Air pollution causes more problems than most people realize.

It is responsible for the deaths of around 7 million people each year, causes a myriad of long-term health issues, and hinders brain development in children. Overall, it costs governments roughly $5 trillion per year, easily making it one of the biggest problems for humanity.

UN Secretary General António Guterres stressed the importance of air quality on World Environment Day last June.

“An estimated 9 out of 10 people worldwide are exposed to air pollutants that exceed World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines. This is lowering life expectancy and damaging economies across the planet.” UN Secretary General António Guterres

While some solutions already exist, governments have been dragging their feet to implement them, but it is finally getting the attention it deserves.

Air Pollution Basics

Air pollution consists of any gases, liquid droplets, or particles that are harmful to humans when inhaled into the lungs.

One of the most common–and the most hazardous–is particulate matter (PM). This is comprised of soot, dust, sulfates, nitrates, smoke, among others. These particles are kicked into the atmosphere through man-made activity such as construction, industrial processes, the burning of hydrocarbons, friction between tires and the road, etc. Natural sources include volcanoes, pollen, fine soil, sea spray, etc.

These particles vary quite a bit in size. Some of them are visible to the naked eye, creating the haze above large cities. However, smaller particles can enter the body, causing the most problems. Particles smaller than 10 microns (PM10) can enter the airways. Those smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) can permeate the walls of the lungs. Particles smaller than this, known as ultrafine particles (UFPs), can pass into the bloodstream.

Short-term inhalation of (PM) has been shown to increase rates of lung and throat irritation, asthma, trouble breathing, acute bronchitis, cardiac arrhythmia, and heart attacks. Long-term exposure is linked to higher rates of permanent lung damage, cardiovascular disease, low birth rates, infant mortality, cancer, strokes, developmental and reproductive harm, among many others, including an array of mental health disorders.

A long-term study from the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found the more PM2.5 study participants had inhaled, the more susceptible they were to Parkinson’s Disease.

This study from Environmental Health Perspectives found inhalation of PM2.5 leads to greater rates of both anxiety and depression.

Furthermore, the WHO has noted that all of the above does not effect everyone equally.

“Susceptible groups with pre-existing lung or heart disease, as well as elderly people and children, are particularly vulnerable.” World Health Organization

Other common forms of air pollution are nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ground-level ozone (O3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), methane (CH4), and carbon monoxide (CO). Although they exist naturally, they can exist in harmful quantities, as they are byproducts of the modern world, particularly from combustion engines. When inhaled, they can lead to a host of both long-term and short-term respiratory problems and possibly impairment or death in high enough doses.

Moreover, air pollution comes in a variety of unexpected ways. For example, microplastics have been found in the atmosphere, and researchers are not sure what the consequences are going to be. A consortium of European researchers discovered large amounts of ammonium nitrate above Asia, which is a byproduct of livestock and fertilizers.

The EPA also notes indoor air pollution can be far worse than outdoors.

“The concentrations of some pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor concentrations.” Environmental Protection Agency

This is due to cleaning products, paints, the degradation of building materials, appliances, etc. In particular, CO is a major concern because stoves, central heating systems, water heaters, etc. can leak this odorless gas. These pollutants can also be much higher if charcoal or wood is burned for cooking or heating, which is common in developing nations.

Furthermore, air pollution has adverse effects on the environment. NO2 and SO2 can form acid rain, which can harm both plants and animals. O3 can hinder the growth of plants, making them more susceptible to disease and insects, and reduce their ability to photosynthesize. Excessive NO2 can lead to nutrient pollution, which is when harmful algal blooms are fed, causing an imbalance in the ecosystem. This is because some algae contains toxins which are harmful to marine life and because large growth of algae removes most or all of the oxygen from the water. This creates dead zones in which most life cannot exist.

In fact, a huge dead zone has been found recently in the Gulf of Mexico. As a result of NO2 falling to Earth and being washed down the Mississippi River, as well as fertilizers and sewage, this dead zone has grown to be an estimated 8,000 square miles.

What Are The Solutions?

The obvious first step is to stop burning fossil fuels and replace them with cleaner methods of generating power, including wind and solar. However, this requires governments around the world to implement rigorous environmental regulations, while not interrupting the global economy.

Although this is easier said than done, many countries are beginning to pass clean air laws. For example, beginning in 2013, China has set a cap on the amount of coal that can be used, which cut PM2.5 in Beijing by roughly 25%, according to an article by the The Economist.

This plan also involved converting “almost 4m households from coal-burning to electricity or gas in 2017 and shut off the coal in houses, hospitals and schools.” The Economist

A report from the International Renewable Energy Association (IRENA) claims that China has steadily invested in renewable technology.

“No country has put itself in a better position to become the world’s renewable energy superpower than China.” International Renewable Energy Association

Electrical vehicles are also on the rise in China, as sales were up 53% from 2016 to 2017.

However, it should be noted that all of this is happening alongside China continuing to build coal plants at an accelerating rate to keep up with their ballooning energy needs.

Furthermore, just this year, India has created a government ministry to combat air pollution.

They have committed to a “50% reduction in households using solid fuel for cooking and, last December, removing subsidies for polluting cooking gas to improve access to clean fuel for household cooking.” World Health Organization

That is, many Indians cook and heat their homes, offices, and schools by burning wood, charcoal, or kerosene. By doing so they fill them with an array of pollutants. The government is also implementing stronger emission restrictions on the road. Lastly, they are trying to reduce the large-scale burning of waste.

Meanwhile, countries in Europe are pushing towards 20% of their energy being created by renewable sources. This is in part thanks to the Renewable Energy Directive. Earlier this year, Germany achieved 65%, primarily from wind energy.

The situation in the US is a bit more complicated. The Clean Air Act was passed in 2011 under the Obama Administration. It introduced sweeping regulations for power plants, car manufacturers, industrial plants, farmers, etc. However, these have largely been reversed by the Trump Administration, who also pulled the country out of the Paris Climate Accord, a ground-breaking global agreement to reverse damage to the environment.

Despite this, individual states are pushing forward with various clean air laws. For example, California recently passed a law requiring the state to get all their energy from 100% renewable sources by 2045.

Car manufacturers also entered into an agreement with California to “boost the fuel economy of their new vehicle fleets to 50 miles per gallon by 2026, by cutting their greenhouse gas emissions 3.7% each year.” Phys.org

Likewise, the state of New York has been steadily passing clean air laws. These have had a significant impact on the health of residences. In a study published in Environmental Research Letters, the authors claim that PM2.5 has been reduced by as much as 37% from 2002 to 2012, which reduced the deaths from air pollution by about 67%. In large part, this reduction is attributed to tighter emission laws for vehicles and industry.

Solutions for reducing air pollution also require understanding just how much of it there is, what it is made of, and how it moves. Fortunately, researchers around the world are working on it.

For example, a team made of experts from Boston University, Harvard University, NASA, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and the Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. has created a detailed map of pollutants near the ground. The team developed complex algorithms and statistical tools to merge data from satellites, commercial aircraft, and atmospheric models. They believe this will give them a far greater understanding of the threats posed by air pollution. It will be released to the public, with the hope that it will influence environmental policies and individual behavior.

Tímea Haszpra, as explained in a recently published paper in the journal Chaos, has created mathematical models to predict the flow of particles in our turbulent atmosphere. She explains that clouds of particles become fractal-like overtime.

“Nearby particles diverge within short time, their motion is irregular, and they trace out complicated but well-organized (fractal) structures.” Tímea Haszpra

She believes her work will be essential in curbing pollution and developing creative solutions to fight climate change. One application is the controversial idea of dispersing particles in the atmosphere to reflect sunlight.

Scientists have also created an extremely sensitive sensor called the Aerosol Black Carbon Detector (ABCD). They deployed 100 of them in a calibrated network around the city of Oakland, California to understand the movement patterns of soot.

“This largest-and densest-ever network of BC monitors in a single city had 6.7 sampling sites/km2, a spatial density ∼100 times greater than that currently achieved by traditional regulatory networks.” Journal of Environmental Science & Technology

Once an hour, each sensor uploads data to a server. Here, it combines the data and computes the location and dispersion rates of soot.

Likewise, Professor David Cohen at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) has developed the multi-wavelength absorption black carbon instrument (MABI). This device is capable of not only detecting black carbon but determining what the source was. That is, by using 7 different wavelengths of light, it can distinguish between black carbon produced from the burning of biomass and black carbon produced from combustion engines. So far, numerous countries and organizations have purchased MABIs to monitor their air quality and to inform decisions.

Overall, a big part of the solution seems to be influencing policy makers by providing them with detailed data and recommendations so they can move people and industry in the right direction.

“My message to Governments is clear: tax pollution; end fossil fuel subsidies; and stop building new coal plants. We need a green economy, not a grey economy.” UN Secretary General

A big obstacle is shifting the nearly $2 trillion dollar oil industry into renewables, which is not easy. However, due to the decline in the cost of new installations, wind and solar have become more profitable. Even without government subsidies, solar and wind are now able to compete with fossil fuels. Therefore, the shift will happen gradually, as investors chase higher returns on their money.

Another big obstacle is grid-level energy storage. Wind and solar do not generate power continuously, which causes numerous problems for grid management. Therefore, we need new types of large-scale batteries to store excess solar and wind energy. This energy can be released intermittently when needed.

Individuals can do their part as well. People can use less fossil fuels, put pressure on policy makers, and support businesses that are environmentally conscious.

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