Jubilee Griffith

Writing for the Sciences

03/28/22

 

Transportation and GreenHouse Gas Emissions

 

Introduction:
Since our early adolescence we have been taught about climate change, its causes, effects and how it may potentially impact our near future. We have seen wildfires, colder summers and warmer winters as a result of climate change. So what are some contributions to climate change being generally a thing? As climate change comes from global warming, we can range anywhere from overfarming to industrialization and transportation which ultimately focusing on transportation, leads us to one of the most important factors in climate change, greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are gases that trap heat in the atmosphere to warm the planet. They include naturally occurring gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and water vapour and synthetic gases such as fluorinated gases according to “Greenhouse Effect 101” by the NRDC. 

Greenhouse gas emissions have increased over the years because of many factors and there have definitely been an increase in the amount of cars that have been on the roads. With a larger influx of traffic regarding cars, it may be right to assume that greenhouse gas emissions have most likely increased due to the amount of cars and methods of transportation that have now entered society. It has come to a point where as our population decreases as per the effects of climate change, the amount of cars are actually increasing. Data shows that within the next two decades the population will be down nearly 10%, but the amount of purchased cars per 1000 people will increase very quickly. This issue is extremely prevalent and more people must know about this. It affects one’s health and can slowly deter people’s values on the environment. The environmental health risk factors are extremely important to handle especially in these days because a lot more things are running on gasoline and fossil fuels. 

With this upsurge of new transportation, we can now recognize that cars emit three of our known greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. With the overpopulated car surge, these glasses are more prevalent in our society therefore leading to more greenhouse gases and a higher chance of it affecting global warming. According to The National Geographic, “Greenhouse gases have far-ranging environmental and health effects. They cause climate change by trapping heat, and they also contribute to respiratory disease from smog and air pollution.” So along with climate change, greenhouse gases cause a range of problems within population health regarding respiratory diseases and food supply disruptions. So let’s take a deeper look into these issues. 

 

Issue:

Dealing with the lens of public health we can take a deeper look into respiratory diseases. According to the CDC, climate change affects air pollution, allergens and more. This change in air quality can be a ringer for chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and allergies. As warmer temperatures from climate change cause flowers to sprout earlier and increase the emitted amount of carbon dioxide, those changes cause an increase in pollen resulting in a stronger airborne allergen that increases allergenic symptoms. While this may seem like it may affect the people only with occurring allergies, it does not. Larger amounts of pollen can spark allergies amongst people that dont have allergies ultimately leading them to develop allergic symptoms. 

Along with these respiratory diseases, it has also been seen that global warming can cause many variants of different diseases. These diseases include malaria, cholera or dengue that spread to so many different areas on the planet. According to “The Effect of Global Warming on Infectious Diseases” by Ichiro Kurane, “global warming changes the distribution, intensity of transmission, and seasonality of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.” In places such as Ethiopia, malaria was associated with high temperatures leading studies to believe that global warming can affect these types of diseases globally. 

‘ In the report, we are also told that more than 10% of the world is undernourished, and food shortages will also lead to an increase in cross border migration.

A particular danger is that food crises could develop on several continents at once, said Cynthia Rosenzweig, a senior research scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and one of the lead authors of the report. “The potential risk of multi-breadbasket failure is increasing,” she said. “All of these things are happening at the same time.” Higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — a greenhouse gas put there mainly by the burning of fossil fuels — will also reduce food’s nutritional quality, even as rising temperatures cut crop yields and harm livestock. 

Those changes threaten to exceed the ability of the agriculture industry to adapt. In some cases, the report says, a changing climate is boosting food production because, for example, warmer temperatures will mean greater yields of some crops at higher latitudes. But on the whole, the report finds that climate change is already hurting the availability of food because of decreased yields and lost land from erosion, desertification and rising seas, among other things. 

Similarly, cattle are significant producers of methane, another powerful greenhouse gas, and an increase in global demand for beef and other meats has fueled their numbers and increased deforestation in critical forest systems like the Amazon. Since 1961 methane emissions from ruminant livestock, which includes cows as well as sheep, buffalo and goats, have significantly increased, according to the report. And each year, the amount of forested land that is cleared — much of that propelled by demand for pasture land for cattle — releases the emissions equivalent of driving 600 million cars. 

Higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — a greenhouse gas put there mainly by the burning of fossil fuels — will also reduce food’s nutritional quality, even as rising temperatures cut crop yields and harm livestock. Those changes threaten to exceed the ability of the agriculture industry to adapt.

Specifically transportation in New York City is so vast. Public transportation and private transportation is so prevalent in an over populated region. However, public transportation in a metropolitan city is much more helpful in saving energy than everyone using private energy. For example, more people using their individual cars will create more carbon emissions than people using a bus that helps preserve all the cars’ energy in the end. It makes more sense to use public transportation in a more populated region to avoid the excess of carbon fuels. 

Audience:

The audience of this technical memo is a professional audience. This audience can help people learn more about the issue and help others be more aware. Specifically, the carbon emissions present in New York City are affecting a wide population, especially since the city is overpopulated. If more professionals are aware of this issue then people can take it more seriously. Specifically some solutions to this issue include using more renewable energy sources and using more natureal sources of energy in order to create cleaner air for people. Climate change specifically relates to not just the environmental conditions affecting our land, trees, and air quality, but it directly affects the people living in certain areas. In New York City, people can be more aware of the situation an a second audience for this topic are people who reside in New York City itself. People here can advocate for better air quality and the use of more cleaner energy.

Overall this issue is an extremely prevalent one. My technical memo report article can help people learn more about this issue while helping to advocate for better environmental factors that help health factors as well.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/greenhouse-gases

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/greenhouse-effect-101

https://www.aafa.org/climate-and-health/

https://www.iberdrola.com/sustainability/greenhouse-effects-consequences-and-impacts