Air Pollutants

Pollution, its something we as Americans hear about almost everyday.  It is a hot topic up for debate when concerning how we regulate it.  But there is one thing about pollution that isn’t up for debate, and that’s the fact it is bad for humans.  Not only is it bad for us in terms of it destroying our environment, but it’s actually bad for our bodies too.  There are all sorts of types of pollution in today’s world.  Whether that be air pollution, water pollution, light pollution, or sound pollution.  Humans have produced a truly alarming amount of pollution, and it seems to follow the laws of karma, in that it comes back to hurt us.  We have only seen the tip of the iceberg in how this will affect us in the future, but I will tell you in some ways it already is.  Most of the time when we hear the word “pollution” we tend to think air pollution.  A stereotypical image of a smoke stack comes to mind for most. 

And this is in fact how we release a lot of pollution.  But what is coming out of these factory smoke stacks?  Well for starters, its safe to say none of it is good.  Hundreds of thousands of manufacturing processes in the world create a wide array of chemicals that become entrained in our air.  One of the oldest forms of air pollution is from burning coal.  This releases a spew of harmful chemicals into our air.  And it’s hard to not talk about this type of pollution without mentioning CO2.  Carbon dioxide is all around us, you are in fact breathing it in right now.  But it isn’t CO2 that is harmful to our health, more as the effects it has on the environment.  But some pollutants, like leaded gasoline combustion, really impact us on a personal level.  In the US, we no longer use leaded gas, but it wasn’t always that way.  Lead was thought to benefit the way the motors of our cars ran.  It seemed to increase power and decrease gunk build up.  But it was entraining copious amounts of lead in our breathing zones.  Elevated lead levels could be found in people everywhere.  Especially children, and in urban areas.  This lead could also become trapped in our water, giving us a double dose.  You can still detect the lead emitted from this area in some soils across the world.  But its not just lead that was bad for our health, countless other chemicals like the C8 released by DuPont even today are showing negative health results.  The only way to combat this is to increase pollution regulations on industry.  However, with the electron of Donald Trump, many fear that the US may be going the opposite direction.  De-regulating industry is dangerous, and many industry specialists have warned other countries may follow if the United States does in fact do this.  We used to say we want to take care of the planet for our children and grand children.  But it appears the effects of our pollution are already harming our bodies on many levels, in people all around the world.