What is Air Pollution?

What causes Air Pollution?

What are the effects of Air Pollution?

What can we do?

Definition:

Air Pollution is a mixture of harmful solid particles and gases in the air. These substances are called pollutants. They include carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and ozone which in very high levels cause various phenomena like smog and haze.

Causes:

Air pollution is caused by human activity. Air is polluted from small-scale things like trash burnt in the yard, a person smoking cigarettes, and driving cars to large-scale things like factories and industry, slash-and-burn agriculture, wars, and overdependence on cars instead of public transportation.

Effects:

Air pollution causes:

A general decline in environment quality

Adverse effects on human and animal health

Phenomena such as Haze and smog

Apart from this, air pollution contributes significantly to global warming and climate change. It is just a part of a large problem that humanity needs to face now or it may pay the ultimate price of Earth’s destruction.

What can we do?

As an individual, we could help reduce air pollution by:

Educate ourselves about air pollution

Conserving energy – turning off lights, computers, and appliances when not in use

Reduce waste, reuse items, recycle stuff.

Use energy efficient light bulbs and appliances

Use public transportation, biking, and walking in favor of cars

If automobile use is absolutely necessary, keep your car well-tuned and maintained.

If possible use alternative energy like electricity instead of gasoline.

Help with green initiatives such as tree planting, cleaning, and advocating green policies such as emission reductions.