Air pollution is the biggest problem we as Americans face today.

The problem arose during the industrial revolution and has just gotten worse since then. However, the industrial revolution brought many great changes to the world; better transportation, cheaper merchandise, and has made our life better. In the beginning of the industrial revolution, the problem of pollution was not something that people paid attention too. As the science involved, people began to realize the problem with pollution. Many different sources cause air pollution. Automobiles that are burning gasoline produce very harmful gases and incineration of products. Factories produce millions of particles that are carried off into the air. Gaseous by-products produced by chemical plants release these toxic gases when their concentration is at a high enough level. As the world has become more industrialized, the increased amount of air pollution and new health hazards have developed. Air pollution can arise from different sources that we cannot control. For example, forest fires, dust storms, and volcanoes. One of the sources of air pollution is acid rain. Raindrops that are combined with polluted air create acid rain. Acid rain mainly causes the erosion of buildings, destruction of crops, and many other assets. Global warming is also caused by acid rain. Many scientists predict that significant alterations in climate patterns could become more noticeable in the next few years. The global average temperature has been estimated to project an increase of as much as 9 F before the year 2100. Indoor and outdoor air pollution are the two main sources of pollution. Indoor air polluters include many different products, from certain cleaners to furnishings, which release toxic organic compounds into the air that you breathe. Another very toxic indoor air pollutant is called mold, which is a microscopic organism that can grow on any type of surface; it typically grows where the humidity is above 70 percent. Mold creates spores that go inside the human body and may cause complications. The American Lung Association states that, mold triggers allergic reactions, which includes asthma. A recent study done by the Mayo Clinic states that mold is the main cause of all chronic sinus infections. Mold can also lead to serious complications, including breathing difficulties, memory and hearing loss, and bleeding of the lungs. Indoor pollutants are serious, but they are minimal compared to the outdoor pollutants that are in the air we breathe. Fissile fuel are gases that are released into the air, which are burned by the factory ships, automobiles, ships, and trains. Every industry produces their own pattern of air pollution. Sulfuric acid is the major cause of the acidity of acid rain, which not only damages the forests in the Northern Hemisphere, but is also causes fish to die off in many northern lakes. Solutions for this problem are very expensive; due to the difficulty of removing the sulfur from coal and oil, they are burned. Carbon dioxide is less lethal than carbon monoxide, sulfur oxide, and nitrogen oxide, but carbon dioxide (CO2) is the one major pollutant in the atmosphere. Fossil fuels and deforestation are the major sources of carbon dioxide. In 1975, there were 18thousand million tons of carbon dioxide that was released into the atmosphere, however, the atmosphere only showed an increase of 8 million tons. Ocean waters contain approximately sixty times more carbon dioxide than the atmosphere. If the oceans no longer can absorb this ratio of carbon

dioxide, then there will be more carbon dioxide remaining in the atmosphere. If the water warms, the ability to absorb carbon dioxide is drastically reduced. Air pollution causes many different respiratory diseases to humans. Is the major cause of asthma, which an estimated 24.7 million Americans have been diagnosed with, according to the American Lung Association; asthma costs the nation $12.7 billion annually. From 1980 to 1994,diagnosed asthma cases have increased 75 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These statistics are surprising, but no one should be shocked, because from1980 to 2002, more factories, more forest fires, and countless vehicles, which all of these have been contributing to air pollution. Furthermore, the current air pollution and the pollution from before the 1980 era is still in the air today, the air cannot absorb anymore more of these gases. All of the governments of the worlds nations are taking different measures to solve this problem. The Clean Air Act has been passed in many countries, which has reduced the air pollution. However, just having these laws, it is not enough to protect the environment. We as Americans have to take a stand and help solve this problem. For example, by getting your vehicle tuned-up more frequently so it does not smoke as much. Factories should use the resources available to them that produce less pollutants, for example instead of using coal, they can use natural gas, due to it produces less pollutants. In conclusion, try imagining this scenario, a Red Cross truck that pulls into a small neighborhood and hands out bottled water to the people that are need of safe water to drink. Imagining this is hard, but water is a very important part of life. However, if the problem of air pollution continues, there might be a day when we all have to breathe out of an oxygen tank. If things continue as they are today, that day might not be too far into the future. All I can do is my part in trying to save the environment and hope there will be a solution to this problem in the near future.