Man's Imminent Battle Against Air Pollution

Amidst the multiple blessings that our ravishing world is ensued with, air is, and has been inestimable to the life of both man and animals. Its general usefulness and those of its individual constituents are myriad. From supporting respiration and photosynthesis, to the ignition of fires and warming up the earth through the greenhouse effect, air has a tectonic effect on man’s functionality. Howbeit, with its great significance, comes great mindlessness and ignorance. The calibre of toxicities is far beyond the rate of its purification. Consequently, if we are not vigilant enough, problems would erupt, beyond our competence(solution finding), leading to natural disasters, and at that juncture, sustaining the life of our ecosystem would be arduous and it may be too late. So should we grow concern or sit and just take things the way we see it? Planet earth, despite its advancements in science, currently is braced at the threshold of great crisis and unless we merge effort to support our world away from that edge, to smooth living, we’ll fall into that crisis. Our environment and ecosystem change synchronously with our technological development. But we have to ask, are these environmental changes all good? Little or no regard is given to our habitat’s survival, but to the benefits, we get from the power plants, car, aeroplanes, and all other luxuries which are being created every day. Air, especially its constituents, serve as great support to plant and animal life. Oxygen plays its role in animal respiration which consequently provides energy. Notwithstanding, plants also produce their energy using carbon dioxide which helps them grow. In this processes, plants release oxygen into the atmosphere while animals release carbon dioxide. This balances the equation. In addition to these, oxygen aids and abets combustion(ignition of fires) for cooking, burning and other human activities in such category, while nitrogen and carbon dioxide prevents this created fire from getting out of hand with their inert nature. In short, air has great, priceless effects in our ecosystem, specifically when it is fresh and absolute. Have you ever worked in a pig sty or pass by a refuse dump, or maybe go to the hospital to ask the price of a cylinder of compressed oxygen? Only then maybe, will you appreciate the reality of fresh air given freely by nature. According to science and geography, pollution simply is making the environment unsafe for life. It is when toxins and harmful substances in any state, fluid or solid is released. When these toxic gases are discharged into the atmosphere, it is known as air pollution. These gases may be visible or colourless. The WHO has revealed, reportedly, that over 90% humans breath in polluted air and approximately 12%(one out of nine) of recorded deaths are results of air pollution. This is a very large percentage, and its causes are not mistaken acts but deliberate, from deforestation to improper refuse dumping, fossil fuel burning in vehicles and so on. This simply means that we are the cause of most of our deadly problems. The leading harmful pollutants are the greenhouse gases, and among them, carbon dioxide constitutes about 81%. Carbon dioxide on the good side, keeps the earth warm by absorbing and emitting radiations, thus, preventing the earth from freezing. But deforestation, use of power plants, vehicles and cooking, has increased its atmospheric concentration to 400ppm, which is dangerous to man and as well cause global warming. Furthermore, methane increases in the atmosphere because of escalating improper recycling of natural waste and the increased demand for oil and gas. Hydrofluorocarbons and chlorofluorocarbons also among the greenhouse gases, has a thousand time worse effect compared to methane and carbon dioxide in depleting the ozone layer and in global warming. Sources are usually air conditioners, refrigerators, propellers, etc. They are usually artificial sources, so their presence in the atmosphere is a result of our inventions, and not nature’s mistakes. Other pollutants are the smog and soot, which are delivered from the combustion of fossil fuels, like coal, natural gas etc. in cars, trucks, trains, power plants and automobiles. Over time, they have reduced the clarity of human vision because of their constituents like soil, smoke and dust. Meanwhile, Sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere causes acid rain and other gases like lead gas, mercury gas, benzene and carbon monoxide, even in little concentration are very deadly and risky to human health. One natural pollutant is pollen grains. This can't be really helped because plants have to reproduce. But the artificial can be dealt with. Concluding without giving the corollary and aftermath of this, alongside our required imminent and instantaneous forestallments will be unfair. The effects of air pollution are usually common in urban areas, which are involved with the industrial production. Nonetheless, rural areas in Asia and Africa also suffer from it too, the reason being that most of these areas are waste dumps of urban areas and they may be too poor to afford renewable power sources such as biomass, solar energy and wind energy. Especially, Nigeria, even with our natural resources we find it difficult to refine our own fuel, and too costly for citizens to afford, talk-less of affording these other energy sources. Consequently, if this trend is not curtailed, its stay on a long-term can cause health problems such as heart diseases, asthma, lung cancer, stroke, kidney and brain damage, irritations, etc. all of which can hasten death. I earlier stated that the world is on the verge of imminent crisis. We have to pull it back to safety. Immediately, we must cut down on burning fossil fuels. Although a step has been taken by discovering renewable energy sources, the implementation is sluggish, compared to the created disaster. Other tackling steps like reduction of road traffic if possible, afforestation and replacing cooking methods, should be taken as responses to these. This would reduce the concentration of these toxins in the atmosphere and consequently, reduce the mortality rate. Regulating air pollution doesn't deny any man of their luxurious living. At least we can think of methods to live freely without causing harm to nature and living things. All these efforts will definitely curtail this ugly trend and its disaster. And also to protect your health, avoid staying too long in place with contaminated air. ##### THANKS FOR READING ### REFERENCES [9 out of 10 people worldwide breathe polluted air, but more countries are taking action](http://www.who.int/news-room/detail/02-05-2018-9-out-of-10-people-worldwide-breathe-polluted-air-but-more-countries-are-taking-action) [Air Pollution](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/pollution/) [Air Pollution: Everything You Need to Know](https://www.nrdc.org/stories/air-pollution-everything-you-need-know) [Let's remind ourselves about deforestation and its effects](https://steemit.com/stemng/@gentleshaid/let-s-remind-ourselves-about-deforestation-and-its-effects) [Over 90% of world’s population breathing bad air: WHO ](http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/health/over-90-of-world-s-population-breathing-bad-air-who/582983.html) [How Do We Know that Humans Are the Major Cause of Global Warming?](https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/science-and-impacts/science/human-contribution-to-gw-faq.html#.Wx2vVopKi00) [Overview of Greenhouse Gases](https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases)