This document discusses various causes and effects of air pollution. It begins by defining air pollution as the release of pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, volatile organic compounds, carbon dioxide, and sulfur oxide into the air. Major causes of air pollution discussed include the burning of plastic waste, industrial emissions, wildfires, and transportation. Specific ways to reduce pollution from industries, vehicles, and plastic use are provided. The document also covers the importance of air quality and how it is measured.

1. Air Pollution
• What do we mean by air pollution?
• Major Causes Of Air Pollution
⚬ The burning of plastic wastes.
⚬ Are there any alternatives for plastic?
• Industrial Emission
⚬ How can we reduce industrial air pollution?
• Wildfires
• Transportation
⚬ How can we reduce pollution caused by
vehicles?
• What are the health issues due to air pollution?
• How does air pollution affect environmental
health?
• Conclusion

2. To live, we need to breathe. To breathe, we need fresh air.
Fresh air is one of the basic and essential things we need to
live on earth. Fresh air is equally important to every one us as
food and water. Even plants need oxygen to convert food
into energy. From these things, we can understand the
importance of oxygen and fresh air. A place without oxygen
will be a dead zone with no humans, animals, and plants.
Without oxygen, nobody can survive on earth.
All these facts point the fingers at the importance of keeping
air pollution-free. But the truth is, the air is getting polluted at
a massive rate every day. There are hundreds of causes. In
these, there are some which are very harmful to us. But how
can we reduce the rate of air pollution? Well, there are
different ways that we could try to stop air pollution. Before
that, let us find out what are the utmost causes of air
pollution. Here are they.
Introduction

3. How do we know
the quality of air?
The purity of air measured using an AQI
thermometer that runs on a scale from 0 to 500.
The AQI refers to Air Quality Index. It measures how
pure or polluted the surrounding air is. If the
numeric value on the scale is between 0-50, the
quality of the surrounding air is considered healthy
and satisfactory. As the values increase, the quality
of the air decreases. If AQI is showing a value of
500, that means you are standing in a hazardous
surrounding. Have a look at the AQI chart below for
more details.

4. What do we mean
by air pollution?
It's simple. Air pollution refers to the release of
pollutants into the air like Nitrogen Oxide, Volatile
Organic Compounds, Carbon Dioxide, Sulphur Oxide,
dioxins, and other harmful gases. Once these gases
are released, they become a colossal threat to the
environment and human health.

5. Major Causes Of
Air Pollution
It is well known to everyone how air pollution
happens. It happens in many ways. Sometimes
careless and reckless human activities lead to the
major reasons for air pollution. Even though, here
are some of the common causes of air pollution.
• The burning of plastic wastes.
• Industrial Emission
• Wildfires
• Transportation

6. The Burning Of
Plastic Wastes.
How do we avoid plastics from our houses? Either we
throw them or light them up, right? These careless acts
will lead to the worst pollution ever. Burning them
releases toxic gases like dioxins, furans, mercury, and
polychlorinated. These gases are a threat to the
atmosphere, vegetation, humans, and animal health. If
we throw them out, they can remain in the soil for 20-
500 years before fully decomposing based on the
material and structure. Over these years, it pollutes the
soil and harms the earth.

7. So, burning and throwing plastic does not work and
leads to air pollution or soil pollution in the long term
perspective. Then what will we do? Well, we can
recycle and reuse plastic to an extent. But once the
plastic is melted and reformed into new products, the
quality of plastic gets reduced. In addition, the quality
of plastic will keep reducing with every successive
recycling. Furthermore, recycling is limited to a number
3 or 4 times because of the quality compromise of
plastic.
In fact, we only have a limited number of opportunities
in the case of plastic. Either we reduce the use of
plastic or recycle and reuse them as much as we can.
Limiting the use of plastic seems more practical and
smooth in our day-to-day life. There are many
instances where we can reduce the use of plastic.
Here are some of the tracts where we can instantly
act to limit the usages of plastic
• Use cloth bags instead of plastics bags while
going to the shops.
• Use paper plates and tumblers instead of plastic
ones when you arrange a tea party or get-
togethers.
• Use paper straws in restaurants and coffee
shops.
• Use paper bottled soft drinks.
There are more and more situations where we can
reduce the unnecessary use of plastic covers and
materials. It can turn out well when more people
come forward with the same mindset of bringing
down plastic use.

8. Are There Any
Alternatives For Plastic?
Yes, there are. But literally, there are no materials with
the exact matching properties with plastic. For
instance, properties like durability, strength, water-
resistant, lightweight, and inexpensive are rare to find
in materials without polymer as an ingredient.
Scientists and researchers are trying to formulate
materials with the matching properties as plastic but
with less pollution.
As said earlier, there are many instances where we
can reduce the use of plastic and always try to avoid it
as much as we can. Even if they are baby steps
towards reducing plastic, take it and help our
environment. Moreover, be a part of keeping the city
and your premises clean.

9. Industrial Emission
Industries play a colossal role in all kinds of pollutions.
They contribute almost one-third to the overall when we
compare industrial pollution with other causes. Industries
will be the 2nd largest cause of air pollution, water
pollution, and sound pollution. Pollutants like carbon
monoxide, Nitrogen dioxide, Sulfur dioxide are released
when they operate factories and industries. The volume of
pollutants released into the atmosphere is way more than
we imagine.
It is necessary to know where the pollution happens and
who pollutes the air most. Studies say that industries that
produce electricity pollute the atmosphere more than any
other industry. A considerable amount of pollutants is
kicked from the industries when the continuous burning of
fossil fuels happened. These emitted gases make the most
of the troubles to the ozone layer and cause ozone layer
depletion.

10. How Can We Reduce Industrial Air Pollution?
As we said earlier, industries and factories are essential for the
growth of the people and nation. We can't stop factories in the
name of air pollution. What we can do is, we can find some
ways to reduce the amount of air pollution. For instance, we
should try to convert these harmful gases to regular gases
with the help of proper techniques and setups.
Most importantly, people living near industrial areas are very
likely to have many allergies and lung diseases. Always wear a
mask when you are going out or going near industrial and
factory areas. If you are working in an industrial area, always
wear a mask and other safety gear to ensure maximum safety.
We need both electricity and earth. We can not avoid one or
the other for any reason. The only way is to protect both
without harming each other. The only solution for this will be
the rise of green energy. Only the challenge facing is the
continuous supply of energy. Green energy like solar and wind
are very cost-effective and pollution-free when comparing to
the traditional ones.
Each and every individual can contribute and can be a part of
saving the earth from air pollution and global warming. Switch
to green energy as much as we can and reduce the
consumption of traditional electricity from the government or
private companies. Nowadays, everybody has inverters in the
home as a standard facility. It will not cost you much to connect
2 or 3 solar panels to the battery and save 60% power usage
from the traditional electric supply.

11. Wildfires
Wildfires can take place at any time. It is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire caused
by lightning strikes. As the name says, it occurs largely in forest areas. Mostly, the
lighting strikes on the trees, branches, dry grass, and then the fire is generated.
Eventually, this fire will spread to other trees, branches, and grasses and becomes
wildfires, and causes air pollution.
Wildfires are common forested areas of the United States and Canada. It is one of
the causes of air pollution, deforestation, and animal extinction.
In a wildfire, many animals lose their lives and shelter. Some get burns and wounds
in the running through the wildfire. All these will continues until fire settles down.
Sometimes it takes 2-3 days to settle down completely. But in the end, we lose
animals, trees, the environment, and what not?
Also, sometimes the causes of wildfire can be different. Sometimes it happens due
to the carelessness of people living around the forest. For instance, even trash
burning and campfires can spread fire if not concerned well. So it is always
recommended to take precautions while doing wildfire potential activities.

12. Transportation
Transportation holds a neck-to-neck position with industries in the
rate of air pollution. As we all know, the number of vehicles on the
road is increasing day by day. Just look around, we could see
houses with more than three vehicles even if they don't need all of
them. As the number of vehicles increases, the rate of pollution
also tends to be increased. Old model vehicles are more likely to
produce more pollution than new ones. Because when the vehicles
get older and older, the amount of carbon emission increases.
The rate of pollution is still on the rise even after the government
and authorities made pollution laws strict. Every country has its own
vehicle emission standards or norms for the safety of the
environment and people living in the country. But still,
transportation holds the position for the majority of air pollutions
happening around the world.

13. How Can We Reduce Pollution Caused
By Vehicles?
Earlier, it was challenging to find an alternative for fuels like petrol or diesel. Right now,
technology has improved - researchers found a better alternative solution for the petrol
and diesel engines for automobiles. Yes, they are EV's. Electric vehicles are completely
different from traditional vehicles. They are pollution-free and highly efficient than fuel
engines. Electric vehicles can be charged from the house or charging stations in and
around the city. EV's have 5x efficiency more than the regular diesel or petrol-fueled
automobiles and 4x lesser reduced pollution.
EV's are on the rise. By 2025, at least 50% of the new vehicles coming out from the
factories will be electric vehicles. It will seriously help to reduce the rate of pollution to
some extend. People will switch to EV's when companies launch better models with
luxury and comfort.
It may sound crazy to most of us. But think about walking a little every day and avoid
taking cars or bikes for smaller distances. Or, use a bicycle to travel nearby. It will help us
to improve both our health and the earth's health.

14. The quality of the air we breathe is very crucial. Poor quality
can cause many health diseases in both adults and kids.
Especially to the people living in cities, the chances of getting
a disease like heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, and acute lower
respiratory infections are very high.
Long-term exposure to polluted air in kids can lead to loss of
lung capacity, asthma and emphysema. In addition, senior
citizens are more likely to get allergies and breathing
difficulties since they are less immune to the conditions. As a
precaution to all of these, we can wear a mask while going out
and traveling. If you are living in a highly polluted area,
consider buying an air purifier for your home. An air purifier
can help to improve the quality of air by filtering and thereby
enabling a healthy environment inside our home for everyone.
What Are The Health Issues
Due To Air Pollution?

15. The toxic gases also affect the environment in the same way. As the
amount of harmful gases increases in the earth, the uncertainty of the
environment's health also increases. Changes in climates like
temperature hikes, monsoon pattern shifts, and unexpected cyclones are
a few examples. In these, ozone layer depletion is being the most
complicated one.
We already know what is an ozone layer, and whats does it do? Let's
recall them for a while. The ozone layer is a part of the earth's
atmosphere, and it absorbs almost all of the sun's harmful ultraviolet light.
Guess what will happen when the ozone layer gets holes. All the harmful
rays will fall into the animals, plants, and people on earth through the
ozone layer holes. Studies say that by 2064 the ozone layer
concentration levels may come to zero if the rate of pollution continues
invariably. If that happens, the earth will not be a suitable place to live.
The fun factor is, we don't have any space other than earth to live right
now. So, we have to protect the planet from being a desert.
How Does Air Pollution Affect
Environmental Health?

16. Day by day, the rate of pollution is increasing. The hard
truth is, nobody is really caring about the future of our
planet. Even the government and authorities are
keeping their eyes closed on social issues like global
warming, air pollution, and soil erosion. If it keeps going
like this, the earth will become uninhabitable.
Protecting the earth from pollutions is not deputed on
somebody else. Each one of us should take
responsibility and behave sensibly to protect the earth
from pollution.
Conclusion

17. YOU
THANK
Submitted
by:Bishal Rokaha
Mohd.Aayaz