How Air Pollution Affects Public Health

Most of us have a vague understanding of the simple fact that pollution is bad for our health. Pollution, and climate change, seems to be a bogey man that we use to place blame anytime we wake up to smog in the sky or an uncharacteristic sore throat. What you don’t see, is what contributes to pollution and all of the ways it affects you and your health.



Climate change reduces air quality
Climate change is caused by a number of various factors. Greenhouse gas emissions, which includes ozone, particulate matter from fossil fuels, and carbon dioxide all contribute to creating pollution that seeps into our breathable air. In turn, this pollution can cause so many health problems.

The air that you consume on a daily basis has so much stronger of an effect than you think. Diminished lung function is a direct result, and leads to increased hospital admission, premature death, and increased breathing problems, such as asthma. It’s anticipated that the increase of ozone in our breathable air will contribute to thousands of additional illnesses and deaths per year over the next decade. Think about that. Not thousands of death over ten years, but thousands of death per year over the next decade. That’s a significant decline in public health.



Wildfires
A result and cause of air pollution, is an increase in wildfires. Because of the increase of greenhouse gas emissions, our climate is becoming increasingly warmer. This, among other things, results in more wildfires. The smoke from these fires contribute to a worsened state of the air quality in any given area. From this, we have an increase in known allergens, and that directly leads to aggravated cardiovascular illnesses, respiratory illnesses, and allergy related illnesses.

The overall impact of air pollution on your areaSome areas of the world have a worse air quality than others. Overall, air quality worldwide is slowly deteriorating. If your state or city is subject to inversion(likely the case if you live in a valley of some sort), these toxins in the air will become trapped and create a smog over your city. During these days, leaving the house can instantly make you feel sick and sluggish. This is, in part, due to the fact that you aren’t getting a proper amount of oxygen in your lungs. 



What you can do
You are just one person, and you can’t expect to change the world or your environment overnight. But, even though you are just one person, that doesn’t mean that you can’t make positive change in your community. Just in the last two years, dairy milk consumption has gone down 25%, due to the younger generations opting for natural, plant based milks instead. That is a significant drop. Don’t let yourself think that, because you are just one person, you can’t contribute to change.

The best things you can do to try to eliminate air pollution in your area are to try to drive less, recycle everything that you can, and try to cut out animal products from your diet slowly. This isn’t to say that you have to commit to being a vegan tomorrow, or even ever. Just taking one day to not eat meat will make a huge impact, much larger than you could anticipate. Try out different plant based sources of protein, to supplement the amount of meat you normally eat. Educating those around you that may not be aware of the effect their choices have on their environment is important, too. Don’t take your influence for granted!

2 comments:

  1. Air Pollution is the big issue everywhere and people cant control it because of human needs the solution is one thing increase plant implantation other search ayurvedic doctor online he will guide properly to your health issue.

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