What are the Biggest Causes of Smog?

What are the Biggest Causes of Smog?

Smog is fog or haze intensified by smoke or other atmospheric pollutants. At best, smog irritates the nose, throat and eyes. At worst, it can result in an early death. Either way, smog is not healthy for us and if you’re heading out travelling, it’s a good idea to check out smog levels before choosing your destination.

Air Quality

Knowing the air quality of a destination before travelling there can prevent exposure to smog. Airly – Air Quality Map allows you to see in real-time a map of the air quality in a particular area as long as there’s a sensor there. You can look up your own neighbourhood and decide whether or not to open the windows. Remember, the map doesn’t tell you about the air quality in your home. You can choose whether to travel to a particular area, but remember area quality does fluctuate throughout the day.

What are the Biggest Causes of Smog?

• Ozone: At surface level, ozone is bad. It combines with particles in the air to create smog when hit with sunlight. Smog is a visible form of air pollution.

• Nitrogen Oxide: Car exhausts, coal-powered plants and factories emit nitrogen oxide.

• Volatile Organic Compounds: Volatile organic compounds or VOC come from petrol, paints and cleaning chemicals.

• Sunlight: Sunlight is the next ingredient to create smog. Once sunlight hits the nitrogen oxide and VOCs, smog is created. Big cities have more cars on the road, more power plants fuelled by coal and a lot more factories. In some cities, the smog is so bad the skyline is obscured by a big ugly brown or grey cloud that shouldn’t be there.

• Valleys: Cities built in valleys have worse smog problems or smog problems that wouldn’t otherwise exist. The mountains and hills surrounding these cities prevent wind from reaching into the cities and blowing the smog away.

Health

Smog presents a severe problem not just to public health but to plants and animals as well. Smog prevents sunlight from reaching the plants. Without sunlight, plants die. Plants are the main source for eliminating carbon dioxide from the air that we breathe. Without the plants, the air quality becomes even worse.

Apart from the same health problems people experience from breathing in smog, animals require plants for food and shelter. Ecosystems, even in big cities, are a delicate balance. Without predatory animals, some pests, such as rats thrive, creating further problems for public health.

Burn Days & Other Laws

Some countries have laws in place to prevent smog. Factories can be banned from using certain chemicals or releasing them on particular days. On the domestic front, some cities only allow residents to burn garden waste on specific days.

How You Can Help

Drive less. When you have to drive, take care of the car by changing the oil and have properly inflated tyres. Don’t use products that release high amounts of VOC. Don’t use gas-powered equipment. Having an air quality sensor installed can help you understand how much your habits add to air pollution.

Guest Article.