Air pollution in Moscow is an overwhelming trouble that the residents of the region face. It has affected visitors from other parts of the world too. The increase of the peoples’ desire to have luxurious living has become problematic, for it has adversely affected Moscow’s environment. This is through the many cars they are buying.
The main issue is the quality of air. This essay will focus on car pollution; the role that cars have played in polluting the air.
The explosion of the number of cars in Moscow has largely contributed to the air pollution in this city. The fuel used by the vehicles is the root cause of the air pollution. The fuel burned in the process of combustion produces power for propelling the vehicles.
This process emits either carbon dioxide or even the more dangerous carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. The city has now a capacity of about three million cars on traffic ever day. These cars produce an extremely large amount of the waste gases, which has largely contributed to the poor air quality.
Apart from the quality of air, the streets have also become very problematic due to traffic jam. This has kept people on the road for longer time, delaying them to reach their destinations. The jam also increases the time the engines are on; therefore increasing the amount of the waste gas emitted to the atmosphere.
This has caused the average temperature of this city to go higher than the surrounding countryside. The carbon dioxide causes a warming effect through the greenhouse effect. In fact, the gas pushed in to the air is so much that a blanket of smog covers the city almost all the year.
This has made the people living in this place very uncomfortable. Still on the problem of temperature, carbon dioxide emitted by all vehicles cause the destruction of ozone layer, which helps in preventing a lot of heat from the sun from reaching the earth.
The layer also blocks dangerous rays from the sun from coming down to earth, hence protecting human beings. The increase in the number of motto vehicles is a formidable threat, and has already started bringing effects on this ozone layer, escalating the health problems of people.
Cars or vehicles also have other different emissions which are very dangerous. Lead, nitrogen monoxide, and dust or particulate pollutants. Others are things such us tire wear, break fluid leakage and the wearing of brake linings. These types of pollutants are very dangerous and the number of vehicles increases them. Particulate pollutants may not only arise from within the vehicles, but also the dust particles that the vehicles stir as they move.
There are several health issues that the increase of cars has caused. Influenza, premature death, increased number of people that are hospitalized, cancer, problems on growth and development in young children. Asthma attacks and bronchitis have been the main ones and the number of people suffering from these two is increasing on the increase of the number of cars.
Influenza epidemic has been reported to be on the rise in this city. Hospitals have had to increase their bed capacity and even get to the point of recalling their staff that were on holidays to help in taking care of the sick people. The major cause of this is the air pollution, which cars contribute the most.
This has increased pressure on the already strained health services. The number of the patients coming to hospitals for flu and respiratory related complications has increased showing that the condition of air of this place is not at any better state.
This affirms that the poor air quality in the city has actually made the flu problem worse. Even though the overall level of gas emission may be reducing as compared to some time 10 years ago, the rising number of vehicles is the greatest threat to the target level of pollutant gasses that the nation of Russia was to reach this year. This is what is putting pressure on the medical services being offered in this nation.
This pollution has affected children a lot more than the adults. This trend is quite dangerous for it increases the infant mortality rate. This shows the magnitude of the effects of the air pollution. The effects of this air pollution are also increased by the escalating urban population, for these diseases are usually communicable diseases.
The pollution as we have said is also causing a lot of complication to the children, especially during birth. They are born with defects, tumors and cancerous illnesses during birth. The older people also suffer from such blood diseases as diabetes. The number of these problems has also increased.
This is due to such chemical additives like lead, benzene, chromium, and asbestos, which are used with the fuel or generally in the engines of the motto vehicles. They come out with the gaseous exhaust as small particles which get into the bodies of people through breathing in the polluted air.
The bad air is not only a problem to the people, but also animals and plants. Sulfur in the atmosphere has the potential of killing plants. The increased carbon dioxide reduces the level of oxygen in the atmosphere and the plants lack oxygen that is very necessary for the production of food in them.
The imbalanced temperature also affects the optimum temperature that the specific crops or plants need to survive. This would still have a direct effect on the lifestyle of people. People need plants even in the city, for they are good for producing oxygen to supplement the percentage of the oxygen in the air. Their death will increase the stuffy nature of the already polluted city.
The government and the citizens need to focus on this problem. Policies should be formulated to help reduce the numbers of vehicles in town. One of the measures that should be used is to restrict the use of personal vehicles going into and through the city. People should not focus on prestige but on saving the environment, saving the people suffering problems of air pollution and creating a fresh environment.
They should therefore use trains and buses to move from one part of the city to the other. This will help a lot in reducing the traffic jams and therefore even save time of travelling. The government through the authorities in charge of the towns should make sure they introduce laws and regulations that will reduce the number of vehicles.
This essay has discussed the nature of air pollution caused by motto vehicles, seeing that the main way they pollute the environment is by the exhaust gases which at times carry traces of poisonous chemicals.
The essay has also discussed some of the impacts of this pollution to the health of people and touched on the effects on plants and animals. Finally, it gives a recommendation of some ways the government and the public can use to reduce the car pollution.