Tropical Cyclones Intensified by Rising South Air Pollution

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/TropicalStormFranklin05.jpg/250px-TropicalStormFranklin05.jpg

This article is written by Matthew Mcdermott on November 3, 2011.
Picture: This is a picture of a cyclone hitting the tropical areas. Cyclones are very deadly natural disasters and they can affect many people living in the areas. Cyclones hand happen as an affect of many different things. One of the main reasons why cyclones occur is because of air pollution.
Summary:
This article I found is about air pollution and how it affects weather and natural disasters occurring. A lot of air pollution in Asia is causing tropical cyclones to hit the Indian Ocean. Until recently, cyclones in the seas were intended to be relatively weak storms. Now technology is advancing and scientists are figuring out that the wind speeds and circular patterns are changing. This is resulting in an increase of strong storms. The manipulation of the winds and the patterns are linked to some specific pollution. For example, coal burning, cooking fires, and old diesel engines. In some places this created smog that was 1.9 miles thick, and this changed wind patterns and rainfall. These happenings also lead to cyclones becoming more deadly and intensified. A major part of this problem of pollution relates to the major population increase in Asia, and specifically India. This population increase triggered a major amount of pollution and different gases/chemicals in the air. For example Black Carbon Pollution and Sulfate pollution are happening to the environment. However, they each have a different impact, Black Carbon is shown to have increased the warming causing glaciers to melt. The Sulfate Pollution scatters radiation. Along with all this pollution, greenhouse gases are rising as well. This issue is also having a major impact on the weather of Southern Asia and the monsoon to come. Major air pollutions are impacting Southern Asia, in terms of the climate and cyclones, and also the people that live there.
Reaction:
I am very surprised and saddened at this issue that is occurring is Southern Asia. I felt extremely bad for the people that live in Asia because it is not their fault for what is happening. The population growth is not their fault because they just want to live a normal life and have kids. This is causing drastic weather changes and patterns in the Indian Ocean as well as other seas. The poor people in Asia have to deal with the arsenic in their water, as well as this problem that has come up last year. I am very glad that technology has advanced and scientists and taking this more into consideration now. I believe that the scientists will come up with something that reduces all the harmful effects that these weather and cyclones are bringing. Many people say that we need weather changes and more water. What is happening in Asia is taking it to the very limit and it is getting to a point where it needs to reduce. I can relate this to my life because I have actually been to a county in Asia and witnessed this first hand. I have seen the so many people living and walking the streets daily and I can really understand why the cyclones are happening. I am very sad and devastated by what is happening in Asia with the pollution and the drastic weather changes.

Questions:

1) Why is the population growing at such a fast rate in Asia especially, and not other countries?

2) What can people living in the United States do to help the pollution increase in Asia?

3) Do you think the pollution in Asia will go down, and will it cause the cyclones and drastic weather changes to decrease as well?

Exploiting Groundwater in Southern Asia Could Have Poisonous Effects

http://www.treehugger.com/clean-water/exploiting-groundwater-in-southern-asia-could-have-poisonous-effects.html?campaign=th_rss

Summary:
In Southern Asia, more specifically Vietnam, the water supply is at a very low level. Their only option is to dig the wells deeper to access more water. This water has very dangerous levels of arsenic and is affecting 3 million people. No matter how deep you dig, you cannot avoid arsenic. Arsenic is becoming common in deep aquifers like it did in the shallow wells and the problem will just keep piggybacking. People thought that deeper aquifers meant no more arsenic but now they are drilling into lower sentiments. In their experiments of 512 wells, 27% of the wells violate World Health Organization standards. If the arsenic problem continues, they are going to need to start spending more money on filters. Arsenic can cause many problems including cancer and other diseases. The picture shown is what researchers use to see how contaminated each layer of the groundwater is. The map helps avoid dangerous areas but soon, that is all that is going to be left. The arsenic contamination is one of the most dangerous health threats in the world.

Opinion:
I think that that the extent of effort that people go through to get a natural resource is ridiculous and needs to change. People need water like they need oxygen and the fact the supply is depleting is scary. One thing that I found aggrivating is that when we watched the Jay-Z video in class, kids had cell phones but not clean water. If I were getting poisoned by something that I needed to live, I definitely would not spend money on something like a cell phone. America is worrying so much about all of these countries' water supplies but they need to get their priorities straight.

Questions:
What do you think people (from Asia or America) should do to avoid the arsenic problem?

Why do you think the arsenic level in Asia is so bad?

How can they get more water without spending too much money?