Ozone and its Effects

• Garbage waste burning – this is a problem mainly in parts of the world where this is how garbage is disposed of, such as India. About 9500 tons of waste in just one city in India is burned each day, causing major health problems for the people living there. Expect to see nervous system developmental impairment, cancers, liver disease, immune impairment, and disturbances in reproductive function from garbage burning.

• Construction and/or demolition activities – this is true in all parts of the world where buildings are torn down and built up. Much of this gives rise to particulate matter and haziness from bricks and cement demolition.

• Agriculture – this also decreases air quality, largely through the use of fertilizers and pesticides. Besides their damage to air quality, you will get mixing of these substances with groundwater, which also affects health of the community and region.

OZONE AND ITS EFFECTS

Before we talk about ozone as a form of air pollution, we should talk a bit about the other aspects of ozone as it relates to our ozone layer around the earth. Human activities have led to depletion of this ozone layer, which largely protects us from excess UV ray exposure. This depletion does not cause global warming, however, as this is largely due to CO2 emissions.

Ozone absorbs UV radiation, while CO2 absorbs infrared or "heat" radiation, trapping it near our planet and preventing its cooling; it means that the earth's surface cannot release its stored energy as effectively. Ozone on the other hand is layered high above the earth but can easily be depleted by the halons and CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) we release when we use refrigerants or utilize aerosol spray cans. The types of rays ozone collects and absorbs are those that can damage plants, animals, and humans.

As you can imagine, different molecules in the atmosphere have varying abilities to capture certain wavelengths of energy in the electromagnetic spectrum. Figure 42 shows this electromagnetic spectrum and where sunlight falls on this spectrum:

Figure 42.

We will talk more about ground level ozone in a minute. The ozone in our atmosphere is considered "good" ozone because of its health benefits. As you know, this good ozone exists in the stratosphere around earth. The ozone hole in our atmosphere means that ozone is depleted there from the use of these CFCs and related airborne chemicals. Without this ozone, we risk things like increased cataracts and sunburn-related skin cancer.

Ozone itself is made mostly knew the equator when sunlight interacts with oxygen molecules. When it is made, it flows naturally toward the poles and builds up in those locations. Cloudiness near the poles, however, tends to reduce the ozone that has concentrated there. CFC molecules become attached to ice particles near the poles. In the springtime, these CFCs are released and damage the ozone layer because most of their destructive power is in gaseous form.

In the early 1980s, researchers found that the ozone layer in the Antarctic area was becoming depleted. It was soon found that these CFCs, which contain chlorine or fluorine, were responsible for this depletion. One of the downsides is that these