Industrial Revolution: The Role Of Air Pollution In China
HISTORY
Long before the Industrial Revolution began, air pollution has proved to be a significant issue for the wellbeing of people across the globe. For many, the cause of their respiratory, circulatory, and cardiovascular diseases, and even the reasons for thousands of deaths, began at home. Although numerical data can not been gathered to understand the exact number of lives tainted by polluted air centuries ago, scientific evidence has found skeletons with blackened lungs resulting from their environments. The first cause evident in history: indoor domestic fires. In some ways, air pollution was slightly impossible to manage prior to modern technology. A large source of air pollution came from volcanic eruptions, wildfires, and dust storms. However, human activity also caused air pollution, shown by early villages and towns revolving around domestic work. Centuries ago, fires were located inside a family’s home, and with modern infrastructure techniques unavailable during these times, ventilation was poor. This dilemma only worsened with the rise of urban living and cities, especially as smelting furnaces, potteries, and pre-industrial workshops were created. An extremely common place for indoor domestic fires was also found in metallurgies with Rome and China leading when the industry first began. …show more content…
This is most evidently seen in a study completed by the National Center for Health Statistics in 1982, which found that 4% of the United States’ schoolchildren have high levels of lead in their bloodstream, and 675,000 risk kidney damage, brain damage, anemia, and cognitive disabilities from pollution caused by leaded gasoline. Throughout history, the international community has struggled with understanding and decreasing air pollution, many times not even realizing that the cause of their illnesses is the very air they are
Long before the Industrial Revolution began, air pollution has proved to be a significant issue for the wellbeing of people across the globe. For many, the cause of their respiratory, circulatory, and cardiovascular diseases, and even the reasons for thousands of deaths, began at home. Although numerical data can not been gathered to understand the exact number of lives tainted by polluted air centuries ago, scientific evidence has found skeletons with blackened lungs resulting from their environments. The first cause evident in history: indoor domestic fires. In some ways, air pollution was slightly impossible to manage prior to modern technology. A large source of air pollution came from volcanic eruptions, wildfires, and dust storms. However, human activity also caused air pollution, shown by early villages and towns revolving around domestic work. Centuries ago, fires were located inside a family’s home, and with modern infrastructure techniques unavailable during these times, ventilation was poor. This dilemma only worsened with the rise of urban living and cities, especially as smelting furnaces, potteries, and pre-industrial workshops were created. An extremely common place for indoor domestic fires was also found in metallurgies with Rome and China leading when the industry first began. …show more content…
This is most evidently seen in a study completed by the National Center for Health Statistics in 1982, which found that 4% of the United States’ schoolchildren have high levels of lead in their bloodstream, and 675,000 risk kidney damage, brain damage, anemia, and cognitive disabilities from pollution caused by leaded gasoline. Throughout history, the international community has struggled with understanding and decreasing air pollution, many times not even realizing that the cause of their illnesses is the very air they are