Of late China is becoming synonymous
with dirty air. One sees images of people in China wearing smog (mixture of
smoke and fog) masks to avoid inhaling the dirt in the atmosphere. People
wearing the masks are seen riding bicycles, driving cars and walking. Some move
from affected places to relatively clean places to avoid inhaling dirty air. Of
course China is not the only place suffering from dirty air. India is another
country battling with air pollution. Los Angeles, a city in the United States
of America is yet another place on the planet battling dirty air. There are
many more places on planet Earth grappling with the issue, indeed it is a
global issue; by its nature it knows no boundary.
The space around the Earth from the
ground upwards is enveloped by gases. The gases are nitrogen (over 78%), oxygen
(over 20%), argon (0.93%), carbon dioxide (0.04%) and other traces of gases.
This space of gases surrounding the Earth form the Earth’s atmosphere,
popularly called air. The air surrounding the Earth is retained by gravity
(Earth’s gravity). These gases does not surround the Earth for nothing. They
shield living organisms, including humans, from the harmful ultraviolet rays of
the sun. They temper the heat from the sun to give us the necessary warmth we
need to survive on planet Earth. The gases in the air is what man breathes in
to sustain their lives. Plants use exchange of some of these gases in the
process of photosynthesis.
The natural environment is supposed to
have a clean air that sustains healthy life for its organisms. A clean air
should then be air that is not dirty, or at least the air should not contain an
amount of dirt that can compromise the homeostasis of the natural environment,
and the health of organisms therein. Given the critical importance of air in
the sustenance of the natural environment, and for that matter life forms
thereof, it is a life and death matter to ensure that there is a clean air- air
not polluted. However, as I have indicated in my opening statement all is not
well with the state of cleanliness of the atmosphere. My next step will be to
define that which makes the air unclean so we know for sure what we are dealing
with.
DIRTY SUBSTANCES
The dirt that get into the air (that is the layers of gases that
surround the Earth) is generated from natural and manmade sources alike. The
dirt is a collection of harmful substances released into the air. The
substances are generated as a result of activities of humans and chemistry that
occur naturally. Dirt in the air is either a gas or aerosol. Aerosol is liquid
or solid particles suspended in the air. Some of the harmful substances are:
Soot
Dust
Sand
Carbon dioxide
Carbon monoxide
Nitrogen Oxide
Ozone (O₃)
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
Sulfur dioxide
MEASUREMENT
How is air determined as dirty? How
can one tell that air is dirty enough to cause harm to the natural environment,
and to upset its homeostasis?
There are commonsensical ways by which
one can know that air is or has become dirty.
For example if you are not coughing at
all and you got to a place and you started coughing immediately for some time,
that should tell you that there is something wrong with the air in that place.
From experience, when I go to Makola market (Makola market is a big market in
Accra, Ghana) to buy something and I get
to where the market women go and mill stuff like corn, cassava and pepper, I immediately
start coughing or my eyes start running.
Another way of knowing is that if you went
clubbing, and the enclosed club is full of cigarette smoke and you stayed in
for an hour or so, it should be obvious that you have been in contaminated air.
However, on a technical note,
countries have different ways of measuring and classifying the amount of dirt
in the air. Let us see how Americans do theirs as an example.
|
NO
|
SCALE
|
EFFECT
ON HEALTH
|
COLOR
SYMBOL
|
|
01
|
0-50
|
Good
|
Green
|
|
02
|
51-100
|
Moderate
|
Yellow
|
|
03
|
101-150
|
Not good for sensitive groups
|
Orange
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
04
|
151-200
|
Not healthy
|
Red
|
|
05
|
201-250
|
Very unhealthy
|
Purple
|
|
06
|
251-300
|
Dangerous
|
Maroon
|
Sometimes when you are traveling to a
country they announce a state of red alert to show how dirty the air is in that
country. The red alert should then tell you the level of threat you are going
to expose your health to.
HARM
Clean air plays a critically important role in the sustenance of
life on planet Earth, and balance in the natural environment. The air humans
breathe is essential for the digestion and assimilation of food in the body. It
is also important for the provision of energy to our body, and elimination of waste
from our system. I have also indicated the role of air (carbon dioxide) in
photosynthesis. Notwithstanding the
importance of clean air in the natural environment, to a large extent planet
Earth has not been able to keep a clean air largely due to the activities of
man. Consequently, we are causing harm to the natural environment. Some of the
harm dirty air is causing the natural environment are as follows:
Respiratory problems
Asthma
Visibility problems
Coughing
Blocked nose- e.g. catarrh
Irritation of the eye
Acidification of lakes and streams
PARTING SHOT
I have, in this post, attempted to show you what dirty air is
and how prevalent it is, particularly in the world’s major cities. I have also
indicated the sources of the dirty air. Additionally I have stated how dirty
air can be determined and measured, and more importantly the harm it is causing
to the natural environment (in other words dirty air is compromising the
natural environment). A source of dirty air is human activities. Some of these
activities are mining, transportation and processing of natural resources. It
is now up to each and every one of us to choose the way that will give us clean
air, and shun the way that will result in more dirty air.
Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_quality_index
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