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consequences of air pollution essay
causes and effects of air pollution
consequences of air pollution essay
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Air pollution, the contamination of air through pollutants and gases (The American Heritage Stedman’s Medical Dictionary, n.d.) is an issue greatly impacting New Zealand’s citizen’s health and in Christchurch, can account for up to 9.1% of all deaths (Palmer & Mann, 2011). More prevalent in winter, when the mountainous terrain, calm winter weather and the warm air layer allow for the emissions to become trapped in a cold air blanket, locking them in at street level, thus creating a temperature inversion; (University of Waikato, 2009), the recommended exposure to PM10, a pollutant with particles that have a diameter smaller than 10 microns (Ministry for the Environment, 2003) in Christchurch is often surpassed (Palmer and Mann, 2011). Additionally, Palmer and Mann (2011) report that the majority of these particles originate from human activity, such as wood burning stoves, which account for up to 80% of all PM10 particles released (Moller, 2011), hydrocarbon-burning traffic and industrial wastes, which account for the remainder.
Of the deaths in Christchurch related to PM10 particle exposure, an estimated 48% were caused through the particle exposure through wood burning, 31% from traffic and 21% to other sources (Palmer and Mann, 2011).
Those who are most likely to suffer mortality as a consequence of the particulate exposure are infants, those over 65, school aged children and sufferers of respiratory illnesses (Fisher et al. 2005; Christchurch City Health Profile, 2012), and generally those who live in lower socio-economic areas (Christchurch City Health Profile, 2012).
Despite overexposure to these harmful emissions lowering annually, as shown by the Christchurch City Health Profile (2012), in 1998 there were 60 days in the ye...
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...ttp://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/Contexts/Enviro-imprints/Looking-Closer/Air-pollution-in-Christchurch
Christchurch City Health Profile (2012). Asthma. Christchurch Health and Wellbeing Profile Papers. Retrieved from http://www.healthychristchurch.org.nz/media/22930/asthma.pdf
Ministry for the Environment (2012) National environment standards for air: airsheds Retrieved 24 April 2014, from http://www.mfe.govt.nz/laws/standards/airsheds/
Environment Canterbury Regional Council (2012). Modelling the impact of five scenarios. Christchurch air quality: meeting the NESAQ targets for PM10 Retrieved from http://ecan.govt.nz/publications/Reports/christchurch-air-quality-scenarios.pdf Ministry for the Environment (2007). State of the Environment. Environment New Zealand, 2007 (chapter 7). Retrieved from http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/ser/enz07-dec07/chapter-7.pdf
The children and adults with existing medical conditions are susceptible to the adverse health effects after being exposed to high concentration of PM10 (Malborough District Council, n.d.). Besides that, there are also other researchers suggested that susceptible persons who experienced chronic lung disease, asthma or influenza are definitely sensitive to the effects of PM10 (US EPA, 2012).However, According to California Environmental Protection Agency, PM10 can reduce the body’s ability to fight infection besides of increase the severity of asthma attacks, cause bronchitis and other lung
5. Tonne C, Beevers S, Kelly FJ, Jarup L, Wilkinson P, Armstrong B. An approach for estimating the health effects of changes over time in air pollution: an illustration using cardio-respiratory hospital admissions in London. Occup Environ Med. 2010 Jun;67(6):422-427.
“In 2008, 21,000 Canadians died from the effects of air pollution.”(Geduld) Although most of these deaths are from long term exposure to the pollutants there was still “2,682 deaths caused from short term exposure.”(Geduld).“5.5 percent of cardiopulmonary (heart and lung disease related) deaths can be attributed to ground-level ozone exposure, which has increased over the past decade.” (David Suzuki Foundation)
Stephania A. Cornier, S. L. (2006). Origin and Helth Impacts of Emissons of Toxic By-Produts and Fine Particles from Combustion and Thermal Treatment of Hazardous Wastes. Environmental Health Perspectives, 810-817.
Neukirch, F., Segala, C., Moullec, Y.L., Korobaeff, M., Aubier, M. (1998). Short-term effects of low-level winter pollution on respiratory health of asthmatic adults. Archives of Environmental Health 53(5), 320–328.
Air pollution is a serious issue surrounding Philadelphia. As one of the nation’s largest cities, there are many people and buildings that make up the area. The more people
Many cities are currently affected by air pollution and Hong Kong is one example. Hong Kong’s air pollution level often exceeds the recommended air pollution level put out by the World Health Organization, and Hong Kong’s pollution index was at “very high” meaning that it exceeded 101, for 34% of the time (Hunt, 2011). Another example, when Hong Kong excee...
Annual premature deaths which occur due to outdoor air pollution were around 380,000 in 2010 and 550,000 in 2020, which are shocking
Smog doesn’t only affect living things but also effects synthetic products. With low-level exposure for only a month smog can crack rubber and with continued exposure can cause complete disintegration.
Peru which has a population of roughly seven million people experiences some of the most frequent and worst concentrations of air pollution. Concentration levels taken between 2001 and 2005 averaged around 185 micrograms per cubic meter of air, which placed Lima in the top 10 percentile for the most exposure of pollutants amon...
Fiadzegbe is located near the untarred haulage road connecting the Plant site and the Administration area. Particulate emissions created by vehicular movement along the haul road may have contributed to the dust levels recorded in this village. The high PM10 level could possibly be due to finer particulate matter being airborne for considerable time and therefore collected by the sampling equipment.
State of NSW & Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water NSW 2010, State of NSW & DECCW, Sydney.
Air pollution results from high concentrations of chemicals and particulate matter that pose a threat to human health, ecosystems, and manmade materials. Pollutants can be solid particles, liquids, or gases and are produced by human sources along with natural sources. Pollution from natural sources tend to become diluted and dispersed without causing major harm, whereas pollutants resulting from human sources tend to be more localized and a more serious problem. Scientists categorize air contaminants into two main categories: primary pollutants that directly enter the atmosphere and secondary pollutants formed between primary air pollutants and natural air components. Recent studies have been done in an effort to identify “the contributions of secondary pollutants formed by gas phase or surface chemistry to the levels and types of air pollutants that accumulate indoors (S).” It has been hypothesized that indoor air quality is two to five times worse than outdoor pollution due to the fact that buildings are enclosed, and therefore retain the particles inside with less chance to di...
Warwickhughes.com. 2014. Urbanisation Canberra « Search Results « Errors in IPCC climate science. [Online] Available at: http://www.warwickhughes.com/blog/index.php?s=urbanization+canberra [Accessed: 6 Apr 2014].
World Health Organisation (WHO) (2014, March). Ambient (outdoor) air quality and health. Retrieved April 18, 2014, from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs313/en/