Chapter 2: Air Pollution and Climate Change

The world has made substantial progress in curbing air pollution since the days when temperature inversions combined with air pollution made city streets were so dark that carriages lit their lamps in the day. Air pollution in some large cities continues to create grave public health concerns, but other cities, and planetary air, generally, are cleaner than they once were.

Many thanks to Professor Philip Stevens of the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Bloomington for his very helpful review of sections 2.1, 2.3, and 2.4.

Learning Outcomes

After studying this chapter, you should

• Know the major traditional air pollutants and their impacts
• Understand the trends in air quality over time
• Know the major US and international laws and policies governing air quality
• Understand the causes of global warming and the impacts on weather and related atmospheric phenomena

Chapter Outline

• 2.1 Overview and “traditional” air pollutants
• 2.2 Global climate change – atmospheric and climatic aspects
• 2.3 Air pollution trends and control
• 2.4 Air pollution case study – Dust and the Wind