Mitigating Air Pollution: A Comprehensive Look at Solutions

Introduction

Its rarely happen now with us like opening the door and breathing fresh air , but the question is how clean is the air we are breathing right now? The gases that we are breathing could be slowly harming us. Air pollution is now a biggest problem for which a big step need to be taken to stop it or reduce it . So what exactly causes this major environmental issue and what can we do about it? This is “Effects of pollution” essay in which I will try to answer these questions. 

New technologies that has been invented can not stop the air pollution ,without people being aware of pollution and its damaging effects. Sometimes it takes very devastating tragedies like the the Chernobyl disaster. Often, we pollute the environment without even realizing it, how many people know that taking a shower or ironing a shirt can release indoor air pollution from hot water that they immediately breathe in, for example? Helping people to understand the causes and effects of pollution and what they can do to tackle the issue is very important—that's why I'm writing these words now and probably why you're reading them. Air pollution isn't someone else's problem all of us help to cause it and we can all help to clean it up. Starting now!

Article on Pollution 

Pollution is a process of making the environment dirty, unhealthy and become a problem for humans and animals to live. It is caused due to the release of harmful toxic gases from automobiles and increasing industrial area. These can be released naturally or by humans themselves. Due to pollution, there are few countries that have faced defected child birth and increase in mortality rate. Humans are regularly exposed to pollution when they inhale toxic air inside them.

Pollution can be controlled, if not eliminated. Efforts such as promoting green environment, proper disposal of waste , usage of electronic automobiles etc, are simple steps that lead to great effort on maintaining the order of environment. Pollution contributes to the harmful environment that results in adverse effect on living beings. It is one of the major concern areas for the world. It is a global issue involving the United Nations, governments, voluntary institutions and the media. Students need to be made fully aware of the adverse effects of rising pollution. Also, being the future generation, they can play a vital role in controlling pollution if they are familiar with this threat to the survival made by it.

Composition of Air

We often take air as a single unit. In reality, air is composed of several gases. The composition of air consists of three key components , namely Nitrogen, Oxygen, Argon, Carbon-di-oxide and water vapour, air also has some other gases but they are in very minute percentage.

It is also important to understand that the it is the ideal composition of air, which maintains the balance in nature. For example, in an industrial area, the composition of air can vary greatly due to continuous emission of harmful gases. There may be a high concentration of harmful gases emitted from the industrial chimneys that can increase the amount of carbon-dioxide in the air, making it harmful to anyone who breathes such air.

Structure of the Atmosphere

The atmosphere consists of 4 layers: the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. The troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere. This is the layer where we live. Temperature in this layer generally decreases with height. The boundary between the stratosphere and the troposphere is called the tropopause. The jet stream sits at this level and it marks the highest point that weather can occur. The height of the troposphere varies with location, being higher over warmer areas and lower over colder areas. Above the tropopause lies the stratosphere. In this layer the temperature increases with height. The ozone layer is warm because it absorbs ultraviolet rays from the sun. The mesosphere is the layer above the stratosphere. The temperature decreases with height here just like it does in the troposphere. This layer also contains ratios of nitrogen and oxygen similar to the troposphere, except the concentrations are 1000 times less and there is little water vapour there, so the air is too thin for weather to occur. The thermosphere is the uppermost layer of the atmosphere. In this layer the temperature increases with height because it is being directly heated by the sun.

The Role of Each Pollutant

Each pollutants emitted to the atmosphere can affect directly or indirectly the human health. Along with harming , air pollution can cause a variety of environmental effects, such us acid rain , effects on wildlife, ozone depletion, crop and forest damages, global climate change.

Carbon Monoxide (CO)

Carbon monoxide forms, when carbon in fuel is not burned completely. CO is a colourless, tasteless, odourless and non-irritating gas. It can enter the bloodstream through the lungs and forms carboxylhemoglobyn. High concentration of carboxylhemoglobyn could be poisonous. Carbon mono oxide poisoning cover a wide range of symptoms, depending on severity of exposure, such as headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, disorientation, confusion.

Sulphur Dioxide (SO2)

In coal and oil sulphur is found in trace amount . During combustion processes, sulphur combines with oxygen to form sulphur dioxide . As sulphur dioxide is relatively inert compound, it can travel long distances from its emission sources. High concentrations of sulphur dioxide can result in breathing problems. Long-term exposure of SO2 can also causes harmful diseases, which may cause death.

Sulphur dioxide react with ozone in the atmosphere, produced sulphur trioxide, which can dissolve in water, forming a dilute solution of sulphuric acid. When this strong acid reaches the surface by precipitation or dry deposition, it can be damaging to organisms and objects.

Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)

Nitrogen dioxide emitted to the atmosphere is from automobiles and power plants. The short-term exposure may cause increased respiratory symptoms, while long-term exposure can lead to irritation of the lung, susceptibility to respiratory infections, or even stroke.

Nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide too, next to the sulphur dioxide are other most harmful compounds of acid rain. Nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide can dissolve in water forming weak solutions of nitric and nitrous acids.

Ozone (O3)

Ozone plays an important role in the formation of photochemical air pollution. Ozone has several harmful effects both on human health, and plant functioning. Human interaction to ozone is associated with respiratory symptoms.

Elevated ozone concentrations can be potentially harmful to agricultural and natural vegetation. Recently it has also been shown that the indirect radiative forcing of climate change through ozone effecting on the land carbon sink could be an important factor and can induce a positive feedback for global warming.

Particulate Matter

Aerosol particles have important role in lower tropospheric air quality. Aerosols, especially ultra-fine particles can cause several severe health effects, including enhanced mortality, respiratory, cardiovascular and allergic diseases.

Particles in air can affect the cycles of atmospheric contaminants including nitrogen, sulphur, and atmospheric oxidants.

Emission Estimation and Control

Urban forests have also been proposed as strategies for reducing pollution in urban areas.Vegetation removes pollutants in several ways; by absorbing gaseous pollutants, by breaking down organic compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.Transpirational cooling also reduces temperatures indirectly, which results in a reduction in photochemical reactions that form O3 and other air pollutants in the atmosphere. It has been estimated that in the United States, trees remove 711 000 metric tonnes of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, O3, PM and sulphur dioxide per year. However, in many urban areas, there is little space for planting trees or cultivating urban forests. For example, in the mid-Manhattan, west section of New York, 94% of the land is covered with concrete, leaving little space for planting trees at ground level. However, rooftops, which often comprise nearly half the impermeable area in a city, provide an opportunity for growing vegetation. Two thousand square metres of uncut grass on a green roof can remove upto 4000 kg of PM.

Conclusion

Public policy and individual action are both required to reduce the effects of pollutants on respiratory health. Interventions at the individual level may include the avoidance of exercise or cycling near busy roadways to reduce exposure, and improvements in the ventilation of homes in which biomass fuels are used. Moreover, public policies can encourage or mandate engineering solutions that drastically reduce emissions from cooking stoves and vehicles. Taken together, these observations suggest that reducing the levels of air pollutants will have a substantial impact on health, particularly the health of patients with respiratory diseases.