"Clean air...ah!" Oxygen, the first and foremost compound that we need to survive. This is the essence of life so to speak, and it is being polluted right now as you read this. Thousands of metric tons of air pollution are seeping out of every car, every factory smokestack, and every home. The ozone layer gets thinner every day; the earth's temperature goes up just a little bit more, and the ice caps shrink ever so slightly. The number one contributor to this air mess, is us, in North America. Canada is the number two leading contributor to air pollution in the world. Though it's not so much we humans who are spitting out the pollution, as it is our media. I drive a car, you probably do, I heat my house, I use electricity, and products made from pollution-ridden factories--all of these are media that just about everyone uses. Hopefully our own technology that got us here can get us out!
Imagine fifty years from now: at our present rate of pollution increase, in fifty years air pollution will be so devastating that when we play outside we may have to wear special masks to protect us from the air. In some places in the world, they already wear nose- and mouth-covering masks. Studies by places like NASA say that the earth's temperature will increase very little over the next 50 years even with the pollution, but the number and volume of pollutants in the air will increase. More and more cars go into service everyday, adding to the problem. A solution is needed to stop more air pollution from entering the atmosphere. As well as removing the already massive amount of pollution that our media has caused.
However, there is light through all our smog! A new ionic compound has been created--it is called Grathuinium, and it is going to save us from all our air pollution. Grathuninium is a special ionic compound that attracts all the particles that make up air pollution. Everything from sulphuric and nitric acid, sulphur dioxide and any other nasty compounds that are lowering our air quality. It is cheap and any mechanic will attach it to your car for a low cost. Smokestacks are all being equipped, and homes are being refixtured.
Once all the pollutants are gone, and all the air polluting media become environmentally friendly, the utopia will begin. It won't be a perfect utopia because Grathuinium doesn't stop crime, or bring about perfect social order; but it will, however, remove a stress from the inhabitants of earth. Air pollution is proven to cause stress. In some countries where pollution levels are high, during wind storms people have reportedly gotten severe migraines, nausea, stomach aches and so on. Other symptoms of air pollution (a.k.a. ozone pollution) and related conditions include conjunctival irritation, upper respiratory irritation, cough, shortness of breath, wheezing, malaise, as well as nausea, and headache. This year in Canada over 16,000 people die prematurely due to air pollution. That's about 40 a day.
Other more serious conditions have come from air pollution, one being cancer. One theory behind causes for lung cancer is air pollution. Increasing hospital admissions and mortality associated with acute respiratory disease has been linked to heightened levels of airborne pollution. Even in some people who are more susceptible to air pollutants, damage to the brain, nerves, kidneys and liver have been reported.
Even after all the death and disease that air pollution causes people still use polluting technologies. If you think about every time you use these technologies, you are helping to kill someone, and you could be killing yourself!
Everybody is affected by the pollution--that is why it is so important that we get rid of it. Nobody can hide from air pollution: PBCs (a form of air pollution) are known to travel great distances over the earth, moving from warmer climates, such as Chile, to colder climates like the Canadian Arctic.
Population estimates have shown that in the next 100 years, the concentration of people in urban areas will increase dramatically. While 30-40 percent of air pollution currently comes from urban areas (where you and I live with our media), as much as 70 percent may originate from cities in the future. Some researchers carried out three simulations of 100-year projections that factored in the effects of increased urban air pollution including population increases and economic development in these areas. They found that even with significant increases in air pollution, global temperature should not change much, although there may be more pronounced regional effects.
Another type of air pollution is indoor air pollution (closely related to outdoor). This one is easier to combat, by simply having a few indoor plants. NASA scientists have found that these plants are excellent at absorbing potentially harmful gases and help to clean the inside air.
Since there are so many diseases related to air pollution, Grathuinium must be saving lives. This means that it is helping society become better, maybe closer to utopia. I think that if Grathuinium were to exist, only because of it's cheapness would it be used. In today's cars something called a catalyst converter is used to reduce air pollution. The converter does a great deal, but not enough. People use their technologies so often that they would forgo health to continue to use them.
I don't think that a healthy environment means that a utopia will result; I do believe that a society that functions without hurting the environment too much is much closer to a utopia. Better air quality is a step closer. Let's hope that in less than 50 years everyone can use their media and breathe fresh air. If you destroy the air, you kill everyone, because air is the essence of life.
Here is a small NASA related site on plants helping combat air pollution.
Another NASA site to do with the effects of air pollution on humans. Click here.
This is a site run by UVIC on Canada and its air pollution. Click here.