A 

Abortion
Accounting
Advertising
Africa
African-American Studies
Aging
Agriculture
American Indian Studies
Anthropology
Archaeology
Architecture
Argumentative
Art: Artists (Alphabetized)
Art: General
Become an Affiliate and Earn $$$
Biographies (Alphabetized)
Book Reviews (Non-Fiction) (Alphabetized)
Business: Companies (Alphabetized)
Business: General
Business: Industries (Alphabetized)
Business: International
Business: Small
California
Canada
Caribbean
Child Abuse
China
Communication: Journalism
Communication: Language & Speech
Communication: Media
Communication: Non-Verbal
Communication: Television
Communication: Television & Children
Communism
Computer Science
Consumerism
Criminal Justice: General
Criminal Justice: Juvenile Delinquency
Criminal Justice: Police Science
Criminal Justice: Prisons
Cuba
Death & Dying: Euthanasia
Death & Dying: General
Death & Dying: Suicide
Drama: American
Drama: English
Drama: World
Drugs: Alcohol
Drugs: General
Economics: Banking
Economics: Economists (Alphabetized)
Economics: General
Economics: Inflation
Economics: International Trade
Economics: Macroeconomics
Economics: Microeconomics
Economics: Taxation
Education: Administration
Education: Curriculum
Education: General
Education: Higher
Education: Physical
Education: Psychology
Education: Reading
Education: Special
Education: Teaching Methods
Education: Theory
Energy: General
Energy: Nuclear
Energy: Solar
Environmental Studies
Evolution
Family & Marriage
Films: Artists (Alphabetized)
Films: General
Finance: Companies (Alphabetized)
Finance: General
Former Soviet Union: Post-1990
France
Gender & Sexuality
Geography
Germany
History: Ancient Greek & Roman
History: European
History: Great Britain
History: U.S. (After 1865)
History: U.S. (Before 1865)
History: U.S. Presidency
History: U.S. Presidents (Alphabetized)
Homosexuality
Immigration
India
Indonesia
International Relations: Arms Control
International Relations: Cold War
International Relations: Non-U.S.
International Relations: U.S.
Japan
Jewish Studies
Korea
Labor
Latin America
Law: Business
Law: Capital Punishment
Law: General
Law: International & Non-U.S.
Law: Supreme Court
Leadership
Literature, American: Authors (Alphabetized)
Literature, American: Faulkner
Literature, American: Fitzgerald
Literature, American: General
Literature, American: Hawthorne
Literature, American: Hemingway
Literature, American: Melville
Literature, American: Poe
Literature, American: Steinbeck
Literature, American: Twain
Literature, English: Authors (Alphabetized)
Literature, English: Chaucer
Literature, English: Conrad
Literature, English: Dickens
Literature, English: General
Literature, English: Joyce
Literature, English: Lawrence
Literature, English: Shakespeare
Literature, English: Swift
Literature, General: Children
Literature, General: Classic (Greek & Roman)
Literature, General: Russian
Literature, General: World
Management: General
Management: Japanese
Management: Motivation
Management: Theory
Management: Women
Marketing: Companies (Alphabetized)
Marketing: General
Marketing: Plans
Mathematics
Medical: Aids
Medical: Dentistry
Medical: Diseases & Disorders (Alphabetized)
Medical: General
Medical: Nursing
Mexican-American Studies
Mexico
Middle East: Egypt
Middle East: General
Middle East: O.P.E.C.
Military
Music: Classical
Music: General
Mythology
Nutrition
Parapsychology/Occult
Philosophy: Ancient Greek
Philosophy: Descartes
Philosophy: Eastern
Philosophy: General
Philosophy: Kant
Philosophy: Sartre
Poetry: American
Poetry: English
Poetry: Milton
Poetry: World
Political Science: Elections & Campaigns
Political Science: Foreign
Political Science: Lobbyists & Pressure Groups
Political Science: Machiavelli
Political Science: Mill
Political Science: Political Theory
Political Science: U.S.
Psychology: Behaviorism
Psychology: Child & Adolescent
Psychology: Disorders
Psychology: Dreams
Psychology: Experimental
Psychology: Freud
Psychology: General
Psychology: Jung
Psychology: Physiology
Psychology: Piaget
Psychology: Rogers
Psychology: Social
Psychology: Testing
Psychology: Therapies
Public Administration: General
Public Administration: Government Agencies (Alphabetized)
Racism
Real Estate
Recreation & Leisure
Religion: Eastern
Religion: General
Religion: Islam
Religion: The Bible
Research: Completed Studies (With Statistics & Results)
Research: Designs & Proposals
Research: Statistics & Methodology
Russia: Pre-1917 Revolution
Science: Astronomy
Science: Biology
Science: General
Science: Genetics
Sociology: Durkheim
Sociology: General
Sociology: Marx
Sociology: Social Problems
Sociology: Social Theory
Sociology: Social Welfare
Sociology: Weber
Soviet Union: 1917-1990
Sports: Drugs
Sports: General
Technology
Transportation: Automotive
Transportation: Aviation
Transportation: General
Transportation: Railroads
Urban Studies
Vietnam
Women Studies
 

AIR POLLUTION.   Term Paper ID:28316 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Explains outdoor & indoor air pollutants, sources, health hazards, EPA guidelines.... More...

12 Pages / 2700 Words 8 sources, 15 Citations, MLA Format $48.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Explains outdoor & indoor air pollutants, sources, health hazards, EPA guidelines. Paper Introduction: INTRODUCTION Air pollution has been a public issue for decades and has been identified as having numerous health consequences. It has also spawned a good deal of effort to curb emissions from automobiles and factories and to maintain the forests and other natural entities which help preserve a good atmosphere. Air and water pollution have probably been the primary concerns which originally energized a number of groups in society to try to do something about the problem of pollution. Among the groups fighting to stop air pollution were the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society, scientific groups, Zero Population Growth, and other citizen-led groups. While no one was specifically agitating for pollution as such, business interests fought to prevent regulations they considered excessive and costly, such as Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. It is often the case that problemsoccur when a building is operated or maintained in a manner not consistentwith its original design or prescribed operating procedures. Acid pollution was given priority in the late 197 s and 198 s afterscientists revealed that sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides were leading toincreased acidification of the environment, and improved monitoring soonprovided a clearer picture of the problem to point out the consequences ofdying forests, declining crop yields, acidified lakes and soils, corrodingbuildings, and threats to human health. Manyorganic compounds are known to cause cancer in laboratory animals and maycause cancer in humans. "Sources of Information on Indoor Air Quality." http://www.epa/gov/iaq/isbuild2.html (25 March 1999).McCormick, John. Only two of these are normally considered to be pollutants:nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide, both produced in high quantities only ina highly mechanized and motorized society. Today, though, public and mediainterest in acid pollution has given way to other pressing issues, notablyglobal warming and threats to the ozone layer, leading to the falseimpression that acid rain is no longer the problem it once was (McCormick16-17). The term "building relatedillness" is used when symptoms of diagnosable illness are identified andcan be attributed directly to airborne building contaminants. "L.A. Oncethe oceans can no longer take up the slack, more CO2 will remain in theatmosphere. Lead does not break down naturally and so canbe a problem until it is removed. Offices also are sources of pollution from many of the same sources,and the effectiveness of the ventilation system design, operation, andmaintenance are factors in how severe this danger may be. Works CitedCone, Marla. Another issue is the release of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which arelowering the average concentration of ozone in the stratosphere. CFCs stay in the atmosphere from 22 to111 years, moving up to the stratosphere gradually over several decades.Under high energy ultra violet (UV) radiation, they break down and releasechlorine atoms, which in turn speed up the breakdown of ozone (O3) intooxygen gas (O2). At the present time,carbon dioxide is responsible for 57 percent of the global warming trend,while nitrogen oxides contribute most of the atmospheric contaminants(Socha). Outdoor air pollutiongets the most attention, but more recently, there has been much attentiongiven to interior air pollution from a variety of sources, including thepollution from outdoors, radon in cellars, and various structural materialsand coverings which may cause allergic reactions in some people. Nitric oxide (NO) plays a major part inphotochemical smog, while nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is more toxic than nitricoxide. INTRODUCTION Air pollution has been a public issue for decades and has beenidentified as having numerous health consequences. Breathes Easier as It Hands Off Smog Title." Los Angeles Times (13 Oct 1999), A1.Environmental Protection Agency. This does not mean LosAngeles is not a source, though, since emissions from vehicles andbusinesses in Los Angeles and Orange counties move east, making them themajor reason that the Inland Empire has a more severe problem. The Environmental Protection Agency cites growingscientific evidence that the air within homes and other buildings can bemore seriously polluted than the outdoor air even in the largest and mostindustrialized cities. Sulfur dioxide is produced by combustion of fuels that containsulfur, such as coal and fuel oils. INDOOR AIR POLLUTION Indoor air quality was once assumed to be better than the airoutdoors, but more recently, a variety of air problems have been perceivedfor indoor air as well. http://www.epa.gov/iaq (18 June 1998).Environmental Protection Agency. Both types of contamination can be hazardousto human health in high enough concentrations. Certain well-defined illnesses have been traced to specific building problems, includingsuch health effects as Legionnaire's disease, asthma, hypersensitivitypneumonia, and humidifier fever. Suspendedmaterials known as aerosols are defined as dust particles and condensationnuclei, the latter consisting of chloride salts, sulfuric and nitrousacids, phosphorous compounds, and many other chemical substances. The primary air pollutants found in most urban areas are carbonmonoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, hydrocarbons, and particulatematter (both solid and liquid), and these pollutants are dispersedthroughout the world's atmosphere in concentrations high enough togradually cause serious health problems. From time to time, building occupantsexperience symptoms that do not fit the pattern of any particular illness,with complaints such as dry or burning mucous membranes in the nose, eyes,and throat; sneezing; stuffy nose; fatigue or lethargy; headache;dizziness; nausea; and irritability and forgetfulness. Environmental ProtectionAgency, The Inside Story). The primary sources ofindoor pollution include products containing volatile organic compounds.Emissions outdoors can affect the air and human health many miles from thescene. Sulfur oxides can injure human beings, plants, and materials. Such complaints may be localized to one room orzone or be widespread throughout the building. Progress on reducing air pollution has been considerable but isfar from eliminating the problem completely. Fuelcombustion in stationary sources is the dominant source of sulfur dioxide(SO2)(Socha). There are six known nitrogen oxides, with some evidence for aseventh. A report bythe World Health Organization Committee in 1984 suggests that up to thirtypercent of new and remodeled buildings worldwide may have complaints aboutindoor air quality. Some of the potentialhazards are not fully understood, as in problems such as sick buildingsyndrome. Mechanical ventilation systems are intended to draw in andcirculate outdoor air, but if they are poorly designed or maintained, theycan contribute to indoor air problems (EPA, "Sources of Information onIndoor Air Quality"). In urban regions, the twomain sources of pollutants are transportation (predominantly automobiles)and fuel combustion in stationary sources, including residential,commercial, and industrial heating and cooling and thermoelectric powerplants. Many of the products we use everyday contain volatile organiccompounds which can contribute to indoor air pollution. AQMD officials and environmentalists warn thatSouthern California is still at least eleven years from air that isconsistently safe to breathe regionwide. The vast majority of emissions inthe Los Angeles region come from cars, trucks, and other vehicles. Thesenuclei have an affinity for water and play an important role in thetransformation of water vapor into fog, clouds, and precipitation. Los Angeles was once considered the smog-capital of the nation, butmore recently, Los Angeles is not even the most smog-ridden city inSouthern California. The air would also contain variable amounts of watervapor and many suspended solid particles and liquid substances. CONCLUSION Air pollution is a problem that occurs both outdoors and indoors. OUTDOOR AIR POLLUTION Most air pollution is emitted from the exhausts of automobiles orfrom the burning of fossil fuels by industry. When there is little infiltration,natural ventilation, or mechanical ventilation, the air exchange rate islow, allowing pollutant levels to increase (U.S. Among the symptoms noted are eye and respiratory tract irritation,headaches, dizziness, visual disorders, and memory impairment. At the present time, ocean waters contain about sixty times more CO2than the atmosphere, but if the concentration of CO2 in the air isincreased, then the oceans would absorb more and more of the output. The concentrations of CO2 in the air around 186 has beenassumed to have been about 29 parts per million (ppm), while in thecentury since, the concentration has increased by about 3 to 35 ppm.Industrialized countries account for 65 percent of CO2 emissions, and theUnited States and the Soviet Union together are responsible for fully 5 percent. Serious health problems can occurquickly when air pollutants are concentrated. The term "sick building syndrome" has been applied to situations inwhich building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects whichseem to be caused by time spent in the building, though no specific illnessor cause can be identified. Theregion's worst air in recent years has shifted from Glendora in the SanGabriel Valley to Crestline, taking the worst concentrations away from theurban core and placing them in the sparsely populated mountains (Cone A1). This is known as acid deposition or acid rain (Socha). Still, the air indowntown Los Angeles has violated health standards only one day in 1998,compared with 36 in the San Bernardino Mountains town of Crestline andthree in the eastern San Gabriel Valley. Chlorofluorocarbons are also known as Freons andconstitute greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming (Socha). While no onewas specifically agitating for pollution as such, business interests foughtto prevent regulations they considered excessive and costly, such asregulations directed at reducing emissions from factories or calling for aredesign of automobiles to make them less polluting. It has also spawned agood deal of effort to curb emissions from automobiles and factories and tomaintain the forests and other natural entities which help preserve a goodatmosphere. The rate at which outdoor air replaces indoor airis called the air exchange rate. Even clean air contains manysubstances other than oxygen and nitrogen, its major constituents,including rare gases such as argon, neon, and helium, as well as ozone,carbon dioxide, radioactive materials from the earth, and various nitrogenand sulfur compounds. "Lead Poisoning and Your Children." http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/lead.html (23 July 1998).Environmental Protection Agency. These compounds can be releasedwhen these products are used and even when they are stored. This means thatincreasing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere reinforces this effect andcould result in a warming of the Earth's surface. Air movement is caused by airtemperature differences between indoors and outdoors and by wind, and thereare also a number of mechanical ventilation devices such as fans thatintermittently move air. These problems mayor may not be related to poor indoor air quality, and poor lighting, noise,vibration, thermal discomfort, and psychological stress can also cause orcontribute to these symptoms. The process for producing sulfuricacid and metallurgical processes involving ores that contain sulfur produceSO2. Among the possible sources for pollution inoffices are environmental tobacco smoke; asbestos from insulating and fire-retardant building supplies; formaldehyde from pressed wood products;organic compounds from building materials, carpet, and other officefurnishings, cleaning materials and activities, room air fresheners,paints, adhesives, copying machines, and photography and print shops;biological contaminants from dirty ventilation systems or water-damagedwalls, ceilings, and carpets; and pesticides from pest managementactivities. Nitrogen is released by thebreakdown of fertilizers, livestock wastes, and nitrate-contaminated groundwater to form the amount of nitrous oxide that rises into the troposphere,where it stays for about 15 years. The condition is often temporary, though somebuildings have long-term problems. Tosome extent, outdoor pollution simply comes indoors and contaminates indoorair as well, but there are also a number of products and materials whichcontribute contaminants of their own to indoor air. "Acid Pollution: The International Community's Continuing Struggle." Environment 4 (1 April 1998), 16-25.Socha, Tom. "Air Pollution: Causes and Effects." http://healthandenergy.com/air_pollution_causes.htm (16 Jan 2 ).Whitman, David and Robert Bryce. Some types of indoor pollution are more clearly a threat than others,and lead poisoning has long been a particular danger for children. The use ofCFCs in aerosol cans has been banned in the United States, Canada, and mostScandinavian countries since 1978, but they are still in use elsewhere andaccount for 25 percent of global CFC use. The major sources ofoutdoor pollution are processes involving the burning of fossil fuels,including vehicle engines and industrial plants. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the major pollutants in theatmosphere, with its major source being the burning of fossil fuels anddeforestation. People spend approximately 9 percent of their timeindoors, making this an even greater danger to their health. News & World Report (25 Oct 1999), 28. Motor vehicles produce high levels of carbon monoxides (CO) andare a major source of hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). For instance, Houston, Texas wasrecently cited as the smog capital of the nation when it suffered 44 daysof ozone levels that exceeded national health standards, one more day thanLos Angeles (Whitman and Bryce 28). Even ifall polluting industries in the area stopped emitting pollution, LosAngeles air would still violate health standards. The nature of air pollution changes all the time as differentpollutants are emitted in different concentrations, and the geography ofpollution also changes all the time. In truth, though, little is known about the healtheffects from the levels of organics found in homes (U.S. These symptoms canbe limited if addressed early by reducing exposure or by medical treatment(EPA, "Lead Poisoning and Your Children"). Orange County had no violationsthat year, while Riverside County had three. People may be surprised to learn there arepotential health effects from pollution even from their carpeting. Insufficiently high concentrations, SO2 irritates the upper respiratory tractand so makes breathing more difficult by causing the finer air tubes of thelung to constrict. Aboutone in six children in America have high levels of lead in their blood.Lead is found in the dust, paint, and soil in and around the home and evenin drinking water and food. Among theindicators of sick building syndrome are complaints of symptoms associatedwith acute discomfort such as headache; eye, nose, or throat irritation;dry cough; dry or itchy skin; dizziness and nausea; difficulty inconcentrating; fatigue; and sensibility to odors. The precise cause has not beendetermined, nor has the degree of hazard to human beings been established(EPA, "Carpet and Indoor Air Quality"). Otherstudies show that when people use these products, they can exposethemselves and others to very high pollution levels, and elevatedconcentrations of these compounds can continue in the air long after theactivity is completed. Some sixty percent of the SO2 emissions in the UnitedStates are released by power plants and factories, and the tall smokestacks used allow the emissions to travel long distances from the source.Emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide from stationary sources aretransported long distances by winds to form secondary pollutants such asnitrogen dioxide, nitric acid vapor, and droplets containing solutions ofsulfuric acid, sulfate, and nitrate salts, which then descend to theearth's surface in the form of rain or snow and in dry form as a fog, dew,or solid particles. Organic chemicalsare widely used in household products such as paints, varnishes, and wax,which contain organic solvents, as do many cleaning, disinfecting,cosmetic, degreasing, and hobby products. No scientificlink has been established between the levels of chemicals emitted by carpetand adverse health effects, though a recent preliminary study found thatmice exposed to emissions from complaint carpets showed severe healthproblems and in some cases even died. "Houston, You've Got a Problem." U.S. Every molecule of NO2 is 23 timesmore potent than a carbon dioxide molecule in the process of greenhousewarming. Infiltration is a natural process whereby airflows into a house through openings, joints, and cracks in walls, floors,and ceilings, and around windows and doors. Among the groups fighting tostop air pollution were the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society, scientificgroups, Zero Population Growth, and other citizen-led groups. This can be caused by inadequateventilation, chemical contaminants from indoor sources, chemicalcontaminants from outdoor sources, or biological contaminants (EPA, "SickBuilding Syndrome (SBS)"). Environmental ProtectionAgency, The Inside Story). In addition, the causeof these symptoms is not known, and most of the complainants report reliefonce they leave the building. "Carpet and Indoor Air Quality." http://www.epa.gov/iaq (October 1992).Environmental Protection Agency. EnvironmentalProtection Agency, The Inside Story). CFCs are released by spray cans,discarded or leaking refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, and theburning of plastic foam products. The long-term health effects of lead canbe severe and include learning disabilities, decreased growth,hyperactivity, impaired hearing, and even brain damage. A study demonstrated a link between A study in Chattanooga found a correlation between exposure to NO2and reduced respiratory function in children and with the greaterlikelihood of acute respiratory illness. Air and water pollution have probably been the primaryconcerns which originally energized a number of groups in society to try todo something about the problem of pollution. Less developed countries contain 8 percent of the world's peoplebut are responsible for only 35 percent of CO2 emissions, though this couldincrease to 5 percent by the year 2 2 (Socha). These chemicals can cause adverse health effects,with some compounds being highly toxic, while others have no known healtheffect. The EPA'sTotal Exposure Assessment Methodology (TEAM) studies found levels of adozen or so common organic pollutants to be two to five times higher insidehomes than outside in both rural and highly industrialized areas. The EPA has developed guidelines for reducing pollution from a numberof known household products. The carpet industry has since agreed to testnew carpet floor covering materials for total VOC emissions and is seekingways to lower the emission of VOCs from carpet products. Air pollution indoors is made worse when the ventilation system isinsufficient or improperly maintained so that it does not removecontaminants from the air as it is meant to do or to circulate the air toreduce the problem over time. The Inside Story - A Guide to Indoor Air Quality. Those peoplewho are exposed to indoor air pollutants for the longest periods of timeare often those who are the most susceptible to its effects, such as theyoung, the elderly, and the chronically ill (U.S. Arecent study by the agency shows that volatile organic compounds (VOC) canbe emitted from new carpet and related installation materials, such ascarpet cushion and adhesives. Nitric oxide results during thehigh-temperature combustion of coal, oil, gas, or gasoline in power plantsor internal combustion engines. Most homes have more than one source of indoor air pollution, andamong these sources are oil, gas, kerosene, coal, wood, and tobaccoproducts; building materials and furnishings; products for householdcleaning and maintenance, personal care, and hobbies; central heating andcooling systems and humidification devices; and outdoor sources such asradon, pesticides, and outdoor air pollution which may come inside.Outdoor air enters and leaves a house by infiltration, natural ventilation,and mechanical ventilation. CO2 is a good transmitter of sunlight, but it partiallyrestricts infrared radiation from returning from the earth back into space. Nitrous oxide is also one of the pollutants that depletes ozonein the stratosphere (Socha). This results in the so-called greenhouse effect that prevents thenecessary cooling of the earth during the night. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.