AIR POLLUTION IN MEDELLN

Pollution is a common term that our ears are attuned to. We hear about the various forms
of pollution and read about it through the mass media. Air pollution is one such form that
refers to the contamination of the air, irrespective of indoors or outside. A physical,
biological or chemical alteration to the air in the atmosphere can be termed as pollution. It
occurs when any harmful gases, dust, smoke enters into the atmosphere and makes it
difficult for plants, animals and humans to survive as the air becomes dirty. Medellin
weather factors that hinder ventilation and cause the accumulation of air pollutants are
given: its geographical compactness, the low intensity of wind, calm and frequent thermal
inversions; the pollutant is not easily dispersed and this ends up affecting human health.
Also a considerable increase in air pollution is due to social customs and habits; the
discharge of solid particles and pollutants produced from factories and engines.
Air pollution can be classified into two sections- Visible air pollution and invisible air
pollution. Another way of looking at Air pollution could be any substance that holds the
potential to hinder the atmosphere. The sustainment of all things living is due to a
combination of gases that collectively form the atmosphere; the imbalance caused by the
increase or decrease of the percentage of these gases can be harmful for survival.
In this paper we are going to talk about the problems related to pollution in Medellin, we
will trying to explain the possible causes, the effects and some possible solutions.
The causes that we can identify are the following:
First. The main cause related to pollution or contamination in Medellin is emission from
industries and manufacturing activities. They can release high levels of carbon monoxide,
organic compounds, hydrocarbons and chemicals into the air thereby depleting the quality
of the surroundings.
Second. Burning fossils fuel. Cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles burns lots of fossil fuels
to work. We rely on them to supply our daily basic needs of transportation. But, there
overuse is killing our environment as dangerous gases are polluting the environment.
Carbon Monoxide caused by improper or incomplete combustion and generally emitted
from vehicles is another major pollutant along with Nitrogen Oxides that is produced from
both natural and man-made processes. This is a great cause of pollution and its very
difficult to manage. On their own, they cause great harm to people who breathe them.
The third cause for air pollution that we can mentioning are both forest fire or burning
waste, which produce a great damage for the surroundings because of the great amount
of particulates and fumes that are emitted into the environment.

And fourth cause for air pollution is Indoor air pollution. Household cleaning products,
painting supplies emit toxic chemicals in the air and cause air pollution. Have you ever
noticed that once you paint walls of your house, it creates some sort of smell which makes
it literally impossible for you to breathe.
Suspended particulate matter popular by its acronym SPM, is another cause of pollution.
Referring to the particles afloat in the air, SPM is usually caused by dust, combustion etc.

Now, we consider the following factors are produced by air pollution:

First. Air pollution produced several health problems in the population exposed to
pollutants, most of them are related with respiratory and heart diseases. The most
vulnerable population are: children, the elderly people and people with respiratory
diseases. Children in areas exposed to air pollutants are said to commonly suffer from
pneumonia and asthma.
Second. Air pollution contribute to depletion of ozone layer and could generates changes
in the local temperature, and also contributes to global warming.
Third. Fauna and flora suffer changes with temperature changes produced by air pollution,
which cause alterations in the natural processes of the environment.
The possible solutions that could contribute to reduction of air pollution are showed below:
First. Changes in the mobility habits of people are required, the restriction on the
movement of vehicles, which could be implemented throughout the day and not for a few
hours as they currently do. The government also could to encourage the use of mass
transit system, carpooling and bicycle to improve the environment conditions.
Second. The government and the community could lead campaigns of sensibilization with
people for avoiding or reduce some causes of air pollution.
Third. To set restrictions to the industries to control the amount of pollutant agent that they
emit into the air is a good idea to reduce a great percentage of pollutants that are emitted
currently, so that even though they still cause pollution, they are a lot controlled.
Individual Level Prevention
First, you can to encourage your family to use the bus, train or bike when commuting. If we
all do this, there will be fewer cars on the road and less fumes produced.
Second, we must to use energy (light, water, boiler, kettle and fire woods) wisely. This is
because lots of fossil fuels are burned to generate electricity, and so if we can cut down
the use, we will also cut down the amount of pollution we create.
Third, recycle and re-use things. This will minimize the dependence of producing new
things. Remember manufacturing industries create a lot of pollution, so if we can re-use
things like shopping plastic bags, clothing, paper and bottles, it can help.

In conclusion, we could say that the air pollution is a great social problem, but if all of us,
including the government, change a little things and customs in our daily life, we can
contribute to improve air conditions for saving the environment in which we are living.