Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Air Pollution

Air and pollution are two things that are considered synonymous nowadays. There is a lot of contamination going on in the air around us because of noxious gases and also by the minute particles of liquid and solid matter. Major sources that causes this pollution in the air are industrial processes, transportation engines, heat and power generation, and also by burning of solid waste materials.

There are many bad or evil effects of this air pollution. Most serious are the effects that they cause on our health and on the environment. Even minuscule level of pollution can affect a person's health. In fact researches have even revealed that air pollution even in slow or subtle can affect a person's health in a great way. There are several things that you can suffer because of air pollution like causes apathy, disorientation, headache, fatigue, visual acuity and decrease in muscular coordination.

Also research is underway to discuss several effects of air pollution. Leading among these is the long term effects of pollution on people who are indulged in smoking, drinking or those who are suffering from nutritional and stress related problems. Serious investigation is also going on to discuss the relation and effects of pollution to birth defects, cancer and genetic mutations.

A far more pressing problem that air pollution today is causing today is Global ozone depletion. Researches have indicated that there is occurrence of “holes” in the ozone layer of our atmosphere in the Arctic and the Antarctic Regions. As a result of this condition the amount of Ultraviolet that the Earth receives can increase considerably. This condition if not controlled can lead to serious damage to our plants and crops. People can also suffer from cataract and various kinds of skin problems because of excessive Ultraviolet rays.

To combat this problem various kind of measures are taken. In the case of United States, there is a specific law called popularly as Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970. This act gives the Environmental Protection Agency the right to establish as well as enforce standards for air pollution as well as emission standards for the new and old factories.

Apart from this the most recent development as regards air pollution is the Treaty on Global Warming signed by 150 nations. Apart from this the issue of air pollution is brought up in several UN conferences on Climate Changes. United Stations signed the treaty in 2001 but again abandoned it as it felt that the treaty was against US interests. But many countries have stick to this Treaty and also have tried to abide by all the rule and regulations as stated by this treaty to protect our environment.