What is air pollution?
Air pollution is when unwanted chemicals, gasses, and particles enter the air and the atmosphere causing harm to animals and damaging the natural cycles of the Earth.
What causes air pollution?
Natural causes:
- Eruptions of volcanoes
- Dust storms
- Forest Fires
Human activities responsible for air pollution: - Factories
- Power plants
- Cars, Airplanes Chemicals
- Fumes from spray cans Methane gas from landfills
Effects of air pollution?
- Air pollution can make people sick.
- It can make it difficult to breathe
- Cause diseases such as lung cancer, respiratory infections, and heart disease.
- Air pollution can be especially dangerous to children living in big cities with bad smog.
- Global warming - One type of air pollution is the addition of carbon dioxide gas into the air. Some scientists believe that releasing too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is one of the causes of global warming. This upsets the balance of the carbon cycle.
- The ozone layer - The ozone layer helps protect us from harmful rays from the sun. It is getting damaged from air pollution such as methane gas from livestock and CFCs from spray cans.
- Acid Rain - Acid rain is created when gasses such as sulfur dioxide get high into the atmosphere. The wind can blow these gasses for miles and then they get washed out of the air when it rains. This rain is called acid rain and can damage forests and kill fish.
How we can minimize the air pollution?
- If possible, use less energy like electricity or gasoline
- Turning off the lights when leaving the room
- Not leaving the TV or computer on when no one is using it
- Driving less
- Installing proper equipment in factories
(With thanks https://www.ducksters.com/science/environment/air_pollution.php#:~:text=Air%20pollution%20is%20when%20unwanted,dust%20storms%2C%20and%20forest%20fires.)