National Geographic

Causes, Effects and Solutions of Air Pollution Pollution is now a common place term, that our ears are attuned to. We hear about the various forms of pollution and read about it through the mass media. Air pollution is one such form that refers to the contamination of the air, irrespective of indoors or outside. Georgia Museum of Natural History Georgia is a diverse state, with many habitats from coastal beaches to mountain hardwood forests. Each link below provides a pop-up online slide show with information about the plants and animals of the habitats, the adaptations of species living there, and the environmental issues facing those habitats. Slideshows of Georgia's Habitats Click a habitat to open a new window with the slideshowCoast Mountains Ocean Piedmont Coast The link, Map of Georgia's Natural Areas, provides a file of data that will open in Google Earth.

Air pollution rising at an 'alarming rate' in world's cities Outdoor air pollution has grown 8% globally in the past five years, with billions of people around the world now exposed to dangerous air, according to new data from more than 3,000 cities compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO). While all regions are affected, fast-growing cities in the Middle East, south-east Asia and the western Pacific are the most impacted with many showing pollution levels at five to 10 times above WHO recommended levels. According to the new WHO database, levels of ultra-fine particles of less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5s) are highest in India, which has 16 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities. China, which has been plagued by air pollution, has improved its air quality since 2011 and now has only five cities in the top 30. Nine other countries, including Pakistan and Iran, have one city each in the worst 30. For the larger, but slightly less dangerous PM10 particles, India has eight cities in the world’s top 30.

Sources and Effects of Six Common Air Pollutants Air pollution is a growing problem around the world, with individuals and nations alike pumping enormous volumes of harmful pollutants into the atmosphere every day. These pollutants are not only dangerous to the health and wellbeing of plants, animals, and people, but they are also a major contributor to recent climate shifts observed across the globe. Cutting down on the volume of pollutants produced is a crucial step in managing our negative effect on the climate. How can this be achieved? One of the first and most important steps is identifying some of the most common and prevalent pollutants, understanding where they come from, and recognizing their effects. This knowledge will help you to identify the key ways in which you can cut down on air pollution and contribute to a global decline in the volume of pollutants found in the air.

DINOSAUR DAYS Fossils are the stone remains of animals or plants that were once alive. Fossils can be the bones of a dead dinosaur or his big footprints in the sand. Usually only the skeletons of animals are left after millions of years. But sometimes a whole animal, like a woolly mammoth, gets trapped in ice. The ice stays frozen for thousands of years, and paleontologists are lucky to find a whole creature that has barely changed over time. How Air Pollution Impacts the Human Brain and Other Organs Breathing in dirty air damages our lungs, but new research is showing it might change how we think, too. A study published earlier this week in the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences found that long-term exposure to particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide led to cognitive declines in study participants as they aged. Less-educated men were particularly impacted and had low verbal and math test scores. Scientists and health officials are still working to discern exactly how air pollutants interact with the brain. “We speculate that air pollution probably puts greater damage on the white matter in the brain, which is associated with language ability,” says Xin Zhang, a study author and researcher at Beijing Normal University's school of statistics.

Toxic Vehicle Emissions Lead To Four Million Asthma Cases in Children Every Year Children in huge number i.e. about four million every year are developing asthma from air pollution caused by vehicles like cars and trucks. A landmark study also disclosed that it is equivalent to 11,000 new asthma cases every day occurring worldwide because of toxic air from traffic. The places with pollution levels below the limit set by the World Health Organization are witnessing most of the new cases which mean toxic air is even more harmful than we thought. Children health is deteriorating not only in countries with high pollution levels like China and India but the traffic pollution is also the reason of one-quarter of all new childhood asthma cases in UK and US cities as per the researchers. Out of the 194 nations analyzed to examine the rate of new traffic-related asthma cases, Canada ranked third highest.

Rocks and Minerals - Geology Introduction Rocks and minerals are all around us! They help us to develop new technologies and are used in our everyday lives. Air pollution, facts and information Despite decades of progress, the air quality in the United States has started to decline over the past few years, according to data provided in summer 2019 by the Environmental Protection Agency. The agency recorded 15 percent more days with unhealthy air in the country in 2018 and 2017 compared to the average from 2013 to 2016. The reasons for the recent decline in air quality remain unclear, says the agency, but may be related to high numbers of wildfires, a warming climate, and increasing human consumption patterns driven by population growth and a strong economy.