Air Pollution is the presence of an unnatural substance in an environment that may be harmful to its inhabitants. There are multiple types of pollution, but they all affect us the same. The usual reward for pollution is death and famine no matter the type. Air Pollution is caused by the burning of most smoke-emitting substances such as wood and fossil fuels. In a 2021 study, it was found that only three countries or territories (Puerto Rico, New Caledonia, and the US Virgin Islands) met the WHO’s health and safety guidelines of under 5μg/m³(IQAir). There have been 7 countries in such study that have over 50(μg/m³) which is x10 the safe amount of air pollution for human consumption (IqAir). Air pollution of such levels may lead to severe consequences on human populations. For example, some long term effects of air pollution may include lung cancer, heart disease, and other respiratory issues that cannot be fixed. A study done by National Geographic showed that 2.5 million people die every year due to indoor or outdoor air pollution. This is catastrophic considering that 2.5 million is 0.00032% of the population dying each year due to manmade problems. This means that if we kept this rate, with no improvement of population, the world could be extinct of humans within 3500 years. Air pollution affects more than just humans, as plants and animals may also be affected by the pollution of clean air. Plants may have restricted growth and smaller crops, while animals may suffer similar respiratory problems to the cancers and respiratory syndromes that humans are exposed to air pollution. Some visible indicators that air pollution exists in an area are Haze and Smog. Smog, or smoke fog, and Haze are forms of air pollution in which vision is obstructed due to air pollution being present. The difference between the two, though,  is caused when sunlight encounters tiny pollution particles in the air while Smog is a photochemical element caused by the mix of fog (visible water droplets as a gas) and smoke. Air pollution is very destructive to environments and ecosystems globally, even if it cannot be seen.

Although the actions of one person may not do that much to reverse the effects of air pollution in the Earth’s atmosphere, if we all pool together our resources and minds, we can accomplish great things. A simple, yet very effective way to do your part in the fight against air pollution is by either commuting or traveling via a car that uses electricity as its source of power or to simply travel by way of a bike or walking. I’m not always the biggest fan of changing my everyday life and perhaps making it more difficult on myself, but to be able to right the ship and save the future generations from a lifetime of our mistakes (and past mistakes) to make up for, we have to change the world through our actions. A people who work together is a people that will survive anything thrown their way.