Air Pollution

Air pollution consist of chemicals or particles in the air that can harm the health of humans, animals, and plants. It also damages buildings. These pollutants in air are always in the form of either gases, solid particles, or liquid droplets. Air pollution has been seen has a very local national problem. Over the last several decades, scientists have continued to build an extensive body of evidence on the risks that breathing poor-quality air poses to human health and our environment, perhaps the most extensive evidence that exists for any environmental risk factor. According to the Global Air supports, the status of air pollutants has moved up from the 5^th to the 4^th leading risk factor for death globally, continuing to exceed the impacts of other widely recognized risk factors for chronic disease like obesity (high body-mass index), high cholesterol, and malnutrition. In addition, the world health organization had statistically determine that around 7 million people are killed because of polluted air that we breathe. About 90% of those inflicted with this polluted air are low and middle-income countries. Despite all that is known about the effects of air pollution on health, no progress has been made in many parts of the world.

Effects of air pollution

Air pollution is caused when harmful chemicals and gases are released into the air. Majority of these pollutants are emitted through human activities like burning of fossil fuels, vehicles exhausted fumes and emission from agriculture and industry.

How air pollution affects our health

Air pollution has devastating effects on human health, reducing the quality of life and shortening lives on earth. Prolonged exposure to polluted air leads to risk of asthma attack, cancer, heart attacks and strokes. In addition, the most vulnerable in our society are more especially children and older people who tend to develop poor breathing conditions and stunted lungs

Effects of air pollution to the environment

A great number of sources are also those of greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases cause the earth heat to be trapped in the atmosphere which lead to warmer temperatures, exacerbating climate change. Air pollution also affects the quality of soil and water, affecting ecosystem and wildlife.

Pollutants travels over long distances and for us to solve these issues, global and sustainable practices needs to be put in place help curb air pollution. For us to reduce air pollution we need to introduce stronger clean air laws and policies to better protect people’s health and support the shift to cleaner alternatives.

One way to reduce air pollution is to avoid burning at home. Solid fuels, such as stoves, wood burning, leaves and rubbish have a substantial influence of air pollution.

By planting of more greenery, that is, supporting local green initiative can help improve long-term air quality. This is because trees can help filter chemicals from the air and more importantly greenhouse gases.  

Another ways is by avoiding the use of plastic bags, which are not biodegradable, and using better alternatives like paper bags since they are recyclable and decompose easily.

Our planet is changing, rising carbon emission are accelerating climate change. Our forest are disappearing. The air we breathe and the oceans we depend on are polluted. Vulnerable plants and animals are under threat.  To meet these challenges we can basically change the way we live in the world and on earth. Reducing air pollution is very vital for both the environment and human health. Air pollution is a grave risk that affects everyone, which is why all of us must act now.