Environmental Issues in California

In California's infancy, it was a desert like state, but the introduction of fresh water to the state quickly allowed it to flourish. Far from its humble beginnings, California is presently a state with industry, agricultural and tourism, and additionally the state is home to many of the most highly populated cities in the country with Los Angeles in the south and San Francisco in the north. Accompanied with high concentrations of people, are a host of environmental concerns, most of which are in the form of pollution related issues.

One of California's main environmental concerns is air pollution. In the state of California alone, there are more than 30 million registered cars and this number is only increased with public transportation and service vehicles. For this reason, California has some of the highest emissions rates in the country, which makes carbon dioxide pollution one of the state's main concerns. In highly populated areas such as Los Angeles, this high amount of pollution from cars creates an issue known as photochemical smog. This occurs when photons of sunlight hit the various kinds of pollutants in the atmosphere, resulting in chemical reactions that worsen the level of pollution in the atmosphere. California's atmosphere is known for containing nitrogen, oxides, volatile organic compounds ((VOCs), ozone, and peroxyacytyl nitrate (PAN). The introduction of greener technologies and more wide spread use of hybrid vehicles are helping to combat California's air pollution problems, but a great deal of effort is still necessary to return California's atmosphere to a more healthy state.

Being a coastal state, California also has a great deal of environmental issues related to the ocean. The pollution of beaches and the ocean are major environmental concerns. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a concentration of waste and trash the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean. This garbage patch is characterized by high concentrations of plastics, chemical sludge and other trash that is trapped in the Pacific Ocean's currents. California pollution greatly contributes to this issue through point source and non-point source pollution. Point source pollution is pollution that's source can be easily identified such as waste coming from pipes, sewage discharge, etc. The alternative, non-point source pollution, is harder to identify and can include runoff from streets, construction or agriculture.

In addition to the main concerns of air pollution and water pollution, California also has environmental issues related to solid waste and toxic waste. Another issue presented by California's high population is high amounts of solid waste. Solid waste is characterized by any form of non-hazardous trash created by individuals, along with the commercial and industrial sectors. In 2000, the equivalent of six pounds of solid waste was taken to landfills per person on a daily basis. One of California's main environmental initiatives has been to increase recycling rates and to eventually reduce the amount of solid waste sent to landfills by 50% in the year 2020. The result is an ever-decreasing amount of landfill space and a great difficulty with waste management. California's many chemical and energy plants cause a great deal of toxic waste to dispose of as well. These chemicals provide an even greater challenge for waste management, because the dangers of toxic waste being released into the environment are an even greater concern than normal solid waste.

Being the densely populated and industrial state that it is, California has always had environmental concerns. The issues of air pollution, water pollution, solid waste and toxic waste are some of California's most pressing environmental concerns, but it is important to remember that there are many other issues facing California as well.