Air Quality – Year 10 Geography – Darshil Shah

Air quality is the measure of how healthy the air around is. Air quality is affected
by chemical, physical (e.g. particulate matter), or biological agents that modifies
the natural characteristics of the atmosphere.
Spatial Perspectives
Australia consistently ranks air pollution as a major environmental concern. The
state of our air is an important factor in the quality of life in Australian cities. It
affects the health of the community and directly influences the sustainability of
our lifestyles and production methods.
Air pollution occurs in the layer of the atmosphere closest to the ground called the
troposphere. Gases such as sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide,
ozone and particles such as dust, smoke and odours can pollute this layer to
cause local pollution.
Pollutants are emitted to the air from various sources. These include the
combustion of wood and fossil fuels (e.g. coal, petrol and diesel), emissions of
hydrocarbons from oil and gas refining, odours from industrial processes or
intensive agriculture, and dust associated with mining and land clearing. When
these emissions are discharged pure, during periods of poor distribution, or under
conditions contributing to to smog formation, poor air quality may result.
Everywhere around the world, air quality is an issue. Whether it is in a scale of a
city, the country or the world as whole. Australia has many hotspots where air
quality isn’t always at its best and some where air quality always stays at its
optimal. Many Australian hotspots (such as capital cities) are very near the coast
and/or are surrounded by higher heights which seem to make things worse. The
central part of Australia is not very much affected due to the vast regions it
spread to.
Each place is affected differently in Australia. It depends on the temperature, the
sunlight, and the amount of pollution distributed. The size of air quality problems
can vary. Sometimes similar air quality is experienced throughout the state.
Essentially, in the small scale, the cities and people are affected but in the large
scale, the wildlife and the ecosystems of Australia are affected.
Causes
Air quality where you live can vary depending on how much air pollution is
emitted in your community, how much
pollution is carried into your community
on the wind, and by weather conditions.
Ozone forms when two key pollutants,
nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) “cook in the sun.”
These pollutants are precursors to ozone
formation, meaning they must be present
in the air for ozone to form. Particle
pollution can be directly emitted (like
smoke from a woodstove), but a lot of
particles form when gases react in the air.
NOx and sulfur dioxides (SO2) contribute
to particle formation.
These ozone and particle-forming
pollutants come from a wide variety of
sources, including mobile sources, power
plants, and industries. Natural sources
contribute, too: wildfires and volcanoes contribute to particle pollution, while trees
and other vegetation can contribute both to particle and ozone pollution.
Weather plays a big role in the levels of ozone and particle pollution in your
community. Sunlight and heat, for example, promote ozone formation. Light winds
and temperature inversions both can keep pollution from dispersing. And
depending on its direction, the wind can bring in more pollution – sometimes from
hundreds of miles away. Geography can affect pollution levels too; mountain
ranges, such as those in southern California, can prevent pollution from
dispersing.
Impact
Air pollution can affect our health in many ways with both short-term and long-
term effects. Different groups of individuals are affected by air pollution in
different ways. Some individuals are much more sensitive to pollutants than are
others. Young children and elderly people often suffer more from the effects of air
pollution. People with health problems such as asthma, heart and lung disease
may also
suffer
more
when the
air is
polluted.
The
extent to
which an
individual
is harmed
by air
pollution
usually
depends
on the
total
exposure
to the
damaging

chemicals.
Groups are also affected. They might not be greatly affected individually, but the
group they are in is affected due to poor air quality. Factory workers work under
extreme conditions and poor air quality can greatly affect their work and over a
long period of time, their lives. Any group which operates indoors is directly
targeted if the air quality inside is poor. Groups such as civilians (outdoors) can be
affected by poor air quality as they spend their time outdoors which has most of
the dangerous chemical conditions of poor air quality. Farmers’ crops are harder to
grow when air quality is low and because of that, livestock and vegetation is more
expensive throughout the country.
The government loses economy, tourism and the environment as poor air quality
can slow production, halt the tourism industry and disturb the ecosystems that
Australia most heavily relies on. Even though the poor air quality is from
individual actions, industrial actions and natural actions, at the end of the day,
poor air quality can affect many things not under our control. Reformist action
usually ends up the government changing regulations to reduce emissions from
factories due to the demand for better air quality. Tourism might be halted due to
sensitive groups not touring and/or the concerned public choose to be safer. The
environment is the biggest effected area. The government looks after the
environment as much as it can, and the poor air quality can only make it worse.
Management
In many countries in the world, steps are being taken to stop the damage to our
environment from air pollution.
Everyone is doing something to contribute towards bad air quality. Individuals
cause the largest amount of air pollution. This is why Individuals can make the
biggest differences. We emit toxic gases from the exhaust in cars and we use
energy which ultimately releases all the toxics in our air. All the little things if
implemented throughout the country could improve at enormous levels.
Individuals are being educated through the media and through educators for what
can be done to ensure we breathe clean air now and in the future. Little things
such as maintaining your vehicle, reducing energy use, walking short distances,
replace wood fired heaters, public transport and ensuring everything else is kept
at minimal.
Businesses, Activist, and other groups who either want to cause or reduce air
pollution have taken interest in the levels of air pollution and how it affects them
and everyone else. Businesses (industries) have followed the government
standard and ensured that their emissions meet the standard. More industries are
using environment friendly chemicals and trying to locate the factories in remote
areas which spread and dilute over the distances. Other major influences such as
Greenpeace in Australia have helped spread the message across Australia. They
protest on industrial movement and encourage the government and individuals to
do more. Some Australian suburban communities have banned the use of wood
fired heaters and SUV’s to help reduce the air pollution in the area and all across
Australia.
Government has been influenced by Individual and Groups to act on the poor air
quality found across the country. They have hardened the regulations of emissions
of factories, cars and other transportations. Action for air is a 25 year program
which aims to cut Australia’s air pollution and have the most sustained level of air
quality. This includes It includes methods for addressing air quality, such as
standards for motor vehicle emissions and fuel quality, licensing systems for
industry, the guideline of backyard burning, and measures to reduce emissions
from domestic solid-fuel heaters. Department of Environmental and Climate
Change have planned more schemes for the future which will ensure clean air
nationally.
Strategy
Cleaner production
Cleaner production is an overall approach to business management to reduce the
use of energy, water and material resources and to minimise waste and pollution.
It involves a shift in environmental protection from an 'end-of-pipe' approach
where pollution is managed after it is created, to a 'front-of-process' approach
where the creation of pollution is avoided or minimised at the source.
A part of this strategy is the Industry Partnering program. The $5 million Industry
Partnership Program has provided matched funding for individual businesses,
clusters of businesses and industry associations to improve environmental
performance through cleaner production.
Over 300
businesses
have been
directly
involved in 42
projects funded
through the
Industry
Partnership
Program.
Companies
conducted
projects which
did things like: minimise waste at its source, reuse, recycle and reprocess waste,
reduce the use of raw materials, energy and water, reduce the use of hazardous
materials, redesign products, including the materials used to make them, to
improve their later reuse and recovery, introduce or transfer new technology to
manage waste and pollution, introduce other cleaner production initiatives which
encourage measurement and management of waste, raw materials, water and
energy.
Each of the companies participating in the program has not only made significant
economic savings but also improved their environmental performance - clearly a
win for industry and the environment.
For instance, in the 'Cleaner Production in Metals Manufacturing Project' the 10
participating companies achieved annual savings of $3 million following a one-off
infrastructure investment of just $600,000. Environmental gains include the
recycling of 3+ tonnes of raw materials, electricity savings in excess of 6.6 million
KWh, gas savings of 1,950 GJ and a reduction of 6,884 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Industries all over Australia have adopted this strategy, which not only improves
the environment, but reduces costs in the company. For example, the biggest
heating company in Australia, Rheem, used this technique to cut out more than
10000 tonnes of toxics and environment damaging products. They saved over
$1.29 million and now encourage every business, whether small or big, to take
this programme into place. The success of the program has been exceptional with
all businesses and has proven that it’s profitable both for the environment and the
businesses economy.

Bibliography
http://www.lbl.gov/Education/ELSI/pollution-main.html
http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/air/aq4kids/default.asp
http://www.environment.gov.au/atmosphere/airquality/index.html
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/cleaner_production/ippintro.htm
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/air/airwatch/perceptions.htm