Air pollution
This section is dedicated to air pollution, so if you want to learn more about this, you're in the right place!
MAIN PROBLEMS
This article is going to focus on the main problems of air pollution and on the effect that it has on the environment and on human health.
Air pollution is nowadays one of the most important issues that we need to take care of.
Most of the pollution in the atmosphere comes from human activity and in particular from the combustion of fossil fuels, like petrol, carbon, and methane. The problem is that on these substances we base our daily life: from the gas for the kitchen to the heating system, from the fuel that our car consumes to the electricity we use, they all depend on petrol! And we are only speaking about our homes, so try to imagine how much the global industry and the production of consumers’ goods impact on the pollution of air. So we depend too much on substances that pollute air, in fact, only 13,2% of the global energy comes from renewable sources.
Global Warming
The combustion of petrol, carbon, methane... free CO2 in the atmosphere and these emissions impact on the natural cycle of carbon, that regulates the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. The causes of an alteration of this balance lead to lots of problems: one of the most famous is global warming. This is a climate phenomenon which consists in an increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s surface and it is mainly due to the increase of the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon: in nature greenhouse gases allow the Earth to warm, by retaining part of the radiation emitted by the terrestrial surface. However, when the percentage of these gases in the atmosphere grows, due to human activity, the amount of the infrared radiation from the Earth and retained by them increases and this causes a higher warming of the atmosphere.
The effect of air pollution and global warming are really various but also really dangerous: the increase in temperature causes the melting of the continental glaciers and of the permafrost on polar regions. This impacts on another system, the hydrosphere, causing the rising of the sea level and, bad news, creating lots and lots of other problems: the alteration of plankton, sea currents and some specific environment, and so on.
Acid rains
Another effect of air pollution is the acid rain phenomenon. This happens when air is contaminated with sulfur and nitrogen oxides: these substances, coming in contact with humid air, are transformed into acids. The acids are mixed with the normal rain and fall on the Earth’s surface, causing lots of damages to the environment and on human works. For example, these rains damage forests and cause the sterilization of soil, with consequent damage to the crops. In addition, this type of rain damages buildings and art manufactures, like outside statues.
Smog effect
Everyone in his life had seen a sort of fog over a city, well, this is the phenomenon of the smog effect. It happens when there is a concentrated fog of pollutants over cities and fields. The pollutants could be of two types: sulphurous smog (especially from coal processing) and photochemical smog, both dangerous and harmful to health. This is caused by industrial activity and urban action, such as car traffic.
Most of the advanced countries keep the percentage of pollutants in the air, under control and try to reduce the effect. But lots of developing countries don't care about this issue and don't have some measure to control this phenomenon.
Effects on humans
Air pollution also impacts directly on humans: a research made by the “Comprehensive new global review” shows that air pollution may be damaging every organ of our body. The illnesses that pollution can cause are many: from heart and lung disease, to diabetes and dementia, and from liver problems and bladder cancer to brittle bones and damaged skin.
It’s clear how large the impact of air pollution on our health is and the World Health Organization confirms that more than 90% of the global population is in contact with polluted air. The WHO also admitted that the lungs and the respiratory system are the part of our body that is most exposed to disease, in fact, the contact with polluted air could increase the risk of respiratory infections and cancer. WHO underlined that both short and long-term exposure to air pollutants has been associated with health impacts, in particular in children and in seniors.
It’s clear that air pollution is a problem, for us and for our planet, so we must work on that before it’s too late to do something about it. If we don’t work on the origin of the problem, we are not going to solve it. Our challenge is to change our energy sources and move as quickly as possible to renewable ones for having important results.
Marta.G
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS AND SOME PIECES OF ADVICE
There are simple steps you can take in your everyday life to help improve air quality. Every time you go to school, use your heater or air conditioner, clean your windows or even style your hair, you make choices that can reduce of increase air pollution. Here are 5 things that are relatively simple to do, that can have positive results on air quality here in Budrio and all over the world.
There is still time, however, to make a difference.
1. Go Local
A great way to cut down on car journeys is to start travelling to shops in your local area by walking or cycling. Combine your trips as much as possible. If going further away consider public transport such as bus or train as a primary option. It's often cheaper and more convenient than driving and parking your car. Then top-up in between big shops by supporting your local businesses.
2. Walk or cycle to school
Walking and cycling to school are both fantastic way to start the day. Start good habits early, infact it has been demonstated that kid who include physical activities such as walking in their daily routine are more likely to be active in adult life. There's plenty of benefits to your own health. And you'll be reducing air pollution and congestion around the school gates, which is even better considering the critic situation we live nowadays.
3. Switch for the best energy supplier
This relates relatively to your parents, but it is still important that you know. Air quality problems can also begin at home. So you must consider switching energy suppliers to companies who use renewable energy sources if possible. By doing that, you are avoiding the usage of fossil fuels, which are the main cause of the global air pollution.
4. Avoid burning at home
Domestic burning has increased over the last decade, becoming one of the largest contributor to the Italy's particulate matter emissions. Burning solid fuels, such as in open fires and wood-burning stoves have a significant impact on air pollution. Avoid also burning great amount of leaves and rubbish in your garden too, that would be awful.
5. Plant more trees and greenery
Supporting local garden initiatives can help improve the long-term air quality in Italy. Plants and trees in specific, are the greatest sources that we (humans) have, for the matter of cleaning air from excessive CO2 emissions and replace it with oxigen.
Caterina C, Enrico R
WHAT ABOUT OUR LOCAL AREA?
About air quality in Emilia-Romagna, 2020 was a singular year.
While on the one side the health emergency caused by Covid-19 and the consequent containment measures adopted have generated a drastic reduction of some of the main sources of atmospheric pollution, on the other the meteorological conditions, especially in the first months of the year, were particularly critical and unfavorable to the dispersion of pollutants.
The annual average of PM10 remained below the legal limits (40 µg / m3) in all the stations that measure it. Similarly, the annual PM2.5 limit value (25 μg / m3) was not exceeded at any station. As for ozone, summer 2020 continued to show critical issues even though there were fewer acute episodes than in previous years.
Real-time Emilia Romagna most-polluted city ranking
This is the ranking of the municipalities with the highest rate of air pollution, as we can see in the first place we find Gossolengo in the province of Piacenza followed by Bastiglia, Soliera and Modena. In the 10th place, we find Bologna, not so bad but not too good either. There is always room to improve!
Stefano R
Emilia Romagna Air quality Index (AQI) site