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Environmental / Problems / Atmosphere / PollutionPollutants from the burning of fossil fuels and incineration of rubbish, in addition to transportation, agriculture and deforestation, all contribute to atmospheric pollution, albeit in different ways. The hole in the ozone layer, while fluctuating on a yearly basis, has thinned, and in some, even completely disappeared! This is caused by the amassing of chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere. The chlorine in chlorofluorocarbons breaks away from them. They then proceed to destroy ozone by breaking it up into its constituents. After the reaction, the chlorine atom still emerges and then proceeds to destroy even more ozone. The ozone layer prevents ultraviolet rays from reaching the earth's surface in excess.
Atmospheric pollution leads to an increased incidence of respiratory-related illnesses, such as asthma and lung cancer. This is in turn due to the airborne particles which infiltrate the respiratory system, resulting in these diseases. Similarly, plants and animals are too affected by this pollution, leading to decreases in their populations and disrupting ecosystems. Some of this pollution is returned to the earth in the form of acid rain, which destroys crops, corrodes buildings and renders water bodies uninhabitable.
Greenhouse gases are a subset of this group and trap heat within the atmosphere, thus leading to a phenomenon called global warming. While this is most certainly necessary to maintain the heat that sustains most life, it is the enhancement of this process that leads to various ill effects which are dealt with in more detail under "Global Warming" (hyperlink) |
