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Human Causes of Air Pollution

Air pollution is becoming an increasingly greater risk to our health and our planet. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that "acid rain, global warming, smog and the depletion of the ozone layer" are some of the results of human-caused air pollution. To examine these consequences further, and to learn more about how we as humans can prevent further destruction, we must first understand what causes air pollution.

  1. Deforestation

    • The planet's natural line of defense is the massive amount of wooded space we have, including both alpine and rain forests and jungles. Trees naturally absorb dangerous carbon dioxide into their leaves and convert into fresh, clean oxygen. As humans continue to destroy forests to fuel their ever-increasing need for space, fuel and materials, the planet is negatively affected by increased amounts of carbon dioxide left unabsorbed and released into the atmosphere. The World Resources Institute reports that a shocking 80 percent of the world's forests have already been destroyed.

    Industry

    • Since the birth of the industrial revolution, humans have continued to create factories, power plants and agricultural techniques that consume massive amounts of power and release harmful pollution into the air. The agricultural industry alone is responsible not only for more than it's share of deforestation, but it also contributes lethal amounts of methane gas into the atmosphere. Humans depend on power plants to supply our electrical needs, but a change to cleaner, greener energy remains necessary.

    Transportation

    • Fuel exhaust from cars, trains, planes and ships contribute to damaging the atmosphere. And as the world population continues to climb, so does the rate at which the transportation industry pollutes the environment. The burning of fossil fuels emits dangerous gases and chemicals which stay within our atmosphere and contribute to respiratory-related illnesses.

    Smoking

    • We all know that smoking is harmful to your health. What's lesser known, is that smoking is bad for everyone's health. A single cigarette can contain as many as 40 dangerous carcinogens, and with over one billion smokers worldwide, those numbers multiply quickly.

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