Air Pollution - Essay 3

Sources of air pollution refer to the various locations, activities or factors which are responsible for the releasing of pollutants in the atmosphere. These sources can be classified into two major categories which are:
Anthropogenic sources (human activity) mostly related to burning different kinds of fuel • "Stationary Sources" as smoke stacks of power plants, manufacturing facilities, municipal waste incinerators. Power plant is also used to refer to the engine in ships, aircraft and other large vehicles. Some prefer to use the term energy center because it more accurately describes what the plants do, which is the conversion of other forms of energy, like chemical energy, gravitational potential energy or heat energy into electrical energy. • "Mobile Sources" as motor vehicles, aircraft etc.Exhaust gases of automobiles and air crafts play a very important role in polluting the atmosphere. • Marine vessels, such as container ships or cruise ships, and related port air pollution. • Burning wood, fireplaces, stoves, furnaces and incinerators . • Oil refining, and industrial activity in general. The refining process releases numerous different chemicals into the atmosphere; consequently, there are substantial air pollution emissions and a notable odor normally accompanies the presence of a refinery. Aside from air pollution impacts there are also wastewater concerns, risks of industrial accidents such as fire and explosion, and noise health effects due to industrial noise. • Reduce Waste--- Manufacturing of unnecessary or disposable goods often produces air pollution, so reduced purchasing of disposables will help. In general, follow the solid waste mantra - "Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle" - and this will reduce air pollution as well from transporting, treating, or disposing of unnecessary wastes. • More and More trees are to planned as they can absorb most of CO2.
Trees Reduce Air Pollution
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Trees and other plants make their own food from carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, water, sunlight and a small amount of soil elements. In the process, they release oxygen (O2) for us to breathe.
Trees:
• Help to settle out, trap and hold particle pollutants (dust, ash, pollen and smoke) that can damage human lungs. • Absorb CO2 and other dangerous gasses and, in turn, replenish the atmosphere with oxygen. • Produce enough oxygen on each acre for 18 people every day. • Absorb enough CO2 on each acre, over a year's time, to equal the amount you produce when you drive your car 26,000 miles. Trees remove gaseous pollutants by absorbing them through the pores in the leaf surface. Particulates are trapped and filtered by leaves, stems and twigs, and washed to the ground by rainfall.
Air pollutants injure trees by damaging their foliage and impairing the process of photosynthesis (food making). They also weaken trees making them more susceptible to other health problems such as insects and diseases.
The loss of trees in our urban areas not only intensifies the urban "heat-island" effect from loss of shade and evaporation, but we lose a principal absorber of carbon dioxide and trapper of other air pollutants as well.
Some of the major air pollutants and their primary sources are: • Carbon dioxide: Burning oil, coal, natural gas for energy. Decay and burning of tropical forests. • Sulfur dioxide: Burning coal to generate electricity. • Hydrogen floride and silicon tetrafloride: Aluminum and phospate fertilizer production, oil refineries, and steel manufacturing. • Ozone: Chemical reactions of sunlight on automobile exhaust gases. Ozone is a major pollutant in smog. • Methane: Burning fossil fuels, livestock waste, landfills and rice production. • Nitros oxides: Burning fossil fuels and automobile exhausts. • Chloroflorocarbons: Air conditioners, refrigerators, industrial foam.
The burning of fossil fuels for energy and large scale forest fires such as in the tropics are major contributors to the buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Managing and protecting forests and planting new trees reduces CO2 levels by storing carbon in their roots and trunk and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. •

• Chemicals, dust and controlled burn practices in agriculture and forestry management. Controlled or prescribed burning is a technique sometimes used in forest management, farming, prairie restoration or greenhouse gas abatement. Fire is a natural part of both forest and grassland ecology and controlled fire can be a tool for foresters. Controlled burning stimulates the germination of some desirable forest trees, thus renewing the forest.

• Fumes from paint, hair spray, varnish, aerosol sprays and other solvents. • Waste deposition in landfills, which generate methane.Methane is not toxic; however, it is highly flammable and may form explosive mixtures with air. Methane is also an asphyxiant and may displace oxygen in an enclosed space. Asphyxia or suffocation may result if the oxygen concentration is reduced to below 19.5% by displacement. • Military, such as nuclear weapons, toxic gases, germ warfare and rocketry.
Natural sources • Dust from natural sources, usually large areas of land with little or no vegetation. • Methane, emitted by the digestion of food by animals, for example cattle. • Radon gas from radioactive decay within the Earth's crust.Radon is a colorless, odorless, naturally occurring, radioactive noble gas that is formed from the decay of radium. It is considered to be a health hazard.Radon gas from natural sources can accumulate in buildings, especially in confined areas such as the basement and it is the second most frequent cause of lung cancer, after cigarette smoking. • Smoke and carbon monoxide from wildfires. • Volcanic activity, which produce sulfur, chlorine, and ash particulates.
|@New engine systems for automobiles should be designed for reduced emission of polluting gases. |
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|@ Increasing the heights of chimneys of factories may help to reduce air pollution. |
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|@ More and More trees are to planned as they can absorb most of CO2. |