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Air pollution not only extremely harms our ecosystem, but it also puts adverse effects on our personal health as well. Taking steps to reduce air pollution benefits humans and the entire planet. Though everyone is at risk from air pollution, people with lung or heart diseases are especially vulnerable.
Air pollution is a problem for all of us. It makes all of us suffer. It is very difficult to survive in the polluted atmosphere as it can cause serious health issues.
However, some groups of people are especially sensitive to common air pollutants such as particulates and ground-level ozone. Sensitive populations include children, older adults, people who usually stay outdoors because of professional reasons, and people with heart or lung diseases.
Factors which lead to the creation of dense smoke and elevated air pollution in our ecosystem are:
- Emissions from vehicles, industries using coal for power and dust from construction activities and movement of excess vehicles.
- From 2005 to 2015 vehicle numbers have increased by as much as 97%, contributing enormously to the pollution load, making humans directly vulnerable to toxic fumes
- The burning of trash, which contains plastic, rubber and metal items and gives off toxic emissions, also adds to the city’s acrid air.
People exposed to high enough levels of certain air pollutants may experience:
- Irritation in the eyes, nose, and throat
- Wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and breathing difficulties
- Worsening of existing lung and heart problems, such as asthma
- Increased risk of heart attack
In addition, long-term exposure to air pollution can cause cancer and damage to the immune, neurological, reproductive, and respiratory systems. In extreme cases, it can even cause death.
The steps that can be taken to fight this problem are:-
- Planting more trees, especially around roads and residential areas. Dust blowing around will get deposited on these trees.
- Avoiding opening of unpaved surfaces for traffic use
- Planting rows of trees across the direction from where a major portion of dust enters into the city.
- Planting of grass on unpaved surfaces such as grounds, etc.
- Stringent regulations for construction sites. For instance, construction materials shouldn’t be left open in the air.
- Stringent emission norms for vehicles to restrict emission of particulate matter.
- Construction of industries on the leeward side of cities, i.e., industrial regions should be at a place where dominant wind direction stays away from the city.
- Avoid frequent use of private vehicles.
- Mobilise people around these issues to compel local governments to take some positive steps.
- Take wind patterns into account while constructing your house so that entry of dust particles can be restricted to a bare minimum.
- The sprinkling of water on areas surrounding your house.
Air pollution is dangerous not only for human health but also for our environment in a lot of ways. The above-given solutions to deal with air pollution are easily adaptable and most importantly they make large contributions to improving our atmosphere’s air quality, not to mention how they dramatically enhance our health. We have the ability to help control air pollution, the air we breathe is too important to ignore.
