Great Environmental Course Topic Ideas for Class Papers on Pollution

Are you taking an environmental course at college? You are going to have to write a term paper on the topic You may want to talk about some of the biggest environmental issues of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. We previously talked about topics on sustainability, but you can also write a paper on pollution.

Some ideas are listed below. You can always find an expert to help you with your paper if you need.

Oil Spill Pollution

You may want to talk about some of the biggest oil spills in history. Some of the ideas that you may want to write term papers about are listed below.

Oil slick in the Persian Gulf

The largest oil spill in history occurred during the Gulf War in 1991. During their withdrawal from Kuwait, Iraqi troops razed hundreds of oil wells and tankers, causing about 1,800,000 tons of crude oil to spill. The immense oil spill of more than 4,000 square kilometers caused a profound impact on the marine and coastal life of the countries in the area. The fact that the Persian Gulf is a shallow, semi-enclosed and shallow body of water enhanced the polluting effect. 

This is a great topic to write about, so you can find a team of talented writers to support you. AdvancedWriters has experts that can talk about the oil pill in the Persian Gulf in depth.

The sinking of the Deepwater Horizon platform

In April 2010, an explosion on the semi-submersible oil platform Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean and operated by BP (British Petroleum), caused a brutal spill of more than 750,000 tons of crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the death of eleven workers. For three months, the well was spilling oil until it was closed. The oil slick affected more than 1,500 km of coastline in the southern United States, affecting some 8,000 species, including birds, fish, turtles, mollusks, crustaceans, and marine mammals.

The Most Polluted Cities In The World

You may also want to write a paper about some of the cities with the worst pollution. Some of these cities are listed below.

Lahore, Pakistan

The most polluted city in the world is Lahore, Pakistan, although it is about as bad as Mumbai and Delhi in India. These destinations are in constant dispute over which is the most polluted city.

According to the IQAir organization, Lahore’s air quality falls within the very harmful level, as the city’s concentration of PM2.5 in the air (particles in both liquid and solid form that can be dust, ash or pollen, for example) is 27.4 times higher than the annual guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In terms of AQI, the National Air Quality Index, the city of Lahore has 193 points, making it in the bracket of being very harmful to the health of its 11 million inhabitants.

Lagos, Nigeria

Lagos, Nigeria, is the fifth most polluted city in the world. The air quality index indicates that Lagos has 134 points due to PM2.5, which is the primary pollutant. Thus, it is a city with a harmful level for sensitive groups. A few measures are needed to protect the residents from pollution in Lagos, such as the use of masks and the air purifiers.

Beijing, China

In 2005, this city reached maximum pollution levels, according to the scale generated for its measurement, as a result of the large number of automobiles and the concentration of industries on the outskirts of the city. In winter, the heating systems of the buildings for the city’s 13 million inhabitants must also be taken into account.

China’s capital is currently the sixth most polluted city in the world and, in fact, the country with the most polluting greenhouse gas emissions. Its AQI index is 122, indicating that its level is harmful and damaging to the health of sensitive groups. Like the two previous cities, the main pollutant is PM2.5, followed by PM10 and O3. In addition, according to IQAir, air pollution in 2021 in Beijing claimed the lives of 7,200 people.

The Danger Of Electronic Waste

You can also write a term paper about the hazards of electronic waste.

Electronic devices contain materials that are highly polluting and harmful, such as lead, mercury, chromium, cadmium, arsenic or antimony.

The materials not only cause harm to the environment, but also to the health of all human beings.

In the case of mercury, for example, it can affect the nervous system and the brain, while lead accelerates cognitive deterioration, due to the detrimental effects it has on the entire circulatory system and the brain.

With respect to cadmium, this material can not only alter the reproductive process, but also cause infertility. Chromium, in turn, is related to kidney and bone ailments.

An example of the impact they generate can be a fluorescent light tube, which can contaminate up to 16,000 liters of water; a television can contaminate 80,000 liters of water and a nickel-cadmium battery, used in mobile telephony, can affect 50,000 liters of water.

Come Up with the Perfect Idea for Your Term Paper

There are a lot of great ideas for term papers on an environmental class. The ideas listed above are a great start. You should make sure that you find the right sources to use in your environmental paper.