This photo shows two images of the view from CNN's Beijing

Bureau, one of a blue sky day from a week before the military
parade and one of a hazy sky the day after the parade.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/04/asia/china-beijing-blue-sky-disappears-after-military-parade/index.html
Residents woke up Friday morning to find the crystal blue skies that graced the city nearly two
weeks suddenly gone -- in their place, the familiar sight and smell of dour gray pollution clouds.

Starting late August, Beijing enjoyed a rare string of continuously clear days as authorities took
drastic action to ensure an azure backdrop for the largest parade it's ever held -- a showcase
marking the 70th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II.

Hundreds of factories were shut during this time, while half of Beijing's five million registered cars
were banned from the streets.
It worked. On the morning of the parade, the air quality index (AQI) -- an international standard
for measuring the severity of air pollution -- dipped to a pristine 17 out of 500, signifying very
healthy air.

Excited Beijingers coined the unusually blue skies "parade blue."

But now the cars are back and the city is back to "Beijing gray."
Friday's AQI shot up past 160 in parts of the city, rated "unhealthy".

According to a guide by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, at this level of pollution
"Everyone may begin to experience some adverse health effects, and members of the sensitive
groups may experience more serious effects."
Metro’s air quality getting worse—study
With the worsening air quality in Metro Manila,
commuters who get stuck on the road for hours and
endure long lines to catch a ride in public
transportation are exposed to various kinds of
pollutants, making them highly vulnerable to
developing respiratory disease and cardiovascular
illnesses, according to health experts.

“Traffic is really bad for our health,” Dr. Anthony

Leachon, a cardiologist at Manila Doctors Hospital
and the president of the Philippine College of
Physicians Foundation, told the Philippine Daily
Inquirer on Sunday.

Read more:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/715587/metros-air-
quality-getting-worse-study#ixzz4kbTMRr7T
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on Facebook
 Smoke, haze, dust, odors, corrosive gases,
noise, and toxic compounds are among
our most widespread pollutants.
 In most developed countries, there are
established, legally enforceable rules to
protect the air we all breathe.
 In fast growing, poorly regulated cities of
developing countries, air quality rules, or at
least reliable enforcement of rules , often is
lacking.
 Globally, air pollution is estimated to
contribute to over 3 million deaths per year.
Because these deaths are usually
widespread, and in developing areas
where government regulation can be weak
in the first place, it is more difficult to
translate these risks into new policies, like
those that followed the events in London in
1952.
 Air Pollution - means any alteration of the
physical, chemical and biological properties of
the atmospheric air, or any discharge thereto
of any liquid, gaseous or solid substances that
will or is likely to create or to render the air
resources of the country harmful, detrimental,
or injurious to public health, safety or welfare or
which will adversely affect their utilization for
domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural,
recreational, or other legitimate purposes
 Air pollutant - means any matter found in
the atmosphere other than oxygen,
nitrogen, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and
the inert gases in their natural or normal
concentrations, that is detrimental to health
or the environment, which includes but not
limited to smoke, dust, soot, cinders, fly ash,
solid particles of any kind, gases, fumes,
chemical mists, steam and radio-active
substances.
 Ambient air quality - means the general
amount of pollution present in a broad
area; and refers to the atmosphere's
average purity as distinguished from
discharge measurements taken at the
source of pollution
 Ambient Air – is the air around us.
 Primary Pollutants – are those released
directly from the source into the air in a
harmful form.
 Secondary Pollutants – are converted to
a hazardous form after they enter the air
or are formed by chemical reactions as
components of the air mix and interact.
 Fugitive Emissions
o are those that do not go through a smoke stack.
o By far the most massive example of this category is
dust from soil erosion, strip mining, rock crushing, and
building construction (and destruction).
o Fugitive industrial emissions are hard to monitor, but
they are extremely important sources of air pollution.
o Leaks around valves and pipe joints, and
evaporation of volatile compounds from oil-
processing facilities, contribute as much as 90% of
the hydrocarbons and volatile organic chemicals
emitted from oil refineries and chemical plants.
- Sulfur dioxide
- Nitrogen oxides
- Carbon monoxide
- Ozone
- Lead
- Particulate Matter

These six conventional or criteria pollutants were addressed

first because they contributed the largest volume of air quality
degradation and also are considered the most serious threats
to human health and welfare.
 Natural sources of sulfur in the atmosphere include
evaporation of sea spray, erosion of sulfate-
containing dust from arid soils, fumes from volcanoes
and hot springs, and biogenic emissions of hydrogen
sulfide (H2S) and organic sulfur-containing
compounds.
 Total yearly emissions of sulfur from all sources amount
to some 114 million metric tons.
 Worldwide, anthropogenic sources represent about
2/3 of the all airborne sulfur, but in most urban areas
they contribute as much as 90% of the sulfur in the air.
 The predominant form of anthropogenic
sulfur is sulfur dioxide (SO2) from
combustion of sulfur-containing fuel (coal
and oil), purification of sour (sulfur-
containing) natural gas or oil, and industrial
processes, such as smelting of sulfide ores.
 China and the United States are the largest
sources of anthropogenic sulfur, primarily
from coal burning and smelting.
 Sulfur Dioxide is a colorless corrosive gas, directly
damaging to both plants and animals.
 Once in the atmosphere, it can be further oxidized to
sulfur trioxide (SO3), which reacts with water vapor or
dissolves in water droplets to form sulfuric acid (H2SO4), a
major component of acid rain.
 Sulfur dioxide and sulfate ions are probably second only to
smoking as causes of air-pollution-related health damage.
 Some of the smelliest and most obnoxious air pollutants
are sulfur compounds, such as hydrogen sulfide from pig
manure lagoons or mercaptans (organo-sulfur thiols) from
paper mills.
 Nitrogen oxides are highly reactive gases
formed when nitrogen in fuel or in air is heated
(during combustion) to temperatures above
650°C in the presence of oxygen.
 Bacteria can also form NO as they oxidize
nitrogen-containing compounds in soil or
water.
 The initial product, nitric oxide (NO), oxidizes
further in the atmosphere to nitrogen dioxide
(NO2), a reddish-brown gas that gives
photochemical smog its distinctive color.
 In addition, nitrous oxide (N2O) is an
intermediate form that results from soil
denitrification. Nitrous oxide absorbs ultraviolet
light and is an important greenhouse gas.
 Because nitrogen readily changes from one of
these forms to another by gaining or losing O
atoms, the general term NOx is used to
describe these gases.
 Nitrogen oxides combine with water to make
nitric acid (HNO3), a major component of acid
rain.
 Anthropogenic sources account for 60%
of the global emissions of about 230
million metric tons of reactive nitrogen
compounds each year.
 Because we continue to drive more miles
every year, and to consume abundant
electricity, we have had less success in
controlling NOx than other pollutants.
 Is a colorless, odorless, nonirritating, but highly
toxic gas.
 CO is produced mainly by incomplete
combustion of fuel (coal, oil, charcoal, or gas),
as in furnaces, incinerators, engines, or fires, as
well as in decomposition of organic matter.
 CO blocks oxygen uptake in blood by binding
irreversibly to hemoglobin (the protein that
carries oxygen in our blood), making
hemoglobin unable to hold oxygen and deliver
it to cells.
 Human activities produce about half of the 1 billion
metric tons of CO released to the atmosphere each
year.
 About 90% of the CO in the air is converted to CO2 in
photochemical reactions that produce ozone.
 Catalytic converters on vehicles are one of the
important methods to reduce CO production by
ensuring complete oxidation of carbon to carbon
dioxide (CO2).
 Carbon dioxide is the predominant form of carbon in
the air.
 Ozone (O3) high in the stratosphere provides a
valuable shield for the biosphere by absorbing
incoming ultraviolet radiation.
 At ground level, O3 is a strong oxidizing
reagent that damages vegetation, building
materials (such as paint, rubber, and plastics),
and sensitive tissues (such as eyes and lungs).
 Ozone has an acrid, biting odor that is a
distinctive characteristic of a photochemical
smog.
 Ground level O3 is a product of
photochemical reactions (reactions initiated
by sunlight) between other pollutants, such as
NOx or volatile organic compounds. A general
term for products of these reactions is
photochemical oxidants.
 One of the most important of these reactions
involves splitting nitrogen dioxide (NO2) into
nitrous oxide (NO) and Oxygen (O). This single
O atom is then available to combine with a
molecule of O2 to make ozone (O3).
 Hydrocarbons in the air contribute to the
accumulation of ozone by combining with NO
to form new compounds, leaving single O
atoms free to form O3.
 A general term for organic chemicals that
evaporate easily or exist as gases in the air is
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).
 Plants are the largest source of VOCs, releasing
an estimated 350 million tons of isoprene
(C5H8) and 450 million tons of terpenes
(C10H15) each year.
 About 400 million tons of methane (CH4) are
produced by natural wetlands and rice paddies and
by bacteria in the guts of termites and ruminant
animals. These volatile hydrocarbons are generally
oxidized to CO and CO2 in the atmosphere.
 In addition to natural VOCs, a large number of other
synthetic organic chemicals, such as benzene,
toluene, formaldehyde, vinyl chloride, phenols,
chloroform, and trichloroethylene, are released into
the air by human activities. These chemicals play an
important role in the formation of photochemical
oxidants.
 Most abundantly produced metal air
pollutant.
 Lead is toxic to our nervous systems and
other critical functions. Lead binds to
enzymes and to components of our cell,
such as brain cells, which then cannot
function normally.
 Airborne lead is produced by a wide range
of industrial and mining processes.
 The main sources are smelting of metal ores,
mining, and burning of coal and municipal
waste, in which lead is a trace element and
burning of gasoline to which lead has been
added.
 Leaded gasoline was the main source of lead
in the United States, but leaded gas was
phased out in the 1980s. Banning leaded
gasoline in the US was one of the most
successful pollution-control measures in
American history.
 Worldwide atmospheric lead emissions
amount to about 2 million metric tons
per year, or 2/3 of all metallic air
pollution. Globally, most of this lead is still
from leaded gasoline, as well as metal
ore smelting and coal burning.
 Includes solid particles or liquid droplets
suspended in a gaseous medium.
 Very fine solid or liquid particulates suspended
in the atmosphere are aerosols. This include
dust, ash, soot, lint, smoke, pollen, spores, algal
cells, and many other suspended materials.
 Particulates are often the most obvious form of
air pollution, because they reduce visibility and
leave dirty deposits on windows, painted
surfaces and textiles.
 Particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter,
such as those found in smoke and haze, and
produced by fires, power plants, or vehicle exhaust,
are among the most dangerous particulates
because they can be drawn into the lungs , where
they damage respiratory tissues. Asbestos fibers and
cigarette smoke are among these dangerous fine
particles. This fine particulate matter is referred to as
PM2.5, in reference to its size. Reducing sulfur in coal
and diesel fuel, which produces aerosol droplets of
sulfuric acid, is one important strategy for controlling
PM2.5 particulates.
 Coarse inhalable particles are larger than 2.5
micrometers but less than 10 micrometers in
diameter. These are known as PM10, and they are
typically found near roads or other visible dust
sources. The “dust bowl” of the 1930s involved mainly
this kind of particulates. At that time, farmland soils
were often left bare, especially during severe
drought, and billions of tons of topsoil blew away
from farmlands. Soil conservation on farmlands is one
strategy for reducing PM10; another strategy is better
management of dust at construction sites.
 Epidemiological studies have shown that
cities with chronically high levels of
particulates have higher death rates,
mostly from heart and lung disease.
 The dust also carries pollen, bacteria,
viruses, fungi, herbicides, acids,
radioactive isotopes, and heavy metals
between continents.
 Airborne dust is considered the primary source of
allergies worldwide. Saharan dust storms are
suspected of raising asthma rates in Trinidad and
Barbados, where cases have increased 17-fold in 30
years.
 Aspergillus sydowii, a soil fungus from Africa, has been
shown to be causing death of corals and sea fans in
remote reefs in the Caribbean.
 Europe also receives airborne pathogens via dust
storms. Outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in
Britain have been traced to dust storms from North
Africa.
 What happened in “the Great London Smog”? (5
POINTS)
 What is the purpose of RA 8749? (Principles, policies,
and rights) (15 PTS)
 Terminologies of RA 8749 (25 PTS)
 What are Kyoto Protocol, Montreal Protocol and
Stockholm Convention? (15 PTS)
 What are the 2001 Stockholm Convention’s Dirty
Dozen? (15 PTS)

TOTAL = 75 PTS
Mercury
Carbon dioxide
Halogens
Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs)
 Many toxic metals are released into the
air by burning coal and oil, mining, smelting of
metal ores, or manufacturing. Lead, mercury,
cadmium, nickel, arsenic (highly toxic
metalloid), and others are released in the
form of metal fumes or suspended
particulates by fuel combustion, ore smelting,
and disposal of wastes. Among these, lead
and mercury are the most abundantly
produced toxic metals.
 Mercury has become regulated relatively
recently (in Philippines, DAO 1997-38)
 Like Lead, toxic in minute doses, causing nerve
damage and other impairments, especially in
young children and developing fetuses.
 Volcanoes and rock weathering can produce
mercury, but 70% of airborne mercury derives
from coal-burning power plants, metal
processing (smelting), waste incineration, and
other industrial combustion.
 About 75% of human exposure to mercury
comes from eating fish. This is because
aquatic bacteria are mainly responsible for
converting airborne mercury into methyl
mercury, a form that accumulates in living
animal tissues.
 Swordfish, shrimp, and other seafood are
also significant sources of mercury in our
diet.
 Global air circulation also deposits airborne
mercury on land. Half or more of the
mercury that falls on North America may
come from abroad, much of it from Asian
coal-burning power plants.
 Increased burning coal burning in China,
which for years built new coal-burning
power plants at the rate of one or two per
week, is understood to be the main cause
of growing mercury emissions in the Pacific.
 Much of our understanding of mercury poisoning
comes from a disastrous case in Minamata, Japan, in
the 1950s, where a chemical factory regularly
discharged mercury-laden waste into Minamata Bay.
Babies whose mothers ate mercury-contaminated fish
suffered profound neurological disabilities, including
deafness, blindness, mental retardation, and cerebral
palsy. In adults, mercury poisoning caused numbness,
loss of muscle control, and dementia. The connection
between “Minamata disease” and mercury was
established in the 1950s, but waste dumping didn’t end
for another ten years.
 Some 370 billion tons of CO2 are emitted each
year from respiration (oxidation of organic
compounds by plant and animal cells). These
releases are usually balanced by an equal
uptake by photosynthesis in green plants.
 At normal concentrations, CO2 is nontoxic and
innocuous, but atmospheric levels are steadily
increasing (about 0.5 percent per year) due to
human activities and are now causing global
climate change, with serious implications for
both human and natural communities.
 The EPA is charged with regulating six greenhouse
gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide,
hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur
hexafluoride. These are gases whose emissions have
grown dramatically in recent decades.
 Three of these six greenhouse gases contain
halogens, a group of lightweight, highly reactive
elements (fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine).
Because they are generally toxic in their elemental
form, they are commonly used as fumigants and
disinfectants, but they also have hundreds of uses in
industrial and commercial products.
 Halogen compounds are also powerful
greenhouse gases: They trap more energy per
molecule than does CO2, and they persist in
the atmosphere for decades to centuries.
 Perfluorocarbons will persist in the atmosphere
for thousands of years.
 The global warming potential (per molecule,
over time) of some CFCs is thousands of times
greater than that of CO2.
 Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have been
banned for most uses in industrialized
countries, but about 600 million tons of these
compounds are used annually worldwide in
spray propellants and refrigeration
compressors and for foam blowing. They
diffuse into the stratosphere, where they
release chlorine and fluorine atoms that
destroy ozone molecules that protect the
earth from ultraviolet radiation.
 A special category of toxins monitored by the
U.S. EPA because they are particularly
dangerous.
 These chemicals include carcinogens,
neurotoxins, mutagens, teratogens, endocrine
system disrupters, and other highly toxic
compounds.
 The most persistent compounds require special
reporting and management because they
remain in ecosystem for long periods of time
and accumulate in animal and human tissues.
 The tendency to bioaccumulate makes
many of these hazardous air pollutants
especially dangerous.
 Most of these chemicals are either metal
compounds, chlorinated hydrocarbons, or
volatile organic compounds.
 Gasoline vapors, solvents, and components
of plastics are all HAPs that you may
encounter on a daily basis.
 Any undesirable change in the physical
characteristics or chemistry of the atmosphere, such
as noise, odors, and light pollution.
 These factors rarely threaten life or health directly, but
they can strongly impact our quality of life.
 They also increase stress, which affects health.
 Factories that emit noxious chemicals sometimes
spray “odor maskants” or perfumes into smokestacks
to cover up objectionable odors.
 Light pollution also is a concern in most urban areas,
where ambient light confuses birds and hides the
stars.
 The EPA has found that concentrations of toxic air
pollutants are often higher indoors than outdoors.
 People generally spend more time inside than out, so they
are exposed to higher doses of pollutants.
 Indoor air in homes has concentrations of chemicals that
would be illegal outside or in the workplace. The EPA has
found that concentrations of such compounds as
chloroform, benzene, carbon tetrachloride,
formaldehyde, and styrene can be 70 times higher in
indoor air than in outdoor air, as plastics, carpets, paints,
and other common materials off-gas these materials.
 Finding less-toxic paints and fabrics can make indoor
spaces both healthier and more pleasant.
 Can greatly concentrate air pollutants.
 Inversions occur when a stable layer of warmer air lies
above cooler air.
 The normal conditions, where temperatures decline
with increasing height, are inverted, and these stable
conditions prevent convection currents from
dispersing pollutants.
 Inversions might last from a few hours to a few days.
 The most stable inversion conditions are usually
created by rapid nighttime cooling in a valley or
basin where air movement is restricted.
 In 1985 the British Antarctic Atmospheric Survey
announced a startling and disturbing discovery:
Stratospheric ozone concentrations over the South Pole
were dropping precipitously during September and
October every year as the sun reappeared at the end
of the long polar winter. This ozone depletion has been
occurring at least since the 1960s but was not
recognized because earlier researchers programmed
their instruments to ignore changes in ozone levels that
were presumed to be erroneous.
Chlorine-based aerosols, especially CFCs and
other halon gases, are the principal agents of ozone
depletion.
 Ozone Hole is really a vast area of reduced
concentrations of ozone in the stratosphere.
Although ozone is a pollutant in the ambient air,
ozone in the stratosphere is important because it
absorbs much of the harmful ultraviolet (UV)
radiation that enters the outer atmosphere. UV
radiation damages plant and animal tissues,
including the eyes and the skin. Excessive UV
exposure could reduce agricultural production
and disrupt ecosystems.
 Bronchitis – a persistent inflammation of
bronchi and bronchioles (large and small
airways in the lung) that causes mucus
buildup, a painful cough, and involuntary
muscle spasms that constrict airways.
 Emphysema – severe bronchitis, an
irreversible chronic obstructive lung disease
in which airways become permanently
constricted and alveoli are damaged or
even destroyed.
 The deposition of wet acidic solutions or dry acidic
particles from the air.
 English Scientist Robert Angus Smith coined the term
“acid rain” in his studies of air chemistry in
Manchester, England, in the 1850s.
 By the 1940s it was known that pollutants, including
atmospheric acids, could be transported long
distances by wind currents. This was thought to be
only an academic curiosity until it was shown that
precipitation of these acids can have far reaching
ecological effects.
 Unpolluted rain generally has a pH of
about 5.6 due to carbonic acid created
by CO2 in air. Sulfur, chlorine, and other
elements also form acidic compounds as
they are released in sea spray, volcanic
emissions, and biological decomposition.
These sources can lower the pH of rain
well below 5.6. Other factors, such as
alkaline dust can raise it above 7.
 Involves filtering air emissions. Filters trap
particulates in a mesh of cotton cloth, spun
glass fibers, or asbestos-cellulose. Industrial air
filters are generally giant bags 10 to 15 m long
and 2 to 3 m wide. Effluent gas is blown
through the bag, much like the bag on a
vacuum cleaner. Every few days or weeks the
bags are opened to remove the dust cake.
Electrostatic precipitators are the most
common particulate controls in power plants.
 Important because sulfur oxides are among the most
damaging of all air pollutants in terms of human health
and ecosystem viability.
 Switching from soft coal with a high sulfur content to low
sulfur coal is the surest way to reduce sulfur emissions.
 Switching to cleaner oil or gas would eliminate metal
effluents as well as sulfur.
 Cleaning fuels is an alternative to switching. Coal can be
crushed, washed, and gasified to remove sulfur and
metals before combustion. This improves heat content
and firing properties, but may replace air pollution with
solid-waste and water pollution problems; furthermore,
these steps are expensive.
 Can be reduced in both internal combustion
engines and industrial boilers by as much as 50
percent by carefully controlling the flow of air
and fuel.
 Staged burners, for example, control burning
temperatures and oxygen flow to prevent
formation of NOx.
 The catalytic converter on your car uses
platinum-palladium and rhodium catalysts to
remove up to 90% of NOx, hydrocarbons and
carbon monoxide at the same time.
 Mainly involve complete combustion or controlling evaporation.
 Hydrocarbons and VOCs are produced by incomplete
combustion of fuels or by solvent evaporation from chemical
factories, paints, dry cleaning, plastic manufacturing, printing,
and other industrial processed. Closed systems that prevent
escape of fugitive gases can reduce many of these emissions.
 In automobiles, for instance, positive crankcase ventilation (PCV)
systems collect oil that escapes from around the pistons and
unburned fuel and channels them back to the engine for
combustion.
 Controls on fugitive losses from industrial valves, pipes, and
storage tanks can have a significant impact on air quality.
 Afterburners are often the best method for destroying VOCs in
industrial exhaust stacks.
 Conserve energy: carpool, bike, walk, use public
transport, and buy compact fluorescent bulbs and
energy efficient appliances
 Don’t use polluting two-cycle gasoline engines if
cleaner four-cycle models are available for lawn
mowers, boat motors, etc.
 Buy refrigerators and air conditioners designed for
CFC alternatives. If you have old appliances or other
CFC sources, dispose them responsibly.
 Plant tree and care for it, every year.
 Write to your congressional representatives and
support a transition to an energy-efficient economy.
 If green pricing options are available in your area,
buy renewable energy.
 If your home has a fireplace, install a high efficiency,
clean-burning, two-stage insert that conserves
energy and reduces pollution up to 90%.
 Have your car tuned every 10,000 miles (16,000 km)
and make sure that its anti-smog equipment is
working properly. Turn-off your engine when waiting
longer than one minute. Start trips a little earlier and
drive slower - it not only saves fuel but it’s safer too.
 Use latex-based, low VOC paint rather than oil-based
(alkyd) paint.
 Avoid spray-can products. Light charcoal
fires with electric starters rather than
petroleum products.
 Don’t top off your fuel tank when you buy
gasoline; stop when the automatic
mechanism turns off the pump. Don’t dump
gasoline or used oil on the ground or down
the drain.
 Buy clothes that can be washed rather
than dry-cleaned.
 What happened in “the Great London
Smog”?
 What is the purpose of RA 8749? (Principles,
policies, and rights)
 Terminologies of RA 8749
 What are Kyoto Protocol, Montreal Protocol
and Stockholm Convention?

 What are the 2001 Stockholm Convention’s

Dirty Dozen?