Air Pollution

By Ben M.

Did you know that air pollution could execute us all? Have you ever wondered what air pollution does? How can it affect you? Well, it can be fine in small amounts, but as time progresses pollutants start to get produced more and more every day; it starts to add up. But not all air pollutants have the same effect; some can warm the temperature, and some can be more harmful to people or the environment.  When you see how much air pollution affects the world, you’ll see how much of a problem it really is.

 Why does it matter? Well, WHO (World Health Organization) claims, “An estimated 7 million people die each year from air pollution.” This statistic alone is eye-opening that this isn’t seen as a much bigger problem. We need to make changes so we stop releasing harmful pollutants and switch to an eco-friendly substitute for making products.

            The pollutants in the air are not just harmful to human health; it also affects the
environment around us. The environment suffers from the pollutants just as much as we do. An example of this is how it affects plants. According to the Center for Science Education, “Between 1980-2011, nine billion dollars worth of soybean and corn were lost in the US as a result of ozone pollution.” Ozone pollution damages the stomata of a plant. The somata of a plant are tiny pores on the underside of the plant that allows the plant to breathe. Some plants temporarily close their stomata or release antioxidants, but others are sensitive to damage and don’t survive.

The pollutants in the air also contribute to global warming. Global warming is the average temperature of the air increasing due to pollution. When the air temperature rises too much it starts to melt icebergs. If we let global warming keep taking place, someday the ocean's sea level will grow too high, and it will flood the land on Earth. According to the Center For Science Education, “The Arctic is warming faster than any other region on Earth, partly because of ozone pollution, but also because of positive feedback loops, where warming melts snow and ice and leads to more warming.” This shows how much air pollution can affect us later in time if we do nothing to fix it.

If we find an eco-friendly substitute, the danger of pollution will never become a problem. For example, vehicles are very damaging and pollute the air by releasing harmful pollutants from the exhaust. We can convert to electric cars and keep on switching to eco-friendly substitutes, and then we can keep reducing pollution so it will get to be less of a problem. We might not be able to eradicate all of the air pollution, but reducing it greatly should be in one of our best interests in the future.

Air pollution ties into a multitude of different situations, some of which air pollution is the main cause, like global warming. Sometimes it just adds to another problem, making it worse. Air pollution is poor for the Earth and everyone on it, so you should try to decrease the pollution as soon as possible. We can cease problems of air pollution before they arise in the future.