Environmental Pollution in Latin America

Latin America is a group of countries in the Western Hemisphere where Spanish, Portuguese, French and other Romance languages are spoken. It is also known as Hispanic America. Some countries include Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador, Cuba, Bolivia, Haiti, Honduras, Paraguay, etc,. It consists of twenty sovereign states and Spanish several territories. It makes up 13% of Earths’ total surface. This is a lot of harmful dust, or debris for these cities especially because these cities are very popular for people to live in.

The biggest country in Latin America is Brazil. It stretches to cover an area of 8,515,767 square kilometers and has a population of 205,573,000 people. It gets its’ name from the tree called a brazilwood. Although it is spelled Brazil in English, the correct spelling in Portuguese, which is the native language, is Brasil. Brazil is the only South American country that speaks Portuguese. Brazil was claimed by the Portugal empire in the year 1500. Most of the people in Brazil live in São Paulo. São Paulo’s population is over 10 million people. Brazil, being the world’s fifth-largest country by area and the sixth most by popularity, is loaded with air pollution. We need Brazil to stay healthy, because they produce a great amount of sugarcane, coffee, soybeans, and corn. They also produce a lot of beef, and crop-based ethanol. Human activities such as logging, agriculture, mining, and fishing are important to the Brazilian economy, but can be a serious threat to Brazil’s miscellaneous environment. Brazil is also very great at tourist attracting. They have around 2500 airports in Brazil. More than a million tourists visit Brazil every year.

One of the most polluted cities in the world is Lima, Peru. Lima’s general index of polluting particle is 38 micrograms of PM 2.5 per cubic meter.According to the World Health Organization, it is considered the worst air pollution in all of the Latin American cities

Environmental pollution levels in Latin America are very high, which means it makes it very risky to live there. In Monterrey (Mexico) , Guadalajara (Mexico), Mexico City (Mexico), Cochabamba (Bolivia), Santiago (Chile), Lima (Peru), Bogota (Colombia), Medellin (Colombia), Montevideo (Uruguay), and San Salvador (El Salvador) are some of the most polluted cities in Latin America. The scene in most of the Hispanic countries is very similar to every big city in the

world. They have buses and trucks that spew out black smoke as people walk under grey skies. They also will have plants which also fill the sky with harmful smoke. Even so, Hispanics in Latin America must understand that air pollution is a problem that can affect all of us and so it is important to be aware of the associated health risks, which can lead to death. According to the report by The Clean Air Institute over 100 million people in Latin America breathe harmful air.

The Clean Air Institute’s report explained how breathing in air containing a high concentration of dust or pollutants can reduce our quality of life and lead to illness or premature death. Thankfully, the report also makes very strong recommendations on how to avoid this. Black carbon and ozone are pollutants in the sky. They can remain in the atmosphere from days to decades. It can also remain in the atmosphere for a century. These gases can contribute more to the climate change than carbon dioxide. One reason for this deadly air pollution is as the years go by, the more number of vehicles grow.

Another answer for this problem in the Hispanic countries is clean transportation and energy generation technologies. This technology can work even better if the president or leaders of the Hispanic countries would work to get their countries off of dirty fossil fuels. The skies will be blue again and people will breathe well, knowing that the skies are not polluted. Luckily, the Chinese authorities set up laws for stricter fuel regulations, which is meaning that diesel and gasoline will be unblemished. Unfortunately, the countries in Latin America do not follow those regulations, except for Chile, who has a new regulations on the emissions of NO2, SO2, and PM2.5. I think that other countries should follow those regulations, because it is safer for the environment and for people to breathe better. According to nrdc.org, Mexico should be the next country to make laws on environmental safety. The government has stated that it will work to pass vehicle efficiency and fuel quality standards that will make Mexico’s new vehicles comparable to those sold in the U.S. and Europe. In addition to passing good standards, governments must also apply them, and monitor the air quality every month or so, and report the data.The Clean Air Institute distinguished that the areas or countries in Latin America need improvement.

The solutions for Latin America’s polluted air problems are accomplishable, but they have to try in order for it to work. We don’t want to be looking at a beach with broken bottles on the ground or with harmful gases in the air. This can also effect the animals that live in the environment. You wouldn’t want to look at a seagull with a plastic bottle wrapping around its’ neck, so we should use trash cans instead of throwing trash on the ground. Cigarette butts are also harmful, because you find them on the ground and they could be devoured by an animal, such as a dog or a mouse. Standards are being tested around the world by regulating air pollutants and making fuels cleaner, such as diesel. New, clean transportation modules are starting to use sustainable, renewable resources are growing in the region already.

Bibliography

1. “Air Pollution in Latin America and Its Effect on Our Health and Climate.” Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA), 24 Apr. 2018, aida-americas.org/en/blog/air-pollution-latin-america-and-its-effect-our-health-and-climate.
2. Schneider, Ronald Milton, et al. “Brazil.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 10 Feb. 2020, www.britannica.com/place/Brazil/.