Improve Air Quality——Everyone Should Get Involved Background information:My neighborhood is a rural area in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province. Almost each family there has a piece of farmland of their own. At the beginning, residents made a living mostly by eating food produced by them and selling extra food. Recently as economy grows, more and more residents have chosen to rent their farmland out to make space for factories, at the same time they can get an opportunity to work in factories. Generally speaking, this area is still in its early stage of industrialization. Just like many other places which have gone through or are undergoing industrialization, my neighborhood also faces the conflict between economic growth and environment protection. In addition, residents there sometimes do activities which damage the environment even without realization due to poor knowledge of the causes of environmental unsustainability. One of the most serious aspects of the environment is the decline in air quality. My neighborhood used to have fresh air, but now smog appears from time to time. So in this report, I am going to focus on air pollution in my neighborhood.Causes and solutions:1. Industrial pollutionJust as stated above, my neighborhood is in its early stage of industrialization, so air pollution there must have a close relation with industrial wastes. On the one hand, factories are continuously producing air-borne emissions. Among them, factories such as the rubber factory give out waste gases with an unpleasant smell, which is particularly unbearable to people living nearby. On the other hand, large area of farmland and woods are turned into industrial land, thus causing a weakened function of vegetation purifying air. Although there are many examples that cities go for economic growth in sacrifice of environment and repair the environment after becoming rich, we need not necessarily repeat the model of “pollution first, treatment later” in the course of industrialization. I think we can report those factories to local environmental protection agency, forcing them to release waste gases after treating through legal procedures. We can also use the power of public opinion by posting those factories onto “weibo”.2. Straw burningPicture 1(taken in May, 2013)It is not uncommon to see people burning crop straw in rural area. Such behavior is harmful to both environment and society for the following reasons. First, when burning straw, the three pollution index of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and repairable particulate matter in the atmosphere reaches peak, which damages human health. Secondly, straw burning can easily cause fire if there are combustibles around. Thirdly, poor visibility caused by smog leads to more cases of traffic accidents. Last but not least, straw burning can cause ground temperature to rise rapidly, killing beneficial microbes in soil, affecting the full absorption of plant to soil nutrients, decreasing the yield of crop. Actually,“In Jiangsu Province, the local government has sent supervision teams to allcities to monitor straw burning. Furthermore, in order to extend the scope ofthe monitoring, the provincial environmental protection agency begun to useremote sensing data to detect locations of fire in straw fields. Unfortunately,supervision is difficult and to avoid detection, some farmers choose to notburn straw during daytime but in the evening or on cloudy days.”(Qu, Li,Wu&Giesy, 2012)Why do people would like to run the risk of being punished just in order to burn straw? Because young people in a family almost don’t do farming any more, the old and weak members would n’t bother to transport heavy straw which is useless to them but very useful if collected and used to generate electricity and methane. To solve this problem, both government and residents should get involved. Local government should set up more straw collection spots so that residents can find the nearest spot to them. Residents can buy the straw returning machine and the bundling machine jointly to minimize the economic burden on each member.3. Fireworks and firecrackersPicture 2&3(taken on New Year’s Eve, 2014)It is Chinese tradition to set off fireworks and firecrackers in celebration of Chinese New Year. Although fireworks and firecrackers can bring us great pleasure, they have also posed a threat to the environment.Just as shown clearly in the picture, the sky is covered by a mist because of fireworks.Fireworks and firecrackers produce smoke and dust that contain various sulfur-coal compounds and other noxious chemicals, which contribute to acid rain and have a bad effect on human respiratory system. On top of that, fireworks contain cancer-leading heavy metals in order to produce brilliant colors. (Hiebert, 2013) Now that fireworks and firecrackers can cause air pollution, we are supposed to think carefully whether we really need them. In some major cities of China, fireworks are prohibited, but in rural area thisproblem hasn’t been paid attention to. Although it is of great importance to release related regulations, it’s even more urgent to inform rural residents of the drawbacks of setting off fireworks and firecrackers. If we cannot accept festivals completely without fireworks and firecrackers, maybe we can gather together and watch a firework show instead of each family setting off its own fireworks.4. Other causesPicture 4(taken on 4th February, 2014)There are also many other factors leading to air pollution. For example, some families still use the old stove (picture 4) for cooking, so they sometimes burn their daily rubbish because they think it can not only save energy but also dispose rubbish. Burning waste paper is ok, but some plastic product may produce harmful gases if burnt. Another example is burning briquettes, which can cause sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere to increase. These problems can all be attributed to lack of common sense about air pollution. Therefore, I hope our community organization can popularize related knowledge so that residents reduce, if not stop, their behavior of damaging the environment.Summary:In conclusion, environment protection is not an individual activity but need everyone’s participation. As long as every member in our community does their bit, air quality is bound to be improved.References:Changsheng Qu, Bing Li, Haisuo Wu and John P. Giesy(2012), Controlling Air Pollutionfrom Straw Burning in China Calls for Efficient Recycling, Environ. Sci.Technol., 46 (15), pp 7934–7936, retrieved from/doi/full/10.1021/es302666sDavid Hiebert(2013), Declare Your Independence from Toxic Fireworks Pollution, EarthTalk, Retrieved from/od/healthenvironment/a/toxicfireworks.htm。