Effects of air Pollution

By David Reigle

Air pollution affects everyone everywhere. It can cause health problems, global warming, and even acid rain.

Air pollution causes respiratory and heart problems. Millions die a year from inhaling unclean air. Air pollution also causes global warming, which means an increase in temperature. “As far as climate goes, the gas that truly matters is carbon dioxide. Unlike its shorter lived cousins, CO2 sticks around in the atmosphere for decades to centuries, wreaking climate havoc.”(climate wire). In the freezing places of the earth like Antarctica, global warming can do harm. Global warming causes the ice to melt which means polar bears don’t have a home and you eventually will not have a have a home either. When ice melts, the water levels rise, causing land to be covered by water. Land is already being covered by water right now.

Air pollution also causes acid rain in some places, a mix of burnt fossil fuels and water. When burned fossil fuels are released into the atmosphere, they mix into clouds, which causes rainfall to become acidic. That means when you put your rain boots and raincoat on to go play in the rain you are actually playing in acid. You might as well call it acid rain boots and an acid rain coat. Don’t forget your acid rain umbrella.

How do we fix this? One way we could help to decrease the fossil fuels being released into the atmosphere would be to use public transportation. When you ride a bus with many other people it is like you were never there at all to the atmosphere. But when you drive your gas powered car to work you are unnecessarily hurting the air you breath just because you don’t want to sit in a car with people from your school. Another way to help our air from becoming more polluted would be to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Try to reuse things like cans and bottles. Use them for something else or toss them into the recycling bin. Yet another way to help out would be to use less energy. Use CFL lights, or compact fluorescent light bulbs, which use less energy. Turn the lights out in your house when you leave. It’s not all about saving the world from becoming an uninhabitable toxic waste disaster, but it could save you money.

Source: www.conserve-energy-future.com