Discuss any two environmental concerns of having mercury pollution in the air, s

Question

Discuss any two environmental concerns of having mercury pollution in the air, soils, and surface water. Discuss any two reasons why Los Angeles has smog problems List at least two references. Discuss at least two policies that you would seek to implement to reduce the impact of indoor air pollution on the human health in your community. If you have a furnace, it could release carbon monoxide. The risk is relatively low because you have it checked every fall, however to remediate the risk entirely, you would need to purchase a carbon monoxide detector. Question 1 is worth a maximum of 10 points-5 points for each concern Question 2 is worth a maximum of 10 points-5 points for each reason Question 3 is worth a maximum of 10 points-5 points for each policy Question 4 is worth a maximum of 10 points-2 points for each source

Explanation / Answer

1)

a) Mercury accumulates in the food chain.

Mercury accumulates in biological tissue through complex reactions (bioaccumulation), many of which are still unknown. We do know that several bacteria incorporate environmental inorganic mercury into their bodies through chemical conversion to several organic mercury compounds, collectively called methyl mercury (Me-Hg). This Me-Hg form is more toxic and more difficult to remove from bacterial systems than inorganic mercury. Any higher-level organisms that consume these bacteria also consume the Me-Hg. This cycle repeats up the food chain, with each higher predator consuming more and more Me-Hg, ultimately arriving in fish. Estimates suggest that Me-Hg can accumulate more than a million-fold in the aquatic food chain.

b) Mercury as a neurotoxin.

Neurotoxicity is the most important health concern with mercury. Methyl mercury easily reaches the bloodstream and is distributed to all tissues; it can also cross the normally protective blood-brain barrier and enter the brain. It will also readily move through the placenta to developing fetuses, and so is of particular concern to pregnant women. Low-level exposure is linked to learning disabilities in children, along with interference in reproduction of fish-eating animals. As well, both methyl mercury and mercuric chloride are listed by EPA as possible human carcinogens.

2) Anthropogenic - What happens is that in a place like Los Angeles, with its 3 million plus residents and millions and millions of cars on the road, all that noxious gas and pollution gets released into the air but upon contact with the inversion layer, the pollution gets trapped; it has nowhere to go! So, instead of dissipating into the upper atmosphere, this "smog" gets stuck in the lower atmosphere where it hangs around the tops of buildings and obscures the many photogenic areas surrounding Los Angeles. The only reprieve is at night when the temperatures cool off enough to break the inversion layer whereby all the pollutants in the air get released into the upper atmosphere.

Topographical - Los Angeles is surrounded by a series of mountain ranges and hills. Many of these mountains reach 10,000 feet in elevation, and combined with the inversion layer, the smog that gets created in Los Angeles gets bottled in; it's capped off on the top by the inversion layer, and the surrounding mountains prevent this smog from dispersing into outlying areas.

References - 1)http://greenthoughtscience.wordpress.com/2010/12/27/brief-not-on-los-angeles-anthropogenic-air-pollutions/

2) Fate and Transport and Ecological Effects of Mercury - The Mercury Study Report to Congress

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