The Global Environmental Development Platform

  Air pollution can be detected, measured and analyzed using a number of methods. First of all, in order to detect gases, a sample of air can be analyzed chemically. Electronic devices make rapid and continuous monitoring. The degree of visibility is another indication of pollution.  The Ringelmann chart can be easily used to determine the quantity of smoke in the air. This chart bears a series of numbered shadings ranging from zero which is white, then to five, which is black. An observer simply matches the smokiness of the sky with the shading on the chart that corresponds most closely to what he sees. Major areas around the world have established monitoring systems that provide readings of pollution levels at various places within these cities.  A global network of monitoring stations has thus been established to this effect. This has made extensive use of ground weather stations, earth satellites, computing, the internet and social media to help identify potentially d...

  Particulate matter causes the frequent painting of houses, cleaning of clothes and washing of cars. Particulate matter, nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide are all contributing factors to decreased visibility.  This however, presents a hazard to operators of aircraft, automobiles and boats. A study revealed that levels of harmful microscopic particulate matter known as PM 2.5 and the pollutant which is smaller than PM 2.5 micrometers in diameter is considered particularly dangerous as it can lodge deep into the lungs and pass onto other organs and the blood stream, causing serious health risks.  The effects of air pollution on weathers and climate aren’t far fetched. Scientists have definitely established a relationship between air pollution and weather. Each can affect the other in numerous ways. Wind and temperatures for instance affect the quantities and extent of pollutants in the air. Strong winds are air currents which may scatter pollutants in both vertical and horiz...

The effects of air pollution are wide and aren’t far fetched. People, animals, plant life and even inert materials can and are affected by this demise. History tells that in October 1948, a stagnant fog heavy with pollution blanketed a small industrial town of Donora, Pennsylvania.The fog lasted for four days, and by the time it had cleared, six thousand of the town’s fourteen thousand people were sick and twenty had died. Four years later, a killer smog in London had caused an estimated four thousand deaths. In 1970, however, more than eight thousand people in Tokyo, Japan needed medical treatment for eye, nose, and throat irritations when heavy white smog containing sulfurous acid covered the city for five days. The most serious and immediate menace of air pollution lies in its physical effects on human beings even though it is quite difficult to access the long term health effects of air pollution. Yet there’s no doubt that ailments such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis, bronchia...

In the past decade, China with the largest economy in the world has seen the rise of acute carbon emissions in the atmosphere. With the advancement of technology, major cities in China, like Hong Kong and Beijing have been heavily plagued with smog and the culture of wearing nose masks has since been the norm long before the Corona virus pandemic hit the globe. In Nigeria, Warri, a major oil producing city has been also plagued with smog in recent times as most mornings, the air can be seen to be thick and dense, making buildings hardly visible against a backdrop of thick smog especially during the wet season.  However, like water bodies, the atmosphere can cleanse itself as long as it is not overloaded and overwhelmed with pollutants produced in large quantities and concentrations. Cities often accumulate pollutants both because they produce them in such large amounts and because cities are often located in river valleys along base or on level areas beside mountains. Most of t...