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What is Air PollutionEver since the discovery of fire, less-than-desirable substances have been vented into the air. One of the first air pollution regulations dates back to the fourteenth century, when King Edward I banned the burning of sea coal in lime kilns.But regardless of those efforts, air pollution continues to be a serious local and world-wide problem. Pollution is the pressure within the air? of one or more substances that are harmful to human health, welfare, animal or plant life, or property. Air? pollutants are separated into two categories. Primary pollutants?, because they come directly from various sources, and Secondary pollutants? which are by-products of chemical interactions of the primary pollutants within the atmosphere?. For example the particulates which in lay mans language is called soot is a primary pollutant.Although air pollution might be thought of as unwanted gases in the atmosphere, two of five primary pollutants are really solid substances called particulates. Soot has always been a sure indicator of a polluted atmosphere. ? Air pollution can be defined as impureness of the air. Air pollution is all around us. It might not be as clearly visible in some areas as others but the fact is that air pollution is still there affecting us in some way, shape, or form. It has been known to cause illness and/or death. Many people are not aware of this. The Causes of Air Pollution There are two main causes of air pollution. One of the main causes is natural pollution. "Natural pollution is windblown dust, pollen, fog, etc." The other main cause is people pollution. "People pollution is the chief concern and most serious form. Most of people pollution is caused by industry, cars, trucks, and airplanes and also cooking?.Air pollution, both indoors and outdoors, is a major environmental health problem affecting developed and developing counties alike. It comes from sources of dust, gases and smoke, and is generated mainly by human activities but also naturally. When inhaled, air pollutants affect the lung and respiratory tract but can also be taken up and transported by the blood stream throughout the body. Through deposition in the environment, air pollutants can also contaminate food and water. Health impact?: Every year millions of people die or suffer serious health effects from air pollution: mainly respiratory diseases?, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease and cancer of the lung. An estimated 3 million people die each year because of air pollution, this figure represents about 5% of the total 55 million deaths that occur annually in the world. It is possible, because of uncertainty in the estimates, that the actual death toll is anywhere between 1.4 and 6 million annually. Air pollution is a major problem facing our environment today. This dilemma is harmful to every single living creature on this planet. How can we limit the causes of air pollution? There are industrial as well as residential causes of air pollution. How can we limit the effects of air pollution? We all know it affects the environment, but do we all know it also can affect us directly.Therefore air pollution is also perhaps one of the more politically sensitive problems because of the numerous economic, environmental and health implications involved. A key step in the policy-making process is to define the problem to be remedied. If we can not understand the problem, how are we to know what needs to be fixed. Unfortunately, implementing policies on air pollution has the politically undesirable effect of having extensive economic consequences on all sectors of the economy. Therefore, those policies which lead to the development of an ecosociety must be aimed at having the greatest environmental impact while creating minimal economic distortions. So how can we control and prevent air pollution. Pollution comes in many forms from the products we use and the methods we use. Therefore, it is impossible to be able to deplete the amount of pollution that is in our atmosphere. But we could use prevention methods and more regulation to allow as minimal amounts of pollution into our atmosphere as possible. Many universities and environmental agencies? are hard at work each day trying to figure out cleaner, safer methods of maintaining a healthy atmosphere. But it seems that everything we use in our lives always has to spit something out that endangers our health. The fight is strong and more and more innovations are occurring where pollution is being regulated and reduced, in small amounts, but regardless, small amounts indeed. When people think about air pollution, they usually think about smog, acid rain and other forms of outdoor air pollution. But did you know that air pollution also can exist inside homes and other buildings? This is called Indoor air pollution [top] [end]Related topics[top] [end]External links and references[top] [end]ContributorsUser:Dr Karabi Dutta 25 April 2004 [top] [end]Comments / Questions on this page | |
Page created:
25 April 2004; Last edited:
21 September 2004; Version: 1 | |
Pagename: Pollution @HEDON: FCBA | |
