Article: Air pollution

Before flue gas desulfurization was installed,the emissions from this power plant in New Mexico contained excessive amounts of sulfur dioxide.

Air pollution is a broad term applied to any chemical, physical (e.g. particulate matter), or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere. The atmosphere is a complex, dynamic natural system that is essential to support life on planet earth. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution has long been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the earth's ecosystems.

Worldwide air pollution is responsible for large numbers of deaths and cases of respiratory disease. Setting of air quality standards, such as the U.S. Clean Air Act, has begun to improve air quality for some pollutants. While major stationary sources are often identified with air pollution, the greatest source of emissions are actually mobile sources, principally the automobile. There are many available air pollution control technologies and urban planning strategies available to reduce air pollution; however, worldwide costs of addressing this issue are high. The most immediately available method of improving air quality is adoption of greater use of bioethanol fuel, biodiesel, solar energy and increased reliance upon hybrid vehicle technology.

Deaths

It is estimated that three million people indirectly die of respiratory and cardiovascular disease worldwide, many of which cases are linked to air quality and smog.[1] Many of these mortalities are largely attributable to indoor air pollution.[2] Worldwide more deaths per year are linked to air pollution than the number deaths caused by automobile accidents.[3] Research published in 2005 suggests that 310,000 Europeans die from air pollution annually. Direct causes of air pollution related deaths include aggravated asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, lung and heart diseases, and other respiratory allergies. The US EPA estimates that a proposed set of changes in diesel engine technology (Tier 2) could result in 12,000 fewer premature mortalities, 15,000 fewer heart attacks, 6000 fewer emergency room visits by children with asthma, and 8900 fewer respiratory-related hospital admissions each year in the United States.

Looking down from the Hollywood Hills, air pollution is visible in downtown Los Angeles on a late afternoon.

The worst short term civilian event from pollution in India was the 1984 Bhopal Disaster. Leaked industrial vapors killed more than 2,000 people outright and injured anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 others, some 6,000 of whom would later die from their injuries. The United Kingdom suffered its worst air pollution event when the December 4th Great Smog of 1952 formed over London. In six days more than 4,000 died, and 8000 more died within the following months. An accidental leak of anthrax spores from a biological warfare laboratory in the former USSR in 1979 near Sverdlovsk is believed to have been the cause of hundreds of civilian deaths. The worst single incident of air pollution to occur in the United States of America occurred in Donora, Pennsylvania in late October, 1948, when 20 people died and over 7,000 were injured. ^[1]