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Essay / Air pollution: a global problem - 748
Air pollution greatly affects our health and well-being on a global scale, leading to deaths and ill health for a large part of the world's population . Diseases resulting from inhaling toxic air include lung disease, heart disease, stroke, asthma and cancer. As Kate Galbraith states: “Dirty air can cause lung damage as well as heart disease, stroke and cancer” (2). The air we breathe into our lungs is filled with containments such as emissions of carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases and other chemicals. Carbon dioxide is the gas that we exhale from our lungs and by inhaling this gas into our lungs we shock our lungs. The diseases mentioned above often lead to deaths, the statistical data of which are astonishing. According to the World Health Organization, “air pollution caused seven million deaths worldwide in 2012” (1). This statistic reinforces the idea that air pollution is harmful to us. Seven million deaths is a huge number. Air pollution shortens our lifespan, “with an average life loss of 11.5 years” (Mason, Rowena and Josh Halliday). Eleven and a half years is a very important part of a person's life and a lot can be accomplished in these 11.5 years, but many people do not get the chance to live these years because of the effects of air pollution. Air pollution is a silent killer that can be stopped. Air pollution affects not only the health of the world's population, but also the weather conditions on the Pacific coast. Storms formed by the Pacific Ocean have intensified over time and the reason is that air pollution caused by many countries in Asia, mainly China, is changing the way storms are organized over the Pacific Ocean weather. paper ...... costs of air pollution from agriculture clarified"). Animal manure releases ammonia into our air and stays there until we breathe that air. This animal manure pollutes the air with carbon dioxide. The idea of breathing ammonia from animal manure is disgusting. Although there is another source of air pollution: “the burning of harmful fuels – coal, wood and animal waste” (Jacobs). Coal is a fuel source for many purposes, but it produces fumes when burned for use. These fumes pollute the air even more. Coal, motor vehicles, wood burning, and animal manure are powerful air containments. Be careful what you breathe, you never know what's in the air. One might argue that air pollution is a significant problem that needs to be addressed. One could argue for this by saying that the costs of solving the problem are too high..