Air Pollution

Key Questions

  • What are the main sources of air pollution?

    There are various activities or factors which are responsible for releasing pollutants into the atmosphere. Here is a short list.

    Anthropogenic (or man-made) sources:

    • Stationary sources include smoke stacks of power plants, manufacturing factories and waste incinerators.

    • Mobile sources include motor vehicles, marine vessels, and aircraft.

    • Controlled burn practices in agriculture and forest management.

    • Fumes from paint, hair spray, varnish, aerosol sprays and other solvents
    • Waste deposition in landfills, which generate methane.
    • Military resources, such as nuclear weapons, toxic gases, germ warfare and rocketry.

    Natural sources:

    • Dust from natural sources.
    • Radon gas from radioactive decay within the Earth's crust.
    • Vegetation, in some regions, emits environmentally significant amounts of VOCs on warmer days.
    • Volcanic activity, which produces sulfur, chlorine, and ash particulates.
    Deevona · 2 · Dec 17 2014

Questions

Human Actions and the Atmosphere