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Air: Learn More

The gasses lying around the earth’s surface result from a complex interaction between the suns energy and life on earth. Thankfully, so far, they have maintained themselves in a way that keeps the earth in a comfortable and liveable condition despite massive changes been wrought by human behaviour.

Probably the biggest environmental problem facing us nowadays is the warming of our atmosphere through global warming . Carbon stored as solid fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) is being burnt to release carbon gas into the air. This extra carbon is acting like a huge greenhouse, intensifying the suns heat and causing global temperatures to rise. It is very uncertain what the consequences will be but there will almost certainly be higher sea levels causing increases in flooding, drier climates in already dry areas, larger ranges for heat loving diseases and their insect carriers and more extreme weather events such as hurricanes. Another possible outcome is a drop in temperature for areas currently benefiting from the gulf stream (like Ireland!) as it is pushed of its present course.

No one knows for sure how severe these problems will be and estimates vary widely but as with so many environmental issues, it’s the poor who are likely to suffer from it

far more – despite the fact that it’s the affluent who burn most fossil fuels. A dramatic loss of agricultural potential, major storms and flooding are very disruptive for a developed country but in a poor country could be catastrophic for millions of people.

This issue is widely recognised and international agreements such as the one signed at Kyoto try to tackle the problem, however major obstacles remain such as the failure of the U.S. to sign it and the fear among many that even at best the treaty is too weak to avert the worst of the consequences. On a positive note, we have seen committed and decisive international cooperation achieve dramatic results in the case of the hole in the earth’s ozone layer .

There are many other forms of air pollution leading to problems such as acid rain, widespread health problems, most seriously to our lungs and respiratory systems, and particular events such as the shameful story of the Bhopal disaster in India.