With the advance of human society, along with the development of modern science and technology, people are faced with an increasing number of pollutions. One of the severe pollutions is noise pollution. Many parents express their complaints over noise pollution, especially car alarms.

Anchor

Almost anyone who has lived in a big city can tell you how irritating it is to be awakened in the middle of the night by the wail of a car alarm. The loss of sleep can drive you crazy, but this is just one in a long list of problems that such high decibel noises can cause.

Jonathan

People in this noisy neighborhood in upper Manhattan are fed up with car alarms. They're angry enough at being jolted awake several times a week, but more than that they worry about what effect these alarms will have on their children. Already studies have shown that continuous exposure to high-decibel noise can cause an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.

Andrea

By the time my child can read, he will already have been exposed to the constant roar of the traffic, but the intense siren of a car alarm is way above the level of safety.

Michael

I have a valid concern. According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), exposure to noise above 85 decibels for 8 hours or more is a danger to your health. City traffic and trucks are about 90 decibels. The siren of a car alarm is about 120 decibels, about the same as a plane taking off.

The parents here are sick and tired of listening to the shrill siren of car alarms. However, it's for their children that they are most concerned. They've started a group called Parents to Silence Car Alarms. They don't think that making the owner of a car pay a fine is enough. These parents have started a campaign to have car alarms banned.

Ever wonder how this season’s celebrations affect the environment? Guest blogger Krista Fairles takes an amusing look at this very topic.

The holidays are a wonderful, cheerful time when most people wait for Santa to bring them presents. But I’m not like most people. I spend my time wondering just what the environmental impacts of Santa Claus and his reindeer are, and more importantly, how I can calculate those impacts.

Lately I’ve been particularly curious as to whether Santa’s old sled is a clean green flying machine, or if he should be replacing his 8 reindeer with an environmentally-friendly car.

I should mention that, surprisingly, I was unable to find statistics specific to Santa’s magical flying reindeer, so these calculations use numbers from various sources and may not represent actual pollution caused by Santa and his animals. In other words, don’t complain to the govenment about the damage Santa is causing the environment based on this article.

Santa’s yearly trip around the globe is 44,000km long, twice the average of a North American driver. If we assume that the magic provides the altitude for this trip, then reindeer power only needs to push Santa’s sled forward. To complete the trip in 12 hours, I estimate they must travel at a speed of about 3100 km/h. To travel at this speed, for this length of time, the reindeer need to eat an incredible 980 million calories each!

So the next question is: how much food is in 980 million calories? Well, if they’re eating corn, they’d need to eat 16, 500 lbs each-or 1.6 acres of food. Growing 12.8 acres of corn has its own implications for the environment that we’ll leave for another calculation.

We now need to consider that during the global trip the reindeer are “letting out” some of that corn in the form of methane. A resting cow produces 110 kg of methane per year, so flying reindeer would each let out about 4.8 tons. With methane causing 20 times the global warming damage of CO2, and the altitude increasing that damage by 1000% that another 20 times, we can put Santa’s round-trip emissions at 15,488 tons. This is much more than the 100 tons an environmentally-friendly car would release on the same trip!

Bad Santa.

Environmental pollution kills 1.7 million children under the age of five every year worldwide. This is according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO warns that child deaths will increase greatly if pollution continues to worsen.

The most common causes of death among children aged one month to five years are diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia. This is according to the WHO.   【小题1】 . This means providing access to safe water and sanitation, limiting exposure to dangerous chemicals, and improving waste management.

【小题2】The WHO estimates that air pollution is responsible for about 6.5 million premature, or early deaths every year. That number includes nearly 600,000 deaths of children under age five. Most of these deaths take place in developing countries.

Air pollution is a leveler between rich and poor, according to WHO environment and health chief Maria Neira. 【小题3】And one of the most important ways to reduce air pollution is to produce cleaner fuels for cooking and heating. “Almost half of the world population is using dirty fuels for cooking, heating, and lighting at home. And, this is affecting very much mothers who are staying and cooking at home, but the children who are around mothers -- they are exposed as well. ” Early exposure to harmful pollutants can lead to increased risk of chronic respiratory disease, asthma, heart disease, stroke and cancer later in life.

Cleaning up how the world cooks, heats and lights homes and other buildings is a big- picture goal. The WHO is advising government departments and industries such as construction and the health sector to work together to clean up their environment.

【小题4】. The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency has the following suggestions：

• Avoid walking where there is a high volume of vehicle traffic.

•【小题5】

• Limit your time outside if you live in an area that issues warnings about air quality.

• Wear high-grade, rated face masks tightly to the face when air quality is poor.

• Remove your clothes and wash immediately after entering your house if you live or commute in a very polluted area.