scholarly journals AIR POLLUTION IN ZIMBABWE: AN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGE

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1750-1758
Author(s):  
JEMITIAS MAPIRA
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Environmental Problem ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk

Air pollution is a major environmental problem in industrialized countries such as: the USA, China, Japan and most European countries including: France, Germany, Italy and the UK. One of its major causes is modern technology which depends heavily on fossil fuels (coal and oil) and dates back to the Industrial Revolution, which started some two centuries ago. Although the level of industrialization is quite low in developing countries such as Zimbabwe, air pollution is now posing a threat to the nations environmental security. This paper examines the problem of air pollution in Zimbabwe with a view to suggesting possible solutions. While previous researches have given brief and rather superficial accounts on the problem, this paper seeks to provide an in-depth study on the issue for the benefit of researchers, stakeholders and policy makers. The paper examines issues such as: causes, sources, health impacts, and possible solutions within the legislative and policy framework of Zimbabwe.Based on information that was collected in August 2014, the paper shows that air pollution is a major environmental problem and should be addressed seriously at both local and national levels.

scholarly journals Net-zero emission vehicles shift and equitable ownership in low-income households and communities: why responsible and circularity business models are essential

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nana O. Bonsu
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Zero Emission ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThe UK Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution aims to ban petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and transition to electric vehicles (EVs). Current business models for EV ownership and the transition to net-net zero emissions are not working for households in the lowest income brackets. However, low-income communities bear the brunt of environmental and health illnesses from transport air pollution caused by those living in relatively more affluent areas. Importantly, achieving equitable EV ownership amongst low-and middle-income households and driving policy goals towards environmental injustice of air pollution and net-zero emissions would require responsible and circular business models. Such consumer-focused business models address an EV subscription via low-income household tax rebates, an EV battery value-chain circularity, locally-driven new battery technological development, including EV manufacturing tax rebates and socially innovative mechanisms. This brief communication emphasises that consumer-led business models following net-zero emission vehicles shift and decisions must ensure positive-sum outcomes. And must focus not only on profits and competitiveness but also on people, planet, prosperity and partnership co-benefits.

“Air pollution arrested not imprisoned”: The impact of laws invoked on Covid-19 city lockdowns

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Mensah Aboagye ◽  
◽  
Nana Osei Owusu ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Environmental Problem ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
World Health ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

Air pollution continues to be an environmental problem that poses a lot of health risks to the young and aged. Developed countries have invested heavily to curb this environmental problem, causing severe threats to human lives, yet the results do not look convincing. In developing countries, the situation is difficult than they can imagine, resulting in governments borrowing to fight what looks like a lost battle [1-3]. The in-depth study of this environmental menace - air pollution, suggests that the government enacts stringent measures to help fight this battle. This is because air pollution has natural (volcanic eruption) and anthropogenic (human activities) causes. In December 2019, the deadly Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak was soon declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) [4]. Majority of countries have had their share of the impact of this outbreak. Many countries resorted to city lockdown to strictly control the movement of people and economic activities as recommended by WHO.

scholarly journals Performance Evaluation of PDMS or PEBAX-Coated Polyetherimide Membrane for Oxygen/Nitrogen Separation

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (11) ◽  
pp. 3395-3404
Author(s):  
Kok Chung Chong ◽  
Soon Onn Lai ◽  
Hui San Thiam ◽  
Shee Keat Mah ◽  
Woei Jye Lau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Indoor Air Pollution ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Hollow Fiber Membrane ◽  
Gas Permeation ◽  
Separation Performance ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Nitrogen Gas ◽  
Separation Results

Since the industrial revolution era, the Earth was suffering from serious air pollution. Millions of people are now suffering from indoor air pollution related diseases, especially in the industrialized countries such as China. One method to improve the indoor air quality is by oxygen enhancement. Membrane technology has been a key research over the past decades due to its low energy usage, minimum chemical consumption as well as small setting up layout. In this study, polyetherimide (PEI) membranes coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or poly(ether block amide) (PEBAX) at different concentration (1, 3 or 5 wt%) were used to evaluate the oxygen/nitrogen gas separation. Prior to the gas permeation study, the membranes were characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM) for morphology observation and surface elemental analysis by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope (EDX). The morphology of the self-fabricated PEI membranes is composed of a thin and dense structure supported by the finger-like structure. The results obtained from oxygen/nitrogen separation studies shows membrane coated with 3 wt% PDMS yield a good separation results, exhibiting an improvement of oxygen and nitrogen permeance by 28.2% and 24.9%, selectivity by 10.4% (up to 5.08) relative to the base PEI membrane. Meanwhile, the 3 wt% PEBAX-coated PEI membrane only achieved selectivity of 3.56. The PDMS-coated PEI membrane yield a better separation performance attributed to the fact that PDMS coating on the hollow fiber membrane improve the surface morphology by reducing the defects.

Mycobacterioses

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Zinsstag ◽  
Borna Müller ◽  
Ivo Pavlik
Keyword(s):  
Bovine Tuberculosis ◽  
Meles Meles ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Mycobacterial Species ◽  
Wildlife Reservoirs ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Multiple Transmission

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex MTC is composed of several species of mycobacteria which are M. tuberculosis, the main cause of human tuberculosis, M. canetti, M. africanum, M. microti, M. pinnipedii, M. caprae, and M. bovis. Cattle are the principal host of M. bovis, but a large number of other ruminants and other mammals, particularly wildlife are infected. Human tuberculosis is a global problem of huge proportions. More than 95% of human tuberculosis cases occur in developing and transition countries, of which one third are in Africa but the proportion of cases caused by M. bovis is still not known. Today, bovine tuberculosis (BTB) is re-emerging and threatens the livestock industry in industrialized countries with wildlife reservoirs like the wild tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the USA or the badger (Meles meles) in the UK. Most developing countries lack the means and capacity for effective control of BTB. A better understanding of its epidemiology is required to identify novel, locally adapted options for control in a given context. BTB in Africa is emphasized here because of the special importance of multiple transmission interfaces between wildlife, livestock and humans.In addition to obligatory pathogenic mycobacteria (esp. members of the MTC), potentially pathogenic mycobacteria (PPM) previously designated as ‘mycobacteria other than tubercle bacilli’ (MOTT) are increasingly important causes of mycobacterioses in humans and animals. Most of them are opportunistic in humans and occur mostly in immunocompromised patients. The mycobacteria that cause human disease are both the M. avium complex (MAC) members and other mycobacterial species MAC members have been detected in more than 95% of cases; this chapter will mainly focus on M. avium subsp. avium, M. a. hominissuis, and M. intracellulare.

scholarly journals The impact of air pollution on terrestrial managed and natural vegetation

2020 ◽  
Vol 378 (2183) ◽  
pp. 20190317 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Stevens ◽  
J. N. B. Bell ◽  
P. Brimblecombe ◽  
C. M. Clark ◽  
N. B. Dise ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Natural Vegetation ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

Although awareness that air pollution can damage vegetation dates back at least to the 1600s, the processes and mechanisms of damage were not rigorously studied until the late twentieth century. In the UK following the Industrial Revolution, urban air quality became very poor, with highly phytotoxic SO 2 and NO 2 concentrations, and remained that way until the mid-twentieth century. Since then both air quality, and our understanding of pollutants and their impacts, have greatly improved. Air pollutants remain a threat to natural and managed ecosystems. Air pollution imparts impacts through four major threats to vegetation are discussed through in a series of case studies. Gas-phase effects by the primary emissions of SO 2 and NO 2 are discussed in the context of impacts on lichens in urban areas. The effects of wet and dry deposited acidity from sulfur and nitrogen compounds are considered with a particular focus on forest decline. Ecosystem eutrophication by nitrogen deposition focuses on heathland decline in the Netherlands, and ground-level ozone at phytotoxic concentrations is discussed by considering impacts on semi-natural vegetation. We find that, although air is getting cleaner, there is much room for additional improvement, especially for the effects of eutrophication on managed and natural ecosystems. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Air quality, past present and future’.

scholarly journals Guest Editorial: Johnson Matthey Technology Review Special Edition on Clean Mobility

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Walker
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emission ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Technology Review ◽  
Lower Carbon

SHARE THIS PAGE:The world is at the start of an energy revolution: the biggest energy transformation since the Industrial Revolution, during which the use of fossil fuels drove growth and prosperity, with global temperature increase implications that we have only started to understand relatively recently. This energy revolution will drive the world towards a lower carbon, more sustainable future, with major implications for energy and electricity generation, heating, industrial power and transportation. Governments, states and regions are proposing, and in some cases (such as the UK) committing to, net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) or carbon dioxide emission targets over the coming years. To date, 15 countries have set defined targets to become net zero economies by 2050 or earlier, with over 50 others, including Germany and Canada, discussing when to implement such a target. Perhaps most significantly, the European Union (EU) intends to be net zero by 2050: this objective is at the heart of the European Green Deal and in line with the EU’s commitment to global climate action under the Paris Agreement.

Summary

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert May
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
The Past ◽  
Energy Demands ◽  
Co2 Levels ◽  
The Usa ◽  
History Of

Energy . . . Beyond Oil is important and timely and should be understood within the wider context of global climate change and future energy demands. In the 1780s John Watts developed his steam engine and so began the Industrial Revolution. At this time, ice-core records show that levels of CO2 in the atmosphere were around 288 parts per million (ppm). Give or take 10 ppm, this had been their level for the past 6,000 years, since the dawn of the first cities. As industrialization drove up the burning of fossil fuels in the developed world, CO2 levels rose. At first the rise was slow. It took about a century and a half to reach 315 ppm. The rise accelerated during the twentieth century: 330 ppm by the mid-1970s; 360 ppm by the 1990s; 380 ppm today. This change of 20 ppm over the past decade is equal to that last seen when the most recent ice age ended, ushering in the dawn of the Holocene epoch, 10,000 years ago. If current trends continue, then by about 2050 atmospheric CO2 levels will have reachedaround500 ppm, nearly double pre-industrial levels. The last time our planet experienced such high levels was some 50 million years ago, during the Eocene epoch, when sea levels were around100 m higher than today. The Dutch Nobelist, Paul Crutzen, has, indeed, suggested that we should recognize that we are now living in a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. He sees this epoch as beginning around 1780, when industrialization began to change the geochemical history of our planet. Even today, there continues to exist a ‘denial lobby’, funded to the tune of tens of millions of dollars by sectors of the petrochemical industry, and highly influential in some countries. This lobby has understandable similarities, in tactics and attitudes, to the tobacco lobby that continues to deny smoking causes lung cancer, or the curious lobby denying that HIV causes AIDS. This denial lobby is currently very influential in the USA.

scholarly journals Fundamental Patents, National Intellectual Property Regimes, and the Development of New Industries in Britain and America during the Second Industrial Revolution

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-208
Author(s):  
Peter Scott ◽  
Anna Spadavecchia
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Patent Law ◽  
Specific Product ◽  
Consumer Prices ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Property Regimes ◽  
Dependent Processes ◽  
Second Industrial Revolution

Abstract Several “new” industries of the second industrial revolution were characterised by one, or few, “fundamental” patents, without which manufacture of a viable product was not practicable. The degree of monopoly control that such patents conveyed was mediated by national socio-legal regimes, encompassing both patent law and its interpretation and enforcement. Using four case studies (two for the UK – a low anti-trust environment, and two for the USA – a high anti-trust environment) we show that fundamental patents were major determinants of monopoly power, industry structure, barriers to competition, and consumer prices. Impacts could extend beyond the life of the patents, owing to first mover advantages and path-dependent processes. Meanwhile national socio-legal environments, the nature of the fundamental patents, the strategies of the patent owners, and the nature of the specific product technology could have important (and sometimes unforeseen) consequences.

scholarly journals AIR POLLUTION; CAUSES, EFFECTS AND REMEDIATION IN NIGERIA

2021 ◽  
pp. 13-30
Author(s):  
Victor Fagorite ◽  
Aderemi Anifowose ◽  
Nnamdi Chiokwe
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Niger Delta ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Urban Air Pollution ◽  
Heat Pumps ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Motor Vehicles ◽  
Health And Environmental Effects ◽  
Ground Source Heat Pumps ◽  
Key Factor

More recently, air pollution has been a prevailing issue for discussion due to its adverse health and environmental effects in major cities and more importantly the Niger Delta region as a whole. Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere. The causes of air pollution are either natural or anthropogenic. While its effects could be health or environmental. In terms of remediation, there are now practical alternatives to the principal causes of air pollution. For instance, combustion of fossil fuels for space heating can be replaced by using ground source heat pumps and seasonal thermal energy storage. Commonly used as pollution control devices by industry or transportation devices which can either destroy contaminants or remove them from an exhaust stream before it is emitted into the atmosphere has been listed. Also, motor vehicles driven by fossil fuels, a key factor in urban air pollution can be replaced by electric vehicles. This has led us to present a general overview of the causes, effects and remediation of air pollution with a little focus on Nigeria. Finally, when it comes to the Niger Delta, there are numerous challenges facing air quality studies such as; lack of equipment, lack of infrastructure, inadequate expertise and weak policy framework.

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