Air quality affects everything and is affected by absolutely everything — both man-made and natural phenomena.

Across the entire planet, poor air quality is becoming the norm. People try and ignore this fact, but it will only continue to grow into even more of a problem, so it’s essential to recognize it and the effects it could have on our lives, as well as the life of our beautiful planet. 

Waste pollution affects the world and if you’re on the west coast and want to see what change can be made, consider a hazardous waste pollution attorney in California.

Air Pollution

Basically speaking, air pollution is the reason our quality of air is decreasing. Chemicals that are found in the air which our planet can’t get rid of fast enough is what contributes to air pollution and, as we’ve already mentioned, everything and anything adds to this.

A good air quality, i.e. healthy air, is made up of 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen and the last 1% is a mélange of helium, hydrogen, methane, argon and carbon dioxide. However, this is radically changing as our hobbies, factories and so forth produce harmful toxins that are harming the quality of our air. 

Causes of Air Pollution

It would be impossible to go over every little thing that causes air pollution but, there are a few umbrella terms that encompass a lot of them. 

Fossil Fuel Emissions

As you no doubt well know, this covers everything from running cars, power plants, fires and furnaces within factories. It won’t come as a shock as this is one of the biggest problems that face our air quality. 

Waste

Landfill sites contribute massively to air pollution because of how they produce a lot of methane. 

Agriculture

Not to mention the growing act of deforestation, farming, in general, generates a large amount of pollution due to the processes used in harvesting, drying, and sowing. 

Wildfires

It isn’t just humans and their hobbies/jobs that are causing the decline in air quality. Natural occurrences like wildfires also contribute to it as the elements released in the air have been known to pose a risk for all living beings. 

Measuring Air Quality

The Environment Protection Agency in the United States uses what is known as the ‘Air Quality Index’ to monitor the levels of air pollution (thus, the quality of air). As it stands, other countries around the world are using this system now because of the increasingly alarming rates of toxins in our air. 

Simply put, levels from 0-150 are considered safe to breathe (the higher the number, the less safe) and from 151-500 is unsafe to breathe and will cause the population major health problems. 

Businesses Affected by Weather

There are many industries that have to factor in weather when they are working. Any job role in agriculture, healthcare, energy and utilities, property management, travel and transportation will be affected if emergency weather situations arise.

Adverse weather conditions can change the route delivery drivers take, where they pick up their supply from, how they affect harvest times, how natural energy is collected, and so much more — including air quality. 

Reasons Behind Taking Air Quality into Account

In 2008, there was legislation passed that set limits for concentrations of harmful toxins in outdoor air that would have a detrimental impact on the public’s health. So, in order to plan appropriately for weather events, the air quality level must be known so businesses can check whether or not they are/will be in the legal limits. 

If, in the unfortunate scenario that the air quality in certain locations is not within these barriers, then an air quality action plan must be put in place for our own safety. As you can see, if companies went about planning for weather events without looking at the quality of our air, they would never know what effect (if any) the environment could have on their consumers. 

In-Depth Weather Data Analysis

As we have previously mentioned, a lot of businesses in many industries are affected by weather — especially when it comes to natural disasters and air quality. It can be daunting for you to start delving into the world of weather data. 

Thankfully, there are products and varying programs out there to tackle this hard task for you. If your business falls into any of the categories we talked about earlier, you are going to want air quality information, along with detailed, comprehensive, all-round weather reports so you never get caught out when adverse conditions and poor quality of air come knocking. 

Hopefully, you’ll know just how vital it is to take into account air quality when planning for weather events now; along with the importance of receiving in-depth weather data. Don’t worry, as we’ve said, all you need is a great program to do all the laborious tasks for you and you’re all set!