All I Need Is The Air That I Breathe

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The Air That I Breathe 1 (All I Need is) The Air that I Breathe Air Abstract Since man first tamed fire and began to cook with it, air pollution has existed, but never in the proportions in which it exists today. This paper examines the problem, how it affects global warming, and what can be done to mitigate the problem. 2 Air 3 All I Need is the Air that I Breathe “Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe…” The Hollies, 1974 Introduction Air is “the ocean we breathe” according to the Berkeley National Laboratory website (Anonymous, nd). It is comprised of a cocktail of gases, with nitrogen and oxygen as the primary elements and traces of argon, carbon dioxide, and other gases picking up the remainder of the mix (Berg & Hager, 2007). When other gases—especially gases that are noxious, poisonous, or otherwise harmful to people, animals, or the environment—enter the air, the other elements are referred to as pollution. The Way Things Were From the beginning of recorded history, air pollution has existed—but never until the last century or two did it become the predominant environmental problem we face today. Whoever discovered fire probably burned the meat the first time he cooked inside his cave, and the problem of air pollution was born. However, until there were cities, any noxious fumes or overwhelming smoke produced by one’s neighbors was usually far enough away not to cause a problem. Once cities became common, however, the problem of air pollution intensified. In London, throughout the Middle Ages, people usually burned wood for heat (Urbinato, 1994). However, by the 12th century forest depletion had made wood scarce; meanwhile, a bituminous Air coal called “sea coal” was readily available. Sea coal’s chief problem was that it did not burn efficiently—it made more smoke than fire. This smoke combined with the

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