Air and water is what separates our planet earth, from any other plant we know, without these two vitally important forms of matter no living organisms would be able to survive. For millions of years, diverse communities of plant and animal species have managed to survive without dramatically affecting the atmosphere in any way. That was, until humans began technologically advancing to what we are today.
Since about the eighteenth century, when people burnt coal for central heating, humans have been gradually polluting the atmosphere. By doing so they have been putting their own health at risk as well as the general wellbeing of the earth itself. G.D. Tillman from the Environmental Protection Agency comments on the issue, "The concerning factor is, that the majority of people don't know just how much of a threat they are placing on the environment."".
Studies conducted by the CSIRO Atmospheric Research Team in June '02, showed that road traffic was responsible for just over one third of dangerous and often toxic chemicals found in the Australian air. It was also found that cars were the main producer of the harmful chemicals, carbon monoxide or CO (91%) and nitric oxide or NO (82%). By not considering the environment, humans are playing a selfish role in the destruction of ecosystems, leaving them damaged and in some cases irreparable. The questions we now need to ask .
ourselves is, why do we produce so much CO and NO, and what can we do about it?.
Carbon monoxide is the result of incomplete combustion of carbon containing materials, found in motor vehicles. It has the ability to react with other naturally occurring gasses in the atmosphere to form the most commonly known greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. The greenhouse effect is the term referring to the suns heat being trapped within our atmosphere by being absorbed by greenhouse gasses just like carbon dioxide. Although it is a naturally occurring gas, human activities are increasing its concentration thereby accelerating the rate of climate change.