Example Of Essay On Cause And Effects Of Air Pollution

Pollution is one of the major challenges in the world today. As industrialization grows in leaps and bounds, the rate of pollution has increased causing a concern to environmentalist. Pollution occurs in the soil, air, and the water. Of all these, the most polluted sections of the environment is the air. The air pollution has much larger impacts since in its nature; the pollutant tends to diffuse across vast regions from the places of origin. What causes air pollution?
One of the major pollutants of the air is the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels such as petroleum products, coal, among others are used in the industries to provide power. Fossil fuels are used largely in the transport sector such as vehicles, trains, airplanes, etc. Burning fossil fuels produces the largest quantities of carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide that have greenhouse effect. Nitrogen and Sulphur oxides and methane are also greenhouse gases.
Greenhouse gases when they accumulate within the atmosphere tend to absorb the long wave radiations from earth's surface. It is worth noting that the atmospheres is heated from below (surface) by long wave radiation from the surface of the earth after the earth’s surface has been heated by the shortwave radiation from the sun. Such would lead to an increase in the atmospheric temperature.
Agricultural activities also contribute greatly to the pollution of the air. Ammonia gas produced by farm animal is one of the air pollutants. Methane gas produced from wet-paddy rice fields and bogs pollutes the air. Rotting organic material submerged in water tend to rot in such a way that they produce large quantities of methane gases. Methane gases are not a friendly gas to the environment. Methane gas is not a naturally present gas in the atmospheres and its presence causes air pollution. The extensive use or pesticides, and insecticides introduce a lot of impurities in to the air. Human spray crops and animals farm to kill pests, and insects that cause harm to the crops and animals. When farmers spray crops in the expansive farms as well in the small farm, there are numerous chemical that escape into the air as wind blows across the filed during and after spraying. Some of the chemicals are by far too toxic to other living things.
The work in many factories and industries require combustions of different organic and inorganic substances to produces lot of smoke into the air. The smoke in most cases is accompanied by highly toxic chemicals that are harmful to the humans. Huge amounts of smoke in major towns like in Tokyo-Japan, and major industrial town in towns reduces visibility greatly especially if the smoke combines with mist or fog. The case can be extreme during the morning where lighting may be required since visibility can be reduced to critical levels.
In addition, mining industries and some other industries produce huge amounts of dust into the atmosphere. Although dust can helpful in the formation of condensation nuclei, huge amount of dust pollutes the air. Perhaps one of the unique air pollution agents is the household products used daily. Indoor paint release toxic chemical to the air. The use aerosol sprays for perfumes, air fresheners, etc. release chemical into the air. Households also produce smoke into the atmosphere that contributes to air pollution.
In conclusion, it is evident that most of the air pollution agents are manmade. It is, therefore, upon policy maker to ensure that there is a reduction in air pollution since air pollution causes diseases to humans such as lung diseases, cancers, among other others. It also causes acid rains.

References

WGE (n.d). Impacts of air pollution on human health, ecosystems and cultural heritage. Retrieved on February 17, 2015 from <http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/env/documents/2013/air/wge/CEH_IMPACT_E NGLISH_single_page_website.pdf>