Air pollution summary 15

By definition air pollution means the presence of substances in the environment, predominantly those that do not occur naturally. These substances are commonly contaminants that significantly modify the quality of the atmosphere. Air pollution is regularly used to classify unwanted emissions produced by human doings, which is also referred to as anthropogenic air pollution; examples of anthropogenic air pollution are: The burning of wood, coal, fuel oil or natural gas burning fireplaces, stoves and furnaces, Air pollution affects human wellbeing, flora and fauna; deteriorates structures, it intervenes with the enjoyment of life and it influences our production methods and lifestyles. America produces more emissions then anywhere else in the world, yet this is still an international issue, also affecting Australia infinitely because of the air pollution in the world, our ozone layer is getting destroyed, the ” blanket” that is protecting us is slowly yet surely making our Earth uninhabitable unless we do something about it. Air pollution is an issue locally, nationally and globally, we are all doing our part to increase the percentage of air pollution in our atmosphere; we might not intend to but by driving a car everyday to work or throwing our cigarettes out the window is causing harmful substances to arise in our environment and pollute our air and damage our precious ozone layer. This damage is then causing harm to us by affecting the air we breathe. CFC’s are used in some spray cans to force the contents out of the can. They are also used in refrigerators, air conditioning systems and some fire extinguishers and in the plastic industry. They are used because they are not poisonous and do not catch fire, these CFCs are used in everyday household items and are exceptionally harmful to our ozone hence damaging our air. Locally, in Sydney around 400 people die each year from pollution in this city, with motor vehicles being the major foundation of dangerous air pollutants in our urban areas, adding to between 40 and 90 percent of air pollution (2004 Australian Bureau of Statistics report). On a national scale Australians usually spend approximately ninety-five percent of their time indoors, either at home, or at a workplace and even in entertainment venues and several pollutants occur at intense concentrations indoors than outdoors due to the materials and domestic devices used in buildings. Scientists are developing a means of measuring ‘ individual exposure’ to pollutants. That is, a measure of the definite exposure that individuals have to air pollutants during their day to day lifestyle, rather than measures of pollution at set locations. Australia has a relatively small population and compared to cities such as Los Angeles, Mexico City and Athens, air pollution issues in Australia are inferior. This is expected because we have fewer sources of pollution, and local winds usually disperse pollution over our cities quiet rapidly. We are encircled by oceans hence we do not collect sufficient polluted air from other nations. Australia’s oil and coal hold less sulfur than a good deal of the oil and coal generated in other countries. Nonetheless, each year, Sydney, Melbourne and rather sizeable cities in Australia encounter days of high air pollution. Summer and autumn are frequently the worst times of the year. Globally the air quality varies from country to country, city to city, and at different times depending on the vast weather conditions. As the universal populace escalates and a requirement for more goods is wanted, this sets a much larger pressure in our air quality that is what’s called the spatial dimension. Locally, nationally and globally, human interaction which include, industrial activity, smoking, bushfires, transport, and the burning of fossil fuels plus more, are the ecological dimensions of air pollution. It is a vicious cycle that keeps going round and round, we damage the quality of our air, and in return it impacts on our health dearly, worldwide air pollution is to blame for considerable figures of deaths and cases of respiratory disease. More impacts of air pollution would also include: smog, asthma, lead poisoning, death of vegetation and an enhanced greenhouse effect. Various organizations are embarking on ways to minimize the air pollution and try to better our air quality. The Air Quality Section of the Department of the Environment and Heritage requests to protect and develop urban air quality via taking national action to decrease production of major air pollutants. The department’s focal point is on those regions that create the greatest contributions to unpleasant air quality as well as those pollutants that continue to cause threats to human health and the environment. CSIRO is another group organization that regularly uses personal air pollution detectors, which monitor concentrations of pollutants that citizens breathe. Nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ammonia and additional gases can be calculated with the device. Other groups such as National Environment Protection Measure, polluter-pays principle and EPA monitoring are all for monitoring the quality of air, and are all trying to reduce the pollution in the air by using various strategies such as obligating industries triggering pollution or contamination to pay for their harm to the environment either through immediate funding clean-up work or via taxation. Also national action can be done to aid air pollution, these strategies are: Transport, to reduce the impact of road transport and traffic congestion which causes a lot of pollution, also if it is a short trip, why not cycle instead of drive. Residential is another means of strategic action by instead of residents heating with wood, back yard burning and the use of domestic appliances it can it show significant changes in the quality of our air, and also help the quality of indoor air. Agricultural and forest management practices that do not necessitate burning can also reduce the emissions of bad pollutants. In addition many car manufacturers also try to invent cars that use minimal petrol and oil, and that is more electrical, hence trying to moderate air pollution from car emissions. Individual action can also alleviate air pollution by being educated on air quality issues and by using buses and trains instead of cars cuts down the amount of pollution produced; this cuts down on the ” bad” ozone being made. Walking or cycling does not create any pollution, and it is very good for one’s body, providing regular exercise. We can also help by using environmentally friendly deodorant sprays and/or aerosol cans that do NOT contain CFCs. Just simple things like opening a window instead of turning on the air conditioning can be very positive for the environment. These are just simple things individuals can do to benefit those after us, so they can enjoy a clean healthier earth to live in. Bibliography: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Air_pollution Geography exercise book (handouts) http://www. cmar. csiro. au/ar/information/urbanpollution. html www. atmosphere. mpg. de/enid/3or. html www. science. org. au/nova/015/015key. htm www. cmar. csiro. au/ar/information/airpollution. html http://www. deh. gov. au/atmosphere/airquality/index. html www. epa. gov/ Air Pollution: Its Origin and Control – Kenneth Wark