Economic Impact of Air Pollution

Executive Summary

Air has a great impact on the overall environment we live, in the past few decades the quality of air has improved drastically after the implementation of Air Act 1970. This is due to the several major steps taken which were based on this act. However, there are several areas in the country in which the public are exposed to high level of unhealthy air level. This unhealthy air level is damaging sensitive ecosystems in the country as well as the economy of the country.

Economic Impact of Air Pollution

Introduction

When man came in to the world, it brought pollution with him. This pollution grew from time to time. In the initial days, the pollution had little impact on the environment but as the time grew the size of the pollution also grew (Hall, Brajer and Lurmann, 2010). Thus, it started to affect the environment ultimately declining the quality of air, which we breathe in, the water we drink and the soil we live on. Pollution is the release of unwanted products both by the household and industrial units of the country. This pollution degrades the quality of environment we live in, by declining the water, air, soil etc. This pollution can be in the form of air, water, soil and noise pollution. These pollution can cause various disease like cancer, allergies and all forms of asthma.

There has been a major increase in the research in the field of effect of air pollution on the community and the countries we live in. These studies have given emphasis to the health effect and the monetary cost, which is a result of it. These side effects of air pollution are caused by the particles and the fine particles of the pollution (Bell,Morgenstern and Harrington, 2011). Several of the studies conducted by the governmental and non-governmental agencies have shown more of less the same result. These results have been used for increasing the overall air quality of the countries together with the steps taken by the World Health to promote overall quality of Air (Bell,Morgenstern and Harrington, 2011). These studies have shown the fine particles that were once considered dangerous, but now are added to more dangerous category. These fine particles are now considered more dangerous to human health than ever before. Therefore, steps have been taken all over the world especially US to increase the protective limit of the fine particles.

The quality of air has improved drastically after the implementation of Air Act 1970. This is due the several major taken based on this act. However, there are several areas in the country in which the public are exposed to high level of unhealthy air level. This unhealthy air level is also damaging many of the sensitive ecosystems in the country (Washington State Department of Ecology,2009). As according to a report unhealthy and poor air quality in the country us responsible for 50,000 premature deaths every year. The cost related to the unhealthy air in the country that is ...