Air Pol lut ion

with the rest coming from shipping, factories and domestic emissions.

The report calculated that about 60% of the polluted air breathed by Britons comes from domestic sources, the rest coming from air crossing the channel from mainland Europe. The researchers estimated

for the first time that air polluted outside Britain may kill 6,000 people a year prematurely, but dirty British air drifting the other way is killing 3,100 peo-ple a year in mainland Europe.

A i r p o l -

lution is prematurely kill-

ing 13,000 people a

year in Brit-ain com-

pared with f e w e r

t h a n 2 , 0 0 0 deaths a year

from road accidents, a ma- jor

s t u d y from the Massa- chusetts I n s t i - tute of Technology has concluded. Of

these, cars and lorries are thought to be responsible for 7,000 deaths, avia-tion almost 2,000, power plants 1,700

Car PollutionGenerally any substance that people introduce into the atmosphere that has damaging effects on living things and the en-vironment is considered air pollution. Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is the main pol-lutant that is warming Earth. Though living things emit carbon diox-ide when they breathe, carbon dioxide is widely considered to be a pol-lutant when associated with cars, planes, power plants, and other hu-man activities that in-volve the burning of fossil fuels such as gaso-line and natural gas.

In the past 150 years, such ac-tivities have pumped enough carbon dioxide into the atmos-phere to raise its levels higher than they have been for hundreds of thousands of years. On a larger scale, govern-ments are taking measures to limit emissions of car-bon dioxide and other green-house gases.

Road pollution is more than twice as deadly as traffic accidents. The combustion exhausts across the UK cause nearly 5,000 premature deaths each year. In 2010, there were 1,850 deaths due to road

accidents. The latest study adds to the debate by breaking down mortality rates according to

sector - transport, energy and industry. ‘‘Cars and lorries emit right by where peo-ple live and work and so have a greater im-pact,” explains lead author Steven Barrett.

The propensity for air pollution to strad-dle boundaries has political, as well as medical, implications. The UK is cur-rently facing the threat of prosecution

by the European Union for serial viola-tions of air-quality standards. Practical

measures include the reduction of black carbon emitted in car ex-

hausts - especially from older cars that fail to burn

their fuel completely. The analysis identifies key improvements that

would help reduce the health burden

of air pollution.

Road transport accounts for 22% of total UK emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) – the major contributor to climate change. The EU has agree-ments with motor manu-facturers that aim to reduce average CO2 emissions from new cars. Colour-coded la-bels, similar to those used on washing machines and fridges, are now displayed in car showrooms show-ing how much CO2 new models emit per kilometre. However, as traffic levels are predicted to increase, road transport will continue to be a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

Air pollution does not only damage the air; it also damages environ-

ments on Earth’s surface and their in-habitants. Sometimes it is the pollutants themselves that cause damage. Then small

levels of environmental pollution create dis-comfort for many animals while on the other hand more excessive pollution leads to dis-eases and deaths of animals. The toxins released into the air and water through precipitation can accumulate in the tissues of animals lower down the food chain. By reducing all forms of environmental pollution on our planet we could save millions of animals. Add to this climate change and deforestation

and you’ll soon realize why so many animals are finding it

very hard to survive.