Monday, January 13, 2020

Air Pollution

David Ahn
Air Pollution Emissions

Air pollution has been a major factor in terms of the risks towards the environment and human health.  The most common notable contributors to air pollution are cars, trucks, buses, and factories powered by fossil fuels. Studies have shown that the emission of pollutants have impacted every organ system in the body. Even though these anthropogenic sources are caused by vehicles and factories we can still reduce the emissions through clean vehicle and fuel technologies. 

                                        

I don’t know about any other family but my family over exaggerates when we start to smell chemical gases in the air. Especially on long road trips there would always be those few diesel cars that emit black smoke in front of our cars that go through in the air conditioning system. The moment my family sees where the smell came from they would all just start getting mad and talk bad about the cars smell instead of just waiting till the smell went away with no response.
Smokestacks from pulp mills belch smoke above clouds near the coastal town of Eureka, California. Smokestacks, formally known as chimneys, emit smoke, steam, and other vapors into the atmosphere from an indoor fireplace, stove, boiler, or burner.
Smog and soot are similar in which they come from vehicles, factories, power plants, and etc. Even the smallest amount of chemicals can penetrate the lungs and bloodstream which can lead to heart attacks and hasten death. Pollen and mold are another air pollutant in which they could cause allergenic airborne pollutants to effect people with asthma or with allergies.
Air pollution is often associated with industrial emissions from factories and vehicles. However, smoke from wildfires, such as those that burned these homes near Lake Arrowhead, California, can also pollute the atmosphere.
A way we can reduce air pollution is of course have better choices in terms of what we do in our lives such as transportation wise. We should choose cars with better miles, buy an electric car, request for electricity powered by solar or wind, or probably just support leaders who push for clean air and water to better help the atmospheric air and water.

Questions:
What are your thoughts on air pollution and how it affects you in your own daily life?
How can you stop air pollution emission in your community?

Sources:
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/air-pollution-everything-you-need-know
https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/cars-trucks-buses-and-air-pollution
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/air-pollution/


30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Air pollution is all around us, whether we are indoors or outdoors. I agree that air pollution is affecting the human health. We breathe polluted air everyday, but we don't think about it. Continue breathing polluted air can cause serious damage to us and the world, which means that sooner or later the human/animal populations will start decreasing do to the higher risk for asthma or other diseases. To help our community we can try to use the dishwashers and the laundry machine only when it's full.

Anonymous said...

Air pollution affects my personal life because when I traveled to India, the air pollution was so intense that I was wheezing through the whole trip while carrying around three inhalers. Even when I walk past a smoker, I unintentionally start hacking because my throat is so sensitive and susceptible to smoke. Hence, in the name of heath, air pollution should be effectively taken care of. To decrease air pollution emission in my community, I can reduce the amount of times I drive for the sake of the environment.

Anonymous said...

Air pollution is a major contributor to global warming, and it is terrible for environment. People are more prone to diseases because of the bad air quality. I think that serious action should be taken to prevent air pollution, and I agree with you that we should support leaders who promise to establish better policies for the environment. I usually walk to school or nearby places in order to reduce the air pollution emission in my community,

Anonymous said...

Air pollution may not have a clear cut effect on my daily life, but you can definitely see that it is a problem that needs to be addressed, especially in urban areas. The effects of air pollution can be very dangerous and far reaching. We can reduce these harmful effects by using renewable energy to power factories, cars, and buildings, and being more aware of our carbon footprint.

Anonymous said...

Air pollution can also come from nature, not just from cars. Although cars do play a large role in the air pollution crisis, natural wildfires also affect the air quality. Today in Australia the wildfire is releasing immense plumes of smoke that scientists are saying will circumnavigate the entire Earth. As you say in this blog, air pollution can affect people health a lot. Yesterday in Australia there was a big Tennis game and one of the players was forced to forfeit because she couldn’t stop coughing due to the poor air quality.
I think Flower Mound can definitely drop their air pollution emisiĆ³n by the community working together to cut air pollution numbers down. My friend and I carpool to practice three times a week instead of going with separate cars on the highway. I believe that everyone has the capability to cut down their environmental harm.

Anonymous said...

Air pollution is one of the serious threat we’re facing today. Because of that, many people are suffering from lung cancer, asthma, bronchitis etc. Not only it affects our health but also that will end up trapping more sunlight, which becomes global warming. We, as a human being, can prevent air pollution by minimizing our electricity usage and cutting down less trees, which requires us to take action, such as recycling paper.

Anonymous said...

I do not think that air pollution affects my personal life as much, except in terms of breathing the occasional secondhand smoke from cigarettes; I’m lucky to live in an area that has good air quality. However, others are not so lucky. In Delhi, India, for example, the air quality is so bad that people who live there have to regularly wear face masks, and some families with small children have chosen to move away from the area to protect their children’s health. Thus, I believe that air pollution is a major problem that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. To reduce air pollution in my community, I can carpool more and use less electricity.

Anonymous said...

Even though we live in a country that doesn’t face detrimental effects of air pollution like other countries doesn’t make it not important. Air pollution is a serious threat and if we do not start making a difference now it’ll be too late one day. Many people will be facing severe health problems such as asthma, lung cancer, bronchitis, and many more. People can do many things to help fix the problem of air pollution such as carpooling to reduce pollution from cars, minimizing electricity use, and as you said in your blog we should vote for leaders who are striving to help reduce the issue.

Anonymous said...

I am very thankful that my life is not overly affected by air pollution. In suburbs like Flower Mound, it is less noticeable than in cities with overpopulation. It is a problem because of cars and electricity, which release these pollutants into the atmosphere and make it difficult for people with weak lungs or those susceptible to diseases to live in certain areas. Public transportation is such an easy way to help reduce pollution for many ways. If people were to use it, there would be decreased traffic and less pollution per person. While it may be expensive to implement and start, the long term effects would be worth it and could save many lives.

Anonymous said...

Air pollution can put people with lung or heart disease at great risk. It causes cardiovascular problems, allergies, and asthma attacks. We can reduce air pollution in our community by making less trips with our cars and relying more on biking, carpooling, or public transportations such as buses or trains. This is because cars emit pollution at an immense rate. When purchasing a new car, we can also reduce air pollution by considering one that is the most fuel efficient or even an electric car.

Andrew Lin

Anonymous said...

Air pollution is one of the biggest threats to the environment today. Although I do not experience the negative impacts of air pollution in Flower Mound, I do experience them in India. When I travel to India, the negative impacts of air pollution are very clear. A constant haze, people covering their mounts, and air that is very difficult to breathe. All of these impacts have an immensely negative effect on the environment. One way to solve this problem is to invest in creating more public transportation and affordable electric cars. Both of these can greatly reduce carbon emissions and reduce air pollution throughout the world.

Anonymous said...

I don't think that air pollution directly impacts my life very much because of the area I live in. However, I do still think that it is important to take measures to minimize the amount of air pollution. Some ways that I think we can do this is by carpooling more often, avoiding the use of gas powered garden tools and by reducing fireplace use.

Anonymous said...

I do not believe that air pollution directly affects my daily life though I do my best not to pollute. My parents own an electric car, so I try to work my activities in a way that I do not have to be driven in our gasoline vehicle. As a community, I believe that we should be careful with the chemicals that we buy since certain chemicals have harmful effects on the environment. For example, aerosols can hurt the developing organs of children. There are also certain air pollutants that eat away the ozone layer.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Personally I only experience air pollution when I happen to walk past someone smoking, which causes me to cough, or when I drive past a factory and notice that smoke is being released into the atmosphere. Though I may not experience it personally I am very aware that air pollution is quite a real problem elsewhere and poses a profound threat to human health and the environment. I believe that the best way to combat air pollution would be to look for clean, reusable energy sources. Two energy sources that immediately come to mind are solar panels and wind turbines.

Anonymous said...

Air pollution is a huge problem in today's world. While Flower Mound might not be heavily impacted by air pollution, many countries in the world like China experience detrimental effects from it. For example, people in China regularly wear surgical masks in order to prevent themselves from inhaling the toxic chemicals that are present in the air. We can easily lower the rate of air pollution through a couple of simple steps. For example, people could reduce their dependency on their cars for shorter distances, and instead walk to their desired destination. Another way is to find an alternative to gas-powered lawn equipment like some lawnmowers.

Anonymous said...

If I really think about it, air pollution does not affect me directly as of now because it is not in a lethal or even harmful stage for where I am located. However, I know that this could without a doubt grow and develop into a devastating problem for my kids or myself in the future. That is why I feel it is important to catch it early on and adopt practical habits such as carpooling to reduce the amount of air pollution.

Anonymous said...

Air pollution in the area I live in does not affect me too much, but I know in other places around the world it is a problem. Some ways we can come together as a community to help is: we can take more public transport, carpool, use electricity sparingly, use renewable resources, etc. If we can adopt these good habits then the future of the Earth will be bright.

Anonymous said...

Air pollution does not have a direct daily effect on my life, but if affects people that are close to me such as my mom. My mother is allergic to smoke, so any time we are in an area with pollution it is harder on her. There is not a lot of pollution near me, but I know that this is a growing issue so it will one day affect everyone including me. I believe that we can reduce pollution by reducing the amount of driving that we do. That is very hard for a lot of people since driving is an essential part to our daily routines, but we can find ways to reduce driving such as carpooling with others and riding bikes and walking to places that are within reasonable distance. This reduces the size of our ecological footprints, which will overall reduce the amount of pollution and damage to the environment.

Anonymous said...

In Flower Mound, I have not noticed major air pollution because our community is fairly clean. There aren't any factories or major plants that pollute the air. The only noticeable pollutant I see in the city is driving. I don't know about everyone else, but my lifestyle consists of a lot of driving. I drive multiple miles a day and I am behind the wheel at least one a day. Whenever I am with my friends, we are constantly driving around. When we are bored, our first resort is just driving around until we come up with an idea of what to do. This is very bad for the environment. And if every group of friends does the same thing my friends do, the city will not be clean for much longer. Ever since taking APES however, I have tried to cut down on how much we drive by suggesting carpooling with one another and coming up with fun things to do at home like baking or playing board games. I have also reduced air pollution by walking. One of my best friends lives just a few streets over, and I used to drive to her house everyday even though it was only a 5-10 minute walk. Now, when I want to see her I walk to her house. This is better for the community because it reduces the amount of gas I am using and it is also healthier for me becuase I get to go outside and get some exercise.

Anonymous said...

I believe that I can individually play my part in trying to reduce the air pollution I create by carpooling more often or choosing to opt for an eco-friendly transit method. Because we live in an area where everything we need is not in walking distance, completely stopping the use of cars is near impossible. However, I can begin to walk to the neighborhood Walmart, for example, whenever I am in need of anything. I can even start carpooling with friends that live near me to go to school.

Anonymous said...

I mostly notice air pollution when I am near someone smoking or walking in a parking lot full of running cars after school. Although it may seem harmless and unimportant, I think simple methods of keeping the air clean are worth doing for our overall health as a planet. As someone with allergies, unclean air easily causes me irritation and I can’t imagine what someone with asthma goes through. Im scared that our lives will end up like some of the people who live in China and have to wear masks over their noses because of the unsafe air. I will keep the air clean by reducing the amount of times I use my car and never picking up the habit of smoking.

Anonymous said...

Air pollution is a topic that we often overlook here in America. We continually fail to consider the effects of various chemicals collecting in the air. Such chemicals have been tied to increasing occurrences of cancer and lung problems. While counteracting this growing problem is not necessarily easy, there is still hope for solutions. Yet, we tend not to do anything since we often cannot see the problem in front of us. The air pollution problem and India and China should serve as an example of what America is heading towards if we are not more conscious. While an individual making cleaner choices does little, a society can lead to large scale change.

Anonymous said...

I feel like air pollution is the ultimate creation of man, as in that our negligence to the negative byproducts of our actions. Before mass machinery and carbon-combusting engines, the air was pure, only polluted by forest fires and man-made burnings. However, as seen in the Lorax, following industrialization and the original development of the steam engine, humanity has been stuck in an ever downward spinning spiral. Air pollution affects my life on a daily basis, with severe asthma I can quite literally tell when there is a difference in air quality. Often, this leads to ailments in my breathing and overall health. I think through carbon emission reguilation and environmental awareness, we can clean up our past failures.

Anonymous said...

Air Pollution is one of the worst marks that humans have left on the Earth. After the industrialization period of the world we saw mass influx of air pollution as well as problems occurring around the world due to it. Countries and regions with high population also tend to have higher amounts of pollution in the air thus proving that humans are the sole cause of this slow moving catastrophe. In order to fix this we need to move towards more unconventional ways of energy. Renewable resources are a great way in which we can combat the problems of air pollution. Overall a great blog! Good job David! :)

Anonymous said...

I am a pretty pessimistic person so I feel that there is really not a lot that we can do change gas emissions. There’s a massive industry that is built around fossil fuels. Do I feel like we should do a lot to reduce the fossil fuels emission rates? Yes, of course. However, I feel that there’s an entire culture built around cars and smoking (even though smoking barely affects anything). It would be hard to convince everybody to go green, mostly because electric cars are incredibly expensive. I read lately that Elon Musk is working on an affordable Tesla so that more people will buy electric, but again I feel that there is culturally a weird stigma against driving electric cars. Just think for one second how many people in our area drive gas guzzling trucks. There is literally no reason to drive massive trucks in flower mound unless you’re job involves manual labor and hauling material, but we live in flower mound and on average there are not a lot of people in our area with jobs like that. Gas guzzling trucks are also so much more expensive than most cars, therefore its just not efficient. This is why I think that we should do something about air pollution, but realistically It will take a long time to change our cultures reliance on fossil fuel emissions.

Anonymous said...

Air pollution does not greatly affect my day to day life, but it does affect my relatives in India. Air quality there is very poor and ofter covers up the sky causing a decrease in visibility. I think that my community cans to pair pollution emmision by buying more electric vehicles and carpooling to locations rather than driving mulitple gas emitting cars. I think that if enough people chip in to make a small change in their life that works towards a better environment, it will have a massive impact on the world’s environment and will make it a better place to live in for future generations. Something i learned from this article was that pollen is considered an air pollutant, i always felt that pollutants were human created problems and never wouldve thought that it could be naturally made.

Anonymous said...

When looking at the big picture of air pollution, most would think about the excessive build-up of smog and soot in the urban centers of India and China, however, I think Americans should instead think of the Earth as a whole. By this mindset, Americans can understand that India and China serve as warnings in a desperate call for change in environmental sustainability. Had Americans, and myself included, continued believing that air pollution wouldn't affect them, they would've ignored practices to protect the environment. For now, air pollution has minuscule effects on my life due to Flower Mound's distance from urban areas and lack of factories or large-scale polluters. I can stop air pollution through support for leaders, as David stated, who acknowledges this upcoming crisis and proposes healthy practices to support our communities' environmental sustainability. Besides that, I can accommodate to drive less often as well as choosing to drive my family's electric car rather than gas.

Anonymous said...


Now and then you can't see it, yet air contamination is all over the place. Maybe you feel that air contamination doesn't influence you since you don't live in a city covered in brown haze. You are in all likelihood wrong. Measurably, the vast majority of individuals overall are presented to levels of air contaminations that surpass World Health Organization safe levels. This implies with each breath, you are sucking in little particles that assault your lungs, heart and cerebrum. For many individuals over the globe, this is causing a large group of issues – ailment, lower IQs and demise boss among them. We can't quit relaxing. Be that as it may, we can take care of the nature of our air, and worldwide activity is developing at all levels. To get any opportunity of really dispelling any confusion air, be that as it may, we have to realize our adversary better and what we can do to vanquish it.

Anonymous said...

What are your thoughts on air pollution and how it affects you in your own daily life?
How can you stop air pollution emission in your community?

The issue of air pollution is a prominent matter that negatively affects the lives of most organisms on earth. It is caused by many man-made sources such as factories, cattle farms, and automobile engines, and also by many natural processes like wildfires, volcanic eruption, and pollen dispersal. I personally don’t see very much of the effects of air pollution in my daily life, but occasionally I can smell smog in the air, or even see it on the horizon. However, when I visited places like California or New York, the effects of air pollution were much more obvious. The sky is much more grey in those heavily populated areas, and some people even walk around with masks coving their noses and mouths so they don’t breathe in as much smog. Air pollution can also cause health issues like asthma and lung diseases. Some solutions to air pollution include driving cars with better gas mileage, or even electric cars, and consuming less cow meat.

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