Submerged Lands

Even though we always do it for a totally different aim, using pesticides and herbicides are among one of the causes of air pollution.  A compound called CFC is usually found in these pesticides and once released into the atmosphere our ozone layer is weakened thus allowing more ultraviolet rays into our atmosphere.  UV rays have a lot of harm on our skins and they cause skin cancers.

Nuclear industries contribute to air pollution too. From the nuclear energy that is usually dispersed, radioactive fallout gets a chance to pollute the atmosphere.  And while we know what radioactive substances are capable of doing to us, we can always get an example from the Hiroshima bombing and see how bad nuclear energy can pollute our environment and at the same time affect our health.

In our very own homes, we can also cause air pollution by failing to ventilate the house especially when toxic fumes from things like cleaning chemicals, paint and even a new carpet are accumulated inside our houses. This is normally referred to as Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) and even the presence of mould inside the house can contribute to it.

Whereas mining is a simple economic activity that tries to obtain minerals from the ground and sell them to earn foreign exchange, it also contributes to air pollution since a variety of substances get released into the atmosphere other than just getting the minerals. Gases such as sulfur oxides make their way into our atmosphere and cause acidic rain which destroys most crops.

Now that we are aware of the causes of air pollution and we’ve seen that it’s almost impossible to stop all the causes of air pollution, here are some of the things we can do to reduce the air pollution menace: start by stopping to plan for that car you were going to buy. There are already enough cars causing air pollution and we certainly don’t need any more. Besides, you’ll be reducing occurrences of traffic jams. If you do decide to have a vehicle, make sure that you use unleaded petroleum since it causes less air pollution than leaded petroleum. You could also try to minimize the rate at which your car consumes petroleum since this will directly cause less fumes to be emitted into the atmosphere. Planting more trees also has the same effect since they are responsible for ensuring that gases such as carbon dioxide and even oxides of sulfur don’t remain in the atmosphere for that long.

Reducing the air pollution menace is a challenge to all of us, whether we care about its effects or we don’t care to know about anything related to it.  At this rate, in the coming years, we will have bigger seas and oceans than we have now due to the melting of polar ice caps. This is no one else’s war, it’s ours alone and very few of us are fighting in this war. In the end it’s only us that are to be blamed and right now the effects can be seen, it’s only a matter of time… what have we done so far?