Air
Pollution - An Introduction
Air, which we
breathe, is vital for any living being on this earth. Clean
and pure air is what every individual would crave for. Industrialization
and modernization have acted as a hindrance to the very existence
of mankind. Factories that blow smoke from the chimney, buses,
cars, scooters, even a person smoking a cigarette has contributed
towards polluting the air.
Major Air Pollutants
Discharging harmful
substances in the air can have an adverse effect on our health.
Over the years air is getting more and more polluted because
of modernization, such as industries, population, vehicles,
etc.
Dust, smoke from
forest fire, etc. are some of the causes of air pollution
which are not within human control.
1.
SMOG:
The combination of various
gases with water vapour is called Smog. When fuels are burnt,
large parts of gases is produced that form smog. Rural and
suburban areas can get affected by the smog. Similar to fog,
smog causes misty haze but is different in composition.
The word Smog
has been coined with the combination of the words fog and
smoke.
For heating and
cooking, coal was heavily depended upon by household and industries
for their age.
For several days
if the smog persisted it would affect human health. People
would suffer from respiratory health. People would suffer
from respiratory problems. Till middle of 20th century very
little was done to control any type of pollution. But today
there are legislation to control pollution and are much lower
in cities than in the past.
2.
ACID RAIN:
Acid rain is another cause
of air pollution. Acid rain is nothing but the combination
of water vapour with the fossil fuel in the atmosphere which
falls as rain or snow. Human health, water, soil are all affected
by acid rain.
Most species of
fishes have disappeared because of lakes and stream been contaminated.
Acid rain is difficult to control as they might be carried
long distance.
3.
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION:
Smoking and cooking are
some of the indoor pollutants. Air exposure and harmful indoor
pollutants can be serious since we spend most of our time
inside buildings. Air circulation may be restricted in closed
environment like our work place, where we study, our place
of sleep, etc.
We are affected
either by short or long term illness due to such exposed pollutants.
Children are affected more from air pollution as their lungs
continue to develop throughout childhood. They need more oxygen
due to their metabolic rates.
In the rural areas
people rely on fuels such as charcoal, cowdung, firewoods
for heating and cooking and so faces the greatest threat from
indoor pollution. Large amount of smoke is produced by burning
such fuels. Women and children get affected from these smoke
as they spend most of the time at home.
Due to construction,
household products, pesticides, etc. indoor air pollution
has increased.
The quality of air is affected
by number of pollutants, such as:
Smoking
tobacco: Tobacco smoking
is known to cause cancer as it contains harmful chemicals.
A smoker can cause wide range of problems to the non smoker
in the same room like ranging from asthma, burning of eyes,
throat irritation, etc.
Organic
compounds: Products used
at home such as polish, air freshener, repellants, etc. are
all organic compounds. Use of these products at home cause
irritation in the eyes and throat and later subject to headaches
and nausea. Some of these pollutants could also damage our
lives or other parts of the body.
Pesticides:
These do not cause too much harm if used as per instructions.
