Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
5.1 Introduction
Air pollution is a major environmental problem and it comes in a variety of forms,
from visible particles of soot or smoke to invisible gases such as sulphur dioxide and
carbon monoxide, and it can be created indoors and outdoors. Although some sources
of atmospheric pollution are emitted naturally, from volcanoes or forest
res, most are
the result of human activity in the home or workplace. This chapter aims to provide an
overview of anthropogenic air pollution problems, and attempts to solve them,
focusing in particular on the past two centuries. Atmospheric pollution, however, has
a longer history. It was also a signi
cant issue for pre-modern societies, with the
burning of biomass and fossil fuels damaging both human health and the local
environment. But the rise of modern urban-industrialism
—
and the shift from fuel-
wood to coal and then to oil
extended the scale and scope of air pollution problems
dramatically. Indeed, some harmful airborne contaminants like chloro
—
uorocarbons
(CFCs), chemicals used in aerosol cans, refrigerators and air-conditioning systems
that deplete the ozone layer, did not exist before the twentieth century.
The chapter is set out in three parts. Firstly, it examines early examples of air
pollution and its effects, especially in northern Europe and the Mediterranean basin
where archaeological records and a variety of written sources provide clear evi-
dence of environmental change. Secondly, it will explore the development of air
pollution problems between 1780 and 1950, as the availability of cheap wood
supplies declined and coal became the chief source of energy in the rapidly in-
dustrialising world. Lastly, it will discuss transboundary pollution caused by acid
rain, high levels of emissions from gasoline-fuelled cars, and the emergence of new
global threats from invisible air pollutants after 1950, such as CFCs and human-
induced climate change, as well as the various international measures put in place to
tackle them.
5.2 Preindustrial Air Pollution
Indoor air pollution caused by cooking and heating with open
res in poorly
ventilated dwellings was a signi
cant cause of ill-health from the earliest times.
Scienti
ed lung tissues from Egypt, Peru, Britain
and elsewhere have revealed that ancient societies suffered from anthracosis,
(blackening of the lungs), from long exposure to the acrid smoke of domestic
c studies of samples of mummi
res.
1
Smoke was most likely tolerated indoors because it helped to keep mosquitoes and
other insect pests at bay. But poor domestic air quality
—
with concentrations of
harmful particulates high in cramped conditions
undoubtedly increased the risk of
illness and death from chronic respiratory diseases. The testimonies of Aretaeus of
Cappadocia, Aulus Cornelius Celsus, Pliny the elder and other medical writers
—
1
Brimblecombe (
1988
,
2008
) and Colbeck (
2007
).
