Climate Effects of Air Pollution

The pollution from burning coal and wood are dangerous to human health, but it turns out by cooling the Earth, they also diminish global economic inequality. Tiny particles get into the atmosphere by human activity, which interacts with clouds and reflect some of the Sun’s energy into space. This masks some of the warming, which traps the Sun’s heat in the planet’s atmosphere. Research shows that climate change provides some economic benefits to cooler regions. But climate change can cause economic harm to hotter regions.

A researcher found that the cooling effect of aerosols benefitted the economies of tropical countries and harmed the economies of high latitude countries. Even though aerosols have many negative impacts, they could diminish global economic inequality. Aerosols are dangerous and the public health benefits of cleaning them would outweigh the economic benefits of continuing to release them. Aerosols have a short term cooling effect that’s similar to how volcanic eruptions cause global temperatures to drop.