Air pollution occurs when air is contaminated with any

chemical, physical, biological agentIt is the worlds largest

environment health risk leading to millions of death around the
world each year although anyone could be affected by air
pollution people who are most vulnerable include the elderly
children and people with chronic lung or heart disease.
Outdoor air pollution
Outdoor air can be polluted by natural sources or human
sources. Natural or biogenic pollution include pollen, bushfires
or dust from deserts. Pollution of the air from human sources
also called anthropogenic air pollution is commonly due to
industies, burning of fossil fuels and the use of motor vehicles
there are hundreds of different types of air pollutants .
Particulate matter it is a complex mixture of small particles and
liquid droplets that are mainly from industry or motor vehicle
exhausts, dust storm or bushfires can also generate large
amount of particulate matter is classified according to the
diameter of the particles. The health effects of particulate
matter are mostly due to particles that are less than 10
micrometers in diameter these particles can reach the deepest
parts of the lungs and enter the bloodstream nitrogen dioxide is
usually formed when fuel is burned at a high temperature
common sources are the exhaust of Motor Vehicles industry
power plants and gas stove Tops carbon monoxide is colorless
and odorless and is formed when the carbon INF fuel doesn't
burn completely the main source of carbon monoxide is motor
vehicle exhausts and therefore carbon monoxide levels are very
high in Areas with heavy traffic congestion other sources
include industry incinerators and bushfires sulfur dioxide is a
gas that can be produced when sulfur containing fuels are burnt
during industrial processes like in power plants and refineries
lead is produced mostly As a result of metal and ore processing
motor vehicle exhaust used to be a major source of lead
pollution however regulatory efforts to reduce lead and fuel has
led to a massive reduction in lead emissions ozone is a gas that
is not emitted directly to the air but is formed as a result of
sunlight acting on other chemicals in the air ground level ozone
is a pollutant whereas ozone that occurs naturally in the upper
atmosphere has a protective function there are hundreds of
other air pollutants that can lead to adverse health effects okay
so what are the health Health effects effects exposure to air
pollution can result in a wide range of short and long-term
health effects the health effect will depend on factors like the
type of pollutant concentration length of exposure and
individual characteristics of the person exposed to it it can
range from minor symptoms like irritation of the Eyes Nose and
Throat to more severe conditions like heart and lung disease or
cancer it can also lead to increased Hospital admissions and an
increase in death rates in 2012 outdoor air pollution was
estimated to have caused 3.7 million deaths around the world
in addition to causing health effects air pollution can also lead
to damage to property reduced visibility and have other effects
on the environment like acid rain what can we How to reduce
air pollution do to reduce air pollution well there are many
different ways to reduce air pollution these require the
combined efforts of governments industry and individuals for
example governments can take actions like developing
standardsregulating the level of pollutants in the air developing
policies to reduce environmental impact of development and
using clean energy sources industry can take steps like reducing
their emissions to the environment taking measures to prevent
pollution accidents or developing technology to reduce
emissions like electric cars at an individual level reducing the
Reliance on fossil fuels can be achieved with actions like walking
using public transport or choosing energy efficient means of
living and transportation let's have a look now at How air
quality is monitored how air quality is monitored most
countries have National laws and regulations to control air
pollution these usually set out air quality standards that must
be adhered to these standards are set out by each country and
will depend on factors like technological feasibility economic
considerations capacity for air quality management political and
social factors these standards specify the concentration of a
number of selected pollutants called criteria pollutants that are
allowed in the air a useful way to track Air pollution against the
national standards is a measure called the air quality index (aqi)
this is a simple numerical or color-coded representation of how
clean the air is there are different ways of calculating the aqi
but it's essentially a measure of what the level of a pollutant is
compared to what the National Standard is now that we've had
a look at outdoor air pollution let's Indoor air pollution have a
look at indoor air pollution now although the indoor air quality
is affected by outdoor air the quality of indoor air can be
significantly different this is because there could be many
sources of indoor pollutants the most common source of indoor
pollution in the world is solid fuels like wood charcoal dung or
crop waste that are used for cooking or heating around the
world over three billion people use Simple stoves or open fires
to cook or heat their homes these methods are inefficient and
can lead to the generation of pollutants like particulate matter
which can result in concentrations indoors of up to 100 times
more than that of the outdoor air other sources include
tobacco smoke chemicals released from building materials
furnishings and household products pesticides as best as
containing insulation and products used for household cleaning
factors like inadequate ventilation and in some cases heat and
humidity can worsen indoor air pollution exposure to indoor air
pollution can lead to health effects similar to those caused by
outdoor air pollution in 2012 the World Health Reducing indoor
air pollution Organization estimated that 4.3 million people died
due to illness that could be attributed to household air pollution
caused by the use of solid fuel there are several ways to reduce
indoor air pollution including controlling it at the source this
includes actions like changing from solid fuels to cleaner and
more energy efficient Solutions like biog gas electricity or solar
power improving cooking devices and reducing the need for
open fire heating by constructing energy efficient housing
making improvements to the indoor environment this may
include increasing ventilation through windows or chimneys or
other design features like having the kitchen separate from the
house behavioral changes like properly maintaining stoves and
chimneys can reduce the accumulation of pollutants exposure
to indoor pollution can also be reduced with actions such as
using pot lids to conserve heat and minimize cooking time so
that's a look at air pollution an important public health issue
we've had a look at outdoor air pollution different types of
pollutants and their sources ways to reduce pollution and and
how air quality is monitored we've also talked about indoor air
pollution why it's a problem sources of pollution and ways to
reduce it