Air Pollution Facts
Air Pollution Causes
Air pollution is mainly caused by emissions from car, truck and bus exhausts. Waste burners, factories and power stations also play quite a large part of air pollution. Most forms of heating also have a tendancy to pollute - including, but not limited to, the burning of oils, gases and coal. Most pollutants are gases but pollutants such as soot can also be found in solid form.
Effects of Air Pollution
Air pollution is capable of spreading over large distances. Gases can react to strong sunlight, forming ozone, which can create photochemical smog. Air pollution plays a large part in the global warming theory. Here's something that I found hard to believe during my research: breathing air in Mexico City, for a 24 hour period, does the same amount of damage to your body as smoking 20 cigarettes.
Preventing Air Pollution
Preventing air pollution is actually reasonably simple but the actions of a single person will not have a huge effect. Action needs to be taken by everyone. Everyone needs to start considering different forms of transportation (i.e. cycling or walking), keeping your car well maintained (if you refuse to find another form of transport), spilling less gas, finding more environmentally friendly ways of heating and just generally treating the world that we live in more considerably.
Air Pollution Myths
The following statements are not true.
- Carbon dioxide is a pollutant.
- Air pollution is only a problem in big cities.
- Sports cars are not that bad of pollutants.
- The world we live in will be dead in 100 years time.
- Trees are the biggest problem contributing towards air pollution.