Reduce Ocean Pollution - Stop Air Pollution!

As I continue to learn more about pollution and its effect on our environment, I find it both interesting and sobering how all parts of the earth's biosphere are so interconnected. Not all of this is new to me, of course. It's easy to see how acid rain pollutes not only the atmosphere but also anything it happens to fall on. And land pollution's effect on groundwater isn't hard to figure out.

But it's often the case that these connections reach much further than first glance would indicate. The consequences are deeper, sometimes literally. If you asked me a week ago what the consequences of air pollution are for the world's oceans, I would have told you that pollution from the air would add to the pollution of sea water, affecting marine life and water quality, especially at the surface.

But a recently-released study has shown the air pollution that makes it hard for us to breathe also makes it hard for fish to breathe, too. We're not talking about water-quality in the classic, too-many-harmful-chemicals sense, but in a lack of oxygen. Here's the deal: a cloud of pollution off the coast of Asia floats into the Pacific and is carried thousands of miles away by ocean currents. Eventually, the extra iron and nitrogen in the pollution winds up in warm tropical waters where tiny phytoplankton consume it.

In itself, this isn't a bad thing, since when phytoplankton consume these pollutants, it creates oxygen near the surface. But in this case, the plankton eat so much that their excess organic matter sinks into deeper water and is consumed by bacteria. This is the bad part, since the bacteria, with a constant and abundant food source, take oxygen out of the water.

What are the consequences of less oxygen in deep seawater? In a nutshell, the death of marine organisms, including fish. The lack of oxygen creates dead zones in the deep ocean, which affects the hunting habits of larger predators. National Geographic has an informative and alarming read on what's happening to large fish due to these lowering levels of oxygen.

Oceans are losing oxygen—and becoming more hostile to marine life: http://t.co/HUHJbJmdam

— National Geographic (@NatGeo) March 13, 2015

The problem here is easy to see, as is identifying the solution: reduce the air pollution that leads to dwindling ocean oxygen levels. But will anything be done to make that happen? This highlights a problem I've been writing about recently, which is that we talk about and hear about pollution, but refrain from doing anything about it. Don't conclude that if you're not running a factory in Asia, then you're off the hook. As the National Geographic article above shows, oxygen depletion in the oceans affects regions off the coast of California, Africa, and the Caribbean.

If you're a factory owner or manager, a maintenance manager, or a safety professional, do what you can do ensure your facility is emitting the lowest possible amount of pollutants. If you're not one of those people, but you know the facility you work in is a source of air pollution, talk to someone who can do something about it. Our oceans depend upon it.

Will Technology Save Us from Air Pollution?

According to my computer's built-in dictionary, technology can be defined as "the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry". Of course, depending on your view of Angry Birds, social networking, memes and other "technologies" that seem to waste so much of our time, the argument can be made that we don't really care if our technology is practical anymore.

But speaking of technology, what more practical use of it could be found than the improvement of human health? Or the saving (or extending) of human life? For these reasons, we've long looked to science or technology to save us from ourselves.

In the context of preventing or improving air pollution, technology is a mixed bag. Some really smart people are doing some amazing things to help with pollution. Check out Tesla's video on how their Model X uses Bioweapon Defense Mode (how's that for a name?) to lower the air pollution inside the cabin:

Watch air pollution levels inside Model X drastically drop when we turn on Bioweapon Defense Mode in Beijing pic.twitter.com/HLjyvj3H2C

— Tesla Motors (@TeslaMotors) May 3, 2016

But for every one of these success stories on technology solving problems, there's one or more stories of how it caused that problem in the first place. Few would argue that the automobile was a technological improvement over the bicycle, but does that it make a car better than a bicycle? Not if you consider the environmental angle; automobiles continue to be one of the biggest offenders when it comes to air pollution sources.

As another example, NASA and the Republic of Korea's National Institute of Environmental Research are making use of aircraft, satellites, ships and ground stations to monitor air quality across South Korea. An impressive use of technology, to be sure, but all of that technology is produced by industry. And, rightly or wrongly, what is industry famous for? Air pollution!

Am I saying that we shouldn't use technology in the fight against air pollution? No. Camfil APC uses all kinds of cool technology to make it easy to reduce pollution and keep employees safe in the workplace. But technology isn't a good substitute for human integrity. Until we as a society perform the mental shift needed to quit putting short-term goals ahead of long-term gains, technology will be of limited use.

We all have to do something if we don't want skies like this to be a thing of the past.

So let's not expect technology to make up for our poor environmental choices. Let's make smart short-term choices, like walking or riding a bike instead of using our cars for short trips. In short, let's do something about helping the environment, instead of waiting for technology to save us.