How Pollution Damages The Mountains

Fierce masses of land and magma, high peaks covered by white snow, mountains expose some of the most extreme environments on earth.

The earth's crust can undergo large-scale movements, exposing a raised portion with steep sides that show a rocky bed, thus forming mountains.

Mountains have a wide variety of functions; they serve as a home for a large part of the world's population. They serve as a source of natural resources necessary for humans, raw materials, and freshwater; it is the home of animals and plants, forests, nature reserves and many more. Mountains have giant meaning for many people; this needs to conserve, ensuring their sustainable well-being.

Temperature changes in the climate caused by global warming influence the earth and its movements; throughout history, global climate change has modified mountains, the structure, and internal behavior. The result can, in turn, change the local climate of a mountain by providing more shade at some points, for example.

Climate change dramatically influences the mountain environment. Mountains vary greatly depending on their location on the planet and their height, which is why they are considered sensitive and vulnerable places to climate change since their conditions can vary greatly, in large quantities, in a short time.

Image 1: Mountains, distributed throughout the world, are reservoirs of water, plants, animals, and people.

What are the effects?

From the base to the top of the mountains, there is a variation in height; imagine Mount Everest; with the change in altitude, there is a difference in pressure, luminosity, humidity, temperature, and other factors, with global warming, the temperature increases, and also alter other factors. That is why there are areas that react differently to the effects of pollution.

Certain chemicals can get into air and water (such as lakes), in the mountains, at high altitudes; It is a fact, it is scientifically proven, especially some of the chemicals used for agriculture, such as pesticides, are present in certain areas.

80% of the world's food depends on 20 different and necessary plant species; 6 (30%) types are grown in the mountains.

There are many mountain types; some are home to vast forests and vegetation. The decrease in plants, trees, and humidity will be more evident in the future since environmental pollution has a more marked effect on these sites; deforestation caused by man or nature usually accompanies the damage of environmental pollution in the mountains.

Global warming and environmental pollution are a threat to the health of the animals and plants that live in the mountains, damage their air and their homes. This damage depends on the magnitude of the temperature change. Frequently, this generates changes that imply that they move between different altitudes, displacing them from their original places.

Freshwater originating from the mountains accounts for almost 30 to 60 percent of downstream availabilities in humid areas and about 70 to 95 percent in semi-arid and arid environments.

Even remote villages in the Himalayas with age-old traditions have not escaped the plastic menace; they have plastic products in their day-to-day; also, environmental pollution is caused by these. 

The people who live in the mountains represent various races, tribes, and origins. That is the reason why they are distinguished for ethnic and linguistic reasons throughout history; mountains have been relevant in global situations, constructions, wars, among others.

Image 2: Changes in altitude make the mountains prone to environmental damage.

Tourism is a vast source of emerging pollutants; people travel the great mountains and their remote landscapes; they usually leave garbage and waste; there is no one to clean; therefore, they remain at the disposal of nature.

The air pollution problems of the cities are transfer to the mountains. With the wind, pollution enters plants, animals, and their offspring. For example, air pollution from major Chinese cities spreads through the highest mountain range and penetrates central Tibet due to its geographic characteristics.

Frozen mountains tend to thaw with global warming; usually, the polar and frozen areas begin to shrink; start to losing ice meaningfully from bottom to top.

On the other hand, air pollution can be deposited on snow, further enhancing the effects of pollution; that is why there are reports and videos where snowballs appear "plastic" and do not melt even if you apply a fire flame.

Low elevation regions on the southern side are more vulnerable than higher elevation regions in the northern areas. In the United States, Alaska, the Cascades, Sierra Nevadas, the Lower Midwest, and parts of the Appalachians are changing faster than in regions such as the Rocky Mountains and the Upper Midwest. Globally, parts of the Arctic coast, the European Alps, and the lower Himalayan regions have hit the hardest, while the snow cover in the interior of northern Europe and Asia, including central Russia, is disappearing very quickly.

Places with immense seasonal temperature variations, such as mountainous regions inside the countries, such as the Rocky Mountains, are more likely to retain a strong snow layer. Places that maintain a similar temperature throughout the year, such as coastal mountains, such as the West Coast Falls, are more likely to meet early.

Exploring extreme weather and climate change, for example, at the top of Mount Everest, can show us, in advance, the effects that will happen in the future on the rest of the world. 

However, everything indicates that the lower altitudes that are close to the sea, the temperatures are warmer, and there is an enormous effect of climate change on the environment.

Image 3: Those most affected are animals and plants, followed by the mountain's inhabitants.

The stairway to the global restoration of stream habitats can be of great importance in solving current destruction and possible future consequences.

It should add that it is not good to do sport exercises in mountains if the area has high air pollutants since training and other conditions such as oxygenation and air can generate dangerous effects, which are worse than usual. Urges sensitivity, asks people not to throw trash in the mountains and mix unnatural products into the water. It is relevant to observe the magnitude of the damage caused by environmental pollution, alter the earth's tectonic plates and modify its topographic characteristics through global and localized climate change; it can even cause internal changes in the inner structure of the mountains.

Mountains are natural sites, sensitive in environmental terms, full of tranquility and peace where you can live with a great diversity of plants and animals; the damage to the environment every day covers more land and approaches the most precious sites.

References

• The University of Cincinnati. Melanie Schefft. Climate change is moving mountains. November 5, 2015. Link https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/legacy/enews/2015/11/climate-change-is-moving-mountains-research-says.html

• Bandyopadhyay, Jayanta. (2004). Moving the Mountains Up in the Global Environmental Agenda. Occasional Paper 3. 

• New York Times. Sammy Roth. California’s climate challenge: Move fast, don’t break things. March 25. 2021 6 am PT. Link https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-03-25/californias-clean-energy-challenge-move-fast-dont-break-things-boiling-point.

• Yousefi, Masoud & Kafash, Anoosheh & Valizadegan, Negin & Ilanloo, Sayyad & Radjabizadeh, Mehdi & Malekoutikhah, Shima & Hosseinian, Saeed & Ashrafi, Sohrab. (2019). Climate Change is a Major Problem for Biodiversity Conservation: A Systematic Review of Recent Studies in Iran. Contemporary Problems of Ecology. 12. 10.1134/S1995425519040127. 

• NOAA. Alison Stevens. Which mountain snowpacks are most vulnerable to global warming?. March 22, 2021. Link https://www.climate.gov/news-features/featured-images/which-mountain-snowpacks-are-most-vulnerable-global-warming.

• Wyoming Public Media. Ivy Engel. The Rocky Mountain Region's Snow May Weather Climate Change Relatively Well. Published March 23, 2021, at 11:17 AM MDT. Link https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/natural-resources-energy/2021-03-23/the-rocky-mountain-regions-snow-may-weather-climate-change-relatively-well.

• Pauli, Harald & Gottfried, Michael & Dullinger, Stefan & Abdaladze, Otar & Akhalkatsi, Maia & Benito Alonso, José Luis & Coldea, Gheorghe & Dick, Jan & Erschbamer, Brigitta & Calzado, Fernández & Ghosn, Dany & Holten, Jarle & Kanka, Robert & Kazakis, George & Kollar, Jozef & Larsson, Per & Moiseev, Pavel & Moiseev, Dmitry & Molau, Ulf & Grabherr, Georg. (2012). Recent Plant Diversity Changes on Europe's Mountain Summits. Science (New York, N.Y.). 336. 353-5. 10.1126/science.1219033. 

• Mountain Research Initiative. Oliver Machate. P3: People, Pollution, and Pathogens: Mountain Ecosystems as Sentinels of Change. Published: 23 July 2020. Link https://www.mountainresearchinitiative.org/news-page-all/112-global-news/2611-p3-people-pollution-and-pathogens-mountain-ecosystems-as-sentinels-of-change

• Anadolu Agency. Gozde Bayar. Mountains face more pollution during a pandemic.  11.12.2020. Link https://www.aa.com.tr/en/environment/mountains-face-more-pollution-during-pandemic/2073276.