Air Pollutants that cause Environmental Pollution

Environmental pollution is a global concern of the current world where we all together go towards reducing and avoiding environmental pollution. Environmental pollution can occur in different ways such as air pollution, water pollution, land pollution, etc. In terms of achieving sustainable development, we need to protect our environment. Because it provides all the essential resources which ensure our existence on Earth. When we have a quick look at our history, it is well indicated that industrialization initiated these kinds of impacts on our environment. Because till that human beings spent a life which is environmentally friendly. If we let the ongoing environmental pollution be further processed, as human beings our existence on earth will be a severe threat.

When the atmosphere contains substances in solid, liquid, and gaseous states in a way that exceeds the natural capacity of the environment to manage the number of substances by dissipating, diluting, or absorbing them, and high concentrations cause undesirable health, aesthetic issues etc, the atmosphere can be called as a polluted one.

Air pollution is a serious concern in the modern world since it has created severe impacts including acid rains, global warming, ozone depletion, etc. Recently observed smog in countries like China, and India are great examples that someone can study further. Further, that illustrates how seriously man-made air pollution disturbs the daily activities of humans.

Through this discussion let's explore what are the air pollutants that cause environmental pollution and make our earth a place which is not suitable for the survival of humankind.

What are the major air pollutants

In normal conditions, 78% of nitrogen and 21% of oxygen by volume are found in clean and dry air. The remaining 1% is represented by other gases including argon in 0.9% and others (carbon dioxide, helium, water vapor and more) in minor percentages.

Air pollutants are available in solid, liquid, and gaseous states. They are chemicals or particles in the air that can harm the health of humans, animals, and plants and extend up to damaging buildings. The major air pollutants are as follows.

What are the sources of air pollutants

There are various ways by which air pollutants enter our atmosphere. Mostly it is created by people. Therefore such sources are called anthropogenic sources. Even our day-to-day activities including daily traveling, household, energy consumption, etc emit a lot of air pollutants. When considering anthropogenic air pollutants, we can identify several air pollutants that are being generated by

Industrialization
Automobiles
Power generation
Smoking etc.

As well as there are some natural causes including the eruption of volcanoes, bushfires, etc

Why air pollution is more common to large cities in developed countries

The large cities of the world experience the worst air pollution impacts. It is because

Concentrated air pollutants in the city by many sources emitting air pollutants
High-rising buildings block air pollutants from going far away. This is what is visible as smog.

Here the large cities of poor and developing countries get more impact than the large cities of developed countries. Some of the most polluted cities can be listed as follows.

Karachi in Pakistan
New Delhi in India
Beijing in China
Lima in Peru
Cairo in Egypt

Interestingly some cities from developed countries often win our interest due to polluted air such as Los Angeles, California.

Regulation of air pollution

Regulation of air pollution is not possible for an individual or a nation to do. We need a global contribution. That's how the Kyoto Protocol was initiated. Further World Health Organisation (WHO)Protocol issued air quality guidelines recently in 2006. As WHO expects these new guidelines would reduce the deaths caused by air pollution by 15% per year.

In addition, all individual countries follow national-level guidelines to regulate air pollution. As an example, the United States adopted a Cap and Trade system.

Reduction of air pollution

All humans as individuals are capable of taking steps by simple changes in their daily lives to reduce air pollution.

Using public transport instead of a private car
Avoid carbon dioxide emitting vehicles and shift for a bicycle ride whenever possible
Recycle household waste instead of burning them
Not smoke
Avoid aerosol cans
Plant more trees to absorb excess carbon dioxide
Go for more alternative power sources like solar energy, wind power hydropower, etc instead of fuel-burning for energy generation

Effects of air pollution on humans and the environment

If we don't contribute to reducing or avoiding air pollution, both humans and other living and non-living beings in the environment can experience a severe threat. Either long-term or short-term health impacts on humans can be there and the response to these effects can be varied based on age, immunity, etc. These can even lead to deaths attacking the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Our environment gets contaminated with air pollutants. They can reduce crop yields. Animals can suffer from various diseases. Reproductive rates of animals can be changed. Acid rains can burn trees and other surfaces. Changes in the composition and quality of the soil may cause disease and even death of plants.

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