Is it healthier to live in the country or a city?
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Power stations and vehicles release pollutants into the atmosphere when they burn fossil fuels. These affect the environment. The only way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is to burn fewer fossil fuels. Other pollutants can be reduced by cleaning the waste gases generated by power stations and vehicles.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Increasing amounts of it in the atmosphere is helping to cause global warming.
Particulate carbon, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide can make it difficult to breathe. It is unlikely they cause asthma, but they may trigger an attack.
Acid rain - from sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide - is harmful to the environment. It reacts with metals and rocks such as limestone. Buildings and statues are damaged as a result. Acid rain also damages the waxy layer on the leaves of trees, making it more difficult for them to absorb the minerals they need for healthy growth. These trees may die. And it can make rivers and lakes too acidic for some aquatic life to survive.