Air pollution may be defined as any atmospheric conditions in which certain substances are present in such concentrations that they can produce undesirable effects on man and his environment. These substances include gases such as sulfur oxides and hydrocarbons, particulate matter such as smoke and dust, radioactive materials and many others.
Smog is a type of air pollutant that gives rise to what is more commonly recognized as "The Haze". It's more scientific term, "smog" was a portmanteau of the words smoke and fog to refer to smoky fog caused by the burning of coal or forests, photochemical smog, transport emissions and other natural causes like volcanic eruptions where large amounts of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter are released into the atmopshere.
While these definitions function as a good clue-in to the deeper geopolitical issues I'll be embarking on come the following entries, they by no means are exhaustive definitions, for the variety of matter emitted into the atmosphere by natural and anthropogenic sources is so diverse that it is difficult to classify air pollutants and the components of smog neatly.
Happy hump day everyone! Here are some memes to brighten up your Wednesday! But in all seriousness, these memes were social media's reaction to the 2013 Southeast Asian Haze and they portray the scale and severity of the issue at hand. We'll talk more about these responses next time! :)
would you say natural sources play a larger role in haze & air pollution than anthropogenic sources in SE Asia?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't dichotomise the two because both factors are interlinked. I ascribe the haze pollution here in SE Asia to the burning of peat fires. Fires in itself are natural occurrences, however this is man-made fire we are dealing with here. Forests are being torched by loggers and there is a mish-mash of two relational activities where man is making use of naturally-occurring processes against the greater good, so I cannot say that natural sources play a larger role in haze and air pollution than anthropogenic sources. Okay I don't know if I'm making sense. Haha.
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