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Atmospheric Pollution

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Atmospheric Pollution and Global Warming: A Real Problem

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Atmospheric pollution is becoming a bigger and more serious problem as the years go by. What was once thought to be a myth, has now become a threat to species all over the world. The thought of global warming is still laughed at today, but there is enough evidence to prove that it is not a joking matter. In the last one-hundred years, the Earth's temperature has risen by 1.4 degrees farenheit. It is expected to rise by 2 to 11.5 degrees farenheit in the next hundred years (epa, 2014). The weather and the climate has changed as well, and there is proof all around the world. Extreme weather is becoming the norm. There has been a drastic change in rainfall and this has some parts of the world at risk for flooding, or drought. Heatwaves have also become more extreme (epa, 2014). In some places, winters and summers are stretched out, seeming to never end. If the world continues to experience this type of weather, our society and environment will face some major challenges (epa, 2014). Most of these challenges are happening because of human activity. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are emitted into the air every single day. Deforestation, some agricultural practices, and industrial processes are part of the problem, but the burning of fossil fuel is the worst. Fossil fuel is burned as a way to produce energy, and the effects are dangerous. These gases also have an effect on our health and ecosystems (epa, 2014), and they are not going away

3 anytime soon. There seem to be more people now than ever before that have allergies. With the use of vehicle exhausts, petroleum refineries, and other resources, health issues are rising. Some health effects from these emissions are: eye irritability, changes in lung function, and acute respitory symptoms (Waller, 1989).

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