Does Air Pollution Help Reduce Global Warming?

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In the article Does Air Pollution Help Reduce Global Warming by Evan Galloway, the author starts off with naming some of the many contributors to global warming. One example he uses is a fossil fuel that we know as coal. Galloway goes on to describe what is released from the coal when it is burned (which is carbon dioxide and sulfate) and the affect it has on our atmosphere. When sulfate is released into the air it forms aerosols, which contribute to our pollution and acid rain. (Galloway, 2009)

Lina M. Mercado of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in the United Kingdom and other colleagues, discovered new evidence that suggest aerosols might actually help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. The new research presented by Mercado shows that aerosol scatters light across the forests, exposing more plants to the light and increasing photosynthesis during the process. This new research sheds a little light on the policies the government already has set in place to reduce pollution and might be at odds. (Galloway, 2009)

It was predicted by researchers that the effects of aerosols in the environment would cause global dimming, (a decrease in the amount of sun reaching the earth). These predictions of this effect turned out to be correct and were long taken into account. But people started noticing that global dimming may also have a second effect. Less light meant less photosynthesis, which reduced the amount of carbon dioxide took in by plants. Assuming that this second effect was true, in addition to decreasing acid rain and air pollution, aerosol reduction would help better global warming. The overall effect of atmospheric aerosols was to produce more carbon intake; the reason is more complicated that global dimmin...

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...e need to take into consideration about how we use these products, and think about how it affects life around us. The question that I have is that, if Aerosols are such a huge contributor to acid rain and air pollution, why aren’t the people more informed? This is my first time hearing ever that aerosols were such a problem, or should I say too much aerosols. I also wonder because this article is 5 years old, is this even still a huge issue or not. I see people in stores buying more and more products with aerosol in them more than ever. And if this is still a huge problem, I hope that we could someday hit that point where global dimming begins and the large amounts carbon dioxide used decreases for good.

References

Galloway, E. (2009, May). Does air pollution help reduce global warming?

Today's Science. Retrieved from Today's Science database.

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