Could Europe have the Dirtiest Air?
The article “Bulgaria’s Air Is Dirtiest in Europe, Study
Finds, Followed by Poland” by Danny Hakim is found in The New York Times. This
article was published on October 15th, 2013.
Most people who live in Europe can tell how terrible the air
pollution is. Alex Melamed, a business student, stated “When you put on a
washed white shirt and take a walk for a couple of hours in Sofia, when you
come back you can see that the collar and the front have a yellow-gray hue.”
Alex makes it very clear that the air pollution in Europe is not something you
can forget about because you can see it just by taking a walk outside.
Bulgaria is a very populated city in Europe. It consists of
the highest concentrations. They include
“tiny airborne droplets or gas particles.” You can find these in vehicle
tailpipes. If you are over exposed to airborne droplets or gas particles it
could lead to serious health problems including cancer. The European Environment
Agency reported that Bulgaria also has high concentrations of carbon monoxide
and sulfur dioxide.
Over 10 years of data, from 2002-2011, shows us that air
pollutants are “on the decline” in Europe. The problem that still remains is
particulates and ozone.
“Large parts of the population do not live in a healthy
environment,” Hans Bruyninckx, a director for the European Environment Agency
stated. Europe has not made an effort to clean up the air and reduce things
like ozone usage. Bruyninckx suggest that Europe should become “ambitious and
go beyond current legislation.”
While reading this article I can connect it to The Lorax, a
movie that was viewed in my Honor Biology class. The movie connected to this
article because of the pollution in Europe.
In The Lorax the theme was pollution. They exhibited air pollution
because the factories built, let out smoke which polluted the air. In the
movie, you could tell from the outside scenery that the air was then polluted.
I can also connect this article to a personal experience.
When my family and I traveled to Aruba the minute we got off the plane you
could smell the difference in the air. It seemed a lot dirtier and polluted.
Reading this article reminded me of the time in Aruba due to the air pollution
they have in Europe.
I agree with Hans Bruyninckx about this article. I also
believe that Europe should take steps to clean up the air. If I lived in
Europe, I would not want to be breathing in the polluted air that is there. I
am sure that other people would not want to either. Who would want to get
serious health problems over pollution? I believe that Europe could start to decrease
air pollution if they took the necessary steps.
I think that this was a very well written blog! I was immediately engaged in your blog because of your first paragraph about how when someone walks outside in Europe with a white shirt on, it would turn yellow. I can’t even imagine living in a place like that and I agree that I would not feel safe breathing in that air. I think that it is neat that you were able to connect this to your personal life and your trip to Bermuda and how you could feel the difference in the air. Because of your personal connection, it seemed like you were very interested in your article. I also agree with you that Europe should try to reduce the levels of particles and pollution in the air, however, I am curious as to what steps they would take to try to fix this problem. Could they build a machine to try to clean the air, or would they try to decrease the factory smoke? This seems like a project that could be expensive and time consuming, but is very important.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Shaylyn! Your blog post was well done and I found this topic to be very engaging. I agree with you that Europe should try to reduce its air pollution, especially in Bulgaria. It must not be very pleasant for the people who live there to go outside because of the smog and the fact that it can stain a new white shirt yellow. I was immediately interested in reading your post because of the title. You did a great job coming up with an engaging title that also fits the topic your article. The one thing I would fix is not starting your blog post with a quote. I think that you should introduce what the article is about before giving a direct quote so that readers know what you are talking about in the first sentence. Also, you say in the last sentence that Europe can decrease its air pollution by taking the necessary steps, but you don't mention what these steps could be. This blog post is about an interesting topic that could effect the world, and you did a good job writing a blog post about it.
ReplyDeleteGreat job! This was a very interesting blog to read, I was engaged right away with one of your first sentences,“When you put on a washed white shirt and take a walk for a couple of hours in Sofia, when you come back you can see that the collar and the front have a yellow-gray hue.” It's really surprising that your shirt could actually turn a color. This is a clear sign that the air is not safe! That is not a place I would want to live in. This was a great statement for you to include in your essay because you can really image how bad the pollution is by the coloring of the shirt. It was also very interesting that you connected this article to your own experience in Aruba. This shows how real the problem of air pollution really is. The picture also really helps because it gives a great visual to see how bad the pollution is and a main source of it; factories. Over all great job, really well written essay!
ReplyDelete