Define:

Climate change is a serious issue that must be addressed. As the years go by, the world heats up due to more fossil fuels absorbing heat rays from the sun. An issue within climate change is air pollution, and by extension, smog. Smog is created when industrial emissions from power plants, cars, factories, etc. react with heat and sunlight in the atmosphere. Smog is a hazy brown smoke in the skyline of cities, especially in the warmer months. Another word for smog is ‘Ground-level Ozone.’ Smog can be very dangerous; it increases the risk for heart and lung disease and can cause distress in the eyes and throat. 

Discover: 

Smog is created when industrial emissions from power plants, cars, factories, etc. react with heat and sunlight in the atmosphere. Smog is a hazy brown smoke in the skyline of cities, especially in the warmer months. Another word for smog is ‘Ground-level Ozone.’ 

Smog can irritate our airways and increase the risk of heart and lung disease. Places that may have a ‘high ozone day’ might experience burning of the throat and eyes and will cough/wheeze. (Many cities monitor their smog levels due to this information.) 

Photochemical Smog is when sunlight reacts with nitrogen oxide, and at least one volatile organic compound (VOC) in the atmosphere. Nitrogen Oxide comes from car exhaust, factory emissions, and coal power plants. VOC comes from gasoline, paint and a lot of cleaning solvents. When sunlight reacts with these two chemicals, they create airborne particles and create smog. 

Ozone (or smog) can be beneficial for humans if it is not close to the ground. Ozone layers high in the atmosphere protect us from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation (“Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a form of non-ionizing radiation that is emitted by the sun and artificial sources, such as tanning beds.”) When ozone is closer to the ground it can cause damage to our lung tissue and cause your eyes to burn or itch. People with respiratory illnesses (Asthma) are more at risk for harmful effects from smog. 

Smog is harmful to humans, animals and even plants. Smog is more common in cities that have a lot of industries and traffic. There are some restrictions in the US to prevent Ozone levels from climbing too high such as: 

• Restricts what chemicals can be released into the air and when 
• Communities might have ‘burn days’, which is a time when you can burn your leaves, or other wastes one might have. 

Things everyone can do to prevent their input of Ozone in the air:  

• Use other sorts of transportation other than your car (public transportation, bike, walk, etc.) or carpool with others. 
• Taking care of your car, checkups, oil changes, good tires 
• Getting your fuel in the morning/night to reduce how much Ozone goes into the air (hotter it is out=more Ozone’s) 
• Avoid high VOC product (paint), and gas-powered equipment (such as lawnmowers) 

In 1948, a small town called Donora was enveloped in a smoggy haze. About half of the town (14k people) had severe respiratory and cardiovascular issues, and the town had a death toll of around 40. This began happening around the world and in 1970, Congress passed the Clean Air Act Amendments, which led to the nation’s air quality standards. 

EPA’s Air, Climate, and Energy Research focus on finding the most harmful chemicals and where they originate from (from cars, trucks, etc.) to identify what needs to be worked on the most. For the most common pollutants, they are looked into/updated every 5 years by the EPA. 

Deliver:

Debrief:

This project had its ups and downs, a major challenge my group faced was honestly just solidifying our idea. We jumped from one idea to the next, until we finally came upon one that would work, but we lost a substantial amount of time. Another challenge was having the time to work on it, throughout the project all three of us became sick and unable to work on the assignment, which caused a lot of stress. Something I think we exceled on was the “discover” aspect of this project, I believe we have an adequate amount of information, as well with some reliable sources. If I were to do this project again I would try to go into more depth in the solution for our problem, and create a more detailed Minecraft build.

Sources:

EDF. (n.d.). Why smog standards are important for our health. Environmental Defense Fund. Retrieved December 15, 2022, from https://www.edf.org/health/why-smog-standards-are-important-our-health#:~:text=Why%20is%20it%20harmful%3F,you%20may%20cough%20and%20wheeze. 

National Geographic Headquarters. (n.d.). Smog. National Geographic Society. Retrieved December 15, 2022, from https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/smog 

EPA. (n.d.). History of Air Pollution. EPA. Retrieved December 15, 2022, from https://www.epa.gov/air-research/history-air-pollution 

Hazardous Waste Management Corporation. (n.d.). Learn more about our hazardous waste management services! HZMTCORP. Retrieved December 15, 2022, from https://www.hzmtcorp.com/hazardous-waste-management-services?gclid=Cj0KCQiAqOucBhDrARIsAPCQL1bj9Oj40DVgHqOAnitQlr29exrxVladWmhB3HFZnzJN2VA843h89xQaAobUEALw_wcB