The problem of air pollution across the world is becoming increasingly serious. The air is less fresh and clear, and more people choose to wear dust masks when going outside because of heavy smog.

Air pollution is caused mainly by companies, daily activities, and transportation. In terms of companies, many factories emit large amounts of destructive and poisonous by-products. For example, some factories produce sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxide, and various organic compounds that influence the air pollution index. People can get hurt if they keep breathing polluted air because small particles may go into and stick to the respiratory tract and lungs and their long-term storage can lead to rhinitis and bronchitis as well as gastric carcinoma. Sulfur dioxide may dissolve in air and form acid rain, which can corrode buildings as well as people’s skin. The top 10 most polluted cities of the world include Taiyuan, Milan, Beijing, Urumqi, Mexico, Lanzhou, Chongqing, Jinan, Shijiazhuang, and Tehran, which indicates that no one is immune from air pollution.

Air pollution is produced in daily life, and one major cause of it is the increasing population. More people means more carbon dioxide, which is bad for the air they breathe. More trees have to be cut to meet people’s demand (e.g., chopsticks and furniture). Therefore, there are fewer trees to absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. In addition, to stay warm, people burn coal, which contains sulfur. This causes sulfur oxide to to be released into the air as pollution. That is, burning products huge amounts of pollution in the forms of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Studies have examined smoking and breathing under bad air and found that a carton of cigarettes a day means breathing dirty air for 720 minutes a day. That is, one cigarette is 36 minutes of bad air.

Finally, transportation is a major cause of air pollution. An increase in the number of people increases the number of vehicles on the road. More people are using personal vehicles or taking taxi instead of buses or other forms of mass transportation. This may be a more comfortable alternative, it dramatically increases air pollution.

These sources of polluted air have forced to spend more time at home instead of going out. Should we not do something about air pollution so that people do not feel trapped in their own homes? 

Jiayi Wu