Environmental literacy save our mother earth | Page 9
Here is an explanation of how factories might cause air pollution:
Heavy Metals:
The popularity of massproduced factory cell phones and consumer
electronics has increased the amount of heavy metals in the
environment. Heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic
are introduced to the environment during factory production as well as
when a consumer throws them away. These metals are toxic to things
living in soil, animals and humans, sometimes causing immediate death.
They can also accumulate in smaller amounts inside the body over time
leading to chronic illness.
Carbon Dioxide:
Nearly 85 percent of energy in the United States comes from carbon
emitting fossil fuels. When burned, these fossil fuels emit harmful gases
including carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide which increase the amount of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere resulting in global warming. Air
pollution is much worse in highly populated cities where more factories
emit pollution in close proximity to humans.
Agriculture Waste:
Large commercial factory farms produce an
enormous amount of waste that includes animal
blood, feces and pesticides. The excess nutrients
from factory farms, such as animal feces and
fertilizers, can disrupt the natural level of nutrients in
the air, causing decreased dissolved oxygen levels
from an overgrowth of decomposes, which often
results in fishkills.