Many of air pollution's health effects, such as bronchitis, tightness in the chest, and wheezing, are acute or short term, and can be reversed if air pollution exposures decline. Other effects appear to be chronic, such as lung cancer and cardiopulmonary disease. In fact, in the United States, two long-term epidemiological studies representing some of the most significant recent research on air pollution effects documented an increase in the death rate of those chronically exposed to dirty air (Ross, 2002). These studies, which compared death rates among many U.S. cities with widely varying pollution levels, found that mortality rates were 17 to 26 percent higher in cities with the dirtiest air compared with those with the cleanest air, and those with the dirtiest air had significantly higher rates of lung cancer and cardiopulmonary disease (Ross, 2002).
Vulnerable groups include infants, the elderly, and those suffering from chronic respiratory conditions including asthma, bronchitis, or emphysema. For example, air pollution in developing world cities is responsible for some 50 million cases per year of chronic coughing in children younger than 14 years of age (Ross, 2002).
Global Warming is happening now and affects everyone. As pollution gathers in the Earth's atmosphere, it traps heat and causes average temperatures to rise. It is hard to predict exactly how climate change will affect a particular area. Here are a few likely results:
- A rise in sea level between 3.5 and 34.6 in. (9-88cm) leading to more coastal erosion, flooding during storms and permanent inundation (Johnston, 1997).
- Severe stress on many forests, wetlands, alpine regions, and other natural ecosystems.
- Greater threats to human health as mosquitoes and other disease-carrying insects and rodents spread diseases over larger geographical regions.
Disruption of agriculture in some parts of the world due to increased temperature, water stress and sea-level rise in low-lying areas such as Bangladesh or the Mississippi River delta (Johnston, 1997).
