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The 15 Best Argumentative Essay Topics On Environmental Issues

Many people are passionate about various environmental issues. Therefore, it is often a fantastic theme to use as the basis for argumentative essay. However, with so many topics related to environmental issues, it can sometimes be difficult to narrow down the perfect title for your paper.

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In order to help you think of a good title for your argumentative essay on environmental issues, the following will explain some techniques that you can use to think of ideas. Furthermore, at the bottom of this article, there is a list of 15 of the best argumentative essay topics for environmental issues, which you can either use verbatim, or as further inspiration for your own unique title.

One of the best ways to choose a title that you would like to write about is to note down any ideas you have off the top of your head. Some of these ideas may be useless; however, you will most likely be to think of some that you can use or, at the very least, some of the ideas will then inspire you to think of better topics and titles to write about. Essentially, you can use these brainstorming techniques to come up with a range of ideas, which can then be whittled down into you have the ideal title to use.

  • The government should do more to end the reliance on non-renewable energy sources
  • Should car owners pay more in taxes as a result of the environmental damage caused by pollution?
  • Should all future cars be hybrid vehicles to minimise environmental damage and pollution?
  • Should individuals face stricter penalties as a result of littering?
  • Should companies that are found guilty of dumping toxic waste and materials be shut down?
  • Should individual households do more to recycle any rubbish that they produce?
  • Is the United States doing enough to reduce CO2 emissions?
  • Are humans responsible for climate change?
  • Are cheap goods worth it considering the environmental damage caused to produce them?
  • Are hybrid cars as environmentally friendly as they are portrayed to be?
  • Should the United States set a good example for the rest of the world when it comes to reducing pollution?
  • Is the nuclear waste produced by nuclear submarines and nuclear power stations disposed of safely enough?
  • Are people overly concerned about the environmental effects of nuclear power?
  • Should all people travel by public transport?
  • Should the government make public transport free in order to reduce the polluting effect caused by individuals travelling by cars?

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Environmental argumentative essay topics | example & outline, bob cardens.

  • September 8, 2022
  • Essay Topics and Ideas

With the ever-growing population and the consequent demand for natural resources, it’s no wonder that there’s been an increase in environmental problems. If you’re looking for argumentative essay topics about the environment, you can find plenty of material to write about. In this article, we’ll give you some ideas to get you started!

What You'll Learn

Environmental Argumentative Essay Topics

The environment is a hot-button issue these days. No matter what your stance is, there are always going to be people who disagree with you. That’s why having a solid argument is so important when discussing environmental topics . Here are fifty Environmental Argumentative Essay Topics that you can use;

  • Should the government do more to protect endangered species?
  • Is it morally wrong to eat meat?
  • Is climate change man-made?
  • Should we be doing more to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels?
  • What should be done about the problem of plastic pollution?
  • How can we best reduce our carbon footprint?
  • Is nuclear power a safe and viable alternative to other forms of energy?
  • Should we be investing more in renewable energy sources?
  • What is the best way to deal with waste management?
  • How can we make transportation more environmentally friendly?
  • Is it important to preserve wilderness areas?
  • Should we be doing more to promote recycling?
  • What is the best way to reduce air pollution?
  • What is the best way to reduce water pollution?
  • What should be done about the problem of toxic chemicals in our environment?
  • How can we best clean up contaminated sites?
  • Should we be doing more to protect endangered habitats?
  • What is the best way to reduce deforestation?
  • Should we be doing more to stop the illegal wildlife trade?
  • What is the best way to reduce our reliance on pesticides?
  • Should we be doing more to reduce the reliance on plastic?
  • What are the best ways to promote energy conservation?
  • Do we need to do more to prevent global warming?
  • Should we be doing more to prevent ocean pollution?
  • What is the best way to reduce water shortages?
  • Is it necessary to genetically modify crops in order to help them resist pests and diseases?
  • How can we make food production more sustainable?
  • What is the best way to reduce wastefulness in our everyday lives?
  • Should we be doing more to teach children about environmentalism?
  • Is it possible for humans to have a significant impact on climate change without causing too much damage?
  • Do we need to create a global treaty to address climate change?
  • What is the best way to reduce our dependence on oil?
  • How can we combat deforestation caused by logging?
  • Is it ethical to hunt and fish in ways that damage ecosystems?
  • How can we make sure that products we buy are environmentally friendly?
  • Should we be investing in renewable energy sources more?
  • What is the best way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil?
  • What is the best way to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels?
  • Is it possible to create a sustainable economy?
  • How can we make sure that development projects don’t damage the environment?
  • What is the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
  • What are some effective ways to reduce water waste?
  • How can we better protect marine ecosystems?
  • Should governments invest more in environmental research and development?
  • Should we be doing more to promote green infrastructure projects?
  • Is it possible for humans to live sustainably without damaging the environment?
  • What is the most effective way to reduce wastefulness in our everyday lives?
  • Is it possible to have a positive impact on the environment without compromising our way of life?

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Argumentative Essay Topic – Environmental Pollution Is A Cause For Concern

Environmental Pollution Is A Cause For Concern. You can find Previous Year Argumentative Essay Topics asked in ICSE board exams.

Introduction: What is environmental pollution?

  • Causes of pollution: Industrial, transportation, population
  • Effects of pollution: Adverse effect on marine life, soil, and health
  • Remedial measures: Ban release of harmful substances in rivers, enforce emission norms for factories and vehicles

Conclusion: We owe to ourselves and the future generations, to check this evil, which can obliterate life on the planet.

Environmental pollution is a cause of concern for the entire mankind. The last century has seen the rise of this menace which now casts its gloomy shadow on nature itself. Pollution is a byproduct of the unprecedented industrial revolution of the last few . decades. The large scale factories belching out smoke, fumes and chemically hazardous waste has now started making a dangerous impact on the environment.

This has further been accentuated with the unprecedented growth of automobiles and the ever-increasing human population. All these factors combined together are making environmental pollution a cause for serious concern. The reduction of oxygen level in the atmosphere is caused by pollution. The depleting oxygen level and the presence of harmful gases like carbon monoxide, and sulphur dioxide cause asthma, lung cancer and other fatal diseases.

The large-scale release of chemical wastes from sugar and distillery factories and tanneries flow into the rivers and adversely affect aquatic life. The river water used for irrigation makes the soil infertile. The groundwater used for drinking also gets contaminated causing irreparable damage to the body. Poisonous gases like chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) used in air conditioners and refrigerators cause reduction in the ozone layer in the ionosphere, which protects us from the harmful ultra violet rays of the sun.

We also know of the devastating effect of the Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal, where thousands perished and lakhs were rendered crippled for life. Environmental pollution is also responsible for global warming. The immediate offshoot of this is visible in the unpredictability and fickleness of the weather. The unusual cyclones, thunderstorms, droughts and floods in unusual places are some of its consequences. Besides this the most damaging is the melting of glaciers which would soon sound the death knell for islands and costal regions across the globe.

Environmental pollution is a serious threat that looms large on the earth today. It is not a national, but a global problem that has to be addressed internationally. Environmentalists have suggested an immediate ban on use of potentially harmful chemicals/gases in industry and discharge of wastes in rivers only after proper treatment. Other measures suggested are strict enforcement of emission norms for vehicles and protection of the green cover of forest and trees.

To address this issue the government has set up many monitoring and enforcement agencies to keep a check on this menace. However, we as responsible citizens must lend a helping hand by using fossil fuel and judiciously ensuring proper garbage disposal.

We often curse nature when it causes destruction by cyclone and thunderstorm, little realising that the fickle behaviour of nature is our own undoing. We owe to ourselves and the future generations, to check this menace, which can obliterate life on the planet. One is reminded of the words of John Milton, ‘Accuse not Nature, she hath done her part. Do thou but thine’.

Assignments

  • ‘Environmental pollution’ – causes and remedies
  • ‘Sound pollution’ – a cause for concern
  • ‘Global warming’- causes and remedies

Persuasive Essay: Environmental Issues

Persuasive Essay: Environmental Issues

  • Resources & Preparation
  • Instructional Plan
  • Related Resources

Critical stance and development of a strong argument are key strategies when writing to convince someone to agree with your position. In this lesson, students explore environmental issues that are relevant to their own lives, self-select topics, and gather information to write persuasive essays. Students participate in peer conferences to aid in the revision process and evaluate their essays through self-assessment. Although this lesson focuses on the environment as a broad topic, many other topics can be easily substituted for reinforcement of persuasive writing.

Featured Resources

  • Persuasion Map : Your students can use this online interactive tool to map out an argument for their persuasive essay.
  • Persuasive Writing : This site offers information on the format of a persuasive essay, the writing and peer conferencing process, and a rubric for evaluating students' work.
  • Role Play Activity sheet : Give your students the opportunity to see persuasion in action and to discuss the elements of a successful argument.

From Theory to Practice

  • The main purpose of persuasive texts is to present an argument or an opinion in an attempt to convince the reader to accept the writer's point of view.
  • Reading and reacting to the opinions of others helps shape readers' beliefs about important issues, events, people, places, and things.
  • This chapter highlights various techniques of persuasion through the use of minilessons. The language and format of several subgenres of persuasive writing are included as well.
The inquiry approach gives students the opportunity to identify topics in which they are interested, research those topics, and present their findings. This approach is designed to be learner-centered as it encourages students to select their own research topics, rather than being told what to study.
  • The Saving Black Mountain project highlighted in this article exemplifies critical literacy in action. Students learn that, in a democratic society, their voices can make a difference.
  • Critical literacy goes beyond providing authentic purposes and audiences for reading and writing, and considers the role of literacy in societal transformation. Students should be learning a great deal more than how to read and write. They should be learning about the power of literacy to make a difference.
  • Endangered species and the environment are compelling topics for students of all ages and excellent raw materials for literacy learning.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

  • 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
  • 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
  • 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
  • 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
  • 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

Materials and Technology

  • Chart paper and writing materials
  • Computers with Internet access

Role Play Activity sheet

Preparation

Student objectives.

Students will

  • Develop a critical stance in regard to environmental issues
  • Research information to support their stance
  • Write persuasive essays
  • Participate in peer conferencing
  • Evaluate their writing through self-assessment

Independent Work

Students should complete their revisions and prepare a final draft of their persuasive essays to be submitted on the established due date. In addition, students should self-assess their essays using the “Persuasive Essay Rubric.” Finished essays should be submitted, along with the ”Conferencing with a Peer” handouts, the self-assessment rubrics, the persuasion map printouts, and any notes or information printed off the Internet that was used to support the writing.

  • Have students share their essays with the class and discuss or debate the topics. Students can also examine the essays to see which ones do the best job of persuading the audience and why.
  • Encourage students to write their essays in the form of a letter and send them to a particular person or organization that has an interest in the specified topic. For example, it may be appropriate to send letters to politicians, corporations, the President, etc. Students can use the interactive Letter Generator to compose their letters.

Student Assessment / Reflections

  • The “ Conferencing with a Peer ” handouts should clearly show that the writer followed the persuasive essay format. If any elements were missing from the conference sheet, the final draft should reflect that revisions were made to incorporate comments and suggestions from the peer conferencing session.
  • The “ Persuasive Essay Rubric ” can be used as a guide to determine whether the student understands all the elements of writing a persuasive essay. Weak areas should be discussed with each individual student for future writing pieces. Strong areas should be reinforced and commended. Individual conferences between the teacher and student would allow for discussion of particular strengths and weaknesses, as well as future goals for the student as a writer.
  • Evaluate the completed persuasive essay to assess each student’s ability to compose a thesis statement and to use appropriate language and voice in the essay. Does the essay include an introduction, body, and conclusion? Does it include supporting information to support the student’s stance in the essay?
  • Engage students in thinking about how they envision they will be able to use this style of writing in the future. Do they feel this skill will benefit them and in what ways? (This reflection can be completed during individual conferencing, through journal writing, or added to the self-assessment rubric.)
  • Calendar Activities
  • Lesson Plans
  • Student Interactives

Students analyze rhetorical strategies in online editorials, building knowledge of strategies and awareness of local and national issues. This lesson teaches students connections between subject, writer, and audience and how rhetorical strategies are used in everyday writing.

The Persuasion Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to map out their arguments for a persuasive essay or debate.

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Essay on Environmental Pollution: 100 Words, 200 Words

argumentative essay on environmental pollution

  • Updated on  
  • Apr 1, 2024

essay on environmental pollution

One of the biggest risks to life as we know it is environmental degradation. The water we drink, the air we breathe, and the ecosystems on which we depend are all impacted by pollution. People, animals, and plants will decline if pollution levels continue to rise since they won’t be able to adapt to a significantly altered environment. Are you struggling to write an essay on environmental pollution? If the answer is yes, then this blog will help you get some ideas to write an effective essay. Keep reading further to know more!

Table of Contents

  • 1 What is Environmental Pollution?
  • 2 Essay on Environmental Pollution – 100 Words 
  • 3 Essay on Environmental Pollution – 250 Words 
  • 4 Essay on Environmental Pollution – 500 Words 

What is Environmental Pollution?

The phenomenon of undesirable changes in the surroundings that are harmful to animals and plants, and leads to environmental degradation is known as environmental pollution. These changes can occur because of the solid, liquid or gaseous pollutants. For example, DDT, plastic, and heavy materials take more time to degrade and are known as notable pollutants. For the determination of risk assessment of public health, concentration of pollutants is measured.

Essay on Environmental Pollution – 100 Words 

The presence of contaminants in the environment is referred to as pollution. Gases like Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Carbon Monoxide (CO), among others; solid pollutants like plastic, sewage, etc.; and chemicals like fertilisers, as well as those produced as byproducts in manufacturing, transportation, etc., are a few examples of polluting substances.

The immediate result of pollution is that it makes the world’s natural resources useless or toxic to use, as well as leads to the extinction of species and ecological imbalance. To stop more harm from occurring to the earth and its inhabitants due to environmental pollution, it is imperative to take proactive precautions.

Also Read: Essay on Pollution in Hindi 

Essay on Environmental Pollution – 250 Words 

When undesired elements, or pollutants, are present in the environment, it is said to be polluted. The environment is severely harmed by pollution, which poses a direct threat to it. Although the world has begun to understand the importance of addressing pollution if the planet and its biodiversity are to be conserved there is still a long way to go.

Everything that makes up the environment, including the air, water bodies, flora, and wildlife, is impacted by pollution in one way or another. There are four main types of pollution – Air Pollution, Water Pollution, Noise Pollution and Soil or Land Pollution . Additionally, pollution contributes to global issues including acid rain, global warming, and greenhouse gas consequences. A rise in the planet’s average surface temperature is referred to as global warming, and it causes starvation, floods, and droughts.

Environmental pollution has a wide-ranging impact. In addition to the current effects of pollution, a lack of effective pollution prevention measures also imperils the future of various species. The pollution is causing harm at a far faster rate than it can be healed. Reversing the environmental harm we have caused could take generations, and even then, it won’t be simple. It will require tight discipline and commitment to stop pollution.

The best ways feasible are being used by various nations to respond to these catastrophes. More efforts are being launched to raise public awareness about the dangers of pollution and the importance of preserving our ecosystem. Greener lifestyles are gaining popularity; examples include using wind and solar energy, new climate-friendly cars, and energy-efficient lighting. 

Also Read: Environmental Conservation

Essay on Environmental Pollution – 500 Words 

Pollution is the term used to describe the entry of pollutants into the environment. Noise, water, and air pollution are only a few of the several types of pollution. There is a direct relationship between the rise of pollution levels and illnesses among people. Therefore, it is important for everyone to be knowledgeable about pollution, its impacts, and effective ways to eliminate it. Our environment needs a balanced combination of all components, just like our body requires a balanced diet. The environment is polluted by any substance that is present above that limit for example rise in the levels of nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes harm to human health due to poor air quality. 

All forms of pollution, whether in the air, water, soil, or noise, have a negative impact on living things. Deadly diseases that are brought on by the contamination of soil, water, air, or sound affect organisms.

Among the most common disorders brought on by air pollution are acute lower respiratory infections in children, ischemic heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung cancer. Air pollution is a major contributor to a number of ailments in India, including strokes, bronchitis, heart attacks, lung diseases, cancer, and early mortality from heart disorders. The most pressing issue in the world now is global warming, which is caused by air pollution.

Around the world, poor drinking water quality is the reason behind 50% of child deaths and 80% of illnesses, including more than 50 different diseases. Water pollution causes diarrhoea, skin diseases, malnutrition, and even cancer, as well as other issues that are related to it.

 Every day, noise pollution has an effect on millions of people. The most frequent result of this is noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Loud noises have the potential to cause stress, high blood pressure, heart disease, and sleep difficulties. Children in particular are prone to these health issues across the board in terms of age groups. Noise pollution is extremely harmful, and it’s especially deadlier for people with heart issues. 

Use of the 3Rs, or reduce, reuse, and recycle, is the first step in reducing pollution. People should use air conditioners less since they generate noxious gases, such as ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons, which will minimise air pollution.

Reducing the number of vehicles on the road will also help to clean up the planet’s air. The more often cars are used, the more dangerous chemicals like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbons that contribute to major air pollution are released into the atmosphere.

Increasing public awareness is a further means of reducing pollution on Earth. Through programmes like the “Go Green” campaign, which urges people to plant more trees and use recyclable materials in their daily lives, awareness can be raised about the significance of eliminating pollution on Earth. The “Earth Hour” is another globally recognised event that calls for everyone to turn off all lights for one hour in order to raise awareness of the significance of reducing electricity usage in order to minimise pollution on Earth.

The government’s obligation to maintain national laws is one way to reduce pollution on Earth. Offenders should be subject to harsh penalties, such as increased fines and longer prison terms, which will force them to reconsider their influence on the environment and serve as a message to those who are not currently involved but who might be in the future.

Must Read: Essay on Pollution: Elements, Type, Format & Samples

Related Reads

Light Pollution  Radioactive Pollution  Soil Pollution  Water Pollution  Air Pollution  Thermal Pollution  Noise Pollution 

Mentioned below are some of the ways to control environmental pollution:  Walk or ride a bicycle to work instead of driving. While replacing a car go for a fuel-efficient vehicle.  When leaving the room turn off the lights and television to save energy.  Buy energy-efficient appliances. 

There are many things that cause pollution such as by-products of coal-fueled power plants, vehicle emissions, fumes from chemical production, etc.  

We hope you got some ideas to write an effective essay on environmental pollution. To read more informative articles like this one, keep following Leverage Edu . 

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  • Environmental Pollution Essay

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Essay on Environmental Pollution

The environment is the surrounding of an organism. The environment in which an organism lives is made up of various components like air, water, land, etc. These components are found in fixed proportions to create a harmonious balance in the environment for the organism to live in. Any kind of undesirable and unwanted change in the proportions of these components can be termed as pollution. This issue is increasing with every passing year. It is an issue that creates economic, physical, and social troubles. The environmental problem that is worsening with each day needs to be addressed so that its harmful effects on humans as well as the planet can be discarded.

Causes of Environmental Pollution 

With the rise of the industries and the migration of people from villages to cities in search of employment, there has been a regular increase in the problem of proper housing and unhygienic living conditions. These reasons have given rise to factors that cause pollution. 

Environmental pollution is of five basic types namely, Air, Water, Soil, and Noise pollution. 

Air Pollution: Air pollution is a major issue in today’s world. The smoke pouring out of factory chimneys and automobiles pollute the air that we breathe in. Gases like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and sulphur dioxide are emitted with this smoke which mixes with air and causes great harm to the human body, flora, and fauna. The dry-farm waste, dry grass, leaves, and coal used as domestic fuels in our villages also produce harmful gases. Acid rain occurs due to an excess of sulphur dioxide in the air.

The Main Sources of Air Pollution are as Follows:  

Automobile pollution 

Industrial air pollution 

Burning garbage 

Brick kilns 

Indoor air pollution 

Decomposed animals and plants 

Radioactive elements

Water Pollution: Water pollution is one of the most serious environmental issues. The waste products from the growing industries and sewage water are not treated properly before disposing of the wastewater into the rivers and other water bodies, thus leading to water pollution. Agricultural processes with excess fertilizers and pesticides also pollute the water bodies. 

The Main Sources of Water Pollution as Follows:  

Marine commerce. 

Industrial effluents joining seas and oceans. 

Dumping of radioactive substances into seawater. 

Sewage is disposed of into the sea by rivers. 

Offshore oil rigs. 

Recreational activities. 

Agricultural pollutants are disposed of into the water bodies.

  

Soil or Land Pollution: Soil pollution or land pollution results from the deposition of solid waste, accumulation of biodegradable material, deposition of chemicals with poisonous chemical compositions, etc on the open land. Waste materials such as plastics, polythene, and bottles, cause land pollution and render the soil infertile. Moreover, the dumping of dead bodies of animals adds to this issue. Soil pollution causes several diseases in man and animals like Cholera, Dysentery, Typhoid, etc.

The Main Causes of Soil Pollution are as Follows:  

Industrial waste 

Urban commercial and domestic waste 

Chemical fertilizers 

Biomedical waste 

Noise Pollution: With an increasing population, urbanization, and industrialization, noise pollution is becoming a serious form of pollution affecting human life, health, and comfort in daily life. Horns of vehicles, loudspeakers, music systems, and industrial activities contribute to noise pollution. 

The Main Sources of Noise Pollution as Follows:  

The machines in the factories and industries produce whistling sounds, crushing noise, and thundering sounds. 

Loudspeakers, horns of vehicles. 

Blasting of rocks and earth, drilling tube wells, ventilation fans, and heavy earth-moving machinery at construction sites.

How Pollution Harms Health and Environment

The lives of people and other creatures are affected by environmental pollution, both directly and indirectly. For centuries, these living organisms have coexisted with humans on the planet. 

1. Effect on the Environment

Smog is formed when carbon and dust particles bind together in the air, causing respiratory problems, haze, and smoke. These are created by the combustion of fossil fuels in industrial and manufacturing facilities and vehicle combustion of carbon fumes. 

Furthermore, these factors impact the immune systems of birds, making them carriers of viruses and diseases. It also has an impact on the body's system and organs. 

2.  Land, Soil, and Food Effects 

The degradation of human organic and chemical waste harms the land and soil. It also releases chemicals into the land and water. Pesticides, fertilisers, soil erosion, and crop residues are the main causes of land and soil pollution. 

3. Effects on water 

Water is easily contaminated by any pollutant, whether it be human waste or factory chemical discharge. We also use this water for crop irrigation and drinking. They, too, get polluted as a result of infection. Furthermore, an animal dies as a result of drinking the same tainted water. 

Furthermore, approximately 80% of land-based pollutants such as chemical, industrial, and agricultural waste wind up in water bodies. 

Furthermore, because these water basins eventually link to the sea, they contaminate the sea's biodiversity indirectly. 

4. Food Reaction

Crops and agricultural produce become poisonous as a result of contaminated soil and water. These crops are laced with chemical components from the start of their lives until harvest when they reach a mass level. Due to this, tainted food has an impact on our health and organs. 

5. Climate Change Impact 

Climate change is also a source of pollution in the environment. It also has an impact on the ecosystem's physical and biological components. 

Ozone depletion, greenhouse gas emissions, and global warming are all examples of environmental pollution. Because these water basins eventually link to the sea, they contaminate the sea's biodiversity indirectly. Furthermore, their consequences may be fatal for future generations. The unpredictably cold and hot climate impacts the earth’s natural system. 

Furthermore, earthquakes, starvation, smog, carbon particles, shallow rain or snow, thunderstorms, volcanic eruptions, and avalanches are all caused by climate change, caused entirely by environmental pollution.

How to Minimise Environmental Pollution? 

To minimise this issue, some preventive measures need to be taken. 

Principle of 3R’s: To save the environment, use the principle of 3 R’s; Reuse, Reduce and Recycle. 

Reuse products again and again. Instead of throwing away things after one use, find a way to use them again.  Reduce the generation of waste products.  

Recycle: Paper, plastics, glass, and electronic items can be processed into new products while using fewer natural resources and lesser energy. 

To prevent and control air pollution, better-designed equipment, and smokeless fuels should be used in homes and industries. More and more trees should be planted to balance the ecosystem and control greenhouse effects. 

Noise pollution can be minimised by better design and proper maintenance of vehicles. Industrial noise can be reduced by soundproofing equipment like generators, etc.  

To control soil pollution, we must stop the usage of plastic. Sewage should be treated properly before using it as fertilizers and as landfills. Encourage organic farming as this process involves the use of biological materials and avoiding synthetic substances to maintain soil fertility and ecological balance. 

Several measures can be adopted to control water pollution. Some of them are water consumption and usage that can be minimized by altering the techniques involved. Water should be reused with treatment. 

The melting icebergs in Antarctica resulted in rising sea levels due to the world's environmental pollution, which had become a serious problem due to global warming, which had become a significant concern. Rising carbon pollution poses a risk for causing natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones, and other natural disasters. 

The Hiroshima-Nagasaki and Chernobyl disasters in Russia have irreversibly harmed humanity. Different countries around the world are responding to these calamities in the most effective way possible. 

Different countries around the world are responding to these calamities in the most effective way possible. More public awareness campaigns are being established to educate people about the hazards of pollution and the importance of protecting our environment. Greener lifestyles are becoming more popular; for example, energy-efficient lighting, new climate-friendly autos, and the usage of wind and solar power are just a few examples. 

Governments emphasise the need to plant more trees, minimise the use of plastics, improve natural waste recovery, and reduce pesticide use. This ecological way of living has helped humanity save other creatures from extinction while making the Earth a greener and safer ecology. 

 Conclusion

It is the responsibility of every individual to save our planet from these environmental contamination agents. If preventive measures are not taken then our future generation will have to face major repercussions. The government is also taking steps to create public awareness. Every individual should be involved in helping to reduce and control pollution.

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FAQs on Environmental Pollution Essay

1. What do you understand by ‘Environmental Pollution’?  

Environmental pollution is the contamination of the environment and surroundings like air, water, soil by the discharge of harmful substances.

2. What preventive measures should be taken to save our environment?

Some of the preventive measures that should be taken to save our environment are discussed below. 

We can save our environment by adopting the concept of carpooling and promoting public transport to save fuel. Smoking bars are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations that prohibit tobacco smoking in workplaces and other public places.  

The use of Fossil fuels should be restricted because it causes major environmental issues like global warming.  

Encourage organic farming to maintain the fertility of the soil.

3.  What are the main sources of soil pollution?

The main sources of soil pollution as follows:

Industrial waste

Urban commercial and domestic waste

Chemical fertilizers

Biomedical waste

4. What is organic farming?

 It is a farming method that involves growing and nurturing crops without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Topics Base

Everything begins with an idea!

Environmental Argumentative Essay Topics

Environment refers to all the living and non-living elements of nature that surround and influence man. Environmental issues such as global warming are among the most critical threats that humans are facing today, which is why schools sometimes give students tasks that center on environmental topics. All students need to be aware of the environmental issues because they are the ones who have the potentials to solve these problems in the nearest future. While persuasive essays may no longer be interesting to students, argumentative essays will require students to do multidimensional research. Although argumentative essays are usually more interesting, students may face some challenges on it if they don’t select their essay topics carefully. To help students save some precious time, we have listed some unique environmental argumentative essay topics below. All the environmental argumentative essay topics ideas that we listed below are easy enough for students to argue. Students who use these topics will easily know what to write about them. The best part is that these topics will make students discover the things they can do to help their environment.

  • Are humans the primary factors for climate change?
  • Can electric cars stop air pollution in big cities?
  • Hunting doesn’t have a serious negative impact on the environment
  • Do plastic bags help the environment?
  • Can electricity consumption cause harm to the natural environment?
  • Can nuclear energy production reduce pollution?
  • Are humans responsible for global warming?
  • Is American doing enough to reduce carbon dioxide emissions?
  • Do people really care about the environmental effects of nuclear power?
  • Do electric cars cause harm to the environment?
  • Are hybrid cars overrated, or are they truly environmentally friendly?
  • Is the nuclear waste from nuclear power stations and nuclear submarines disposed of safely enough?
  • Will environmental damage and pollution stop if all future vehicles are hybrid vehicles?
  • Should everyone travel by public transport in order to minimize air pollution?
  • Should the taxes of car owners be higher since their cars cause environmental damage?
  • Should government shut down companies that are dumping toxic waste in the environment?
  • Should homeowners get grants for installing solar panels?
  • Should houses face stricter penalties for littering their environment?
  • Should government allow oil and gas exploration in natural reserves?
  • Should America serve as a perfect example in terms of environmental management?
  • Is it possible for humans not to rely on non-renewable energy sources?
  • Should recycling become mandatory?
  • Should palm oil be banned?
  • Should mining be banned in environmentally sensitive areas?
  • Do endangered species need protection?
  • Should humans stop lumbering activities in order to conserve forest resources?
  • Should fishing regulation become stricter in China?
  • Can humans rely fully on renewable sources of energy?
  • Should oil drilling stop in Alaska?
  • Why is sustainable development so important?
  • Are humans responsible for ozone depletion?
  • Do microbes cause more harm than good?
  • Should it become mandatory for all people to make their carbon footprint?
  • Is carbon tax so important?
  • Are humans responsible for the loss of biodiversity in nature?
  • Can humans stop all the adverse effects of global warming?
  • Should plastic bags be banned?
  • Should people stop consuming inorganic products?
  • Should all companies use solar energy in order to reduce environmental pollution?
  • Should aviation fuel attract a huge green tax?
  • Should stores stop supplying plastic bags?
  • Should people stop using synthetic products in order to save the environment?
  • Will recycling save our environment from harm?
  • Is nuclear power a hazardous alternative source of energy?
  • Should humans stop hunting sports?.
  • Are humans responsible for the increasing rate of natural disasters?
  • Are scientists overestimating the effects of global warming?
  • Is rural development the primary cause of wildfires?
  • Should every construction plan include an environment-section?
  • Should organic farming become mandatory?
  • Should government make stricter policies to regulate industrial activities?
  • Do people really care about the effects of deforestation?
  • Should government make it mandatory for all household to recycle their wastes?
  • Do dams cause some environmental problems?
  • Is biodiversity really at risk?
  • Do humans have any right to harm the earth?
  • Should it become mandatory for everyone to plant trees around their houses?
  • Should government ban all industrial activities?
  • Are humans causing more harm than good to the environment?

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Essay on Environmental Pollution: Causes, Effects and Solution

Profile image of Nagaraj Shervegar N

Environmental pollution refers to the introduction of harmful pollutants into the environment. The major types of environmental pollution are air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, thermal pollution, soil pollution and light pollution. Deforestation and hazardous gaseous emissions also leads to environmental pollution. During the last 10 years, the world has witnessed severe rise in environmental pollution. We all live on planet earth, which is the only planet known to have an environment, where air and water are two basic things that sustain life. Without air and water the earth would be like the other planets – no man, no animals, no plants. The biosphere in which living beings have their sustenance has oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, argon and water vapor. All these are well balanced to ensure and help a healthy growth of life in the animal world. This balance does not only help the life-cycles of animals and plants, but it also creates the perennial sources of minerals and energies without which the human civilization of today could not be built. It is for this balance that the human life and other forms of existence have flourished on earth for so many thousands of years. But man, as the most intelligent animal, never stopped being inquisitive, nor was he content with the bounties of nature. His quest for knowledge and search for security succeeded in exploring newer and wider avenues of mysteries that remained baffling so long. Man's excursions into the darkest regions of mysteries laid foundations for the stupendous civilization, for the conquests of men had ensured their domination in their world and gave them a key to control all the forces in nature. With the dawn of the age of science and technology, there has been huge growth and development of human potentials. And, it is here that man first began losing control and became prisoner of his own creations. Sources and Causes The sources and causes of environmental pollution includes the following: • Industrial activities: The industries all over the world that brought prosperity and affluence, made inroads in the biosphere and disturbed the ecological

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Environment Pollution is one of the greatest problems today which is increasing with every passing year and causing crucial and severe damage to the earth. It has become a real problem since the beginning of the industrial revolution. It is the contamination of physical and biological components of the Earth / atmosphere system to such an extent that normal environmental processes are harmed. Pollution of the environment consists of five main types of pollution, namely air, water, soil, noise and light. Development activities such as construction, transport and manufacturing not only deplete natural resources, but also produce large quantities of waste which leads to air pollution, water, soil and the oceans; global warming and acid rain. This paper provides the insight view about the affects of environment pollution in the perspective of air pollution, water and land/ soil waste pollution on human and also provide the ways to save the environment with all these pollution.

Earth is the only known planet which supports life. The environment of earth has made the existence, growth and development of all living beings possible. The word "environment" means surroundings. The environment is polluted in various ways. The dictionary explains pollutions as "The presence dictionary explains pollutions as "The presence in or introduction into the environment of substance which has harmful or poisonous effect." Pollution is the effect of undesirable changes in our surroundings that have harmful effects on plants, animals and human beings. This occurs when only short-term economic gains are made at the cost of the long-term ecological benefits for humanity. No natural phenomenon has led to greater ecological changes than have been made by mankind. During the last few decades we have contaminated our air, water and land on which life itself depends with a variety of waste products. Pollutants: include solid, liquid or gaseous substances present in greater than natural abundance produced due to human activity, which have a detrimental effect on our environment. The nature and concentration of a pollutant determines the severity of detrimental effects on human health. An average human requires about 12 kg of air each day, which is nearly 12 to15 times greater than the amount of food we eat. Thus even a small concentration of pollutants in the air becomes more significant in comparison to the similar levels present in food. Pollutants that enter water have the ability to spread to distant places especially in the marine ecosystem.

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The environment is everything that surrounds us. The environment is subject to constant changes that can be caused by natural factors such as soil erosion, earthquakes, floods, fires, and anthropogenic factors such as urbanization, industry, traffic, population growth, the accumulation of waste, and others. Due to the ubiquitous interaction of man in the environment, most often without respecting the natural rhythm in nature, man changes the environment with a harmful effect on biological and landscape diversity and often with negative consequences for human health and quality of life. By neglecting the environment in favor of economic growth and development, man has changed the environment more than any other biological species in a relatively short time with such irresponsible behavior. The consequences of such actions are unsustainable and call into question the future of that same environment. Therefore, protecting and preserving the environment in all spheres of life and work on the basis of sustainability becomes the biggest challenge for modern man and society as a whole.

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Developmental activities such as construction, transportation and manufacturing not only deplete the natural resources but also produce large amount of wastes that leads to pollution of air, water, soil, and oceans, global warming and acid rains. Untreated or improperly treated waste is a major cause of pollution of rivers and environmental degradation causing ill health and loss of crop productivity. In this research paper a study is undertaken about the major causes of pollution, their effects on our environment and the various measures that can be taken to control such pollutions

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Environmental Pollution Argumentative Essay Example

Environmental Pollution Argumentative Essay Example

  • Pages: 6 (1637 words)
  • Published: July 27, 2018
  • Type: Essay

Efforts to improve the standard of living for humans--through the control of nature and the development of new products--have also resulted in the pollution, or contamination, of the environment. Much of the world's air, water, and land is now partially poisoned by chemical wastes. Some places have become uninhabitable.

This pollution exposes people all around the globe to new risks from disease. Many species of plants and animals have become endangered or are now extinct. As a result of these developments, governments have passed laws to limit or reverse the threat of environmental pollution. Ecology and Environmental Deterioration The branch of science that deals with how living things, including humans, are related to their surroundings is called ecology .

The Earth supports some 5 million species of plants, animals, and microorganisms. These interact and

influence their surroundings, forming a vast network of interrelated environmental systems called ecosystems. The arctic tundra is an ecosystem and so is a Brazilian rain forest.

The islands of Hawaii are a relatively isolated ecosystem.

If left undisturbed, natural environmental systems tend to achieve balance or stability among the various species of plants and animals. Complex ecosystems are able to compensate for changes caused by weather or intrusions from migrating animals and are therefore usually said to be more stable than simple ecosystems. A field of corn has only one dominant species, the corn plant, and is a very simple ecosystem. It is easily destroyed by drought, insects, disease, or overuse. A forest may remain relatively unchanged by weather that would destroy a nearby field of corn, because the forest is characterized by greater diversity of plants and

Its complexity gives it stability. Population Growth and Environmental Abuse The reduction of the Earth's resources has been closely linked to the rise in human population. For many thousands of years people lived in relative harmony with their surroundings. Population sizes were small, and life-supporting tools were simple. Most of the energy needed for work was provided by the worker and animals.

Since about 1650, however, the human population has increased dramatically.

The problems of overcrowding multiply as an ever-increasing number of people are added to the world's population each year. Air Pollution Factories and transportation depend on huge amounts of fuel--billions of tons of coal and oil are consumed around the world every year. When these fuels burn they introduce smoke and other, less visible, by-products into the atmosphere. Although wind and rain occasionally wash away the smoke given off by power plants and automobiles, the cumulative effect of air pollution poses a grave threat to humans and the environment. Although the release of toxic chemicals into the atmosphere is against the law in most countries, accidents can happen, often with tragic results.

In 1984, in Bhopal, India, a pesticide manufacturing plant released a toxic gas into the air that within a few hours caused the deaths of more than 2,000 people. Water Pollution Since the beginning of civilization, water has been used to carry away unwanted refuse. Rivers, streams, canals, lakes, and oceans are currently used as receptacles for every imaginable kind of pollution.

Water has the capacity to break down or dissolve many materials, especially organic compounds, which decompose during prolonged contact with bacteria and enzymes.

Waste materials that

can eventually decompose in this way are called biodegradable. They are less of a long-term threat to the environment than are more persistent pollutants such as metals, plastics, and some chlorinated hydrocarbons. These substances remain in the water and can make it poisonous for most forms of life. Even biodegradable pollutants can damage a water supply for long periods of time.

As any form of contamination accumulates, life within the water starts to suffer. Lakes are especially vulnerable to pollution because they cannot cleanse themselves as rapidly as rivers or oceans. Factories sometimes turn waterways into open sewers by dumping oils, toxic chemicals, and other harmful industrial wastes into them. In mining and oil-drilling operations, corrosive acid wastes are poured into the water. In recent years, municipal waste treatment plants have been built to contend with water contamination.

Some towns, however, still foul streams by pouring raw sewage into them. Septic tanks and cesspools, used where sewers are not available, may also pollute the groundwater and adjacent streams, sometimes with disease-causing organisms. Even the purified effluent from sewage plants can cause water pollution if it contains high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus. Farm fertilizers in some regions fill groundwater with nitrates, making the water unfit to drink.

Agricultural runoff containing dangerous pesticides and the oil, grime, and chemicals used to melt ice from city streets also pollute waterways. Land and Soil Pollution In order to sustain the continually growing human population, current agricultural methods are designed to maximize yields from croplands. In many areas, the overuse of land results in the erosion of topsoil. This soil erosion, in turn, causes the over-silting or sedimentation

of rivers and streams.

One answer to the garbage problem is recycling. Some towns have passed ordinances that encourage or require residents to separate glass and aluminum cans and bottles from other refuse so that these substances can be melted down and reused. Although lightweight steel, cardboard, and paper are also economically recyclable, most industries and cities still burn or bury large amounts of scrap metal and paper products every day. Radioactive Pollutants Radioactivity has always been part of the natural environment. An example of natural radioactivity is the cosmic radiation that constantly strikes the Earth.

This so-called background radiation has little effect on most people. Some scientists are concerned, however, that humans have introduced a considerable amount of additional radiation into the environment. Another immediate environmental problem is the disposal of nuclear wastes. Some radioactive substances have a half-life of more than 10,000 years, which means they remain radioactive and highly dangerous for many thousands of years.

In nuclear physics, a half-life is the period of time required for the disintegration of half of the atoms in a sample of a radioactive substance.

Science has not yet found a safe method of permanent disposal of high level radioactive wastes. Even temporary storage of these wastes is a dangerous and expensive problem. Experiments are underway to investigate the possible use of salt mines several thousand feet below the surface of the Earth as repositories for spent nuclear fuel rods and similar highly radioactive substances. Thermal, or Heat, Pollution While the concept of heat as a pollutant may seem improbable on a cold winter day, at any time of year an increase in water

temperature has an effect on water life.

Heat can be unnaturally added to streams and lakes in a number of ways. One is to cut down a forest completely. The brooks and streams that flowed through it are then exposed to the sun. Their temperatures begin to rise. As they flow into larger bodies of water, these in turn are warmed. This can kill fish and other water animals incapable of tolerating the higher temperatures.

Average worldwide temperatures can be affected when the products of combustion--carbon monoxide, water vapor, and carbon dioxide--are emitted into the air, especially at high altitudes. Since the normal level of carbon dioxide in the air is quite small, any significant addition is a potential threat.

Although solar energy on its way to the Earth's surface easily passes through layers of carbon dioxide, some of the heat escaping from the Earth would be absorbed by increased amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide, much as heat is trapped in a greenhouse. A worldwide greenhouse effect of this type might produce a dangerously warmer world.

Since the late 19th century, the average global temperature has increased between 0.54o F and 1.08o F . Internationally, 1990 was the hottest year on record since official weather records first started being kept by the British in about 1860. Noise Pollution The hearing apparatus of living things is sensitive to certain frequency ranges and sound intensities. Sound intensities are measured in decibels.

For example, a clap of thunder has an intensity of about 100 decibels. A sound at or above the 120-decibel level is painful and can injure the ear. Noise pollution is becoming an unpleasant fact

of life in cities, where the combination of sounds from traffic and building construction reverberates among high-rise buildings, creating a constant din.

Efforts to Halt Pollution The solution of some pollution problems requires cooperation at regional, national, and international levels.

For example, some of the acid rain that falls in Canada is caused by smokestacks of coal-burning power plants in the United States. Thus, rejuvenating the lakes of eastern Canada requires the cooperation of electric utilities in Indiana and Ohio. The Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (known as Superfund) are among the laws that set standards for healthy air and water and the safe disposal of toxic chemicals. In 1990 President George Bush signed the Clean Air Act of 1990, the second amending legislation since the original Clean Air Act of 1970.

The new law called for reductions in emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide by half, carbon monoxide from vehicles by 70 percent, and other emissions by 20 percent.

The number of toxic chemicals monitored by the EPA would increase from 7 to about 250, and industry would be required to control their waste release by means of the best technology available. In the same year, the California Air Resources Board introduced the strictest vehicle-emission controls in the world. By 2003 the hydrocarbon emission of all new cars sold in California would have to be at least 70 percent less than that of 1993 models, and by 1998, 2 percent of all cars (rising to 10 percent by 2003) would have to release no harmful emissions at

all. Several Northeastern states followed suit by introducing similar, though slightly less severe, controls.

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Essay on Pollution for Students and Children

500+ words essay on pollution.

Pollution is a term which even kids are aware of these days. It has become so common that almost everyone acknowledges the fact that pollution is rising continuously. The term ‘pollution’ means the manifestation of any unsolicited foreign substance in something. When we talk about pollution on earth, we refer to the contamination that is happening of the natural resources by various pollutants . All this is mainly caused by human activities which harm the environment in ways more than one. Therefore, an urgent need has arisen to tackle this issue straightaway. That is to say, pollution is damaging our earth severely and we need to realize its effects and prevent this damage. In this essay on pollution, we will see what are the effects of pollution and how to reduce it.

essay on pollution

Effects of Pollution

Pollution affects the quality of life more than one can imagine. It works in mysterious ways, sometimes which cannot be seen by the naked eye. However, it is very much present in the environment. For instance, you might not be able to see the natural gases present in the air, but they are still there. Similarly, the pollutants which are messing up the air and increasing the levels of carbon dioxide is very dangerous for humans. Increased level of carbon dioxide will lead to global warming .

Further, the water is polluted in the name of industrial development, religious practices and more will cause a shortage of drinking water. Without water, human life is not possible. Moreover, the way waste is dumped on the land eventually ends up in the soil and turns toxic. If land pollution keeps on happening at this rate, we won’t have fertile soil to grow our crops on. Therefore, serious measures must be taken to reduce pollution to the core.

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Types of Pollution

  • Air Pollution
  • Water Pollution
  • Soil Pollution

How to Reduce Pollution?

After learning the harmful effects of pollution, one must get on the task of preventing or reducing pollution as soon as possible. To reduce air pollution, people should take public transport or carpool to reduce vehicular smoke. While it may be hard, avoiding firecrackers at festivals and celebrations can also cut down on air and noise pollution. Above all, we must adopt the habit of recycling. All the used plastic ends up in the oceans and land, which pollutes them.

argumentative essay on environmental pollution

So, remember to not dispose of them off after use, rather reuse them as long as you can. We must also encourage everyone to plant more trees which will absorb the harmful gases and make the air cleaner. When talking on a bigger level, the government must limit the usage of fertilizers to maintain the soil’s fertility. In addition, industries must be banned from dumping their waste into oceans and rivers, causing water pollution.

To sum it up, all types of pollution is hazardous and comes with grave consequences. Everyone must take a step towards change ranging from individuals to the industries. As tackling this problem calls for a joint effort, so we must join hands now. Moreover, the innocent lives of animals are being lost because of such human activities. So, all of us must take a stand and become a voice for the unheard in order to make this earth pollution-free.

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FAQs on Pollution

Q.1 What are the effects of pollution?

A.1 Pollution essentially affects the quality of human life. It degrades almost everything from the water we drink to the air we breathe. It damages the natural resources needed for a healthy life.

Q.2 How can one reduce pollution?

A.2 We must take individual steps to reduce pollution. People should decompose their waster mindfully, they should plant more trees. Further, one must always recycle what they can and make the earth greener.

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10 Example-Hooks for the Introduction to Climate Change College Essay

An essay is only as strong as its hook. If you can’t grab your reader’s attention right within the first few sentences, you won’t have it throughout the rest of the essay, either. Don’t bore your reader! Instead, use a captivating hook to ensnare them from the first few words.

 save earth save plant

A hook can be something that is intriguing, hilarious, or even shocking. The goal of a hook is to create a powerful emotional connection with the reader. As the writer, you have a few options. You might consider beginning with a series of questions, a challenging statement, a little-known fact, a quotation, or some fascinating background information. For an essay containing an introduction to climate change, consider a few of the following hooks.

Start with a Quote

Find out a famous person who has touched the discussed issue. Make your audience mull over his/her words as well as provide their own thoughts.

  • Start with a quote : “Climate change is happening, humans are causing it, and I think this is perhaps the most serious environmental issue facing us.”-Bill Nye
  • Start with a quote : “Humanity faces many threats, but none is greater than climate change. In damaging our climate, we are becoming the architects of our own destruction. We have the knowledge, the tools, and the money (to solve the crisis).”-Prince Charles, U.K.
  • Start with a quote : “Global warming isn’t a prediction. It is happening.”- James Hansen

Start with a Fact

Provide some interesting information about the particular issue you disclose. This will make your listeners and readers involved in the problem. Make sure the fact is on point and fresh that no one knows about.

  • Start with a fact : “The planet’s average surface temperature has risen by two degrees Fahrenheit since the 1900s. This change is unrivaled by any others in recorded–or estimated–history.”
  • Start with a fact : “2016 was the warmest year on record, with eight months setting record temperature highs around the globe.”

Start with a Question

Make your audience discuss the issue. This will help you not only make them interested in the problem but also present their own thoughts that might be also quite catchy to discuss.

  • Start with a question : “What have you done lately to help prevent global warming?”
  • Start with a question : “Think about how the weather has changed since you were a child. Has the weather gradually turned warmer? Colder? Perhaps you notice more snowfall or hotter summer temperatures. These are all caused directly by climate change and global warming.”
  • Start with a question : “How does climate change affect you personally?”

Shock Your Audience

Tell something that will shock your audience. It will make them interested. But again, this has to be a real shock, not something that everyone is talking about for the last three years.

  • Start with a shock : “Global sea levels have risen eight inches over the last century. In the last two decades alone, the rate of rise has nearly doubled. This is a direct cause of melting ice caps and increased global temperatures. If this rise continues, entire countries, such as Bangladesh, could be underwater.”
  • Start with a shock : “If everyone in the world lives as Americans do, it would take five Earths to produce enough resources. Just five countries, including the United States, contribute to more than 50 percent of the world’s harmful CO2 emissions.”

What do all of these hooks have in common? They tell you just enough information to get you interested but want to learn more at the same time. It is often difficult to write a stellar hook until you have already–or nearly–finished writing your essay. After all, you often don’t know the direction your paper is going to take until it is completed. Many strong writers wait to write the hook last, as this helps guide the direction of the introduction. Consider drafting a few sample hooks and then choose the best. The best essay will be the one that involves revision and updating–keep trying new hooks until you find the perfect, most intriguing, hook of them all.

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Water Pollution: a Global Imperative for Health and Environment

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Published: Mar 6, 2024

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Cows Are Just an Environmental Disaster

The environmental data scientist hannah ritchie argues that climate technology is increasingly catching up to the world’s enormous need for clean energy and with a few changes, a more sustainable future is in sight..

From New York Times Opinion, this is “The Ezra Klein Show.”

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I think one of the questions on which our whole future hinges is whether the lives that we have, the lives that we want, can exist within our environmental limits. Is there a way to live lives as energetically rich, as materially prosperous as Americans do now, without doing irreparable damage to the world? Is there a way for people all over to live lives even better than Americans do without doing irreparable damage to the world? Can we decouple material prosperity from the environment?

If we can’t, then what we’re left with is a politics of sacrifice. Then we’re asking residents of rich countries to give up what they have. We’re asking residents of poor and middle income countries to give up what they want. There is no way around that. I’ve read the degrowth books. That is, in any honest rendering, what they are asking.

And the politics of sacrifice, they’re abysmal. They’re really hard, particularly the speed at which we need to act on climate. You try passing a global carbon tax and enforcing it. You try doing energetic redistribution between rich and poor countries. You try banning, god forbid, hamburgers.

But if you can marry prosperity to sustainability, if we can power the lives we want with clean energy, if we can feed the world without wrecking every ecosystem in our sight, then we have the politics of transition. And the politics of transition is hard. Deployment is hard. Change is hard. But it is more imaginable.

And maybe you can even promise that things get better too, that we get cleaner air, healthier food, regenerated forests. That’s a bet a lot of the climate movement is now making. It’s a bet most countries are now making. But is it possible or is it just a fantasy? Do we actually have the critical minerals, the land, the technology?

That’s a question that Hannah Ritchie, the lead researcher at Our World in Date, set out to answer in a book “Not the End of the World.” It’s a question that obsesses me, so I asked her to come on the show to talk about it.

As always, my email for guest suggestions, for feedback, for reflections — [email protected].

Hannah Ritchie, welcome to the show.

Thanks very much for having me.

I’ve heard you say something that has stuck in my mind, which is that air pollution is a problem of energy poverty. What do you mean by that?

So air pollution is generated when we burn stuff. And I think when people think of burning stuff they automatically think of burning fossil fuels, which is absolutely correct. But we also generate air pollution when we burn wood, or charcoal, or crop waste, or dung, which many people in the world, especially the poorest people in the world, rely on as their main energy source. So I think if you see images of Lahore or New Delhi in the U.S. we think, oh, my god, the levels of pollution there.

But go back less than a century and that’s what — I mean, I’m in Edinburgh in Scotland. That’s what Edinburgh looked like. That’s what London looked like. That’s probably what New York looked like. It’s just that we are now further along the curve of pollution than many of these cities.

What we tend to find is that air pollution follows what we call the Environmental Kuznets Curve. So if you imagine a graph, and on the y-axis, you have air pollution, and on the x-axis you have G.D.P. or income or wealth. What you tend to see is this upside down U-shape. So at very, very low incomes outdoor air pollution, for example, can be relatively low.

What happens is that people get access to energy. They get access to industrial production. They get access to cars. And pollution starts to increase. Now, on that part of the curve, people accept that there’s a trade-off. Their need for energy trumps their need for clean air. And therefore, they put up with the dirty air because they just need it for energy.

Or, it should be said, they don’t always have a choice.

Or they don’t have a choice, yes. If they don’t have alternatives and fossil fuels is the only option they have, millions of people die simply because they do not even have access to fossil fuels. They’re stuck on wood or charcoal.

What’s the death toll of air pollution annually?

So there are a range of estimates. All of the estimates are in the millions. I mean, the W.H.O., the World Health Organization, has a figure of around 7 million every year, and around 57 million people die every year. It was slightly higher during Covid. If you take 57 million and you say 7 million are dying from air pollution, you’re talking about more than 10 percent of deaths can be attributed in some way to air pollution.

I want to zoom in on something happening on the part where the curve begins to slope down as the country gets richer. Because one way of thinking about air pollution, but a lot of environmental problems, is it to get less of the bad thing you need less of the good thing. To get less air pollution you need less industry. To get less air pollution you need fewer cars.

But to use the example of the United States, we have many more cars today than we had in 1970 or 1975. But the air in 1975 was much worse than it is today. You go to California, you go to Los Angeles, where I grew up — I mean, the smog that would settle over L.A. was legendary.

So how is that part happening? How are you getting less air pollution even as you are having an energetically richer life, even as you’re having a rise in the quantity of industrial production?

Yeah. So you’ve got two options. You can do less stuff, as you say, or you can improve the technologies so you can get the same stuff just with less pollution or less externalities. And there are a couple of key innovations here. I think that your example of cars is absolutely correct. There just have been massive developments in the reduction in pollution from cars.

And that’s a combination of, one, policy controls, so forcing manufacturers to develop cars that emit less. But it’s also about then the technological innovation that comes from that kind of forced policy setting. And industrial sites, for example, a big issue across Europe and North America which has basically gone was acid rain.

And there the problem was sulfur dioxide. So when we burn coal, you produce sulfur dioxide. And that was leaking out into the environment and causing acid rain. Emissions of sulfur dioxide have plummeted. And there again, there were two ways to do that. One, you could just stop burning coal. And, to some extent, that transition has happened. But another big innovation there is that we just developed a technology called a scrubber, or desulfurization technology that you could literally just put in the smokestack of the coal plant and take the sulfur out.

That needed some push from government policy to force that innovation. And then it needed some investment to get there. But that was the flip side of the coin of you don’t need to just necessarily do less. You can develop technologies that can do better.

Sometimes there’s an argument — and certainly there is a suspicion — that what is happening is the rich countries are pushing their environmental problems out into the poor countries. Right? We used to make the dirty stuff here, burn the coal here. Now we do it in China, and we just by the end product from China. We’re going to talk about that in the carbon case a bit later on. But is that the case for air pollution?

No, I don’t think that’s really the case with air pollution. Yes, the U.K. and the U.S. have reduced levels of air pollution, but so has China. So it cannot possibly be the case that we’re just offshoring all of the pollution to China if China’s pollution is also falling rapidly. And it has fallen rapidly. Especially over the last decade, local air pollution in cities like Beijing and other major cities across China have really plummeted with massive health benefits for those populations.

To just add some numbers to that — because I think they’re really striking — in Beijing air pollution fell by 55 percent between 2013 and 2020. The number you have in the book for China as a whole is 40 percent. So how did they do that? What is happening that China could make air pollution fall so much faster than other countries have been able to do it in the past?

So this was really kick started by the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Pre-2008, if you were to ask someone, picture a city with really high levels of air pollution, they’d probably picture Beijing. And the world was descending on Beijing for the Olympics. The top athletes in the world were coming to the city, and all eyes were on Beijing.

The Chinese government realized we can’t have this horrendously polluted city. We need to clean this up for the athletes that are coming in. And it was still one of the most polluted Olympics ever, but emissions and levels of air pollution were much lower than they were pre-Olympics. The problem is that when all the athletes went home and all of the eyes turned away, the pollution levels came back. It was a very short-term reduction in order to facilitate the Olympics.

A couple of years on, and it was actually really a public backlash that said, why would the government do this for people coming in to watch the Olympics but not do it for us? And we have to live here day after day, year after year, with terrible impacts on health.

And it was really this public pressure that kickstarted action on concerted reductions in levels of air pollution. A key one has been really strict reduction in coal burning in households, for example, which you would imagine in Edinburgh or London a century ago, as well. It’s the same in China, where people were using coal in cities to heat their homes.

And there was a really strict crackdown on that, in some sense too strict, such that some households were temporarily left without energy. A shifting of industry outside of the city — the problem is that often you’ll have industrial sites very, very close to dense population centers. So you can move those industrial sites further out where there are less people. And then strict industrial controls — and in China, strict regulation can be put in place very, very quickly. And actually, industries do take action very quickly.

How much is the rapidity of what China was able to do because we simply have more ways to generate energy in 2024 than we did in 1904 without burning things? We have nuclear energy. We have solar energy. We have wind energy. We have advanced battery technology. How much is that an enabler of the possibilities here?

I think for China, in the last decade it hasn’t been — that contribution hasn’t been massive. Now, to be clear, China is rolling out renewable energies very, very, very quickly. It’s rolling out electric cars extremely quickly. But it’s still burning more coal than it was a decade ago. But as I say, going forward — and I think, for many other countries, this opportunity to skip a lot of the burning stuff phase of energy and moving straight to energy technologies where you don’t burn stuff is a massive opportunity to avoid the really high emissions and high polluting pathway that most countries have now been through.

I think people underestimate how unique this current position is that we’re in. You said a century ago, but literally since the invention of fire humans have been burning stuff to generate energy. It’s only very, very recently that we now have the technologies and the opportunity to generate large amounts of energy, large and cheap energy without burning stuff. And I think people underestimate the scale of that opportunity.

One reason I really like the air pollution chapter in your book is that it sort of operates, I think, as a metaphor, which is this thing we did with air pollution, this thing we keep doing with air pollution, where we were able to bring it sharply down — the air in London, as you say, might be cleaner now than it has been in centuries. Is that possible for other kinds of environmental harm?

Because I do think there is this question that sits in people’s minds of whether the materially rich lives that we live in richer countries today is possible for the planet without completely cooking it. And one of the ways you look at this is by comparing your carbon footprint to that of your grandparents. And it’s a kind of surprising comparison. So can you walk me through that?

Yeah. So if you look at the carbon footprint of the average person in the U.K. over time, what you see is that over the last few decades, emissions in the U.K. have fallen really sharply. So since 1990, they’ve fallen by around 50 percent. The pushback on that is always, well, we’ve only achieved that because we’ve offshored emissions to other countries. And that’s not a genuine reduction.

Now, it’s completely true that the U.K. has offshored some of its emissions. But even when you account for that, and you account for that based on what we call consumption-based emissions — so it tries to adjust for the goods and services that the U.K. is buying and importing, and allocates those emissions to the U.K. rather than China, for example — what you find is that emissions are still falling, and still falling pretty quickly.

And what that means is that my carbon footprint today is less than my grandparents when they were my age. Despite the fact that if you looked at our lifestyles, I think you would think that mine is much more luxurious than theirs was. And I’m sure they would say the same. And this is really the result of just technological change and decarbonization.

And if you look at pre-Paris Agreement — so Paris Agreement 2015 — the course that we were talking about the world heading towards then was 4 to 5 degrees. And that was just completely catastrophic. That’s not really the pathway that we think we’re on anymore. We’re kind of on track for between 2.5 to 3 degrees. Now, to be clear, that’s not an acceptable. We do not want to be on a path towards 2.5 degrees. But it is vastly different from a world of 4 degrees. We’ve chopped off a degree of that trajectory, at least a degree of that trajectory that we thought we were on.

The point you make that I found somewhat revelatory, even though it makes total sense now that I think about it, is that actually as you get into higher numbers, as we hit 1.5 degrees, if we hit 2 degrees, that every tenth of a point after that becomes more, not less consequential. Can you talk through that idea of the increasing marginal value of reducing climate change?

Yeah. So we know that the impacts of climate change — and by that I mean the impact that temperature has on stuff like precipitation patterns, for example — does not scale linearly with warming. So going from 1.5 degrees to 2 degrees is worse than going from 1 degree to 1.5 degree. So as we get into these higher and higher temperature ranges, we expect that the impacts will not be linear and they will scale much more quickly, which means that our emphasis to keep temperatures as low as possible increases the higher the temperatures go.

We also risk hitting feedback loops, or to some extent tipping points, which can amplify warming. And the words tipping points are kind of thrown around quite freely. And often people don’t define them very clearly. Here, I’m not necessarily talking about really large planetary scale tipping points that somehow flip us from one system into another. I’m often talking about more localized tipping points that we know exist in the system but don’t know exactly where they are.

So if you take an example, for example, of Arctic sea ice, it is quite likely that by 2050 we will have some summers where there is no Arctic sea ice. It will recover in the winter. But during the summer, we might have no Arctic sea ice. Ice reflects sunlight, and therefore you have less being reflected.

Now, that’s not going to have a massive impact on the global climate system. But it could increase our warming by, I don’t know, the estimate’s about 0.15 degrees. Now, if you had several of these feedback loops or tipping points, again you might not go from 2 degrees to 5 degrees. But you could very easily increase the temperature by 0.2 degrees, 0.3 degrees, 0.4 degrees, which means that if you are at a temperature of 1.8 degrees, you’re then shifted into a world of 2.2 degrees.

And I think the key point here is that we don’t know exactly where these tipping points are. But some of them are potentially in that 1.5 to 2 degree range. And you’d certainly massively increase the risk of hitting them, the higher you are and closer you are to 2 degrees. So that’s why going from 1.8 to 2 degrees is much more consequential than going from 1.3 to 1.5.

I was struck reading through your book how much the solutions or the ameliorating policies seem to stretch across problem areas. I mean, it seems to me basically you’re talking about really two things over and over and over again, which is don’t burn so much stuff, and try to reduce the human footprint over land. And if you could get those two things more or less right, we could be in a much better place.

That’s a question of political will, and organization, and cooperation. And it is an extraordinarily hard question, as we’ve talked about and as everybody knows. But it is not an unsolvable problem. It is a set of choices we make or we do not make.

I think these are tractable problems. They’re not easy problems. They’re really, really difficult to tackle, but they’re tractable. And the solutions that we have to solve them are getting better year after year after year. For me, what’s key is that they’re linking up with other co-benefits and stuff that people care about in the shorter term.

So if you’re talking about energy, for example, we’re in a vastly different position from where we were a decade ago. Because it’s not just about tackling climate change or tackling air pollution. It’s also about energy security. It’s about having lower energy bills. It’s about having more localized energy systems, which makes me more optimistic that they become viable and accelerate.

When people think about the vast array of environmental problems that we face, they get really overwhelmed. And they get really overwhelmed because they assume there are 50 solutions to 10 different problems, and therefore we need to find a way of implementing 500 different solutions.

And as you say, the reality is that when you bring it down to the basics we need to stop burning stuff for energy. And we need to find a way of feeding people on much less land. And I think we are getting closer and closer to the solutions we need, and the solutions are getting better and better for us to do that every year.

One of the most common questions I just hear at all is whether it is possible for all these different countries to be powered by clean energy sources — renewables, nuclear. And we know there’s a lot of solar power. Right? The sun is big and it keeps shining. We know there’s a fair amount of wind. But other things are limiting factors — the number of minerals we have to create solar panels with. You’ve got to mine all this lithium and mine all this cobalt to get your batteries.

As a matter of material, as a matter of how much the Earth has to give us, can we do what we need to do? Can we live and have more people living the kinds of lifestyles we see in the U.K., in the U.S., built on a clean energy foundation?

So there are a large number of researchers and different research organizations that have studied this question. And the answer that comes out is nearly always, yes, we have enough stuff. This has been said by the International Energy Agency. This has been said by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, by the Payne Institute.

There was a recent paper by Seaver Wang and Zeke Hausfather and colleagues, where they looked at the mineral requirements specifically on low carbon electricity globally. And the resounding answer was there are almost no minerals where total amount is a constraint.

What people also underestimate is that the amount of stuff we have or think we can extract tends to go up over time. And that’s because we find new deposits. We find new ways of extracting stuff that we couldn’t extract before. And actually, just the drive for low carbon energy will just increase our efforts in order to do that.

The other key change there goes in the other direction, where we’re becoming much more material efficient about building this stuff. The amount of materials you need to build a solar panel today is not what it was a decade ago. For many of these minerals you need far, far less. So our amount of supplies are going to go up, and our material requirements are probably going to go down. So if we were looking into the future, I’m just not concerned about total material requirements.

I get, constantly, emails from people after we do climate episodes suggesting, hey, look. From what I can tell, the amount of mining we are going to need to do here to do this renewable energy transition, this is not a clean transition. This is just hiding the dirtiness somewhere else.

Are people right to be suspicious that the mining we’re going to need, the intensity of getting the Earth to give up what it needs to give up if we’re going to have all these solar panels and batteries and turbines, that that’s going to blunt a lot of the efficacy of turning over to these fuels?

I think what’s key to highlight here is that there are no perfect solutions to this. There are no perfect solutions to meeting our energy needs or the energy transition. And I think the tough reality is that if we’re looking for a perfect solution that needs no materials, that needs no land, that has zero impacts whatsoever, we’ll be waiting forever. And we’ll just stay on this course of fossil fuels.

So what we’re looking for are solutions that are much, much, much better than fossil fuels. And the reality is that we have them.

Estimates for the amount of material requirements for mining is something like tens of millions of tons per year at an upper limit. Compare that to how much fossil fuels we’re currently extracting. That’s $15 billion tons every single year.

We’re talking about mining orders of magnitude lower amount of materials compared to fossil fuels. It’s vastly, vastly different. And these are very, very vastly different systems. With fossil fuels, you extract them, you burn them. You extract them, you burn them. You get nothing back in return.

What’s going to happen with the energy transition is that we’re going to need this massive ramp up period where we’re building stuff. Right? So we are extracting a lot of materials out of the Earth. But you can reuse that stuff at the end of its life.

And I think we will also see massive leaps in terms of recycling or refurbishing these materials back into the system later.

So we will have this big ramp up period, but we’ll move to a much more circular and sustainable system, which is vastly different from a fossil fuel system where it’s just extract, extract, extract.

To hold on that point about recycling for a minute — if you have a car that burns gasoline, you burn every tank of gasoline until you’re done with the car. And there’s no gasoline left at the end of that. If you have an electric vehicle, when you want to trade up for a different model or your car has reached the end of its useful life, that battery still has lithium and other things in it that can be reused.

Right now, people reuse the minerals in electric vehicle batteries. And so, at the very least, there’s a possibility — I’m always a little bit skeptical of recycling because there are plenty of things that people think they can recycle that they cannot. But the things that are precious, you often can. And things like car batteries seem to be one of those even now.

Yeah, exactly. And I think, again, this comes back to underestimating how rapidly I think some of these technologies could shift, where it might not even be the case that the materials in your current electric car battery go into another electric car battery at the end of their life. They might be able to power more than one battery. And that’s because the material requirements for a battery in 15 years might be much lower than they are today just because we’ve had so much innovation and advancement in these technologies.

Let’s talk a bit about some of the different sources of energy here and sources of what gets called clean energy. So you have renewables. And mainly, I think what people are thinking of there are solar and wind. And the difficulty of solar and wind right now, particularly politically, is that solar and wind require, or seem to require, a lot more land than coal and gasoline. I’ve seen a lot of estimates around how much more land they require. You question some of that in the book. So tell me a bit about how you think about the land footprint of an economy that is substantially powered by solar versus the same portion of that economy being powered by coal.

Yeah. So there are some studies that say if you take account of the mining, and the transport, and the full life cycle, actually sometimes the land footprint of coal is higher than it is for solar. But the fact that you get for some of these estimates is touch and go would suggest that the land footprint of solar is not massively bigger than it is for coal. The question of land use for these technologies is a perfectly valid one. But I think it’s important to highlight that these are choices.

And what I often think is a bit suspicious or people don’t take account of is that there are current land uses that we have that we don’t really question. But as soon as solar and wind come along, the guardrails go up and we shouldn’t build this stuff.

To give context, if you were to put solar panels in the U.S. on all of the land that’s currently used to produce biofuels, you could power the U.S. three times over. You would be able to easily decarbonize the U.S. and meet its energy requirements. That land use is a choice, and you can make a different choice.

I’ve never heard that about biofuel production in the U.S. So we’re talking things here like growing corn for ethanol?

Yes. Nearly all corn production for ethanol that’s used for road transport.

And we are actually using as much of that as we would need for all solar combined?

Yeah. So if you put solar panels on that land, back of the envelope estimates suggest that you could meet the U.S.‘s electricity demand around three times over.

So in some theoretical world, if we just paid off every farmer at above market prices for all the land being used for fairly low output ethanol from corn. We could solve a lot of these problems. I feel like that’s a version of this I’ve not really heard before.

I’m not saying this is a solution. I’m not saying we should put solar panels —

No. This is your policy. [LAUGHS]

No. I’m just making the point that we raise our eyebrows at the thought of how much land solar would need. But no one thinks about the land that’s currently being used for biofuels, and not particularly productive for U.S. gasoline and cars.

Well, the other version of this is nuclear. So you write in the book that the most land efficient source of electricity is nuclear. Per unit of electricity, it needs 50 times less land than coal, and 18 to 27 times less than solar photovoltaics on the ground. So that’s striking. And nuclear is something that is obviously controversial within the renewable energy debates.

Tell me a bit about how you think of nuclear, which on the one hand is very clean, and on the other hand, I think people perceive as very dangerous, and on the third hand, if we had a third hand, really has a quality that wind and solar doesn’t, which is that it can kind of be anywhere and does not require very much land to generate a lot of electricity.

Yeah. So I think nuclear energy has a lot of merits, one of the primary ones being land use. If you want to conserve land and produce lots of energy, nuclear is ultimately your best option. It’s low carbon. It is safe. I give figures in the book looking at death rates from different forms of energy per unit of electricity production. And as we discussed earlier, fossil fuels are off the charts because — even if you take climate change out of the picture, even based on local air pollution they’re just vastly more dangerous than nuclear energy.

Well, can you zoom in on that for a minute? Because people have probably heard of two major disasters here, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Can you talk about the death rates of both?

Sure. So Fukushima in Japan in 2011, the death toll there — I mean, the direct death toll was zero. No one died in that nuclear disaster. Since then there has been — one of the workers has subsequently died of cancer. And then there are what they call excess mortality deaths from the stress of evacuation, the stress of the event. And they attribute that to several thousand, which is obviously a lot.

There is the Chernobyl disaster, and more people died directly from that incident. I think you’re looking at 10, I think maybe up to 50 or 100. It’s very hard to come up with an exact total mortality impact from that disaster. But I looked into a bunch of the research on this, and my estimate is somewhere in the low hundreds. So maybe 300 to 500 people died in total from Chernobyl.

But as I said earlier, we have millions dying from fossil fuels, solely from air pollution every single year, even taking out the issue of climate change. So those numbers are just so vastly different that when you crunch the numbers per unit of electricity that we’ve produced from each of these sources, nuclear energy is just vastly safer than fossil fuels.

I want to talk about land here. Because we’ve been talking about that in terms of energy production, but I also want to talk about it in terms of use. Because how we use land is relevant to climate. It’s relevant to deforestation, which your book talks about, relevant to biodiversity loss, which your book talks about.

And I read this statistic every couple of months because of the kind of work I do, and every time I’m just stopped cold by it, which is at roughly percent of ice free land on Earth is used for agriculture.

It’s a lot. [LAUGHS]

It is a lot.

Walk me through that.

Yeah, so if you take the world’s — what we call — well, we call it habitable land. So it’s basically taking away the ice and the kind of barren land that you literally couldn’t use for anything else, and other species couldn’t really use for anything else. Farming uses 50 percent of that. I mean, we produce around 5,000 kilocalories per person per day. Now, that’s around double what the average person in the world actually needs.

Obviously, that does not end up on people’s plates. So there’s a massive loss in the chain there. One, just losses in the supply chain or consumer waste. But there are two other big ones. One is that we feed a lot of those calories and crops to animals, and they convert that to meat, but they do it very, very inefficiently. And we also allocate a good chunk to biofuels. And what you find is that around 75 percent, or three quarters, of our agricultural land is this grazing land, and then the other 25 percent is for growing crops.

So how does that grazing land break down by animal?

So wild grazing land is basically just cattle, and sheep, and maybe some goats. But stuff like chicken, and pork, and fish, et cetera — I mean, fish where we actually feed them, not out in the ocean, they are not raised on grazing land. They’re raised on land where we grow the crops and then feed them to the animal.

So when you do that calculation sort of virtually everything — because goat and sheep are not major sources of human calories. They exist, but they’re not a huge part of the diet. All of the other meat aside from cattle is actually included in the crop raising calculation.

Yes, exactly. Yeah.

So functionally, we are using a huge portion of usable human land to raise cows.

Yeah. We’re using a huge amount of land to raise cows. I mean, sheep are not totally insignificant. Especially on more marginal lands, they are actually quite large land users in some countries. But, yes, it’s primarily cattle. And cattle ranching is also the leading driver of deforestation globally. So again, it’s not just that we’re using a lot of land for this. We’re actively cutting down forests and more land to raise more cattle.

So can you talk a bit about where we are on that curve?

Yeah. So if you look at the history of global deforestation, it increased very rapidly in the 20th century. But various estimates point towards a peak in global deforestation around the 1980s. We have targets of getting to zero deforestation by 2030, and we’re really not on target for that. So we still have large amounts of forest being lost, but less than we were cutting down in the 1980s.

What’s been really key there is a shift in where deforestation is happening. In the U.K., we cut down our forests centuries ago. And we then had all of this agricultural land to use. In temperate countries, deforestation has definitely peaked. And now many forests are coming back. We’re regrowing forests on these old lands. The center of deforestation today is in the tropics. So nearly all of our global deforestation is tropical deforestation today.

Beyond agriculture, to the extent there is a beyond agriculture, what are the drivers of deforestation? If we wanted to take what is happening in the tropics seriously, if we wanted to blunt it, what is the equivalent of shifting the energy system to renewables?

I mean, when it comes to deforestation, it’s nearly all about farming. Cattle ranching is the biggest driver by far, followed by oil crop production, so soy and palm oil. And then there are a couple of other major drivers or crops. Rubber, for example, is a growing one. There’s some deforestation for cereal production. In some regions, the primary way to increase food production in the absence of increases in crop yields is to just cut down forest and use more land.

And what’s the role of this in climate?

So I think people underestimate the contribution of food to climate change. So if you look at the breakdown of emissions, around a quarter to a third of emissions come from food systems. I think if you take emissions from livestock alone, it’s somewhere in the region between 14 percent to 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Without any change in this trajectory in food that we’re on, emissions from food alone would take us past 1.5 degrees.

This was research that came out from colleagues at Oxford, where they looked at just the cumulative emissions from agriculture out to the end of the century. Energy emissions would have to go to zero. And even then, emissions from agriculture alone would take us past 1.5 degrees. So it’s just very clear from the data that we just cannot continue on a business as usual in food systems.

And tell me about the role here in biodiversity. I think people know that there is a huge, genuinely historic level of species extinction happening right now. And I think in their minds — in many of our minds — people assume it’s probably climate, right, or making the world hot and messing with weather. And that’s destroying species. And in some cases, that’s true. But talk me through the research on the relationship between that and how big of a driver functioning our food system is.

I think the first thing that jumps out when you look at the research is how little we know about the world’s biodiversity. Quantifying carbon emissions is easy. Quantifying what’s happening to the world’s biodiversity is really, really difficult. And the researchers in this area do amazing work. But biodiversity is just so vast that they’ve hardly even touched the sides.

But what’s clear from the data that emerges is that most of the trends are downward, and downward very steeply. I always get this question, are we in the middle of the sixth mass extinction?

And a couple of ways to look at this is the world has been through five big mass extinctions previously. And the definition of a mass extinction is losing around 75 percent of the world’s species in a geologically short period of time. And by short here, we mean within 2 million years. Not short to us, but on geological periods a relatively short period of time.

We’re nowhere near losing 75 percent of our species. But we’re also very, very far away from this timeline of 2 million years. So another way to compare this is to say, what is the rate by which species are going extinct? And what rate were they going extinct in the previous five mass extinctions?

And I think what’s quite alarming is that, when you look at this data, the rates by which species are going extinct today are higher than any of the five previous mass extinctions. The key difference there is that in the previous mass extinctions there were these sustained very high rates for very, very long periods of time.

My optimism on this is that even though extinction rates are very, very high they can be stopped. And they can be stopped because we are literally the handbrake. We are the ones driving this, and we can be the ones to stop this or certainly slow it down vastly.

Climate change is one driver, and I think will be a growing driver of biodiversity laws in the future. But it’s not top of the list.

The biggest drivers of biodiversity loss are basically what we call direct exploitation or food production. So that’s stuff like overfishing. That’s stuff like deforestation or logging for wood. That is driving deforestation for food production. That’s conflicts with livestock.

So it’s really food production that is the biggest driver of biodiversity loss by far. And again, climate change, I think, will grow in the future. But it’s currently not the biggest threat.

So this is one of these areas that really bothers me and that I struggle with how to talk about almost at all.

The reason I think that the climate movement doesn’t emphasize the role of beef and the role of dairy is because it is just insanely, unfathomably lethally unpopular to do so. There’s a reason the right is always accusing the left of wanting to ban hamburgers. And the left does not want to ban hamburgers. And, in fact, most people I know who worry about climate eat hamburgers and eat steak and all the rest of it.

But at the same time, of the things you could do that would one, have a pretty significant effect on emissions, on deforestation, on biodiversity, and I think not totally incidentally from my perspective, animal cruelty. So there’s something here where, this is really, really, really, really, really big linked across a bunch of our problems, and yet totally politically untouchable. I’m just going to put a question mark here and just ask how you think about this.

So on this I’m just way more optimistic about the energy transition than I am about the food transition. Overall, people might have some biases towards what energy source they like. Ultimately, they just want cheap energy coming out of the plug. And if you can give them that, they’re not that bothered.

That’s not the same for food. Right? People are actively making decisions about what they eat three or four times a day, and they really care about what they eat. And they will push back if you try to tell them what to eat.

So even on my work and messaging on this, I do a lot on highlighting this is the environmental footprint of different foods. In the book, I write, if you want to reduce your carbon footprint from your diet this is the best way to do it.

And cutting back on beef is ultimately the number one thing you can do. But I’m also super careful not to say you should do this or you have to eat less meat. Because I just know that, as a communication strategy, it won’t be effective. And people will push back in the other direction. The easiest way to get someone to increase their consumption of something is to tell them not to do it.

So I don’t have a good answer to how we actually achieve this, just to say that I think this will be much more challenging than, for example, the energy transition.

It’s so interesting, though. Because it’s so technologically simple compared to the energy transition. On the energy transition, we’re having to figure out how to get all of these electrons we generate in other ways and replace them with these space age — we’re going to do what they do in stars and create nuclear fusion. Right? We’re going to harness the power of the sun. We’re going to use a nuclear reaction. And here it’s like, you could eat something different. You could shop in just literally any other part of the grocery store. But it gets at this truth, I think, across this whole transition, which is that the problems are not nearly as technological as they are political and cultural.

And maybe to add one other complication here from the animal suffering side, I think a lot of people in the animal suffering and animal rights movement worry about this.

Because I’ve known many people who see this data and decide to give up red meat. They decide to give up beef. But from the animal suffering perspective, that’s very, very, very bad if you substitute with chicken or fish or other smaller animals. Cows are known for living better lives even in industrial agriculture than, say, chickens.

And a family can eat a chicken and a night. It takes them a year to eat a cow. So in terms of the total numbers of animals that you are killing or raising in very difficult conditions, cows mean fewer of them.

So there is also this other difficult tension of, well, you don’t want to substitute into these other animals. But then people don’t want to be told to become vegetarians. It’s a genuinely very hard political problem.

No. And I think the trade off between animal welfare and environmental impact is a really underrated one. I wrote about this previously, an article in Wired, where I think the title was something like “Should We Kill Trillions of Animals to Save the Planet” or something. And it was getting at the heart of this, where the amount of chickens you would need to kill to produce the same amount of beef is just orders of magnitude lower despite the fact that it would have a lower carbon footprint and a lower environmental impact. And that’s just a naughty and hard to grapple with tension between these two outcomes.

I actually wish I had said more about this in the book. I think my dietary habits have actually changed in the last few years because of this tension, where I had very much motivations that were just about environment and climate. So I cut out red meat. I mostly cut out dairy. And I’d sometimes eat some chicken and fish, because they have a relatively low carbon footprint compared to other meats.

But in the end, I just couldn’t handle the tension with the Animal Welfare question, which is one, the number of animals that you have to kill to produce the same amount of beef. But also, to me, just the welfare standards of many of these animals is worse. Right? For me, just a chicken packed into a cage or a barn just seems to have a lower standard of living than a cow in a field, even if it has a much, much lower environmental impact.

So I couldn’t handle that trade-off and that dilemma, so I opted out and went completely vegan. But it is really hard to communicate this to people. And my approach to this is to give people good information, and then hope that they then make the right decision for them. But I’m not going to pretend that this is going to move very quickly, because I don’t think it will.

If you just did imagine a world where everybody listened to Hannah Ritchie just like, eh, we’re not going to do beef. There’s too much of an impact. How much land would suddenly be available for rewilding or the other kinds of things we might imagine that land doing?

So if the world shifted to a fully plant-based diet, which we’ve got to be clear we’re very, very far away from. But if we did that, we could reduce global agricultural use by 75 percent. So we basically shrink global agricultural land to a quarter of what it is today. And you could feasibly feed everyone on that land.

I always just find this astonishing. I think people imagine human land use and what they think of as humans. We think of where we live. We think of where we build buildings. But actually, just a huge amount of that land is just raising cows for humans. That’s what we’re talking about here actually in terms of the human land footprint — raising cows for us to eat, or drink their milk, or consume their cheese.

Yeah. I think I you’re really, really set on the cows. I think I’d just say in general food production, but you’re right that by far the biggest land user there is cows. But you’re right. The land footprint of humans is really not about where we live or where we build stuff. Urban land area is about 1 percent of global land, maybe a few percent if you add in stuff like roads and other infrastructure. But you’re talking about a few percent for where we live and nearly half of habitable land for the food that we eat. Ultimately, the land footprint of humans is very much what we eat.

One thing you talk about at the end of your book is the way in which being a good environmentalist by the numbers sometimes makes you feel like you’re being a bad environmentalist in your actions. And you talk about this as the natural fallacy, that there is this tendency to believe that things that feel natural — cooking on a word burning fireplace or getting all your food from within 10 miles — often do not actually align with what the data tells us is environmentally sustainable. Do you want to talk through that feeling bit and how you’ve resolved it in your own life?

Yeah. So I think many of the things that we assume to be green or feel are green, when you actually break down the data, the alternatives are often better. And I think the conflict there is that we see natural as good and synthetic is bad.

So if you take the example of food, what seems good to us or natural to us is a nice picture of a cow in a grass field, and especially if it’s from a local farm. Right? That seems like just the lowest way possible to produce that food. Right? You’re not growing crops on croplands. You’re not transporting the food very far.

And compare that to, for example, a meat substitute that’s grown in a lab or produced in a factory, where you’re using loads of energy for the processing. It’s coming in packaging. You’re putting in lots of ingredients and chemicals, as people would say. That seems really bad, and the beef in a field — or a cow in a field seems really, really good.

And, of course, when you break down the data, the emissions from the meat substitute burger are just vastly, vastly lower than the beef. So many of our gut instincts on this are often very, very off. And as I say in the book, this often makes you feel quite bad as an environmentalist. And you will get pushback. You’ll get pushback on, for example, the local food story, where people just assume that the best way to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet is to buy locally, even if that is beef.

And if you’re buying a product that’s being shipped in from the other side of the world, they assume that has a very high carbon footprint. And therefore, that’s a very bad thing environmentally to do. When you break down the emissions of those two things, the vegetarian product that’s shipped in probably has a vastly lower footprint.

Even if you think about your living conditions, the picturesque someone living in a rural area, they’ve got their own little farm, seems much more green than being packed into a dense city with lots of cement and concrete and noise. But when you compare the carbon footprints, the dense city living we’ll just give you a much lower carbon footprint. You may not even need a car. If you do, your driving distances will be much less.

It’s much more efficient to build infrastructure and to get goods to you if you’re in a densely populated setting. It’s way more efficient to set up heating networks or power networks. So there are a bunch of environmental benefits to city living, but that seems very out of sync with what we would imagine green Living would be in the past.

So I’ve done most of the things that would reduce my personal carbon footprint. I live in a building in a dense urban area. I’m a vegan, or mostly vegan. I slip up here and there. But I travel by air. And either I don’t go see my family in California or I am emitting that carbon.

My view on everything we’re talking about with cattle and with sheep, and with goats — and so I do think there is this question between the places where the only answer is abstention, which is a very, very hard form of politics, the places where the answer is substitution, which is a much easier form of politics, particularly when the substitutes are good — moving to electric vehicles is much more possible now because the electric vehicles are very good — and the issue where we believe we might be able to invent a substitute but we haven’t done it yet.

My view on the issues of meat is that until we figure out the whole cell-based meat thing people are trying to work through, which is going slowly — it’s not like we’re going to have affordable meat replacements tomorrow where people can eat the meat they want to eat without the animals being nearly so involved — we’re not going to solve that.

Yeah. On the beef question, I’m with you. I’m very pessimistic that most people make that switch to existing products that we have. And I think my pessimism around that behavioral change pushes me towards a technological fix, where we can literally produce like for like substitution for beef.

And I think ultimately, in the end we will be able to do that, just not in a very, very short time scale. My concern with some of this is that we have some fantastic technologies to address some part of our emissions pie, so primarily electricity and road transport. We now have very, very good solutions for those. We have them. We need to build them really, really quickly. Right? We just need to build, build, build, build, build.

And my concern often, when people talk about aviation, cement, steel, et cetera, is that there’s almost this pullback of we need to wait until we have all of the solutions to all of the sectors before we can get going. And I think my key point for me is that we need to do both at the same time. We need to build the stuff that we have and is already very, very good. And we need to invest in innovations in sectors that we don’t have.

And in some of those, I’m actually quite optimistic that in the next decade some of these solutions come online. But the key thing is not to get discouraged that we don’t have all of the solutions now and let that hold us back from deploying the technologies that we have and we urgently need to roll out.

This is, to me, something that has actually changed. And it is required a change in our politics. It is happening right now, but is very messy, which is for a lot of the history of the environmental movement, we didn’t have good substitutes. And to get some of these problems to a point where they were being ameliorated, we had to get people to stop doing things or we had to add new technologies to things we were already doing, like the scrubbers for sulfur dioxide.

And now we have this capacity to substitute with solar panels and wind and electric vehicles and heat pumps. And it requires a huge amount of construction, transmission lines. And so you have this movement and this politics that for a lot of its life was about trying to get human beings to do fewer destructive things and now needs them, very rapidly, to do far more constructive things.

And that’s actually new. That actually is a change from the dominant answer we had to environmental problems in the ‘70s. And the fact that it’s messy and difficult is a little bit to be expected. I mean moving from an environmentalism of stopping things to environmentalism of building things is almost reversing the polarity of an entire political sentiment.

No, it’s not simple. But I think it also makes me more optimistic, mostly because I think individual behavioral change is really hard. And there are a bunch of studies that would support that shifting people’s behaviors on stuff like climate is just really, really difficult to do.

If we’re relying on that to get out of this climate crisis, I would have very little optimism about our ability to do so. People always frame me as a kind of techno optimist. But I think I lean that way because I’m just more optimistic about the substitution effect rather than a stop doing this effect.

But I think you’re right that it is a massive change. A point I make regularly now is that many of the big solutions we need, we have. And we have solar, wind, electric cars, et cetera. They’re good solutions. They’re now really, really cheap, and it’s just about building them.

And often they get the pushback of well, yeah, but we’ve had the solutions for decades now and we just haven’t done anything. To me, that’s just really, really not true. We haven’t had cheap replacements for fossil fuels for decades. This is really a change in the last five years.

It’s only in the last five years that low carbon technologies have now become competitive or undercutting the cost of fossil fuels. This transition was just not feasible 20 years ago.

Of course, you can argue that countries should have been investing more in these technologies 20 to 30 years ago so we would get to the position faster. And I agree with that. But to me, it’s just not true that we’ve had these solutions just sitting there ready to build for decades and decades and we just haven’t done anything. We’re in just a fundamentally different position going forward.

When I get called a techno-optimist, my answer is always that I’m not a techno optimist. I’m a political realist. And the desire for material prosperity is the strongest driver in politics, particularly for anybody under a certain level of material prosperity. And I just don’t believe that there is a political tendency strong enough to overcome the desire for a better life now to avert consequences in the future.

And so in my writing about climate change 10 years ago, I was extremely pessimistic. And it was only the shatteringly fast drop in solar wind and battery cost that has made me relatively more optimistic. But that’s only to say that if you begin from the perspective — and I do begin from it, or at least I’ve concluded it — that there isn’t a politics here that is going to work that is a politics of sharp and near-term sacrifice.

The politics here somehow has to align with people’s desire for a better life, a more prosperous life than the one they currently lead. And as that becomes more technologically possible, the politics become more possible in lockstep. And to the extent that it’s technologically not possible, as in the case of, say, meat or as in the case currently of cement, the politics are not possible. We’re not going to get people to stop eating beef. We’re not going to get people to stop using cement.

So I don’t really want to have all my chips in on inventing solution after solution to the problems that human beings create. But I don’t really think there’s a choice.

No. I think I’ve ended up in a similar position. It was often framed as this kind of iron law, where if you put up climate mitigation against either energy security or energy cost, energy security and energy cost will win every single time. And that’s just the harsh reality of this. And therefore, if we want to make progress on climate change, then what’s really key is that we line up this long-term incentive of climate change with short-term incentives. And short-term incentives are primarily about cost and quality of living.

And if we can’t manage to offer people a better vision of future of what that would look like, then I just don’t think you will get the political backing especially on both sides of the aisle. You want this across the entire political spectrum. If you don’t get that, then you won’t get the support that you need for climate action. But I think the key thing is that they are now lining up. They weren’t lining up 15 years ago, but they are lining up now. And I think going into the future they will get closer and closer together.

I think that’s a good place to end. So then, always our final question, what are three books you would recommend to the audience?

So my first book is called “Factfulness,” and it’s by Hans Rosling. And that knows my work or knows Our Own Data will know that we were massive fans of Hans Rosling. And he was a big inspiration to me. And he was really the first person that got me into looking at the world through data, and really zooming out to understand what was going on.

And his book in “Factfulness” looks at the long history of many measures of human well-being and global change, but more importantly kind of gives 10 key rules or pitfalls that guide you into how to understand the world, how to understand data, how to understand the information ecosystem , and how that shapes your thinking in the world. So it had a profound impact on me, and I hope it does on you as well.

My second pick is a book called “Possible” by Chris Goodall. Now, he is a U.K. energy analyst. And what he does in this book is looks at the solutions that we need in so-called “hard to abate” sectors on climate. And I think when people hear “hard to abate” they think impossible to abate. And really, the key point of Chris’s book is that it will be hard but it’s possible.

And he breaks down cement, and steel, and aviation, and plastics — a long list of these troubling sectors, and just looks at the hard data on what solutions do we potentially have. How much electricity or energy would we need? How much might it cost? What companies are working in this space?

So, for me, it just gives a very, very clear eyed vision of this set of sectors that we need to tackle, and what our options in this space might be. It’s not prescriptive. It doesn’t say we have to do this, or we have to do this. It just lays out very, very clearly these are the options that we have. And, for me, it made me more optimistic that we will get there.

And then the final book for me is called “Range,” and it’s by David Epstein. And it’s really a book looking at this contrast between specialists and generalists. And the key point of the book is that, really, the world needs more generalists. I think we have a lot of specialists, and we absolutely need specialists. We won’t get anywhere on any of these engineering problems or climate problems without specialists.

But we also need generalists that can somehow sit in the middle, pull these different pieces of complex problems together, sit in the middle of different disciplines — so whether that’s research and communication, or research and policy — and be able to incorporate a wide range of disciplines and inputs, and then somehow drive that to change in the world. So I think my takeaway from that is that we need a bit of a better ratio of specialists in the world to generalists.

I can see why you like that book, given that I think that’s something you do very well and you do very well in this book. And it’s the connections you’re able to draw here between different domains of environmental disaster that ends up being so powerful. Hannah Ritchie, thank you very much.

Thank you so much, Ezra. [MUSIC PLAYING]

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” is produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Isaac Jones. Our senior editor is Clare Gordon.

The show’s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Kristin Lin and Aman Sahota. With original music by Isaac Jones, audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of “New York Times Opinion” audio is Andrew Strasser. Special thanks to Sonia Herrero.

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A decade ago, I was feeling pretty pessimistic about climate change. The politics of mitigating global warming just seemed impossible: asking people to make sacrifices, or countries to slow their development, and delay dreams of better, more prosperous lives.

But the world today looks different. The costs of solar and wind power have plummeted. Same for electric batteries. And a new politics is starting to take hold: that maybe we can invest and invent and build our way out of this crisis. But some very hard problems remain. Chief among them? Cows.

[You can listen to this episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” on the NYT Audio App , Apple , Spotify , Amazon Music , YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts .]

Hannah Ritchie is the deputy editor and lead researcher at Our World in Data and the author of “ Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet .” She’s pored over the data on this question and has come away more optimistic than many. “It’s just not true that we’ve had these solutions just sitting there ready to build for decades and decades, and we just haven’t done anything,” she told me. “We’re in a fundamentally different position going forward.”

In this conversation, we discuss whether sustainability without sacrifice is truly possible. How much progress have we made so far? What gives her the most hope? And what are the biggest obstacles?

You can listen to our whole conversation by following “The Ezra Klein Show” on the NYT Audio App , Apple , Spotify , Google or wherever you get your podcasts . View a list of book recommendations from our guests here .

(A full transcript of this episode is available here .)

A portrait of Hannah Ritchie.

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Isaac Jones. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Kristin Lin and Aman Sahota. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Sonia Herrero.

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

Argumentative Social Media

This essay about creating an effective hook for an argumentative essay explores various strategies to engage readers from the outset. It emphasizes the importance of the hook in making a strong first impression and sustaining the reader’s interest throughout the essay. The essay describes several techniques for crafting a compelling hook, including the use of personal anecdotes, startling statistics, rhetorical questions, and poignant quotes from well-known figures. Each method is designed to draw readers into the conversation, making them eager to explore the argument further. The essay underscores the significance of understanding both the topic and the audience to tailor the hook accordingly, ensuring it is both relevant and thought-provoking.

How it works

Starting off an argumentative essay with the right hook is a bit like landing the first punch in a friendly boxing match: it needs to be strong, surprising, and strategic, making sure to grab your reader’s attention and keep them engaged. Think of your hook as the first taste of a meal—it should be delicious enough to intrigue the diner and make them crave more. Let’s break down how to concoct a hook that does just that.

Let’s say you’re writing about the impact of climate change on local communities.

You might kick off with something personal and vivid: “Last year, the rising sea levels turned the streets of my childhood beach town into a wistful underwater museum.” This isn’t just another climate statistic—it’s a snapshot of life altered by environmental change, inviting the reader to view a global issue through a deeply personal lens.

If personal anecdotes aren’t quite right for your topic, striking statistics can do wonders. They throw hard facts into the mix right from the get-go, setting a foundation that’s hard to ignore. For instance, if you’re discussing digital privacy, you might start with, “Imagine waking up to find out that 70% of the apps on your phone could be peeking into your personal life without your clear consent.” It’s a statistic, but it’s also a call to arms, nudging the reader to think about their personal stakes in a broader debate.

Rhetorical questions can also be a dynamite choice. They pull readers into a state of reflection, urging them to ponder the essay’s subject matter before you’ve even presented your argument. An essay on the ethics of animal testing might begin with, “What if the price of your favorite lipstick was not just a few dollars, but a few animal lives as well?” It’s provocative, pushing readers to consider the moral dimensions of everyday choices.

And let’s not underestimate the power of a good quote. A well-chosen line from a notable figure can lend credibility and set the stage for your argument. Opening your discussion on civil liberties with a quote like Benjamin Franklin’s, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety,” frames your argument within a historical context, challenging readers to consider their own values in light of past wisdom.

Ultimately, the secret sauce to crafting an irresistible hook is knowing your topic and your audience well. It’s about sparking curiosity and framing your argument in a way that’s impossible to ignore. Whether you use an anecdote, a startling fact, a rhetorical question, or a poignant quote, your opening should make the reader not just want but need to read on. After all, the best conversations start with a great opening line, and your essay deserves nothing less.

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102 Water Pollution Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Water pollution essays are an excellent way to demonstrate your awareness of the topic and your position on the solutions to the issue. To help you ease the writing process, we prepared some tips, essay topics, and research questions about water pollution.

🌎 Air and Water pollution: Essay Writing Tips

🏆 best water pollution essay topics & examples, 📌 remarkable air and water pollution research topics, 👍 good research topics about water pollution, ❓ research questions about water pollution.

Water’s ready availability in many locations makes it an easy choice for a variety of purposes, from cleaning to manufacturing to nuclear reactor cooling. However, many companies will then dump water, now mixed with waste, back into rivers or lakes without adequate cleaning, leading to significant environmental pollution.

However, there are other types of harm, such as noise pollution, which are less obvious but also dangerous to sea life. It is critical that you understand what you should and should not do during your writing process.

The stance that big manufacturing industries are the sole culprits of the damage done to the world’s rivers and oceans is a popular one. However, do not neglect the effects of other water pollution essay topics such as microorganisms.

Microbes can spread dangerous illnesses, making them a danger for both water inhabitants and the people who then use that water. Furthermore, they can eat up oxygen if left unchecked, starving fish and other water organisms and eventually making them die out.

Such situations usually result from agricultural practices, which can lead to powerful nutrients entering the water and enabling algae and other microorganisms to grow excessively. An overly lively environment can be as harmful as one where everything is threatened.

With that said, industrial manufacturers deserve much of the attention and blame they receive from various communities. Construction of dedicated waste-cleaning facilities is usually possible, but companies avoid doing so because the process will increase their costs.

You should advocate for green practices, but be mindful of the potential impact of a significant price increase on the global economy. Also, be sure to mention more exotic pollution variations in your types of water pollution essay.

Provide examples of noise pollution or suspended matter pollution to expand on the topic of the complexity of the harm humanity causes to the ecosphere.

You should show your understanding that there are many causes, and we should work on addressing all of them, a notion you should repeat in your water pollution essay conclusions.

However, you should try to avoid being sidetracked too much and focus on the titles of pollution and its immediate causes.

If you stretch far enough, you may connect the matter to topics such as the status of a woman in Islam. However, doing so contributes little to nothing to your point and deviates from the topic of ecology into social and religious studies.

Leave the search for connections to dedicated researchers and concentrate on discussing the major causes that are known nowadays. By doing this, you will be able to create an excellent and powerful work that will demonstrate your understanding of the topic.

Here are some tips for your writing:

  • Be sure to discuss the different types of pollution that is caused by the same source separately. Surface and groundwater pollution are different in their effects and deserve separate discussions.
  • Focus on the issues and not on solutions, as an essay does not provide enough space to discuss the latter in detail.
  • Be sure to discuss the effects of pollution on people and other land inhabitants as well as on water creatures.

Check IvyPanda to get more water pollution essay titles, paper ideas, and other useful samples!

  • Water Pollution: Causes, Effects and Possible Solutions This is why clean water is required in all the places to make sure the people and all the living creatures in the planet live a good and healthy life.
  • Air and Water Pollution in the Modern World The high number of vehicles in the city has greatly promoted air pollution in the area. Poor sewerage system, high pollution from industries and automobiles are among the major causes of air and water pollutions […]
  • Water Pollution: Causes, Effects, and Prevention Farmers should be encouraged to embrace this kind of farming which ensures that the manure used is biodegradable and do not end up accumulating in the water bodies once they are washed off by floods.
  • Water Pollution in the Philippines: Metropolitan Manila Area In this brief economic analysis of water pollution in Metro Manila, it is proposed to look at the industrial use of waters and the household use to understand the impact that the population growth and […]
  • Coca-Cola India and Water Pollution Issues The first difficulty that the representatives of the Coca-Cola Company happened to face due to their campaign in the territory of India was caused by the concerns of the local government.
  • Cashion Water Quality: Spatial Distribution of Water Pollution Incidents This essay discusses the quality of water as per the report of 2021 obtained from the municipality, the quality issue and the source of pollution, and how the pollution impacts human health and the environment […]
  • Water Pollution: OIL Spills Aspects The effects of the oil spill on a species of ducks called the Harlequin ducks were formulated and the author attempted to trace out the immediate and residual effects of the oil on the birds.
  • Water Pollution as a Crime Against the Environment In particular, water pollution is a widespread crime against the environment, even though it is a severe felony that can result in harm to many people and vast territories.
  • Importance of Mercury Water Pollution Problem Solutions The severity of the mercury contamination consequences depends on the age of the person exposed to the contamination, the way of contamination, the health condition, and many other factors.
  • Newark Water Crisis: Water Pollution Problem The main problem was rooted in the fact that lead levels in the drinking water were highly elevated, which is dangerous and detrimental to the population’s health.
  • Water Pollution in a Community: Mitigation Plan Though for the fact that planet earth is abundant with water and almost two-thirds of the planet is made up of water still it is viewed that in future years, a shortage of water may […]
  • Food Distribution and Water Pollution Therefore, food distribution is one of the central reasons for water pollution. According to Greenpeace, one of the ways to improve the ecology of the planet is by creating healthy food markets.
  • Water Pollution and Associated Health Risks The results of plenty of studies indicate the existence of the relation between the contamination of water by hazardous chemicals and the development of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, cancer, asthma, allergies, as well as reproductive […]
  • Lake Erie Water Pollution There are worries among the members of the community that the lake could be facing another episode of high toxicity, and they have called for the authorities to investigate the main causes of the pollution […]
  • Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan All players need to be trained in significant areas of business so as they can handle them with care and beware of the potential they have in causing damage.
  • Water Pollution in the US: Causes and Control Although water pollution can hardly be ceased entirely, the current rates of water pollution can be reduced by resorting to the sustainable principle of water use in both the industrial area and the realm of […]
  • Water Pollution and Management in the UAE The groundwater in UAE meets the needs of 51% of users in terms of quantity mainly for irrigation. Surface water is the source of groundwater and plays a major role in groundwater renewal.
  • Water Pollution and Its Challenges Water pollution refers to a situation where impurities find way into water bodies such as rivers, lakes, and ground water. This is a form of pollution where impurities enter water bodies through distinct sources such […]
  • Water Pollution Sources, Effects and Control Unfortunately, not all the users of water are responsible to ensure that proper disposal or treatment of the used water is done before the water is returned to the water bodies.
  • Water in Crisis: Public Health Concerns in Africa In the 21st century, the world faces a crisis of contaminated water, which is the result of industrialization and is a major problem in developing countries.
  • Air and Water Pollution Thus, it is classified as a primary pollutant because it is the most common pollutants in the environment. In the environment, the impact of carbon monoxide is felt overtime, since it leads to respiratory problems.
  • Causes of Water Pollution and the Present Environmental Solution Prolonged pollution of water has even caused some plants to grow in the water, which pose danger to the living entities that have their inhabitants in the water.
  • Water Pollution & Diseases (Undeveloped Nations) Restriction on movement and access to the affected area affects trade and the loss of human life and deteriorated health is a major blow on the economy and on the quality of human life.
  • Water and Water Pollution in Point of Economics’ View This research tries to explain the importance of water especially in an economist’s perspective by explaining the uses of water in various fields, pollution of water and the agents of pollution.
  • Environmental Justice Issues Affecting African Americans: Water Pollution Water pollution in the 1960s occurred due to poor sewage systems in the urban and rural areas. Unlike in the 1960s, there are reduced cases of water pollution today.
  • Water Pollution and Wind Energy Chemical pollution of water is one of the leading causes of death of aquatic life. It is thus evident that chemical pollution of water not only has negative effects on health, but it also substantially […]
  • Air and Water Pollution in Los Angeles One of the major problems facing major cities and towns in the world is pollution; wastes from firms and households are the major causes of pollution.
  • Water Pollution Causes and Climate Impacts The biggest percentage of sewage waste consists of water, treating the wastes for recycling would help in maintaining a constant supply of water.
  • Water Pollution Origins and Ways of Resolving The evidence provided by environmental agencies indicates that industrial agriculture is one of the factors that significantly contribute to the deterioration of water quality.
  • Mud Lick Creek Project – Fresh Water Pollution This potential source of pollutants poses significant risks to the quality of water at the creek in terms altering the temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and the turbidity of the water.
  • Water Pollution in the Jamaican Society
  • Water Pollution and Abstraction and Economic Instruments
  • Water Pollution and Individual Effects of Water Pollution
  • Understanding What Causes Water Pollution
  • An Analysis of Water Pollution as a Global Plague That Affects the People, Animals and Plants
  • Water Pollution Through Urban and Rural Land Use and Freshwater Allocation in New Zealand
  • Water Pollution: Globalization, One of the Causes and Part of the Solution
  • Voluntary Incentives for Reducing Agricultural Nonpoint Source Water Pollution
  • The Impact of Water Pollution on Public Health in Flint, Michigan
  • Understanding Water Pollution and Its Causes
  • The Promises and Pitfalls of Devolution: Water Pollution Policies in the American States
  • We Must Fight Against Water Pollution
  • Transaction Costs and Agricultural Nonpoint-Source Water Pollution Control Policies
  • Water Pollution and Drinking Water Quality
  • Water Pollution: An Insight into the Greatest Environmental Risk
  • US Water Pollution Regulation over the Past Half Century: Burning Waters to Crystal Springs
  • Environmental Impact and Health Risks of Water Pollution to a Child
  • Water Pollution Environment Effects Chemicals
  • The Negative Effects of Water Pollution on Fish Numbers in America
  • The Problem of Oil Spills and Water Pollution in Alaska
  • Water Pollution in the United State: The Causes and Effects
  • California Water Pollution Act Clean Laws
  • The Need to Immediately Stop Water Pollution in the United States
  • Water Pollution, Causes, Effects and Prevention
  • The Water Pollution Prevention in Oceanic Areas
  • Water Pollution and the Biggest Environmental Issues Today
  • Fresh Water Pollution Assignment
  • Water pollution in Southeast Asia and China
  • Water Pollution Caused by Industrial Equipment
  • The Impacts of Water Pollution on Economic Development in Sudan
  • The Importance of Recycling to Prevent Water Pollution
  • Water Pollution and Its Effects on The Environment
  • The Sources, Environmental Impact, and Control of Water Pollution
  • Water Quality and Contamination of Water Pollution
  • Water Pollution and the World’s Worst Forms of Pollution
  • The Problem of Water Pollution and the Solutions
  • Comparing Contrast Legislative Approach Controlling Water Pollution Industrial
  • An Analysis of the Water Pollution and it’s Effects on the Environment
  • Water Pollution and The Natural Environment
  • The Importance of Clean Drinking Water Pollution
  • Water Pollution and Arsenic Pollution
  • The Issue of Water Pollution in the Drinking Water in Brisbane
  • What Are the Causes and Effects of Water Pollution?
  • What Is the Effect of Water Pollution on Humanity?
  • How Can Leaders Tackle with Water Pollution in China?
  • What Is the Drinking Water Pollution Control Act?
  • What Was the Social Water Pollution?
  • How Non-Point Is Water Pollution Controlled in Agriculture?
  • What Is Canada’s Water Pollution Dilemma?
  • Water Pollution: Why Is There Trash in the Ocean?
  • What Are the Problems Associated with Water Pollution?
  • What Is the Connection Between Air and Water Pollution?
  • How Water Pollution Effects Marine Life?
  • What Are the Leading Factors of Water Pollution Around the World?
  • Why Is Water Pollution an Important Issue Environmental Sciences?
  • What Are the Factors That Causes Water Pollution and Its Effects on the World Today?
  • What Are There Inorganic Chemicals Cause Water Pollution?
  • How Does Drinking Water Pollution Impact the World Environmental Sciences?
  • Is There a Connection Between Drinking Water Quality and Water Pollution?
  • How to Deal with the Big Problem of Deforestation and Water Pollution in Brazil and the Colombian Amazon?
  • Why Is China’s Water Pollution Challenge?
  • What Is the Ground Water Pollution Assignment?
  • How to Deal the Big Problem of Water Pollution in the World?
  • How to Reduce Air and Water Pollution?
  • What Is the Harmonizing Model with Transfer Tax on Water Pollution Across Regional Boundaries in China’s Lake Basin?
  • Are the Causes and Effects of Water Pollution Determined in Lake Huron?
  • Can Water Pollution Policy Be Efficient?
  • What Are the Kinds of Water Pollution Environmental Sciences?
  • What Causes Water Pollution and Its Effects?
  • What Effect Does Water Pollution Have on KZN Citizens?
  • How Is Water Pollution Managed in Viet Nam’s Craft Villages?
  • What Should You Know About Water Pollution?
  • Chicago (A-D)
  • Chicago (N-B)

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    Miss Comeau. Argumentative Research. June 2, 2017. Pollution and its Effect on the Earth Pollution is, without a doubt, a serious global issue that needs attention and resolutions. As human technology improve, water, land, air, noise, and light pollutions are all inevitable. Five and a half million deaths each year is caused by air pollution.

  3. A List Of Argumentative Essay Topics On Environmental Issues

    Furthermore, at the bottom of this article, there is a list of 15 of the best argumentative essay topics for environmental issues, which you can either use verbatim, or as further inspiration for your own unique title. One of the best ways to choose a title that you would like to write about is to note down any ideas you have off the top of ...

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    For example, if you are writing about air pollution, then the terms you use may range from "particulate matter" to "hygroscopicity," depending on the complexity of your essay's subject. Tip #4. The pollution essay thesis statement is a guiding line throughout your writing process.

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    Environmental Argumentative Essay Topics. The environment is a hot-button issue these days. No matter what your stance is, there are always going to be people who disagree with you. That's why having a solid argument is so important when discussing environmental topics. Here are fifty Environmental Argumentative Essay Topics that you can use;

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    Environmental pollution is a cause of concern for the entire mankind. The last century has seen the rise of this menace which now casts its gloomy shadow on nature itself. Pollution is a byproduct of the unprecedented industrial revolution of the last few . decades. The large scale factories belching out smoke, fumes and chemically hazardous ...

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    From Theory to Practice. Teaching persuasive texts (Buss) The main purpose of persuasive texts is to present an argument or an opinion in an attempt to convince the reader to accept the writer's point of view. Reading and reacting to the opinions of others helps shape readers' beliefs about important issues, events, people, places, and things.

  11. Essay on Environmental Pollution: 100 Words, 200 Words

    Essay on Environmental Pollution - 500 Words . Pollution is the term used to describe the entry of pollutants into the environment. Noise, water, and air pollution are only a few of the several types of pollution. There is a direct relationship between the rise of pollution levels and illnesses among people. Therefore, it is important for ...

  12. Environmental Pollution Essay for Students in English

    Essay on Environmental Pollution. The environment is the surrounding of an organism. The environment in which an organism lives is made up of various components like air, water, land, etc. These components are found in fixed proportions to create a harmonious balance in the environment for the organism to live in.

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  14. Environmental Argumentative Essay Topics

    All the environmental argumentative essay topics ideas that we listed below are easy enough for students to argue. Students who use these topics will easily know what to write about them. The best part is that these topics will make students discover the things they can do to help their environment. Get Writing Help. Rated 4.8 out of 5.

  15. Essay on Environmental Pollution: Causes, Effects and Solution

    The major types of environmental pollution are air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, thermal pollution, soil pollution and light pollution. Deforestation and hazardous gaseous emissions also leads to environmental pollution. During the last 10 years, the world has witnessed severe rise in environmental pollution.

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  17. Essay on Pollution in 500 Words

    Effects of Pollution. Pollution affects the quality of life more than one can imagine. It works in mysterious ways, sometimes which cannot be seen by the naked eye. However, it is very much present in the environment. For instance, you might not be able to see the natural gases present in the air, but they are still there.

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  20. Environmental Pollution and Its Effect on Health

    The WHO estimates that 7 million people die each year from the effects of inhaling air-containing particulate matter causing diseases such as stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and pneumonia (World Health Organization, 2018). Older people are most vulnerable to environmental pollution, as their level of immunity weakens with age.

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    Water pollution has a detrimental impact on both human health and the environment. Contaminated water can lead to the spread of diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and dysentery, which can have severe consequences for communities without access to clean water sources. Furthermore, polluted water can harm aquatic ecosystems, leading to a decline in biodiversity and the destruction of habitats ...

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