Pollution and Health: Air Pollution and The Earth's Atmosphere

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Air Pollution and The Earth's Atmosphere

The smog hanging over cities is the most popular and obvious form of air pollution. But there are different types of pollution, some visible, some invisible, which contribute to global warming. Generally, any substance that humans put into the atmosphere, which has adverse effects on the lives and believes air pollution on the environment.


Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas emissions is the main pollutant that the Earth is warming. While carbon life, when we breathe, carbon dioxide is widely considered a pollutant when associated with cars, airplanes, power plants and other human activities that cause the burning of fossil fuels such as gasoline and natural gas. Over the past 150 years, these activities have pumped enough carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, raising the level higher than they were for hundreds of thousands of years.

Other greenhouse gas methane from sources such as swamps and gases emitted by animals, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that were used in refrigeration and aerosols, until banned because of their impact on the ozone layer of Earth is deteriorating.

Other pollutants associated with climate change is the sulfur dioxide, a component of smog. Sulphur dioxide and related chemicals are known as a cause of acid rain. But also reflect light when they are released into the atmosphere, which keeps the sunlight and causing the Earth to cool. Volcanic eruptions can spew huge amounts of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere, the cooling time, which lasts for years. In fact, volcanoes are a major source of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere, people are today.

The industrialized countries have sought to reduce sulfur dioxide, smog and smoke to improve human health. But the result should not, until recently, is that lower levels of sulfur dioxide can make global warming worse. As sulfur dioxide from volcanoes can cool the planet by blocking sunlight, reducing the amount of the substance in the atmosphere allows more sunlight due to global warming. This effect is exaggerated when higher concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trap additional heat.

Most people agree that reducing global warming, various measures must be taken. On a personal level, the right and flying less, recycling and storage reduces the carbon footprint of a person, the amount of carbon dioxide is the person responsible for putting into the atmosphere.

On a larger scale, governments should take measures to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions. One solution is the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement between countries to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. Another method is to introduce a tax on carbon emissions or higher taxes on gasoline, so that people and businesses will have greater incentive to save energy and pollute less.

via environment.nationalgeographic

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