Air pollution is the contamination of the indoor or outdoor environment by any chemical, physical or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere. It is one of the world’s worst killers, attributed to ~10 million deaths each year making it one of our biggest environmental problems. This is far more than was previously thought, and as the world continues to industrialize, it is not expected to subside soon
No one wants to live next door to an incinerator, oil refinery, port, toxic waste dump, or other polluting sites. Yet millions of people around the world do, and this puts them at a much higher risk for respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, neurological damage, cancer, and death.
When countries develop, this comes hand in hand mostly from industrial and vehicular sources, but also from indoor fuel combustion. Countries in Africa are a good example, with 258,000 people have died as a result of outdoor air pollution in 2017. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), each year this causes nearly seven million deaths around the globe.
What you can do:
Make good choices about transportation. When you can walk, ride a bike, or take public transportation. You can also use air quality index apps on your phone to track pollution in real-time and choose healthier routes for yourself and others. For driving, choose a car that gets better miles per gallon of gas, or choose an electric car.
But the best, most effective way for controlling this is to speed up our transition to cleaner fuels and industrial processes.
By switching over to renewable energy sources (such as wind and solar power), maximizing fuel efficiency in our vehicles, and replacing more and more of our gasoline-powered cars and trucks with electric versions, we’ll be limiting air pollution at its source while also curbing the global warming that heightens so many of its worst health impacts.
The energy that the lights take also contributes to air, thus less consumption of electricity can save energy. Use energy-saving fluorescent lights to help the environment.
The collecting of garbage and getting it on fire in dry seasons or dry leaves catching fires is a huge factor, moreover smoking.
The use of crackers during festivals and weddings is sadly one of the biggest contributors to air pollution, leading to a layer of smog which is extremely harmful to health. So, the practice of no crackers should be implemented.
