Climate Change, Air Pollution, and Health: Common Sources, Similar Impacts, and Common Solutions

Abstract

We are living in the Anthropocene. Human beings have become a major force by massively polluting the air we breathe as well as the entire atmosphere, which maintains the climate in a habitable zone. Close to one trillion tons of air and climate pollutants are blanketing the earth, and trillions of additional tons will be added this century. Millions of people are dying prematurely every year due to air pollution. If climate pollutant emissions are allowed to continue well into the twenty-first century, global warming and climate change can pose existential threats to Homo sapiens and many other species. The dominant sources of air pollution and climate change are the same: (1) combustion of fossil fuels and biomass for energy; and (2) agriculture, including livestock. Both air pollution and climate change have catastrophic impacts on human health, exposing billions of people to toxic pollution, deadly heat waves, floods, droughts, and fires. Basically, fossil fuel has become an outdated fuel. There is still time to mitigate and avoid the worst consequences. An integral strategy to mitigate air pollution and climate pollution is required because drastic emission cuts in climate pollutants, such as by switching from fossil fuels to abundantly available renewable fuels, will also reduce air pollution. Less wasteful use of fertilizers and greater consumption of a plant-based diet are also required. Technical solutions have to be bolstered by societal transformation solutions to solve the problem in time and transition to a safer Anthropocene.