Air Pollution 3 Essay, Research Paper

Every day, the average person inhales about 20,000 liters of air. Every time we breathe, we risk inhaling dangerous chemicals that have found their way into the air. Air pollution includes all contaminants found in the atmosphere. These dangerous substances can be either in the form of gases or particles. Air pollution can be found both outdoors and indoors. Pollutants can be trapped inside buildings, causing indoor pollution that lasts for a long time. The sources of air pollution are both natural and human-based. As one might expect, humans have been producing increasing amounts of pollution as time has progressed, and they now account for the majority of pollutants released into the air. I will tell you in this article about 3, of many, results from air pollution.

The first one I will tell you about is global warming. Global warming, also known as the greenhouse effect, immediately received international attention. Scientists, environmentalists, and governments around the world took an interest in the subject. Global warming is called the greenhouse effect because the gases that are gathering above the earth make the planet comparable to a greenhouse. By trapping heat near the surface of the earth, the greenhouse effect is warming the planet and threatening the environment. Current fears stem largely from the fact that global warming is occurring at such a rapid pace. Some scientists still do not think that the effects of global warming are as severe as some people say. They think that droughts, hurricanes, and floods often blamed on global warming might actually have other causes. One major difficulty in studying global warming is the fact that weather data only exists for the last century and a half. As a result, understanding the present and predicting the future are very difficult. Some solutions to global warming I have listed here for you. Because many problems leading to global warming are caused or contributed to by overpopulation, people are beginning to work to reduce family sizes. Family planning services actually help in the fight against global warming. Education is a key method of reducing the greenhouse effect. By teaching people about such things as deforestation, environmental activists hope to prevent the problems that ultimately lead to global warming. Widespread media attention to the global warming problem is also increasing awareness. This is causing both individuals and governments to act more responsibly towards the environment.

Next, I will tell you about ozone depletion. The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica has grown to its greatest size yet, the US space agency says. Nasa says this year’s hole in the ozone layer – an annual event around September and October – measures 11 million square miles. That is three times the size of the United States. The previous record was 10.5 million square miles, two years ago. Scientists who have been studying the ozone layer since the early 1970s were shocked by the hole’s size. Dr Michael Kurylo, manager of Nasa’s Upper Atmosphere Research Program, said: “These observations reinforce concerns about the weakness of Earth’s ozone layer.” The ozone layer protects our planet from harmful ultraviolet radiation and ozone depletion is believed to contribute to high rates of skin cancer in countries like Australia. It was hoped that the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which restricted the release of man-made pollutants such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) would lead to a recovery of the ozone layer by 2050.

Finally, I will tell you about smog. Smog is a mix of many pollutants, chiefly ground-level ozone and particulate matter. Ozone is formed from nitrogen oxides or NOX and volatile organic compounds or VOC. In the summer months, more than half of all people are exposed to ground-level ozone concentrations that are above the current national ambient air quality objective of 82 parts per billion over a one-hour period. In The U.S., the main sources of NOX are transportation, industrial boilers, and power generation from fossil fuels. Natural sources of NOX are considered negligible. The main sources of human-made VOC are fuels and solvents. While natural sources of VOC (primarily from vegetation) are 5.5 times human-made sources, it is important to note that locally, in the most populous smog-affected regions, VOC emissions tend to dominate during ozone episodes. While ozone affects only a few regions, most large cities experience levels of particulate matter that are known to have significant impacts on human health. Ground-level ozone and particulates are linked to a range of adverse health impacts, including respiratory distress, increased emergency hospital visits and hospital admissions, even premature death. Recent studies show that there appears to be no human health “threshold” for either ground-level ozone or fine particulates.

I would like to thank you for your time. I hope that by now you are just a little bit more educated and informed on the environmental issue known as air pollution. Hopefully, everyone who reads this will do as much as possible to prevent, global warming, ozone depletion and smog. Again thank you for reading my report.