Every day, the average person inhales about 20,000 liters of air. Every time we breathe, we risk inhaling dangerous chemicals that have found their way into the air.
Five Sources Cited Pollutants in the air are a serious environmental issue today. We, as an industrial society, have become far too familiar with terms like smog, radon, lead, asbestos, ozone, and carbon monoxide. We have also seen on the news, read in the newspaper, or experienced in our own lives some of the harmful consequences that result from these pollutants -- perhaps as allergies or congestion from exposure to smog or more dangerous carbon monoxide poisoning. Regulations have been established in an attempt to minimize these harmful air pollutants. For example, we have vehicle emissions testing and standards for pollutant emitting facilities.
The Prevention of Air Pollution
To cut down on all the pollution being released into the air, we have removed the pollutant before materials are used, removed the pollutant after it is formed, or altered the process to lower pollutant levels produced.
In the United States, the Clean Air Act of 1967 is the legal basis for air-pollution control. The Environmental Protection[->0] Agency is responsible for enforcing the act.
Internationally, 49 countries agreed in 1985 on a United Nations convention to protect the ozone layer. This agreement, which was renegotiated in 1990, calls for the phaseout of certain ozone-destroying chemicals by the year 2000.
When looking at air pollution, we can see that there are many types, one type is acid rain. Scientists have discovered that air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels mainly in power stations and industry in countries such as Germany, United Kingdom and other economically developed countries is the major cause of acid rain. Acidic deposition or acid rain as it