 |  Environmental Science: A Global Concern, 7/e William P. Cunningham,
University of Minnesota
Mary Ann Cunningham,
Vassar College
Barbara Woodworth Saigo,
St. Cloud State University
Air Pollution
Chapter Overview
In order for our bodies to extract oxygen from air, this mixture of gases and suspended bits of matter must be given intimate access to some of our most fragile and vulnerable tissues: our lungs and respiratory airways. Unfortunately, both mother nature and human activities release significant amounts of particles and chemical pollutants into the air that can damage human health and other organisms, and even degrade building materials. There is not much we can do to stop volcanoes from spewing out acid mists and toxic gases, but there is much we can and must do to reduce air pollution caused by human activities.
Unlike most other resources, air cannot be owned in any conventional sense. It does not stay put. Pollutants that I put into the air in my town create pollution problems for you in your town. If no one owns air, who is responsible for it? Who is accountable for it?
Resolving the air pollution problems presented in this chapter requires measures of regional and international cooperation unequaled by any other resource dilemma. Serious attempts to control air pollution are being mounted at state and federal levels as well as internationally. Progress has been made. Much more needs to be done.
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2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education