The world has become more developed and connected as a result of globalization. Just like many other aspects that involve economic choices, globalization has both positive and negative consequences. There is no question of the economic growth for countries that were initially considered the third world like China, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa. However, globalization has resulted in one of the biggest problems that living organisms face, which is pollution ( Doytch, & Uctum, 2016) . Globalization has resulted in air pollution, which is a huge problem. Globalization has had detrimental effects on the quality of the air across the world.
As a resulted of globalization, economies across the world have primarily focused on improving their economic operations with little concerns on the environmental impact ( Doytch, & Uctum, 2016) . There are millions of examples of how global economies' desire to grow has affected the quality of air people, animals, and plant breath. For example, the use of coal and petroleum products across the world has led to the release of dangerous gasses. In places like China car emissions and coal burning has resulted in 90% of air pollution ( Mason, 2018) .
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Air pollution is an area of concern because it touches the environment and health problems. According to Ritchie & Roser (2019), the world data indicate that in 2017 alone, air pollution is estimated to have contributed to 5 million deaths worldwide. It contributed to 9% or an estimated 1 in 10 deaths of the world deaths. Air pollution does not directly lead to death, but it results in diseases such as respiratory infections such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other forms of diseases like lung cancer, and heart diseases. These diseases are among the leading cause of death in most places in the world where pollution is at the highest level.
The big problem with air pollution is that it is sometimes hard to detect as some of the pollutants are not visible and are odourless. However, 21 st -century air pollution has hit a new level which is concerning that its effects on the environment can be seen. Concern about the consequences of air pollution is the smog which now is evident in cities like Beijing, Sydney and other cities ( Mason, 2018) .
Globalization has widely been blamed for the current air pollution across the world. While the main focus of world economies is to increase production to meet the needs of the markets, there is a slow but sure air pollution cancer that also comes with the desired growth. Air pollution has increased with increased modern farming methods, increased manufacturing, transportation and indoor pollution such as that from unclean cooking fuels and waste.
According to the World health organization, 9 out of ten people in 2019 breath air that contains a high level of contaminants. Research indicates that the most affected areas are the urban areas with more than 80% of people living in urban areas exposed to air levels that exceed WHO limits ( World Health Organization, 2018) . Research indicates that middle and low-income countries are the most exposed to air pollution.
Globalization Effects of Air Pollution
Economies like Brazil, China, India and Russia and so forth have grown at an alarming rate in the past three decades. The economic growth has led to increased human activities both indoors and outdoors, that has resulted in air pollution. Research indicates that China has had to pay the highest cost of air pollution by becoming the second largest world economy. Research shows that China is among the most polluted countries. Out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, 16 are located in China, which makes China cities among the most contaminated ( Mason, 2018) .
Globalization activities like transportation which today largely depend on petroleum have contributed to about 70% of global air pollution ( Mason, 2018) . The number of motor vehicles that were recorded in use in 2015 had hit a high of 1.285 billion cars across the world with developing countries like China and India ranking among states with most cars after the developed countries. These cars are said to contribute to air pollution largely. Cars in most cities of China, India, and most African countries produce dangerous gasses such as Sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and particle matters ( Mason, 2018) . In addition to motor vehicles, other vessels of transportation such as trains and ships also use fossil fuels.
Globalization has also resulted in an increase in manufacturing. The use of outdated and inefficient technologies and the burning of fossil fuels contribute to the pollution of air. In some cities like Beijing in China, it is surrounded by cities where factories use coal for production and have contributed to air pollution. The use of coal has resulted in about 20% in the city of Beijing alone ( Mason, 2018) . Most developing countries rely on petroleum and fossil fuels like coal for energy production to run their factories which results in the emission of harmful gases.
An increase in the global population has increased the rate of indoor pollution. Research indicates that 3 billion people in the world or about 40% of the world lack access to clean cooking technologies and fuels at home. The World Health Organization has been monitoring the state of household pollution. There is an increase in access rate of clean cooking fuels and technologies, but third world countries like those in the sub-Sahara region are not making efforts.
In most cities that are air polluted like Nairobi in Kenya, waste management contributes to a large extent to air pollution. Waste is known to emit harmful gasses as products decompose. Countries with undeveloped sewerage and waste management system are subjected to the emission of deadly gasses and particles that lower the quality of air.
In agricultural depended countries globalization has led to the modern form of farming which has led to the use of chemicals and mechanization in agriculture. Agriculture practices today are among the leading pollutants of air. Agricultural air pollution mainly originates from ammonia which gets into the air from animal waste and fertilizers. The use of pesticides, fertilizers, and the use of tractors in farming contaminate the air. The most affected regions from agricultural air pollution include North America, Europe, China, and Russia.
However, countries have now been sensitized about air pollution, and more countries are working towards meeting clean air. There are campaigns for states to adopt a 100% production and use of clean energy to reduce air pollution. States are now engaging inefficient energy production strategies, reducing forest fires, resulting in organic farming, greener cities, and energy-efficient building and so forth as remedies to air pollution
It is evident that globalization's consequences have resulted in air pollution. WHO report of 2018 showed that about 7 million people succumb to diseases that are directly related to air pollution (WHO, 2018). Most of these deaths are experienced in developed and developing countries where air pollution exceeds the WHO standard limits. Globalization has led to an economic boom in some countries like China, increased numbers of motor vehicles, increased use of chemicals in agriculture, use of fossil fuels in energy production ( Liu, & Diamond, 2005) . All these economic activities related to globalization have increased the emission of harmful gases which has affected the quality of air across the world. Urban areas and industrialized areas are the most affected area in the world. Cities with large populations have high indoor and outdoor pollution from households, motor vehicles, agricultural and industrial emissions. Air pollution across the globe has been a concern with countries required by WHO to maintain low rates of discharge.
References
Doytch, N., & Uctum, M. (2016). Globalization and the environmental impact of sectoral FDI. Economic systems , 40 (4), 582-594.
Liu, J., & Diamond, J. (2005). China's environment in a globalizing world. Nature , 435 (7046),1179.
Mason, F. Y. (2018). 4.2 Causes and Consequences of Air Pollution in Beijing, China.
Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2019). Outdoor Air Pollution. Our World in Data .
World Health Organization. (2018). World Health Organization Releases New Global Air Pollution Data. CCAC Secretariat. http://ccacoalition. org/en/news/world-health-organization-releases-new-global-air-pollution-data. https://www. energy-community. Org .
