Know what are the most important environmental consequences of global atmospheric pollution, should any modern person. The responsibility of scientists, ecologists, and industrialists is especially great, but ordinary people should also be guided in this matter. In many ways, public awareness creates pressure on industrial enterprises, forcing them to be more responsible in organizing their work and reducing emissions. Knowing all the causes and consequences, people will understand how important it is to protect the world we live in.
What is it about?
To understand what are the most important environmental consequences of global atmospheric pollution, one should understand what this term is used to denote. Current science proposes to regard as atmospheric pollution the inclusion in the air of our planetadditional ingredients that are not peculiar to him. These may be chemical or biological in nature. Possible physical contamination. This phenomenon also includes a change in the level of content of various elements relative to what should be normal.
WHO specialists organized research activities to determine the consequences of pollution. In 2014, it was estimated that air pollution alone caused the deaths of approximately 3.7 million people. In total, deaths caused by such pollution amount to about seven million annually, if we take into account the impact on air masses not only outside buildings, but also indoors. The WHO has an international organization dedicated to cancer research. Her work proved that it is atmospheric pollution that is the main cause that provokes malignant pathologies. Additional studies of this problem were organized by American specialists from the Austin Texas University. As they found, global atmospheric pollution is causing a decrease in the duration of human existence by about a year.
Atmospheric pollution: what happens?
To briefly describe the environmental consequences of atmospheric pollution, we must first consider what it is. Modern scientists single out anthropogenic and natural aspects of the problem. They are physical, chemical and biological. The first involves mechanicalinclusions in the environment, radiation, noise, electromagnetic waves, including radio emission. Heat emissions belong to the physical category. Chemical atmospheric pollution includes aerosols, substances in gaseous form. At the moment, the most common pollution of the environment is carbon monoxide. No less significant are nitrogen oxides, heavy metal impurities, sulfur dioxide, aldehydes and hydrocarbons. The environment is polluted with dust emissions, radioactive elements and ammonia.
Biological atmospheric pollution is caused by microbes that are dangerous to the world. The air becomes dirtier due to vegetative forms, numerous viral, bacterial, fungal spores, toxins. The environment around us is poisoned by the waste products of these microorganisms.
Sources
Ecological consequences of atmospheric pollution are not only due to human activities. There are natural sources - natural pathways of pollution, including fires, dust and volcanic activity, pollen and organic emissions from various life forms. Artificial sources - anthropogenic. They are usually divided into several categories. Transport generating volumetric emissions is extremely important. Not only cars familiar to modern man are dangerous, but also trains, sea and river vessels, and air vehicles. Industrial pollution is caused by the activity of technological processes. Air pollution due to heating belongs to this category. Finally, the household type is associated with everyday processes, for example, the combustion of fuel in a person's house. household sourcesdue to the processing of waste generated in the process of human life.
Ecological impacts of air pollution are to some extent due to mechanical emissions in the form of dust. Such is generated in the work of cement enterprises, furnaces, is thrown out of boilers and furnaces. During the combustion of oil, oil products, soot is formed. During operation, car tires are erased. All this pollutes the environment. The chemical category includes those compounds that have the ability to react.
Can something be changed and is it necessary?
Because the environmental consequences of atmospheric pollution have been attracting the attention of scientists for more than a decade, it was decided at the international level to organize a special program to combat the problem. One of the promising ways proposed by experts was the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. For the first time, an agreement on this issue was concluded in 1997. It was then that the Kyoto Protocol was formed. The documentation united many powers of our planet, which are at a sufficient level of development for the population and industry to actively use systems and equipment that generate carbon dioxide.
It is difficult to overestimate the urgency of combating the environmental consequences of atmospheric pollution (cities, other settlements and other territories of the planet). Atmospheric pollution greatly affects humans. The vital activity of microscopic, plant, and animal forms of life is disrupted. Such a phenomenon globally affects the biosphere and becomes a source of economic damage.
Man and Nature
Considering which major environmental consequences of global atmospheric pollution are especially significant for humans, the impact on he alth should be noted. Research work was carried out to prove how strong the impact on humanity. The study of industrial centers, which are characterized by low air quality, showed a high level of morbidity among people, especially pronounced in the children's age category and among the elderly. Atmospheric pollution leads to greater mortality. Smoky, soot particles contained in the air absorb the light of the sun, there is a loss of a certain percentage of ultraviolet radiation, which is important for the he alth of not only humans, but also many animals. The lack of such radiation provokes beriberi and initiates rickets. The dirtier the air, the higher the likelihood of irritability of the tissues of the respiratory system, and this leads to pulmonary emphysema. Residents of polluted areas are more likely to have bronchitis, asthma.
Considering the environmental consequences of atmospheric pollution, one cannot ignore the impact of carcinogenic compounds on human he alth. Such inclusions can initiate malignant processes in the human body. Cancer-provoking compounds are generated as a result of incomplete combustion of fuel. They are emitted by cars with gases, air transport. Carcinogens are dangerous industrial waste that appears in the process of fuel combustion. No less importantgaseous substances formed during the industrial transformation of oil.
Man: what else is dangerous?
Atmospheric pollution includes radiation. The most active in relation to life forms of radiation - gamma and x-rays. Strontium is dangerous for human he alth. This substance accumulates in the musculoskeletal system. Its accumulation provokes malignant processes. Strontium contamination of the environment in which a person lives, with a high degree of probability becomes the cause of leukemia. Other serious pathologies may form.
How to notice?
Regarding a particular person, the environmental consequences of global atmospheric pollution are expressed in the deterioration of he alth. Many suffer from headaches, others feel sick, the body as a whole responds with weakness. People living in conditions of pollution become less able to work, eventually completely losing the ability to work. The body is less active in resisting infectious agents. Bad smell, an abundance of dust, noise in the environment around, other pollutants provoke a general state of discomfort, negatively affecting the human mental status.
Animals suffer from the pollution of the world no less than humans. Among the environmental consequences of global atmospheric pollution is the fallout of hazardous compounds that affect various organisms. The main way of penetration is through the respiratory organs and with food, including vegetation contaminated with dust. Animal poisonings are not only acute, but alsolong time proceeding in a chronic form. Under their influence, the individual falls ill, body weight decreases, appetite worsens. Possible loss of livestock. This phenomenon is often recorded among wild animals. Against the background of atmospheric pollution, the genetic fund changes, the changes are inherited. This is more likely in conditions of radioactive contamination. Various substances that reduce the quality of the atmosphere react with parts of the biosphere, affect natural processes, and pollutant components enter organisms through vegetation, liquid.
Atmosphere and plants
The most important environmental consequences of global air pollution include the impact on the flora. In many ways, the development of such life forms is due to clean air. The impact on plants is determined by the characteristics of the pollutant and the concentration of this substance in the environment. In many ways, the results of influence are corrected by the duration of contact and the susceptibility of a particular form. The stage of development of a living organism plays a role. To notice damage, it is usually enough to look at the plant from the outside. The physical sign is pollution. This is usually caused by soot and ash, cement dust, iron oxides.
Vegetation growing in large settlements is polluted integrally with a variety of toxic compounds. Such life forms are most sensitive to sulfur dioxide and compounds, including fluorine and chlorine molecules. Ecological consequences of local andglobal atmospheric pollution by these substances in relation to vegetation - slowdown in the growth and development of such forms, gradual death.
Relevance to Humans
Not only the environment, but also human activity suffers from the environmental consequences of atmospheric pollution by vehicles, industrial facilities and other factors mentioned above. The national economy suffers greatly from the deterioration of air quality. Structures made of metal are quickly destroyed under the influence of aggressive inclusions, roofs, facades of objects suffer, the quality level of the product is deteriorating. The higher the concentration of sulfuric, nitric, carbon oxides, the faster the materials used in construction are destroyed. Metal corrosion is richer and more aggressive. In an industrialized settlement, steel is subject to rust two dozen times more. For aluminum, the rate of destruction is a hundred times faster when compared with objects in the countryside.
For housing and communal services, the most important environmental consequence of global atmospheric pollution is also damage to structures, facilities and buildings. The social infrastructure and cultural sphere of settlements are suffering. There is destruction of historical objects, architectural monuments. In a word, any object and product, structure, located in the open air, if there is atmospheric pollution, suffers.
Agriculture and ecology
Very difficult to assess environmental impactsanthropogenic pollution of the atmosphere with regards to the agricultural sector. Studies have shown a relationship between crop shortages and the presence of aggressive components in the air. Inclusions of phenol and dust have a negative effect. Sulfurous anhydride pollution is strongly affected. As shown by statistical studies, such phenomena are especially pronounced if we consider the crops taken from the fields of winter wheat. If the air is cleaned so that the dust content decreases by 0.1 mg/m3, the yield will become more significant by 0.36 centners from each sown hectare.
The deterioration of air quality, as well as other aspects of the environment, reduces the productivity of livestock.
Key implications
There are several major environmental effects of air pollution: the greenhouse effect, smog, ozone depletion, acidic rains.
Greenhouse effect - a term that refers to the temperature increase in the lower atmospheric layer. This becomes higher than the normal effective level of radiation of the planet, noticeable when examined from space. The radiation flux from the Sun is stable; therefore, the planetary heat balance becomes a key factor determining the average annual surface heating, and at the same time, the climate. To maintain an adequate balance, the absorption of radiation from short waves and the emission of long waves must be equal. Absorption of short waves depends on the albedo of the planet. The greenhouse effect corrects the situation. It depends on the temperature of our atmosphere and the components that form it.
Precipitation fromincreased levels of acidity can be in the form of rain, but not only. This includes hail, nebula and snow. The common parameter that unites all such phenomena is a decrease in the balance of acidity and alkalinity due to the inclusion of additional elements in the atmosphere. The cause is usually acidic oxides, mainly nitrogen and sulfur.
More about precipitation
As an environmental impact of atmospheric pollution, acid rain requires special attention. Studies have shown that even in the absence of aggressive inclusions, rainwater is characterized by a slightly acidic reaction. It is caused by carbon dioxide present in the air. Acid precipitation is explained by the interaction of water and sulfur, nitrogen components. Substances of this type enter the environment due to the activity of machines, industrial facilities, including metallurgical ones. Sulfuric substances, native sulfur and compounds that give a similar effect of pollution are observed in ore, coal, identified in hydrogen sulfide.
Nitrogen compounds are observed in peat, coal. The process of combustion of such substances leads to the generation of nitrogen oxides that can become acidic solutions. With precipitation, they fall on the ground.
Ozone and ecology
Atmospheric pollution leads to the formation of an ozone hole. The term denotes a local decrease in the ozone content in the atmospheric layer of our planet. In the theory, which is currently considered the main one, the anthropogenic factor is defined as the main one influencing the state of this layer. imbalancedue to the release of freons, which contain molecules of bromine, chromium. Particularly curious in terms of this phenomenon is the report of WMO (an organization dealing with meteorology at the international level). It provides clear evidence of the dependence of the quality and thickness of the ozone layer on emissions into the environment. The thinner this gaseous cover of the planet, the more actively the radiation hits its surface. The result is an increase in the incidence of oncological diseases, mainly of the skin. High radiation levels affect society, flora and fauna.
Mankind is taking measures to limit the penetration of dangerous compounds into the atmosphere. The idea of switching to freons containing fluorine is being promoted. The restoration of the layer, if it is possible to completely abandon the most aggressive emissions, will take several decades. This is largely due to the large accumulated volumes of aggressive compounds. Presumably, the ozone hole may be delayed by the middle of this century.
