As mentioned in the last blog post, we have been talking quite a bit about climate change. However, as you might have observed, we usually talk about pollution (air pollution in particular) and climate change as two very distinct subjects (United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP], 2019). This is despite the fact that climate change and air pollution have very similar processes and characteristics. I feel the reason behind that is that pollution and climate change are often treated as separate issues in formal education, mainstream media, etc.. In this post, I would like us to move beyond looking at climate change and air pollution as separate problems.
To do so, let us look at the definition of climate change and air pollution in Table 1 below:
Based on their definitions, here are the key similarities and differences between the two:
From table 2 above, we can see that while there are some similarities in the sources of emissions and locations affected by climate change and air pollution, there are differences when it comes to the time scale, processes, and type of gas/chemicals involved for climate change and air pollution respectively. From this, we can see that while air pollution and climate change are not the same, they are very similar in nature.
In fact, air pollution and climate change are very closely interlinked with each other (UNEP, 2019). For instance, climate change can increase ground-level ozone in many regions, which could be a public health concern (Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], n.d.). Conversely, when air pollutants such as particulate matter travel to the polar regions, it covers the ice and reduces the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight back into space (UNEP, 2019). This leads to an increase in heat trapped on Earth, leading to worsening climate change (UNEP, 2019). Hence, it is important we don’t see air pollution and climate change in silos.
I hope that comparing the definitions and exploring their relationship allowed us to gain better insights into air pollution and climate change respectively.
See you in the next post!
Till then,
Keep Looking
—
References:
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (n.d.). Air Quality and Climate Change Research. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://www.epa.gov/air-research/air-quality-and-climate-change-research
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (2018). Annex I: Glossary [Matthews, J.B.R. (ed.)]. In: Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, H.-O. Pörtner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Péan, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J.B.R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M.I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, and T. Waterfield (eds.)]. In Press
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). (2019, April 23). Air Pollution and climate change: Two sides of the same coin. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/air-pollution-and-climate-change-two-sides-same-coin
World Health Organization (WHO). (n.d.). Air Pollution. World Health Organization. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://www.who.int/health-topics/air-pollution#tab=tab_1