Why air pollution is bad

Because at home, another type of harmful air pollution occurs in parallel. Air pollution has many health effects, from mild irritations to the development of serious diseases. The combined effects of ambient outdoor and household air pollution cause around seven million premature deaths each year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory infections.

While those effects emerge from long-term exposure, unhealthy air quality can also cause short-term problems such as sneezing and coughing, eye irritation, headaches, and dizziness.

Particulate matter narrower than 10 microns classified as PM10 and the even smaller PM2. Airborne diseases, mainly viruses. Eye and respiratory irritations, skin allergies, conjunctivitis, nasal congestion, watery eyes, nasal bleeding, cough, phlegm, and wheezing in the chest.

Cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. There is research suggesting that pollution could be a factor in the development of another type of brain disease such as autism, attention deficit disorders, and certain types of dementia. An estimated 4. According to the WHO , outdoor air pollution around the world represents:. The pollutants with the strongest evidence of public health concern are particulate matter PM , ozone O3 , nitrogen dioxide NO2 , and sulfur dioxide SO2.

The health risks associated with PM less than 10 and 2. It is also the most widely used indicator to assess the health effects of exposure to ambient air pollution. Maternal exposure to outdoor air pollution is associated with adverse childbirth outcomes, such as preterm birth or low birth weight. Evidence also suggests that outdoor air pollution can affect diabetes and neurodevelopment in children.

Household air pollution is another cause of illness and premature death in Europe. According to the WHO, around 3. Indoor air pollution comes from a variety of sources and includes a wide range of gases, chemicals, and other substances. One of the most dangerous types of household air pollution is smoke.

Pollutants emitted from the combustion of solid fuels or kerosene for cooking, heating, and lighting are associated with serious health risks.

Other indoor air pollutants include volatile organic compounds VOCs , mold, building materials, household products, and natural gases. Poor ventilation can exacerbate the health risks posed by all indoor pollutants. By breathing unhealthy indoor air, we add even more risk for our health. Around 3 billion people cook and heat their homes using polluting fuels and inefficient technologies.

Exposure to indoor air pollutants can cause a wide range of adverse health outcomes for both children and adults, from respiratory illnesses to cancer to eye problems. Household members who depend on polluting fuels and devices are also at increased risk of burns, poisonings, musculoskeletal injuries, and accidents.

Our air purifiers are designed to help people keep the indoor air clean at all times. Today it is practically impossible to escape air pollution anywhere in the world. We might think that this is just a problem for underdeveloped countries, but in Europe, we also suffer unhealthy air quality.

In general, air quality in European countries has improved in recent years, but levels of air pollutants continue to exceed the standards set as healthy by the European Union and by the WHO. Breathing polluted air causes more deaths than tobacco. That is one of the great conclusions drawn by a study led by German researchers and published in the European Heart Journal that warns that the impact of air pollution on human health is underestimated.

Changes in air quality depend on several things. There are constant variations in each city and many factors intervene such as the weather, and the types and amount of gases that are in the air at the time. In European cities, smoke from vehicles is more common on weekdays than on weekends. The rural environment also suffers it, pollution from agricultural activities is also harmful.

However — and this is the crucial fact — the air quality benefits will manifest, no matter what the rest of the world does. The air quality benefits arrive much sooner than the climate benefits.

They are, at least for the next several decades, much larger. They can be secured without the cooperation of other countries. And if this is true in the US — which, after all, has comparatively clean air — it is true tenfold for countries like China and India, where air quality remains abysmal. A Lancet Commission study in found that in , air pollution killed 1. He hopes to do similar modeling on China at some point. The true toll may be almost double that, which is why both countries have experienced mass demonstrations against pollution in recent years that have left their governments scrambling.

The extraordinary level of suffering humanity is currently experiencing from air pollution is not necessary for modernity; it could be reduced, at a cost well below the net social benefits, with clean energy technologies on hand. If they are not necessary, then the millions of lives ended or degraded by fossil fuels every year are a choice.

And when suffering on this scale, that is this brutally inequitable, becomes a choice, it enters the same ethical terrain as war, slavery, and genocide. The effects are more distributed over time and geography, as are the decision-making and the moral culpability, but the cumulative impact on human well-being — on our longevity, health, learning, and happiness — is comparable, and every bit as much worth fighting.

US policymakers have a chance to kick-start an energy transition that could save 1. As Shindell says, it would be unconscionable not to act on it. Will you become our 20,th supporter?

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By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. In addition, ventilation , or air movement, in homes and rooms can lead to the spread of toxic mold. A single colony of mold may exist in a damp, cool place in a house, such as between walls. The mold's spore s enter the air and spread throughout the house. People can become sick from breathing in the spores.

Effects On Humans People experience a wide range of health effects from being exposed to air pollution. Effects can be broken down into short-term effects and long-term effects. Short-term effect s, which are temporary, include illnesses such as pneumonia or bronchitis.

They also include discomfort such as irritation to the nose, throat, eyes, or skin. Air pollution can also cause headaches, dizziness, and nausea. Bad smells made by factories, garbage, or sewer system s are considered air pollution, too. These odor s are less serious but still unpleasant. Long-term effects of air pollution can last for years or for an entire lifetime. They can even lead to a person's death.

Long-term health effects from air pollution include heart disease , lung cancer, and respiratory disease s such as emphysema.

Air pollution can also cause long-term damage to people's nerve s, brain, kidney s, liver , and other organs. Some scientists suspect air pollutants cause birth defect s.

Nearly 2. People react differently to different types of air pollution. Young children and older adults, whose immune system s tend to be weaker, are often more sensitive to pollution. Conditions such as asthma , heart disease, and lung disease can be made worse by exposure to air pollution.

The length of exposure and amount and type of pollutants are also factors. Effects On The Environment Like people, animals, and plants, entire ecosystem s can suffer effects from air pollution.

Haze , like smog, is a visible type of air pollution that obscure s shapes and colors. Hazy air pollution can even muffle sounds. Air pollution particles eventually fall back to Earth. Air pollution can directly contaminate the surface of bodies of water and soil.

This can kill crop s or reduce their yield. It can kill young trees and other plants. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide particles in the air, can create acid rain when they mix with water and oxygen in the atmosphere.

These air pollutants come mostly from coal-fired power plant s and motor vehicle s. When acid rain falls to Earth, it damages plants by changing soil composition ; degrade s water quality in rivers, lakes and streams; damages crops; and can cause buildings and monuments to decay. Like humans, animals can suffer health effects from exposure to air pollution. Birth defects, diseases, and lower reproductive rate s have all been attribute d to air pollution.

Global Warming Global warming is an environmental phenomenon caused by natural and anthropogenic air pollution. It refers to rising air and ocean temperatures around the world.

This temperature rise is at least partially caused by an increase in the amount of greenhouse gas es in the atmosphere.

Greenhouse gases trap heat energy in the Earths atmosphere. Usually, more of Earths heat escapes into space. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that has had the biggest effect on global warming. Carbon dioxide is emit ted into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuel s coal, gasoline , and natural gas. Humans have come to rely on fossil fuels to power cars and planes, heat homes, and run factories. Doing these things pollutes the air with carbon dioxide.

Other greenhouse gases emitted by natural and artificial sources also include methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases. Methane is a major emission from coal plants and agricultural processes. Nitrous oxide is a common emission from industrial factories, agriculture, and the burning of fossil fuels in cars. Fluorinate d gases, such as hydrofluorocarbon s, are emitted by industry.

Fluorinated gases are often used instead of gases such as chlorofluorocarbons CFCs. CFCs have been outlawed in many places because they deplete the ozone layer.

Worldwide, many countries have taken steps to reduce or limit greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming. The Kyoto Protocol , first adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in , is an agreement between countries that they will work to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.

The United States has not signed that treaty. Regulation In addition to the international Kyoto Protocol, most developed nations have adopted laws to regulate emissions and reduce air pollution. In the United States, debate is under way about a system called cap and trade to limit emissions. This system would cap, or place a limit, on the amount of pollution a company is allowed. Companies that exceeded their cap would have to pay. Companies that polluted less than their cap could trade or sell their remaining pollution allowance to other companies.

Cap and trade would essentially pay companies to limit pollution. The WHOs guidelines are tougher than most individual countries existing guidelines. The WHO guidelines aim to reduce air pollution-related deaths by 15 percent a year.