Hello! Welcome back again 😀

Do you know that in 2018, it was estimated by the World Health Organization (2019) that around 7 million died prematurely from air pollution, having suffered from heart and lung diseases? Thus, it is important to know the state of our air quality so as to ensure that our health, as well as our earth, aren’t put at risk. If the air quality is bad, at least we would be aware and be able to mitigate the effects of it. Hence we will be briefly sharing our knowledge regarding the indicator that Singapore uses to measure the Air Quality, sources of Air Pollutants, and its effects on our health and our earth. 

Air Pollution Index
Singapore relies on the Pollutant Standards Index(PSI) to measure the daily air quality, which is determined based on the 24-hour average of Particulate matter 2.5(PM 2.5) concentration levels. This index also measures 5 other pollutants that have potential negative impacts on our health: carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide (National Environment Agency, 2020).

The following video will educate us on the sources of air pollution and its negative effects on us as well as on our earth. Enjoy 🙂

Like what the video above mentioned, air pollutants can arise from natural sources like volcano eruption and human activities. 

However, many of us tend to only remember the major culprits of harmful pollutants and overlook the potential effects of things that we come into contact with every day. Hence, we continue to indulge in it excessively without putting second thoughts to it.

Air pollutants do not only include air and water particles but odors, be it bad or good. For example, sewage and volatile chemicals such as perfume and paint.  A scientist from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) reported that the amount of chemical vapors in scented products that are emitted into the atmosphere is equal to the amount of petroleum consumed. The small amount of chemical products that we use every day is accumulated in the air, in the form of chemical vapors which contributes to ozone pollution and may also transform into other pollutants when it reacts with other chemicals in the atmosphere (Theo, 2018). Hence, we ought to start thinking twice when consuming such products.

As we live each day, we urge you to find out more information about the products or services we engage in, and our little challenge with you and for you is to think of creative ways in which we can minimize or totally eliminate the pollution(air, land, sea, etc) it causes. Feel free to comment down below and share with us your creative ideas!

Your environmental buddy,
Zhi Yong

References:

American Lung Association. (2020, February 12). Nitrogen Dioxide. Retrieved from: https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/what-makes-air-unhealthy/nitrogen-dioxide

National Environment Agency. (2020, February 20). FAQs on Air Pollution. Retrieved from:

https://www.nea.gov.sg/our-services/pollution-control/air-pollution/faqs

National Geographic. (2017, October 16). Air Pollution 101. [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/e6rglsLy1Ys

National Park Service. (2018, September 11). Sulfur Dioxide Effects on Health. Retrieved from: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/air/humanhealth-sulfur.htm

Theo, S. (2018, February 15). Those scented products you love? NOAA study finds they can cause air pollution. Retrieved from: https://www.noaa.gov/news/those-scented-products-you-love-noaa-study-finds-they-can-cause-air-pollution

United Kingdom National Health Service. (2019, April 10). Carbon monoxide poisoning. Retrieved from: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/carbon-monoxide-poisoning/

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2020, April 13). Health and Environmental Effects of Particulate Matter (PM). Retrieved from: https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/health-and-environmental-effects-particulate-matter-pm

World Health Organization. (2019, July 12). Ambient and household air pollution and health. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/airpollution/data/en/

World Wide Fund for Nature. (2014, April 11). WWF: IPCC highlights need to stop gambling on fossil fuels. [Digital image]. Retrieved from: https://wwf.panda.org/?219530

Yahoo! News. (2019, June 21). Ireland may ban all new combustion vehicle sales after 2030. [Digital image]. Retrieved from: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/ireland-may-ban-combustion-vehicle-094000027.html