The air is shared by all living beings. When the air is polluted by a factory, a fire, a storm of dust and car emissions, the sharing continues despite these chemicals and particles have harmful effects.
Scientists have established many of the local effects of air pollution. We know, for example, that adversely affects human health, and causes coughing, irritability of the eyes, breathing problems and even death. We know that the clouds of polluted air or smog reduce visibility and that acid rain from chemical emissions damage property, contaminate water sources, and can damage forests, wildlife and agriculture.
But what are the regional and global impacts of air pollution are? Through many field campaigns, scientists are tracking the movements of pollution at regional and global scales. Their goal is to determine the movement of air pollution and its impact on climate, as well as its atmospheric composition locally, regionally and globally.
Air pollution caused by people and their effects, are an example of the "tragedy of the commons" -concept indicating that all resource open to all will eventually be destroyed. Although people are creating lot of pollution in the air, the answer depends on what people do to respond to this problem. Much has been done to improve air quality in recent decades, but there is still a long way to go.
The Tragedy of the Commons
In short it means that a shared resource is inevitably ruined because of poorly controlled use.
To explain this concept a community field is used. The villagers take to feed their cows. Only they wish pasture for their cows before this is over. Nobody wants to know what the consequences of so many cows are eating grass, and therefore the tragedy of the commons occurs. The grass field and community disappear.
There are plenty of real abuses that illustrate this phenomenon, including air pollution created by the people; hunting animals to the point of extinction; the widespread abuse and destruction of forests and coral reefs in our oceans; climate changes caused by man because of the burning of fossil fuels and nuclear power plants to generate energy.
Some people believe that the Tragedy of the Commons can only be averted if most sources become private property. But how does someone own the air or the ocean? Can they air or the oceans remain free of contamination with megacities with a population of 10 million or more people? Other people believe that the "Tragedy of the Commons" can be avoided through laws and taxes that make it more costly to serve an individual interest in the common good. What most people remember for now is that these vital resources need some form of control, so that natural resources can prevail and prevent a tragedy of the commons occurs.
Air pollution and climate change
Air pollution affects the Earth's climate. However, not all types of pollutants have the same effect. There are many types of air pollution. Some make our planet warms faster. Others do that the rate of decrease global warming through temporary cooling. Read on to learn more about the pollutants that cause that cause warming and cooling.
Some pollutants contribute to further global warming.
Air pollution includes gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. These are greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases do not represent a large percentage of the Earth's atmosphere, but even small amounts have a profound effect on the global climate. Greenhouse gases are mainly responsible for the increase of about 0.6 ° Celsius (1 Fahrenheit) in air temperature of global surface during the last century, and scientists predict that future warming will be greater.
Greenhouse gases cause Global Warming by capturing solar radiation in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases are natural part of the atmosphere of the Earth, but in the last 150 years the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere has increased significantly due to the increased amount of exhaust from cars, and pollutants released from stacks of factories and power plants.
Some air pollutants originate a temporary cooling.
Cars, trucks and fireplaces release tiny particles into the atmosphere. These small particles are known by the name of aerosols, and range in size from 10 nanometers to over 100 micrometers in diameter. These can be composed of various substances such as mineral powder, sulfates, sea salt or coal. Some of these small particles block of the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth, causing cooling. These particles can occur naturally in the atmosphere, for instance, after the eruption of volcanoes or smoke from forest fires, but the air polluting released by burning fossil fuels also contributes small particles into the atmosphere.
Greenhouse gases remain in the atmosphere for years and cause global warming. Computer models indicate that the sulfates and other particles originate cooling approximately equivalent to half the warming caused by the greenhouse gases.