CC0006 Sustainability: Society, Economy &

Environment

Week 7

Pollution: Air, Light,

Noise and Plastic
Prepared by Dr Le Chencheng and
Dr Anna Lagerstroem, Asian School of the Environment

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 “Presence of substances Overview
and heat in environmental
media (air, water, land)
• Air pollution
whose nature, location, or
quantity produces
undesirable environmental • Plastic pollution (white pollution)
effects”
• Noise pollution
(UNEP’s definition of “Pollution”)

• Light pollution

Pollution. (n.d.). In UNData. Retrieved from http://data.un.org/Glossary.aspx?q=pollution

2
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 Air Pollution: From the Medieval
London to Pea-souper

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 Air Pollution: The Great Smog of London, 1952

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 Air Pollution: Modern Problems
in a Modern World

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 Air Pollution: Modern Problems
in a Modern World

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 Air Pollution: UN Sustainability Goal

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 Air Pollution: The Future of Our Air

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White Pollution: Plastic Pollution

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 White Pollution: From Plastic to Microplastic

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 White Pollution: From Plastic to Microplastic

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 White Pollution: From Plastic to Microplastic

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 White Pollution: From Plastic to Microplastic

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 White pollution: From Microplastic to
Nanoplastic
Size classification of plastic particles

Size
reference

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 White Pollution
UN Sustainability
Goal 14:
Conserve and
sustainably use the
oceans, seas and
marine resources for
sustainable
development

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 White Pollution

UN Sustainability Goal 14:

Conserve and sustainably
use the oceans, seas, and
marine resources for
sustainable development.

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Noise Pollution: A Noisy Singapore
In Singapore, there are 218 workplace
noise-induced deafness cases per year.

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 Noise Pollution: A Noisy Singapore
The House Development Board received
15,000 noise-related complaints in 2020.
• Dragging of furniture
• Loud music
• Renovations
• Construction
• Koels (the ‘uwu’ bird)
But, few were actually breaking the rule!

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 Noise Pollution: A Noisy Singapore
According to a recent
study, enclosed areas
such as estates’
sheltered linkways can
trap the sound of
surrounding area, thus
reaching an average
noise level of 78 dB. This
is way above the safe
sound pressure of 55 dB
prescribed by the World
Health Organization.

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 Noise Pollution: A Noisy Singapore
Prolonged exposure to urban
noise will lead to:
• Cardiovascular disease
• Stress and anxiety

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 Noise Pollution: A Noisy Singapore
Prolonged exposure to noise of a high
volume will lead to:
• Physical damage to the inner ear
• Hearing loss (acute or permanent)

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 Noise Pollution: A Noisy Singapore
Researchers from the School of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, NTU have developed a device that can reduce noise
pollution entering buildings through open windows.

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Noise Pollution: A Noisy Natural Landscape
What can we do to help?
• While humans are not going silent any
time soon, there are steps we can take to
reduce the impact of noise pollution on
animals.
• To help marine animals, we can establish
quiet areas in the ocean, and develop
quieter ships and machinery.
• To help the animals on the land and air,
we can develop quieter cars, reduce
traffic speed limits, and build noise
reduction barriers around major traffic
areas.
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 Noise Pollution:
A Noisy Natural Landscape

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 Noise Pollution: A Noisy Natural Landscape
• Welcome to the super-
loud “fishcotheque”!
• Sound travels faster in
water, thus amplifying
noise pollution under
water.

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 Noise Pollution: A Noisy Natural Landscape
• Whales, dolphins and porpoises
communicate via sounds—this
makes them vulnerable to noise
pollution.
• According to a research, fresh-
water Irrawaddy dolphins
(Orcaella brevirostris) in
Indonesia’s Mahakam River are
hypersensitive to intensive boat
traffic.

Wang, Z-T., Duan, P-X., Wang, K-X. & Wang, D. (2021). Noise pollution disrupts freshwater cetaceans. Science, 374(6573), 1332–1333. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf0222

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 Light Pollution: Safer
Cities or Environmental
Stress?
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 Global Change in Light Extent (1992–2012)

Change in area is measured by the number of 1 km2 cells in a 20 × 20 km quadrat that are
covered by light pollution (defined as DN > 5.5).
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 Artificial Light and Wildlife

Colugo spotted at Bukit Timah.

Insects are drawn to street lights at night. Photo: Kelly Andersen
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 Artificial Light and Wildlife
Turtle hatchlings are supposed to follow the light out to sea, not into town…

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 Concluding Remarks

• For pollutions discussed in this lecture, effects tend to decline swiftly once the
sources are removed—it is relatively easy to do something about it. This is in
sharp contrast to persistent organic pollutants or carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere, which takes much longer to do something about.

• At least for air pollution, its increase is initially tied to economic development
(measured as income, GDP, etc.) but in developed countries (OECD), a peak is
observed after which economic development helps mitigate air pollution (Ouyang
et al., 2019). Do you think this could be the case for the other kinds of pollution
discussed as well?

Ouyang, X., Shao, Q., Zhu, X., He, Q., Xiang, C. & Wei, G. (2019). Environmental regulation, economic growth and air pollution: Panel threshold analysis for OECD countries. Science of the Total Environment, 657, 234-241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.12.056

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