Wildfires to further degrade air quality on our planet

Wildfires have become much more frequent over the last few years and this trend is set to continue even further, the latest study done by the US scientists suggests that by the year 2100, emissions from wildfires in California alone will grow by 19 to 101 percent.

The main reason behind this expected growth of emissions is climate, which is fast changing as our planet becomes hotter due to rapid increase in man-made carbon emissions.

One of the major environmental damages done by more frequent wildfires will be degraded air quality because this will lead to a much higher level of air pollutants in the air leading to adverse effects to human health causing aggravated respiratory conditions.

Climate change is almost certain to impact the number and severity of wildfires, meaning that already concerning air pollution issue will likely grow even further in not so distant future. The science still hasn't proposed the way on which people can better prepare for the future and perhaps lessen the effects of these wildfires.

It's not just air pollution that is worrying scientists but also risk of damage to buildings and homes in hot areas such as American West. People will quickly need to learn how to mitigate these effects in wildfire-prone regions in order to protect their homes and their health.

Air pollution coming from wildfires is not just major health issue, it will also likely lead to lower crop yield, and forest health could suffer, doing damage to many ecosystems that depend on forests.

Air pollution has the ability to migrate

Air pollution can migrate from one region to other, even from one continent to other. In fact, U.S. scientists from the University of Maryland have calculated that approximately half of the aerosols that affect domestic air quality originate from other continents including Asia, Europe and Africa.

Most of these pollutants aren't industrial emissions but rather dust from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. In fact, approximately 87.5 percent of total foreign aerosols refer to dust that comes from across the Pacific.

This means that foreign pollution affects the quality of U.S. air and that air pollution shouldn't be looked at as purely regional issue but rather a global issue whose impact is constantly growing.

Winds can carry atmospheric particles thousands of miles, meaning that these particles can impact air quality in other regions. The good news with dust pollution is the fact that its migration occurs at high altitudes, therefore it is unlikely to seriously affect the quality of U.S. air.

This study was the first of its kind in using the satellite-measurement-based estimate of the amount of airborne particles that come to North America from other continents.

This modern satellite technology is equipped with sensors that monitor aerosol plumes across the ocean and measure their composition and particle characteristics. By using these technology researchers are even able to tell the difference between dust and the other types of aerosols (from instance those that originate from fossil fuel burning).

The scientists believe that the amount of foreign dust in the U.S. air will continue to grow in years to come because drought periods will likely become much more frequent because of the ongoing global warming phenomenon.

This latest study is another proof that there are plenty new factors affecting domestic air pollution than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  has accounted for. There is also a strong link between air pollution and ongoing climate change.

Cleaner cars reducing VOC's pollution

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are one of the top air pollutants but luckily their concentrations in air have significantly decreased in the last 50 years. This has mostly to do with the fact that today's cars are much cleaner than the ones produced 50 years ago.

VOCs are primarily being emitted into the air from the tailpipes of vehicles, and are known to be a key substance of the ozone, which at excessive levels can lead to health issues (harming lungs) and can also cause major damage to plants.

The Los Angeles area in California is one of the worst air polluted areas in the United States, and U.S. researchers were certainly very surprised after discovering that the levels of VOC's in the air in the Los Angeles Basin have dropped by about 98 percent since the 1960s. In fact, VOCs levels decreased by an average of 7.5 percent per year.

It certainly looks like California's longtime efforts to control vehicle pollution have at least somewhat paid off because even on the most polluted day during a research mission in 2010, researchers measured only 50 of VOCs pollutants compared to measurement taken eight years earlier, in 2002.

What this means is that the ozone levels have been steadily dropping in Los Angeles Basin since the 1960s, but the bad news is that the current levels still fail to meet ozone standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The cars have become much cleaner because of the „improved catalytic converters, use of reformulated fuels less prone to evaporate, and overall improved engine efficiency of new vehicles.“

The decrease in emissions of VOCs is set to continue further because new cars are becoming increasingly cleaner, especially as hybrid and electric vehicles further grow in popularity across the Californian roads.

Clean air is one of the main prerequisites of normal, healthy life and is certainly good to see that the California's clean air policy is finally bearing fruit.

The future impact of air pollution

Air pollution is major environmental issue in many countries of the world. The human-made emissions continue to grow and this will lead to further worsening of global air quality in years to come.

The EU scientists from the Max Planck Institute say that if the world continues "business as usual" with the increasing level of carbon emissions, the average world citizen will by 2050 experience similar levels of air pollution to that of today's average East Asian citizen.

Air pollution is not only major environmental issue but also a major health risk which leads to millions of deaths worldwide. World Health Organization says that urban outdoor air pollution leads to 1.3 million deaths per year worldwide.

The scientists are calling for much stronger efforts, including much more effective legislation, to avoid further deterioration of global air quality and prevent further negative impact on human health.

The global air pollution reduction measures are yet to be implemented, and the important first step would no doubt be agreeing on new international climate change deal. The bad news is that climate change talks have so far showed very little progress with large number of countries being reluctant to significantly reduce their carbon emission levels.

What world desperately needs in this time is a global clean air policy. However, this sort of international policy will be hard to achieve, particularly given the large difference in opinion between the developed and the developing countries.

China still remains the world's largest air polluter, followed by United States. These two large countries have so far showed very little in terms of good will to lead the world in reducing the global carbon footprint.

 If we fail to do something to prevent further increase in emissions our children and grandchildren will be forced to live in the world with much worsened air quality.

The areas of eastern China, northern India, the Middle East, and North Africa are projected to have the world's poorest air quality in years to come, but the levels of several major air pollutants is also set to significantly rise in much of the Western world.

Green plants can improve air quality in cities

Many cities, from all over the globe, are experiencing excessive levels of air pollution, mostly because of traffic and/or increased industrial activity. Polluted air does not only lead to different environmental but also to many health issues, and this is the reason why we must all tend to improve air quality in our cities.

One of the simplest ways on how we can improve air quality in our cities is to plant more green plants. The recent study by UK scientists says that green plants such as grass and climbing ivy can significantly reduce nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and microscopic particulate matter (PM) levels in the air.

These two air pollutants can be can be quite harmful to human health and the scientists have also discovered that their concentration exceeds safe levels on the streets of many cities.

The UK scientists report that the „judicious placement of grass, climbing ivy and other plants in city streets can reduce the concentration of NO₂ by as much as 40 percent and PM by 60 percent“. This is approximately 8 times more than previously believed.

The researchers also concluded that trees aren't always highly effective in reducing the levels of these pollutants, and getting the most of them can be only done if prior care is taken to avoid trapping pollutants beneath their crowns.

Green plants can fight air pollution in many different ways, not only do they trap and hold these harmful air pollutants (they trap and filter pollutants by leaves, stems and twigs), but also absorb CO2 and produce oxygen in the process.

Urban designers should consider these positive effects of planting more green plants in cities, and make sure to „green“ their cities as much as possible.

Excessive air pollution can lead to repeated heart attacks

Many people look at air pollution issue strictly from the environmental point of view, forgetting that air pollution not only has harmful impact on our environment but also on our health. The negative health impact of air pollution doesn't stop on respiratory diseases such as asthma and lung cancer, air pollution also does serious damage to our heart.

The latest interesting study on this topic comes from Israel where scientists have concluded that exposure to air pollution not only increases the risk of heart attack and stroke but it also causes repeated episodes over the long term.

Dr. Yariv Gerber of TAU's School of Public Health at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine said that long-term exposure to air pollution leads to chronic irritation of inflammatory system that can lead to repeated heart attack(s).

People that live in areas with high levels of air pollutants in the air are said to be 40 percent more prone to a second heart attack when compared to people that live in areas with normal level of air pollutants in the air.

Dr. Gerber also said that the actual negative impact of air pollution on our health might be even stronger because using data from monitoring stations gives only a crude estimate of exposure, so the precise results could be lot more serious.

The major sources of air pollution are industrial and car emissions. Many cities all across the world are areas with high levels of harmful air pollutants in the air, and people that live in these cities are very vulnerable to different health issues as the result of excessive air pollution.

The health benefits of clean air are enormous. The health risks of air pollution are great and countries need to take this issue far more seriously. The World Health Organization estimates that around 2.4 million people die each year from causes directly attributed to air pollution.

How to improve air quality of our planet?

Air pollution is taking heavy toll in many countries and cities all across the world. This is the main reason why there is a large number of countries that have set new emission targets in order to improve their air quality, particularly in large cities.

But how to improve air quality when the number of cars in our roads, as well as global industrial activity, continues to grow?

The answer for this is cleaner technologies, with the emphasis on renewable energy.  Our industry is still heavily based on fossil fuels and as long as fossil fuels remain dominant energy sources we won't be able to stop environmental pollution.

Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources is the best way to improve overall air quality of our planet, and leave our planet in healthy state for our future generations.

The main problem with this concept is that fossil fuels still have edge in costs over renewable energy sources, and many people still do not want to pay higher energy bills, even if this means less air pollution in their area.

The transition to renewable energy economy is therefore still not happening fast enough, even with the recent popularity of solar and wind energy. People don’t want to pay more for renewable energy and this issue is something that science will have to find the solution for, and as quickly as possible because the environmental condition of our planet continues to deteriorate.

Air pollution isn't happening only in Chinese cities, it is also a common thing in many cities of the western world, especially those with the high amount of daily traffic. To solve this issue we need cleaner cars on our roads, such as electric or hybrid cars. We could be also walking more or riding a bike than going everywhere with our cars. This is not only good to improve air quality of the area we live in but is also very healthy.

Countries also need to improve their monitoring of different air pollutants. The monitoring needs to be done more thoroughly and more frequently in order to determine the actual air quality in certain area, as well as possible changes in air quality which could lead to easier discovery of sources behind the (potential increase) in air pollution.

Without clean air you can forget about healthy life. If our environment is still regarded as second best when compared to industry then at least our health should be more important, or are we even ready to sacrifice our health for a few dollars more?