Air Pollution Control

Environmental pollution used to be just an issue for policy wonks and politicians to deal with, but in recent years people started to understand that the environment is everybody’s business.

Things like recycling programs, water cleanup and air pollution control are the subject of town meetings all over this country and, to a large degree, all over the world.

As an activist interested in controlling your pollution, I’m encouraged to see more and more people aware of the problems, but I’d like to see even more work done on the issues. Poor air quality is a health risk for millions of people, and sometimes those with most to lose have the least awareness of the problems at hand.

A lot of the advances that are made in air pollution control occur with new technologies. Factory scrubbers and air filters have gotten better and better in recent decades. These pollution control devices can actually filter particles out of the air, catalyze harmful gases into less harmful compounds and monitor themselves to make sure they are properly controlling the air quality. Polluted air contributes to a number of childhood diseases such as allergies and asthma, and puts people at greater risk of numerous later life ailments including emphysema and cancer.

The benefits of air pollution control are proportionate to the harm done by polluted air. Just by removing a moderate portion of the pollutants that a single factory puts into the air, an industrial pollution control device can lower the rates of a number of diseases in the surrounding community. That’s something to get excited about!

Of course, controlling air pollution isn’t just a matter of developing the science to do it. Air pollution control devices cost money, and companies won’t spend the money without public pressure or government laws that require or encourage them to. And it isn’t all about factories either. Many of the major causes of air pollution stems from things we use on a daily basis. The cars we drive, the power plants that produce the electricity to run our computers and the food we eat all have pollution costs associated with them. Being responsible consumers and citizen activists gives us the opportunity to really make a difference with the choices that we make every day.

Ultimately, it is not about our children or other nations, or even our future. Controlling pollution makes a difference for us right now and, as smart citizens, we should do our part to rein it in.

Our environment is an important issue that is worth taking notice of. If you want to make a real and noticeable improvement to the air quality in your home or business, call us for a free estimate on air duct cleaning and consider purchasing a HEPA air cleaner.