Air pollution is now recognized as the world’s single largest environmental and human health threat. In 2014, the World Health Organization estimated that 7 million people worldwide die annually as a result of air pollution, and estimates that 92% of the world’s population lives in places where air quality levels exceed safe limits., A new groundbreaking study published on October 19, 2017 in the Lancet Journal of Medicine has now linked air pollution as a cause of 9 million deaths globally. While concerns of pollution related deaths are much more prevalent in many Asian and developing countries, it can certainly become a relevant issue in North America if proper precautions are not taken. For instance, numbers released by Statistics Canada from the 2016 Canadian census shows the population of Toronto has grown 6.2% since 2011, well above the Canadian national growth rate of 5.0% over the same period of time. As a city on the forefront of innovation, Toronto is in a position to invest in a smart city application that can track air quality throughout the metropolitan area, allowing the city to take control of its future by ensuring a high quality of living for its ever growing population.
By tracking air quality, Toronto will be able to map areas of high pollution, identify polluters, and understand how these changes happen over time. All smart city applications related to understanding pollution require some sort of sensor to measure air quality. There are generally three
Yes, I agree with your post. I just would like to comment regarding the air pollution. The pollution in the air causes quite a few problems in the nineteenth century such as: the trees started to dye, the smoke irritated the nose and they was prone to other diseases. “The poor immigrants and blacks who lived and worked in crowed inner cities were especially prone to diphtheria and pneumonia” (Merchant, 120). The air pollution was mainly in the towns where there was coal burning
Air pollution is one of the biggest causes of environmental impact in any region. Therefore, air quality needs to be evaluated and maintained for avoiding health hazards. According to WHO, air pollution claims more than 2.4 million lives each year (WHO, 2002). Cities have to face more air pollution problems as compared to
Air pollution is a combination of gases and solid particles in the air. Air pollution can also be described as harmful substances that pollute the earth’s atmosphere. Air pollution refers to the contamination of the air, indoors, or outdoors. Air pollution occurs when hazardous substances such as dust, lead, or smoke enter the atmosphere and make it difficult for not only humans, but plants and animals to survive because of the quality of the air. Some examples of air pollutants are carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and other toxic air pollutants. The problem with air pollution doesn't just affect the atmosphere but also the present and future life on our planet; there are also causes, effects, and solutions to this problem.
Starting in the year 2004, the air pollution has reached an alarming level in the city o Toronto. Dr Barbara Yaffe, the acting medical officer of health of Toronto Public health, has released a report in July 2004 saying that the “air pollution [in the city] has contributed to over 1700 premature deaths and 6000 hospitalization admission in Toronto each year” (Yaffe, 2004, p.i). According to this report, pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and carbon monoxide have increased within the air of the city; these pollutants are tiny particles that are 2.5 micron in diameter or less and can affect people’s respiratory system and cause cardiovascular and respiratory problems such as “asthma, bronchitis in children, adult chronic bronchitis, and heart problem” (TPH, 2007, figure 1). Although it
With this knowledge, we evaluated which issue would be the most important and possible to solve. Pollution seemed the most needed and achievable, therefore, we decided to find a solution for it. Our main resource was the internet, which provided us with the main air pollutants, material for our design, and the origin of air pollution. With our identified problem, more research was conducted. To sum up, we learned numerous details such as, Houston’s ranking in air pollution, the main pollutant in the air that affects human and other organisms’ health, and the material
Pollution is the contamination using a substance with a harmful or poisonous effect in an environment. It is one of the most prevalent environmental issues in New York City today. Pollution not only causes health risks for humans, but it also takes a serious effect on the ecosystem. There are various forms of pollution such as light pollution, air pollution, and land pollution. The similarity that connects them is that they affect the health and quality of life of all organisms in New York City. The steady growth in population in New York City shows us that we need to conserve our resources. Humans have had a negative impact on New York City’s environment because people are the primary cause of pollution in the city, but addressing these issues using scientific methods with improve efforts of conserving the environment.
This research began by a concern about Tehran’s ever decreasing air quality. We ran a comparative review on studies conducted around the world and in Tehran, finding out that the void was in fact in statistic approaches rather than deterministic. It was vital to be organized and .... as possible in selecting our approach to overcome limitations imposed by quality and quantity of the available data. The project involved a comprehensive data base development mostly from online sources, such as Open Street Map, google distance API, weather APIs, also, the land use variables were extracted using ArcGIS. Now that variables responsible for spatial and temporal variation of air pollution have been generated and merged, we are working on econometrics models to explain the air pollution, using python. We are currently gathering traffic data for another 2 month while developing our primary models with a smaller sample of data. After finalizing the model with the full data set, we answer questions such as to what extent length of road, traffic jams, residential heating systems, etc. contribute to Tehran’s air pollution.
Air pollution is nothing new. Ever since the discovery of fire, less-than-desirable substances have been vented into the air. One of the first air-pollution regulations dates back to the fourteenth century, when King Edward I banned the burning of sea coal in lime kilns. U.S. air-pollution regulations have their roots in British Common Law. But regardless of those efforts, air pollution continues to be a serious local and world-wide problem. Pollution is the pressure within the air of one or more substances that are harmful to human health, welfare, animal or plant life, or property. In the past with air pollution we included mainly the outdoor pollutants, although in recent years this is not the case.
To better understand the subject, we need to define the term air pollution. Air pollution is the presence in or introduced into the air of a substance which has harmful or poisonous effects. These substances linger and cause many adverse problems. Humans and other living creations rely on the atmosphere for reparation. When air quality is dampened by pollution, immediate and long-term consequences take place. Pollution has caused allergies, disease, damage to crops, and even death. It is important that we fully understand the causes, problems, and possible solutions of air pollution so that we can make an educated decision for Earth’s future.
The major pollution caused by factories or industrials’ activities is air pollution. According to the Engineers’ Joint Council “Air Pollution and Its Control”, air pollution means the presence in the outdoor atmosphere of one or more contaminants, such as dust, fumes, gas, mist, odour, smoke or vapour in quantities of characteristics and of duration, such as to be injurious to human, plant or animal life or to property or which unreasonably interfaces with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property. On the other way, air pollution also can be defined as the chemicals, particulate matters or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment, into
The current methodology of measuring pollution in which equipment are installed in fixed locations or specialized mobile vehicles is expensive (Devarakonda, Sevusu, Liu, Liu, Iftode & Nath (2013). This is because traditionally the measurement of air pollution requires the use of sophisticated stationary equipment installed all around the country. So only a relatively small number of federal, state, and local agencies can afford such high quality data. One obvious disadvantage of this method of data acquisition is that only a relatively small amount of data is available for the assessment of health and exposure risks. Since this is a rather coarse-grained system where pollution measurements and data availability are not only far apart but also expensive and sometimes counter-productive it becomes necessary for an expanded program
To eliminate dust mites, pollens and polluting particles from our daily atmosphere, one solution exists, and it is the air purifier. In addition to its invisibility, all the complexity of this pollution lies in the large number of pollutants of various types. The sources of indoor air pollution are multiple: some building materials, furniture, air, lifestyle of occupants (smoking, etc.), combustion appliances, insufficient ventilation, biocontaminants (house dust mites, etc.), allergens, human activity (cooking, etc.), cleaning products, equipment, etc.
The article starts off with a photo of the Robert W. Scherer power plant in Georgia, which burns 12 million tins of coal every year. This plant happens to be the largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Coal provides 40% of the worlds power needs, but it also produces 39% of the global CO2 emissions. With 8 billion tons of coal burned annually it is by far the dirtiest fossil fuel, killing thousands with mining accidents and air pollution. The consequences of our coal usage include mountaintop removal mining, which removes entire mountaintops and places it into the valley; this leads to acidification of streams due to the chemicals used in the mining process. This is because coal use is full of externalities that we try not to think about, because we like the fact that we have power whenever we need it.
Air pollution is a big concern all over the world. Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is the main pollutant that is heating the earth. Carbon dioxide is considered to be a big pollutant when planes, cars, power plants and other human activities emit this gas into the atmosphere. Why should we care about Air pollutants? Well we should care about the safety and health of people around the world and even the health and safety of the environment including plants and animals. Industrialized countries have put labor into reducing levels of sulfur dioxide, smoke, and smog in order to improve the health of the people. In a recent result, the lower the level of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere can worsen global warming. This can happen because the sulfur dioxide actually helps block the sun’s light and if we get rid of more sulfur dioxide the sun will shine more on the earth and cause additional heat.
At the producer level, the possible solutions and/or strategies to mitigate air pollution are vast, however, the problem is getting corporations to agree to these in the first place. When it comes to an issue such as air pollution, producers often do not truly try to make a change, as they see economic gain as the top priority. This, however, is mostly referring to the industrial producers who produce the most air pollution by far; in Canada, they are responsible for around 51% of air pollutants produced (Government of Canada, n.d.). That being said, there are other types of producers, such as people in the agricultural industry, who in Canada produce 10% of air pollutants, that are putting forth a better effort, sustainable agriculture, but not enough to make much of a change (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2016). In the rest of the section following will be an overview of some of these potential solutions and/or strategies, such as sustainable agriculture, that reduce air pollution emissions in Canada. These strategies will come from various sources including scholarly articles, organizations, and the government.