Air Pollution Remains One of the Most Essay

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Air pollution remains one of the most urgent and serious problems facing the world today. Research studies conducted in the past have clearly indicated that in addition to harming the environment, the effects of air pollution on human health are particularly adverse. In this text, I discuss air pollution, its causes, and effects. Further, I propose solutions that could be embraced to rein in the problem of air pollution.

Air Pollution: An Overview

Air pollution in the words of Miller (2005, pp.347) "is the presence of chemicals in the atmosphere in concentrations high enough to harm organisms and materials (such as metals and stone used in buildings and statues) and to alter climate." As the author further points out, the effects of air pollution could be serious or simply annoying. In the past, various measures have been taken across the world to decrease air pollutant emissions in an attempt to improve air quality while at the same time mitigating against the adverse effects of air pollution to not only the environment but also to humans and other living organisms. Some of these measures include but they are not limited to the establishment of various bodies charged with monitoring levels of pollution. In the U.S., these bodies include the Environmental Protection Agency.

Pollution standards that have been set in the past in an attempt to minimize human and environmental exposure to pollutants have had varying levels of success. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council -- NRDC (2013), although there are some significant gains that have been made as far as the improvement of air quality is concerned, thanks to Clean Air Act programs, quite a significant number of "fossil fuel power plants, boilers, and cement plants continue to treat our skies like sewers.

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" For this reason, there exists a need to embrace measures deemed more proactive and inclusive in an attempt to rein in the air pollution problem.

Sources of Air Pollution

There are many sources of air pollution. These could either be natural or human. In seeking to highlight the main sources of air pollution, I will take into consideration both gaseous and solid pollutants whose harm to buildings, vegetation, and living organisms has been proven in the past.

Human Sources of Air Pollution

Throughout the world, gaseous and solid pollutants from automobiles are regarded leading sources of air pollution. According to Miller and Spoolman (2011, pp.470), carbon monoxide which is one of the gaseous motor vehicle emissions "forms during the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing materials." Industries are also regarded leading contributors to air pollution. This is more so the case given that there are many chemical plants that release significant levels of harmful gases and particles like copper oxides and nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere. As Miller and Spoolman (2011) note, nitrogen oxide is a product of the reaction between oxygen and nitrogen that takes place under high temperatures in industrial plants and motor vehicle engines. Some human agricultural practices have also in the past been identified as sources of air pollution. For instance, burning of forests and bushes to create land for cultivation leads to the emission of carbon monoxide (Miller and Spoolman, 2011). It is also important to note that paddy fields emit significant amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Other human activities than lead to the generation of significant amounts of suspended particulate matter include but they are not limited to stone crushing and mining.

Natural.....

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