Air pollution consists of chemicals or particles in the atmosphere, that pose serious health and environmental threats. But what causes air pollution and what does it means for our planet? Some air pollution comes from natural sources like volcanic eruptions, wild fires or allergens. But most air pollution results from human activities such as energy used in agriculture. There are different types of human-made air pollution. When we burn fossil fuels to produce energy, they release greenhouse gases into the air. These emissions, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases trap heat from the sun in earth’s atmosphere, leading to a rise in global temperatures. This creates a cycle where air pollution contributes to climate change, and climate change creates higher temperatures. In turn, high temperatures intensify some types of air pollution. For example, climate change increases smog because it forms in the presence of high heat and increased levels of ultraviolet radiation. More frequent extreme weather, such as flooding, contributes to damp conditions and therefore to a rise in mold. Warmer weather also leads to longer pollen seasons and therefore more pollen production. Smog is a type of air pollution that reduces visibility and has serious health effects. Smog can be divided into two categories: sulfurous and photochemical. Sulfurous smog is made up of chemical compounds called sulfur oxides. It occurs when burning sulfur bearing fossil fuels, such as coal. Photochemical smog, also called ground level ozone, is a result of the reaction between sunlight and nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. Nitrogen oxides come from car exhaust, coal power plants and factory emissions. Volatile organic compounds are released from gasoline, paints and many cleaning solvents. Smog not only creates a brown haze that reduces visibility but also harms plants, irritates the eyes and causes respiratory distress. Another type of air pollution is toxic pollutants. These are chemicals such as mercury, lead, dioxins and benzine, that are released during gas or coal combustion, waste incineration or burning of gasoline. In addition to adverse environmental effects, toxic air pollution can cause serious health problems, such as cancer, reproductive complications and birth defects. While air pollution has many consequences for our planet, there are solutions. We can limit toxic pollutants, smog and greenhouse gases by decreasing the use of fossil fuels, such as in transportation, manufacturing and electricity generation. Reducing air pollution not only contributes to a cleaner environment and better human health but can also slow the rate of global warming.

Human activities, from pollution to overpopulation, are driving up the earth’s temperature and fundamentally changing the world around us. The main cause is the phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect. Gases in the atmosphere, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons, let the sun’s light in but keep some of the heat from escaping like the glass walls of a greenhouse. The more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the more heat gets trapped strengthening the greenhouse effect and increasing the world’s temperature. Human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels, have increased the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by more than a third since the Industrial Revolution. The rapid increase in the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has warmed the planet at an alarming rate. While earth’s climate has fluctuated in the past, atmospheric carbon dioxide hasn’t reached today’s levels in hundreds of thousands of years. Climate change has consequences for our oceans, our weather, our food sources and our health. Ice sheets, such as Greenland and Antarctica, are melting. The extra water that was once held in glaciers causes sea levels to rise and spills out of the oceans, flooding coastal regions. Warmer temperatures also make weather more extreme. This means not only more intense major storms, floods and heavy snowfall but also longer and more frequent droughts. These changes in weather pose challenges. Growing crops becomes more difficult, the areas where animals and plants can live shift, and water supplies are diminished. In addition to creating new agricultural challenges, climate change can directly affect people’s physical health. In urban areas, the warmer atmosphere creates an environment that traps and increases the amount of smog. This is because smog contains ozone particles, which increase rapidly at higher temperatures. Exposure to higher levels of smog can cause health problems such as asthma, heart disease and lung cancer. While the rapid rate of climate change is caused by humans, humans are also the ones who can combat it. If we work to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources like solar and wind, which don’t produce greenhouse gas emissions, we might still be able to prevent some of the worst effects of climate change.