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Mervyn Singh
Professor Packer
English 2010
February 25, 2016
Our Environment
Whats going on?
What makes up our environment? Is it just the trees and the birds? Or is it more than
that? A lot of people think about the natural world and how we as humans are affecting it and
being affected by it. We hear a lot about the rain forests and the number of endangered animals
in the world, like the fairy penguin from Australia. They are also being affected by climate
change, which is probably another term
you think of when thinking about the
environment. There are so many different
factors that make up our environment. I
wanted to focus on three in particular: air
quality, water quality, and living
organisms. I hope at the end of this report
we will have an understanding about
these ideas and how we as humans are
affecting them.

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/02/160224-penguins animals-scienceaustralia-global warming/

Air
Air is everywhere. We cant see it but it affects just about every living organism on this
planet. Without it life as we know it wouldnt exist. Earth's atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21%

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oxygen, 0.9% argon, and 0.03% carbon dioxide with very small percentages of other elements.
Our atmosphere also contains water vapor. These basic gases help all living things to thrive. But
we also have pollutants that get put into the air. Like Ozone (O3), Particulate
matter(PM10andPM2.5,)Carbon monoxide (CO),Nitrogen dioxide (NO2),Sulfur dioxide
(SO2), and Lead (Pb). These gases are emitted by generating power, driving and other
industrious activities. A common idea is that humans are destroying the atmosphere and it isnt
getting any better.

Source: "US Environmental Protection Agency." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 28 Apr.

2016.

This graph that was provided by the EPA(Environment Protection Agency) actually shows a
decline of emissions and projects it to keep dropping. Humans are actually improving the air.
Water
Water is another essential element to life. All living organisms need water. Polluted
water can cause major problems to the health of organisms, especially humans. According to
The Natural Resources Defense Council(NRDC) About fourteen billion pounds of garbage is

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poured into the ocean every year. A lot of pollution is caused by industrial waste which is
disposed of in nearby water supplies. Humans are the main contributors to water pollution.
This is a major problem. Former Secretary of Energy Adm. James D. Watkins said "Our failure
to properly manage the human activities that affect the nation's oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes
is compromising their ecological integritythreatening human health, and putting our future at
risk." Unlike the air quality, it seems that because of the rise in industry our water isnt getting
any cleaner than before. According to conserve-energy-future.com, water pollution from
industrial companies has made many ground water resources unusable.
Natural wildlife
Many of us enjoy looking at animals or walking through meadows or forest areas. In the
United States we have the Redwood Forests and Yellowstone National Park. These are some
examples of some of the amazing things that we have on our planet. How many of us like to go
camping? How many dont? Im sure most of us can say that we enjoy the beauty of nature,
whether from our homes or experiencing it ourselves. Many of us have heard that a lot of these
things wont be around in future generations. According to the NRDC oil and gas companies are
trying to overrun these wild places. They also claim to be fighting against this industrialization
through court systems and local partners. Habitats are being lost, species are becoming extinct
and it is harder for the environment to recover from each natural disaster. Major industrial
accidents like oil spills, fires, leak of radioactive material and damage to property are harder to
clean-up as they have a higher impact in a shorter span of time. says the online magazine
group,Conserve Energy Future. Human do however lead a large number of groups trying to
maintain and rebuild these ecosystems. Like the EPA, NRDC, UNEP and many local wildlife
officials.

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Conclusion
Humans affect the environment like no other organism. We have seen how humans have
destroyed it like the Ganges river in India, which is full of garbage and other pollutants. We have
also seen how we have been able to reduce the emissions from cars by a great margin over the
last 30 years. There is an ongoing debate about the environment and we must decide what is
important to us. No matter what we do we will be affecting the environment.

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Works Cited
"US Environmental Protection Agency." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 28 Apr.
2016.
"Water." NRDC. National Resources Defense Council, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016."Renewable & NonRenewable Energy Sources - Conserve Energy Future."ConserveEnergyFuture. N.p., n.d. Web. 28
Apr. 2016.
"AirNow." AirNow. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.