Māris kļaviņŠ, azamat azizov, JĀnis zaļoksnis environment, pollution, development: the case of uzbekistan

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7. AIR POLLUTION
Protection of air from pollution is a matter of great importance. 
Air is one of the essential factors making life on the Earth possible. 
Atmo spheric  air  is  composed  primarily  of  nitrogen  (78%)  and 
oxygen (21%). While the rest of the components’ share of mass only 
about 1%, their role is significant. Environ mental pollutants belong 
to the atmo spheric trace constituents (Figure 7.1).
Nitrogen (N
2
)
(78.08%)
Oxygen (O
2
)
(20.95%)
Argon (Ar) (0.93%)
Neon (Ne) (0.0018%)
Helium (He) (0.0005%)
Hydrogen (H
2
) (0.0006%)
Xenon (Xe) (0.000009%)
Methane (C
4
H) (0.00017%)
Nitrogen (I) oxide (N
2
O) (0.00003%)
Ozone (O
3
) (0.000004%)
Freon (CFC) (0.00000002%)
Carbon dioxide (CO
2
) (0.036%)
Water (H
2
O) (0-4%)
Depending on the body constitution, a human being consumes 
6-13 m
3
 of air daily or even more in cases of heavy physical loads. 
Consequently, trace amounts of harmful substances in the air may 
have an adverse effect on the human health. 
Pollutants spread rapidly and to far distances in the atmo sphere; 
therefore, the problem of atmo spheric pollution should be dealt 
with on a global scale, and international cooperation is vital in this 
regard.  Air  cleanness  in  dwelling  premises  and  working  environ-
ment is a special air pollution problem because today people become 
increasingly exposed to hazardous and toxic substances at home or 
work. The air pollution problem has been accompanying us already 
since  the  times  the  ancient  people  discovered  fire.  From  today’s 
perspective, there is no doubt that the ancient people’s health or 
even life were endangered by high concentrations of such pollutants 
as carbon monoxide (CO) released from incompletely burnt firewood 
and other compounds emitted during burning. Furthermore, the 
ancient Romans already knew about lead and mercury poisoning in 
mines.