How Does Car Pollution Affect the Environment & Ozone Layer?
In addition to having negative effects on human health, car pollution is detrimental to the environment.
More likely than not, getting a vehicle from point “A” to point “B” involves combustion of a fossil fuel, a process that emits gasses and affects the environment. In December 1970, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported over 89.9 billion vehicle miles traveled, or VMT. (See Reference Four) That number almost tripled to over 246.Trio trillion VMT in December 2011. (See Reference Three) Such a acute incline in traffic volume begs the question: how does car pollution affect the environment and the ozone layer? According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than half of the air pollution in the nation is caused by mobile sources, primarily automobiles. (See Reference 6) Further contributing to the pollution potential of cars is the fact that they are packed with numerous fluids, which can harm the environment in the cases of leakage or improper disposition.
Vehicle Emissions and Air Quality
When a car’s engine is running, several different types of gasses and particles are emitted that can have detrimental effects on the environment. Of particular concern to the environment are carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas; hydrocarbons — any of more than a dozen volatile organic compounds, some of which are known carcinogens; nitrogen oxides; sulfur oxides; and particulate matter, little particles of solids, such as metal and soot. Other emissions that affect human health and create smog include ozone and carbon monoxide. (See Reference 1) The good news is that despite the increase of vehicles on the road, air quality today is actually better than it was in the 1970s, thanks to the one thousand nine hundred seventy Clean Air Act. In fact, lead emissions from cars have been almost downright eradicated because of the phasing out of leaded gasoline. (See Reference Two, page Two)
Effects on the Environment
Vehicle emissions can affect the environment in several ways. Cars emit greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide, which contribute to global heating. (See Reference Two, page 13) Some air pollutants and particulate matter from cars can be deposited on soil and surface waters where they come in the food chain; these substances can affect the reproductive, respiratory, immune and neurological systems of animals. (See Reference Five) Nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides are major contributors to acid rain, which switches the pH of waterways and soils and can harm the organisms that rely on these resources. (See Reference 9)
Effects on the Ozone Layer
The ozone layer helps to protect life on earth from the sun’s ultraviolet rays, but human activities have contributed to the accelerated depletion of this protective shield. (See Reference 7) Substances that contribute to ozone depletion usually have high concentrations of chlorine or bromine atoms and include chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, halons, methyl bromide, carbon tetrachloride and methyl chloroform. Vehicle emissions contain few chlorine- or bromine-heavy substances, and therefore have little effect on ozone depletion. Even tho’ they are not good for human health, hydrocarbons are recognized by the EPA as having no ozone depletion potential. (See Reference 8)