PS400 Cognitive Psychology

Directions: Be sure to save an electronic copy of your answer before submitting it to Ashworth College for grading. Unless otherwise stated, answer in complete sentences, and be sure to use correct English, spelling, and grammar. Sources must be cited in APA format. Your response should be four (4) double‐spaced pages; refer to the “Format Requirementsʺ page for specific format requirements.

Instructions: Write an essay using the guidelines below. You will need to find at least three (3) outside sources for this essay, but you may need more to demonstrate a thorough examination of the topic. Do NOT copy and paste from the sources; summarize, paraphrase, quote, and document your sources correctly. Use APA style to document your sources. You may use your textbook as a source; however, this does not count in the three (3) sources and the majority of the information cannot be taken from the text.

Background: Throughout the world, there are numerous environmental problems resulting from human population pressure on local natural resources. A large proportion of ecological research is dedicated to finding solutions to these issues.

Objectives: Upon completing this assignment, you should be able to describe in-depth an ecological issue, including at least two different perspectives, and how this issue is representative of other similar issues.

Procedure: Pick an ecological crisis anywhere in the world that has attracted significant attention. Explain the history of the event including how the situation reached a crisis point. Document as many sides of the situation as possible and include the resolution, if any was reached, of the crisis. If there was no resolution, speculate on how the crisis may be resolved in the future.

Pollution crisis in Delhi

The world’s demand for energy has been always on the rise. The amount of energy required to effectively satisfy the energy requirements has been hard to satisfy for a long time. Due to this imbalance, there are different ways that have been devised so as to ensure that the demand for energy is being addressed in the most effective manner. The ways that have been formulated to address these energy requirements have both negative and positive implications with regards to the environment. Although countries all over the world are actively involved in satisfying their energy demands, this paper will focus on Delhi. Delhi is the union territory of India. New Delhi, which is the capital of the India also come under Delhi. According to the experts, the Delhi’s air has been 45 percent more polluted than the air in Beijing for the past few years. The urban air database released by the World Health Organization in September 2011 reported that Delhi has exceeded the maximum PM10 limit by almost 10-times at 198 mg/m3. Studies on air pollution and mortality from Delhi found that all-natural-cause mortality and morbidity increased with increased air pollution.Exposure to traffic fumes, industrial emissions, construction dust, burning trash and other sources of pollution pose serious health risks, including higher risks of cancer, stroke and heart disease. Nearly 700,000 people die in India each year as a result of the toxic air quality, and experts say the toll is likely to rise in the coming decades.

Till 1947, India was under the rule of England. At that time, India was considered as a poor country. There were hardly any industries. Most of the population was dependent on the agriculture. The methods of agriculture were very old as a result country was mainly dependent on the other countries for its food grain requirement. Things did not change much until 1990. The level of pollution also remained under control. But things suddenly changed after 1990. During 1990s, the government of India adopted the policy of privatization, liberalization and privatization. Under this policy, government opened its market for private companies. As a result, foreign companies established large number of industries in different parts of the country. Majority of these industries were established near Delhi. With industries, the demand of workers also increased in the urban parts of the country. At that time, many people from rural areas migrated towards Delhi in search of better life. This led to increase in the population density of the Delhi. Many people got jobs in multinational companies. With employment, the standard of people living in the Delhi region also increased dramatically. They begin to spend money on luxurious items such cars.This led to increase in the demand of the cars in Delhi. In beginning, petrol was very cheap so majority of the people bought petrol cars. When prices of the fuel increased, people shifted their focus towards the diesel cars.

At present, Delhi has about 7.5 million registered vehicles and is adding up more than 1,400 new vehicles every day.During 1990s, government did not pay any attention towards the environment. At that time, main focus of the government was on development rather than environment. In late 1990s, government decided to introduce metro services in the Delhi to tackle the problem of pollution. In order to build the railway track, government cut thousands of trees in Delhi regions. To some extent,the Coal-based thermal power plants are also responsible for the air pollution in Delhi. In Delhi, there is no nuclear power plant. Nor it has the hydroelectric power plants. Most of the electricity which is used in the Delhi is generated by the coal. As per Ministry of Environment and Forests, India, the total contribution of coal-based thermal power plants in Delhi pollution is around 12%.

Over the last few years, government has taken many steps such as tightening of mass emission standards for new vehicles, banning 15 year old vehicles and deploying the mobile enforcement teams at various locations for monitoring polluting vehicles and vehicles not having PUC certificates. But all these steps have not able to achieve its objectives. Still, the pollution level in the Delhi is increasing every year.

There are various ways by which the level of population can be controlled in the Delhi. First of all, government needs to ban the movement of diesel vehicle in the region of Delhi. As per the Delhi traffic police, between from 8 pm and 6 am, around 80,000 vehicles travel through Delhi just over two per second. Environmentalists believe that these diesel-operated vehicles contribute 60 percent of the main air pollutants spewed because most of them do not adhere to the vehicular emission standards. Many of these vehicles are 10 years old. Most of them are run on the mixture of kerosene and diesel to save money. In Delhi, large number of people use diesel run cars as diesel is cheaper than the petrol. This practice need to be stopped. Vehicles having diesel engines emit higher smoke containing nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particles (carcinogens, which causes cancer) than their petrol counterparts .The government should impose extra tax on the sales of diesel run cars. This will demotivate the people to buy diesel cars.

Experts believe that the major reason behind the high pollution in the Delhi is trucks. All the trucks which entered in the Delhi are run on diesel. Majority of the trucks entered in Delhi during night as a result, the level of pollution in Delhi get increased many time in early hours of morning. This year, the deadly reparable suspended particulate matter (RSPM or PM10) in the Delhi air was recorded at 316 µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter. The permissible limit of RSPM or PM10 as per international standards is 40 µg/m3. Apart from this, government also needs to ban the cars which run on Euro II and Euro I.

It has been observed that unlike foreign nations, the public transport system in Delhi is very weak. The condition of roads in Delhi is very bad. Buses are not at time. There are no separate tracks for cycles. The metro project is going with very slow pace. In order to overcome the problem of pollution, the government needs to strengthen the public transport system. They should introduce more environment friendly buses in the Delhi. The government should build separate tracks for the cycle. The government should motivate the people to use the cycles for short distance rather than bikes or cars. Around, 67% of the total pollution is spread by the vehicle only. The government should move towards renewable sources of energy to fulfill its energy needs. There is huge scope of solar energy in Delhi. Similarity, they can also use the wind energy of gas to produce the electricity. One of the major problems of the Delhi is its population. Government should develop more cities nearer to the Delhi.

No plan could be successful, without the support from common public. If government wanted to improve the air of Delhi, then it needs to take the support of common public. Recently, government banned the 1o year old diesel vehicles in Delhi but the decision did not get the support from the common public as result government roll back its decision. Hence, it is very important for the government to educate the people of Delhi, about the harmful effects of the pollution on their health and environment.

References

Kumar, S. (2009). Environmental Protection. New Delhi: Northern book center.

(n.d.). Retrieved May 8, 2015, from http://www.cseindia.org/userfiles/managingair_pdf.pdf

(n.d.). Retrieved May 8, 2015, from http://www.firstpost.com/india/banning-10-year-old-diesel-vehicles-delhi-not-enough-improve-air-quality-say-experts-2191725.html

The blame game underway for Delhi’s air pollution crisis. (2015, April 11). Retrieved May 8, 2015, from http://energyindemand.com/2015/04/11/the-blame-game-underway-for-delhis-air-pollution-crisis/

White Paper on Pollution in Delhi with an Action Plan, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government Of India. 1997. [last accessed on 2011 September 20]. Available from:http://envfor.nic.in/divisions/cpoll/delpolln.html .

Kumar A, Scott Clark C. Lead loadings in household dust in Delhi, India. Indoor Air. 2009