Air Pollution
Air pollution refers to the emissions of harmful substances to the atmosphere in form of odour, smoke and dust particles, getting to the atmosphere in that they become dangerous to people and animals. This leads to the death of the living organism, discomfort, and diseases to humans and food crops. The pollutants may be in form of gasses, liquid or solid droplets (Devinny, Deshusses & Webster, 2017). These pollutants are grouped into primary and secondary. Usually, the primary ones are directly from the process of combustion of sulphur, other gasses, and volcanic eruption. Secondary pollutants are not directly emitted and combine with primary pollutants in the atmosphere, therefore, forming other dangerous products. This paper will discuss both primary and secondary sources, effects, causes, solutions and evaluation of solutions to air pollution.
Causes and Factors Responsible For Air Pollution
Air pollution results from both human and natural activities. The air pollution sources refer to areas and factors that lead to releasing of pollutants to the atmosphere. The natural factors are the ones that happen out of man’s expectations while man-made factors have the hand in themes he has created them as he tries to make his life better
Man-Made Sources
The sources include burning of many different fuel types. They are stationary such as power plants incinerators, waste burning in a furnace and other different types of heating devices. From the vehicles sources; we have the effects from the sound of jets, cars, and aeroplanes. Lastly, uncontrolled burning practises, dust chemicals from forestry and agriculture management leads to air pollution and are very dangerous(Guarnieri & Balmes, 2014). In addition, plants firm fumes, human hair sprays, solvents, and sprays from aerosols also pollute the air.
Natural sources
These include dust from areas like lands without vegetation, methane produced from cutlas food animals. The radon gas from radio-active decay within the crust of the earth also accumulate on buildings and this is a health hazard. Smokes produced from wildfires contain carbon monoxide while vegetation from some regions emits significant amounts of gasses such as nitrogen, sulphur dioxide and also anthropogenic organic carbon compounds, therefore, polluting the environment (Guarnieri & Balmes, 2014). Lastly, volcanicity from active mountains produces chlorine, sulfur and ash particles that are dangerous to human bodies. Houses with poor ventilations concentrate air pollution where people often spend the majority of the time. Building materials such as plywood and floor carpets produce gas like formaldehyde and solvents. Paints give out volatile compounds that are organic and on drying up they become a source of pollution (Héroux, et al, 2015: p223).
Effects of Air Pollution
Pollution of air has impacts on people’s health, the environment and to the economy as well. On health, air pollution has numerous conditions including infections to our respiratory organs like the lungs and diseases affecting the heart. They include breathing difficulties such as coughing, aggravation of existing respiratory and cardiac (Milojevic, et al, 2014:p1093). The effects can lead to continued medical use, a death that is premature, and more admissions in hospitals. The common pollutants are the particulates of oxides of sulphur and nitrogen ozone. Outdoor and indoor causes pollution of air, which is approximated to be more than 3.3 million deaths in the world in 2016 by WHO (Milojevic, et al, 2014:p1095).The number went up in 2017 to more than 3.4 million. Children that are less than five years in developing countries such as America and Europe are vulnerable in terms of death totals that are attributable to outdoor and indoor pollution. The WHO indicators, says that more than 2.4 million human beings die from these causes attributed to air pollution., having 1.5 million deaths of this from indoors (Milojevic, et al, 2014:p1095). A case in history is of India civilian crisis of 1984 called Bhopal Disaster which was a short-term pollution. Also in U.S.A industrial vapours that had leaked from a factory owned by Union carbide killed more than 25000 humans injuring more than 150000. In 2012 the WHO estimated that more than 7 million people have died out of ambient air pollution.
Environmental Effects
Poisonous air pollutants i.e. toxic chemicals form acidic rain when they get to the atmosphere and may also form dangerous ground-level ozone. These acidic rains have devastating effects on our crops, forests, farms, animals, and also continue to make our water bodies harmful to humans and sea animals.
Economic effects
A country thrives well when its citizens are healthy. The W.H O. puts that the cost of air pollution to the worlds most advanced economies of Europe, America plus those of China and India is estimated to be 3.5 trillion US dollars per year from the lives lost and ill health. The business and industries depend on human labour, raw materials, and natural resources and if they are not available and healthy it becomes a problem (Milojevic, et al, 2014:p1095). Air pollution reduces products from agriculture and also commercial forest yields by billions of money every year. This includes those people who stay off work for health reasons, leading to economic dwindling
Solutions to Air Pollution
Solutions effort on any form of pollution is always a big problem. Air pollution is the wordlist deadliest environmental problem. The government funding of research projects that develops a clean electric transportation method that reduces dependance on fossils fuels. America uses more than 384 billion gallons of oil per day in transport (Héroux, et al, 2015: p221). Every gallon gives out 19 pounds of dioxide of carbon which largely pollutes the air, therefore, to protect the air it has converted to use of vehicles run by electricity that will assist in the elimination of production and release of other gasses that are unwanted. They are carbon monoxide, nitrogen and sulphur oxides. Air pollution can also be reduced by the promotion of clean, renewable and use of environmentally friendly energies such as wind, so as to do away with fuels (Guarnieri & Balmes, 2014). This is the use of green energy to minimise fuels that are burnt. This can be done by use of solar, wind and energy from other sources that are renewable, this will reduce air pollution.
Companies have encouraged the technology of making cars that are efficient and which have less pollution than before. There has also been a request that nations to enforce strict regulations that require the use of subscribers to all facilities of industries that can release pollutants into the atmosphere and this can prevent deaths from respiratory diseases. Lastly, the planting of trees is encouraged so as to reduce the presence of carbon dioxide that causes global warming (Guarnieri & Balmes, 2014).
On evaluation
These solutions are realistic though some may take time to achieve. Like the issue of fossils fuels as a source of energy is achievable and real. The electricity is being used by many industries and transport networks in the U.S.A. as they are making electric vehicles and trains thus reducing air pollution. Also, the use of natural sources of energy such as solar energy, wind, geothermal, and hydropower is achievable (Héroux, et al, 2015: p223). These are also clean and readily available from nature.
Conclusion
The prevention and solutions to air pollution should be done by every stakeholder. It should be communal responsibility. Use of renewable sources of energy and the environmental friendly like the wind and the sun should be highly encouraged. For this to happen cessation is required of all fuel-burning fossils processes from manufacturing industries and the ones used at home like air conditioners. Policies and rules need to be made and be followed to the letter to save our mother earth and our survival. Without air nothing in this world that can survive. If all areas of the world are polluted it means that man is long dead. This, therefore, requires each one of us to protect the environment. What we do now determines what will happen tomorrow to our nature. If we destroy our nature it will also destroy us.
References
Devinny, J.S., Deshusses, M.A. and Webster, T.S., 2017. Biofiltration for air pollution control. CRC press
Guarnieri, M. and Balmes, J.R., 2014. Outdoor air pollution and asthma. The Lancet, 383(9928), pp.1581-1592.
Héroux, M.E., Anderson, H.R., Atkinson, R., Brunekreef, B., Cohen, A., Forastiere, F., Hurley, F., Katsouyanni, K., Krewski, D., Krzyzanowski, M. and Künzli, N., 2015. Quantifying the health impacts of ambient air pollutants: recommendations of a WHO/Europe project. International journal of public health, 60(5), pp.619-627.
Milojevic, A., Wilkinson, P., Armstrong, B., Bhaskaran, K., Smeeth, L. and Hajat, S., 2014. Short-term effects of air pollution on a range of cardiovascular events in England and Wales: case-crossover analysis of the MINAP database, hospital admissions and mortality. Heart, 100(14), pp.1093-1098.
