- Air pollution is one of the main health risks associated with the environment.
- The lower the levels of air pollution are, the better the cardiovascular and respiratory health of the population are in both the long and short term.
- In 2016, 91% of the world’s population lived in areas where pollution levels exceeded the values set in the WHO’s air quality recommendations.
- In 2012, according to estimations, 4.2 million premature deaths occurred worldwide due to air pollution in urban and rural areas.
- About 91% of these premature deaths occurred in low-and middle-income countries with the highest number of deaths in the regions of South-East Asia and the Western Pacific.
- Policies and investments in support of cleaner transport, energy-efficient housing, energy generation, and industry, as well as improved urban waste management, contribute to reducing the main sources of urban air pollution.
- In addition to air pollution, indoor smoke poses a serious health risk to the estimated 3 billion people who cook and heat their homes using biomass and coal fuels.
The Nature Communications organization has published a study according to which a sharp reduction in carbon emissions into the atmosphere can become cost-effective in the short term.
According to the latest data, most people die because of polluted air in India and China. That is why these countries should first of all fight against particulates into the atmosphere, but the governments of these countries do not pay enough attention to the problem.
Experts claim that the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions will decrease mortality and the percentage of serious diseases in places with polluted air in our generation, and improvement of the resident health in problem regions will save money allocated annually for health care.
This point is crucial, but it is not fully taken into account in the global economic analysis of how much the world community should invest in the fight against climate change.
At the same time, the amount of benefit directly depends on the policy of controlling environmental pollution and can reach several trillion dollars per year.
Authors of the study note that usually it is customary to talk about the contribution of our descendants and our planet when discussing the problems of air pollution control but, as evidenced by the latest work in this area, the benefit (including economic) can be obtained in the coming years by eliminating harmful particulate pollutants.
To be more precise, air pollution is considered to be the main cause of the global environmental threat. The international labor organization defines air pollution as the presence in the air of particulates that are harmful to health or dangerous for other reasons, regardless of their physical form. The burning of fossil fuels, agricultural activities, and mining are just some of the causes of air pollution. Carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and dust are regarded as the most popular and most polluting the atmosphere.
Any particulates pollute the air: gaseous, solid and liquid if they are contained in it in quantities exceeding their average content. Air pollution is divided into dust and gas. The World Health Organization defines polluted air as if its chemical composition can negatively affect the health of people, plants, and animals, as well as other elements of the environment (water, soil). Air pollution is the most dangerous of all types of pollution because it is mobile and can pollute almost all components of the environment over large areas.
Main sources of air pollution include:
- industrialization and a growing population,
- energy sector,
- transport industry,
- natural source.
The growing demand for energy has made the burning of hydrocarbons the main source of anthropogenic air pollution.
The most dangerous particulate pollutants are:
- sulfur dioxide (SO2),
- nitrogen oxides (NxOy),
- coal dust (X2),
- volatile organic compounds (benzopyrene),
- carbon monoxide (CO),
- carbon dioxide (CO2),
- tropospheric ozone (O3),
- lead (Pb),
- suspended dust.
Anthropogenic sources of air pollution include:
- low-altitude emissions,
- chemical conversion of fuel,
- extraction and transportation of raw materials,
- chemical industry,
- processing industry,
- metallurgical industry,
- cement production,
- landfills for raw materials and waste,
Natural sources of air pollution are the following:
- chemical weathering of rocks,
- forest and steppe fires,
- space dust,
- biological process.
Particulate pollutants are absorbed by people mainly during breathing. They contribute to the development of respiratory diseases, allergies, and reproductive disorders. Air pollution causes corrosion of metals and building materials in everyday life. It also negatively affects the plant world, disrupting the processes of photosynthesis, transpiration, and respiration.
Particulates also worsen the condition of water and soil. Globally, air pollution has an impact on climate change. Air pollution also increases the acidity of drinking water. This causes an increase in the content of lead, copper, zinc, aluminum, and even cadmium in the water entering our apartments. Water with high acidity destroys water supply systems, washing out various toxic substances.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), financial losses because of poor air pollution control in Europe amount to about 1.6 trillion US dollars. This is the result of about 600,000 premature deaths (about $ 1.4 trillion) and diseases (about $ 200 billion).
The effects of insufficient air pollution control include:
- Acid rain – precipitation with a low pH level. According to some information, acid rain increases infant mortality and the risk of developing lung diseases, as well as causes the oxidation of rivers and lakes, destruction of flora and fauna, soil degradation, destruction of monuments and architecture.
- Smog – polluted air containing a high concentration of dust and toxic gases, the source of which is mainly cars and industrial enterprises.
- Unpleasant odors – the result of the presence of particulate pollutants in the air that irritate the olfactory receptors. The effect of unpleasant odors on human health is usually psychosomatic.
- Ozone holes – a decrease in ozone content. The ozone layer is a natural filter that protects living organisms from harmful UV radiation.
- The greenhouse effect is a phenomenon that occurs in the atmosphere of the planet, causing an increase in the temperature of the planet, including the Earth.
Air pollution caused by cars is responsible for about 1/4 of the deaths in huge cities. In addition to dust, vehicles are a source of nitrogen dioxide emissions, a substance that is at the center of the scandal was the German automaker Volkswagen, which falsified the results of environmental tests of its cars.
As the world around us becomes more polluted and overpopulated, engines continue to emit particulate pollutants into the atmosphere, and half of the entire population does not have access to clean fuels or technologies (such as stoves and lamps), the levels of air pollution we breathe become more dangerous — currently, 9 out of every 10 people breathe polluted air, resulting in 7 million deaths each year.
Poor air pollution control has severe health consequences — one-third of deaths from stroke, lung cancer, and heart disease are caused by air pollution. This is equivalent to exposure to tobacco smoke and is significantly more severe than, for example, the consequences of consuming excessive amounts of salt.
Air pollution is difficult to avoid no matter how rich the area you live in. Microscopic particulates can pass through our body’s defenses, penetrating deep into the respiratory and circulatory systems and destroying the lungs, heart, and brain.
The absence of visible smog does not mean that there is healthy air around. All over the world, both cities and villages are exposed to toxic levels of particulate pollutants that exceed the annual average recommended in the WHO air quality guidelines.
Herewith, according to the opinion of health specialists, people who live and work in high air pollution are more attackable to the COVID-19 – today the most thrilling disease, causing panic all over the world. There is an opinion that air pollution control systems such as scrubbers are considered to be one of the best ways to prevent people from lung infections resulting in the reduction of infectious diseases like coronavirus.
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