The environmental ethics defines the ethical linkage between the environment and the occupants. People are therefore required to confront several issues and make several ethical decisions within the realm of the environment. The continuity of human life squarely lies in the quality of the environment (Phalen, 2004). People have continuously modified their environments to suit their needs. The environment consists of the water, air, soil, artifacts and differing climates essential in supporting life.
One of the pressing issues regarding the environment is the quality of air that continues to deteriorate as a result of air pollution. The major threat to air quality throughout the U.S. and anywhere else are particulate and smog pollution. The two elements act singly or unite to cause health complications. According to Phalen (2004), approximately a half of the entire Americans settle in states where pollution of air regularly reaches unhealthily extends. This implies that the life of many habitants is at risk of contracting breathing diseases or increasing pre-existing conditions of health. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) highlights mobile sources as the extreme contributors of pollution of air. However, industrial sources for instance factories and power plants are not innocent of this vice.
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State of Air Quality in the United States
The governing laws include the Clean Air Act, 1970 which has been instrumental in cleaning up the air throughout the United States. Through the “Clean Air Act,” major air pollutants have been reduced to 68% from the time it was adopted as law in 1970. Besides, there is the “National Ambient Air Quality Standards” (NAAQS) which is set by the United States “Environmental Protection Agency” (EPA) for the primary purposes of protecting the health of humans and secondarily specific effects (Phalen, 2004).
Controversies have arisen between regulators, scientist, legislators and sections of the industry as well as the lay public. Both parties are trying to comprehend and react to epidemiology outcomes of the relation between precautions of contemporary particulate air pollutants coupled with severe health results within urban inhabitants. The relations have been construed to mean that above 10, 000 of Americans are killed yearly by insignificant day to day increments in particulate air pollutants. The epidemiology researchers and their explanations have been disputed; however, it is accepted that increased concentrations of pollutants in the air have resulted in loss of many lives.
Even though reproducible as well as statistically important, the comparative risks linked to contemporary particulate air pollutants are very insignificant and confounded by several features. Neither clinical investigations nor toxicology researchers have established the components and characteristics of particulate air pollutants that are likely to be resulting to health-impact correlations. Presently, global study endeavors are underway to establish who may be affected and by what matter as well as mechanisms.
The major case that involved air quality in the United States was in 1907 when Georgia State sued the copper company Known as Tennessee for polluting the state’s forests. In considering this course, Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Supreme Court Justice concluded that “it is a fair and reasonable demand on the part of a sovereign” in the court's federal system “that the air over its territory should not be polluted on a great scale … by the act of persons beyond its control” (McCahan, 2013).
State of Air Quality in the United Kingdom
Air pollution in the United Kingdom has decreased dramatically over the recent years through actions to lessen pollution from industrial, transport and domestic sources. Nonetheless, the rate of decrease is now flattening off for certain major pollutants including nitrogen oxide. Although the quality of air in the UK is largely considered good utmost time, increased concentrations of pollution still take place in several urban settings in the United Kingdom (Ricardo Energy & Environment, 2016).
The existing laws on air pollution include “Pollution Prevention and Control Act,” 1999 which presented the Integrated “Pollution Prevention and Control” (IPPC) to control processes of industry. The regulations took over from the “Environmental Protection Act,” 2009 and were staged in phase by phase through to 2007. This was merged into Environmental Permitting Regulations which as well implements the EC’s fresh “Industrial Emission Directive” (IED). IED merges IPPC with certain sector-particular directives including a plant of large combustion, waste incinerators among others (The Environmental Law Foundation, 2016).
A pro-European Union newspaper circular recently distributed by the government of the UK instigated controversy over the usage of public money for campaigns in politics. Even more outrageous was the fact that the circular only touched once on issues of climate change. None of the information touched on the larger environmental policy. The reform mandate of the Prime Minister was as well quite on the environmental issue.
The major case involving the quality of air and the government of the United Kingdom was the breaching of the proceedings of the European Union “Air Quality Directive.” The UK government was taken to the Supreme Court by ClientEarth, a campaign group for not adhering to Air Quality Directive. The UK government was required by the Supreme Court to provide a National Design by the culmination of 2015 which was instrumental in allowing the UK to meet their nitrogen oxide value limit at an earlier time. The UK government has consulted regarding the proposed National Design.
In conclusion, there is a significant difference in the way United Kingdom’s culture affect the way the quality of air is dealt with compared to the United States. In the United Kingdom, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is on the rise and becoming significant for industries where there is the high development of consumer activism. This has been due to the grassroots organizations and social media prevalence. In the UK, there are three major themes for CSR which are issues of workplace such as employment, human rights, and work-life balance. Besides, there is community participation such as social justice or big society as well as the environment which entails resources sustainability. The United Kingdom has subscribed to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the majority of the leaders of businesses are working to achieve the targets. The government of UK supports CSR through the encouragement of charity giving and tax breaks.
References
McCahan, G. (2013). The case for clean air comes to the Supreme Court. Environmental Defense Fund: EDF Voices: People on the Planet . Retrieved from https://www.edf.org/blog/2013/11/14/case-clean-air-comes-supreme-court.
Ricardo Energy & Environment. (2016). About Air Pollution. Air Quality England . Retrieved from http://www.airqualityengland.co.uk/air-pollution.
The Environmental Law Foundation. (2016). Air pollution laws: National air quality strategy. Environmental Protection- UK . Retrieved from http://www.environmental-protection.org.uk/policy-areas/air-quality/air-pollution-law-and-policy/air-pollution-laws/.
Phalen, R. F. (2004). The Particulate Air Pollution Controversy. Nonlinearity Biol Toxicol Med, 2( 4): 259–292.
