction of endangered species, for example, my personal favorite, the blobby fish (shown above just in case you were sleeping soundly each night)

Answer 1

a) Can control the pollution of water through controlling the use of pesticides for the agricultural purposes. Farmers can reduce non-point source pollution from irrigation by improving water use efficency. They can calculate the water required for plants and apply only the amount of water required. They can also convert irrigation systems to higher efficency ones.

b) For the air polution in the major metropolitan areas, we can recommened for setting up air cleaning devices.They should be well maintained .We can also promote the use of public transportation facelities for travelling purposes. Proper measures should be taken for manitaining the quality of the air.

c) Incineration can be utilised for the cleaning of toxic waste dump, which can greatly hamper the environment. I recommend this as it involves the use of high tempreature for cleaning ,which can help for the proper removal of toxic waste.

d) Acid rain is basically caused by the large amounts of nitrogen oxides and sulfer dioxide. So , limiting the emmisions of this pollutants can prevent from acid rains. Unfortunately, power plants that generates electricity emits the large amounts of this pollutants. As a measure, power plants can install an equipment called scrubbers which removes the sulfer dioxide from the gases leaving the smokestack.

e) The major cause of ozone depletion is the releasing of chloroflurocarbons which are mainly released from the airconditioners and refrigerators. We can promote the production of aircondtioners and refrigerators that do not use HCFC as refrigerant.

f) To reduce marine pollution, we should control the emissions by imposing taxes on each units of industrial emissions.

g) For the protection of the endangered species , we can educate the people about those species and their importance. Promotion of sustainable development is also another good measure.