1 Todays Global Air Pollution. (Lucas Mason).

Introduction

Air pollution has been a part of human civilization for centuries but in the past couple of hundred years it has started to become an important topic. Across the globe people have been impacted by air pollution one way or another. Whether having a factory next to a neighborhood or no chimney on a house, it can come in many different forms. As population increases and industrialization, urbanization, and transportation expand across the globe, more and more people are affected by air pollution every year. These activities release harmful pollutants such as particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organic compounds into the air and threaten human health. Along with that it also impacts climate change and can damage the environment. From large cities to small rural areas, everyone can be impacted by air pollution. It is important to understand the dangers of these pollutants and how there can be mitigation. This section will go over the History, policies and impacts of global air pollution. Being able to understand the history behind global air pollution can lead people to make better decisions that can impact future generations.  (LM)

There are six different types of air pollutants that the Clean Air Act recognizes, and they all can have different health effects on a person’s health. This will also be covered in later portions, but it is important to set a baseline understanding of these pollutants. Particulate matter is like dust, soot, smoke, and chemicals that can enter the respiratory system. It is linked with an increase in heart and lung disease and cancer. Cabon Monoxide is a colorless, odorless, and toxic gas produced by incomplete combustion of fuels and is common indoors. It causes headaches, fatigue, and dizziness and death with longer exposure. Sulfur Dioxide is a gas emitted from burning fossil fuels like coal and damages the surrounding environment and causes respiratory issues. Nitrogen Dioxide is emitted from vehicles and power plants and also causes respiratory issues. Lead is a heavy metal that can be emitted from industrial sources or older manufactured items like paint. It can cause serious health problems especially in children (brain damage, cardiovascular issues, weak bones and joints). The last main pollutant is ground level ozone. It is a gas that forms in the lower atmosphere when certain pollutants react in the presence of sunlight. It mainly causes respiratory issues especially in those with asthma. Being able to understand these six main pollutants is important so for context throughout the topic of air pollution. (LM)

Today’s Global Air Pollution

Many countries over the past few decades have become aware of the effects of air pollution from their countries and how it can impact their own citizens. In 2017, the French Environmental Minister announced that they would try to ban gas and diesel vehicles by 2040. Along with this big step, it also planned on stepping away from coal production by 2022. This was seen around the world as a big step in the better direction for addressing the problem of air pollution. Many countries have followed similar plans and were trying to cut back on their gas and diesel usage by 2035 or 2040. Unfortunately, there have been many hurdles since this initial idea of banning fossil fuel driven vehicles. According to Bloomberg, there has been a major drop in the sale of electric cars after gaining popularity in 2020. General Motors and Ford have begun to scale back their production of their EV style vehicles because of lack of demand. They have delayed launching new models and other smaller brand are expected to follow suit. Although in the rest of the world t heir might be a decline in sales, China has seen massive increases of over 20% per year since 2020. This is a major step forward for the Chinese as they have had a large impact on their air pollution contribution. (LM)
The problem with Chinese air

According to the World Health organization, “Air pollution is responsible for about 2 million deaths in China per year. Of those deaths, ambient air pollution alone caused more than 1 million deaths, while household air pollution from cooking with polluting fuels and technologies caused another million deaths in the same period in China” (World Health Organization). China has been known to the United States as a huge asset for cheap production costs and labor. But that comes with a price for the Chinese people. Pollution has been seen as a major problem in China for over 20 years but with the introduction of EV cars and new infrastructure, they have started to scale back their impact. The biggest decline in air pollution occurred after 2014 where China declared a “war on pollution”. Although there was a significant shift in air pollution, it was seen that the levels of particulate matter were still above the World Health Organizations guidelines. It was observed that these levels would have spikes when there would be period of high industrial activity. Since Chinas economy relies heavily on industrial production, it would make sense that they would have more importance on the economy over the environment they effect. Although it does not sound good for China, they have made major changes that have put them ahead of many other countries. As of 2023, China ranked 19th among other countries that had the highest amount of particulate matter in their atmosphere. This survey was done by IQAir showing how countries compare with one another based on PM2.5 concentration. Seeing how Chinas “war on pollution” has created a large shift, it goes to show that their policy was effective and beneficial to their country. (LM)