A I R

 Air is the atmosphere or mixture of gases surrounding the earth to a height of about 300 feet, which all people and land animals breathe. It is colorless and tasteless and is made up of about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and most of the remainder is small quantities of other gases such as carbon dioxide, ozone, hydrogen, helium and other gases, that do not burn up. There is also water content in the air which varies up to 4%, especially in the tropics. There may also be some sulfur compounds present due to industrial pollution.

 Oxygen is a colorless, tasteless, gaseous element which forms 1/5 of the earth's atmosphere. Most oxygen is made up of two atoms which forms one molecule.

 Exhaust is burnt gases which are expelled or ejected by force into the atmosphere or air. None of which we want.

 Ozone is a form of oxygen in which three atoms form one molecule. Ozone is made when sunlight acts on hydrocarbon pollutants in the air. There is bad ozone which is at ground level and then there is good or stratospheric ozone. The stratospheric ozone shelters us from ultra violet rays from the sun. The bad ozone is being carried upwards into the air and is attacking the good stratospheric ozone.

 Smog is a heavy fog which is harmful to our health because it contains smoke and gases produced by the partial combustion or burning of fuels. Smog alerts in winter are rare but were issued this winter from Friday, February 4 to Tuesday, February 8. During this time, the air quality index was considered poor and worthy of an alert. It was caused by a southwesterly movement of air over Ontario, bringing with it pollutants from the United States. This type of air flow usually only happens in the summer. Air quality is better in winter because we are usually under a northwest air flow, which gives us clean but cold air. The direction of the air flow, combined with warmer, sunny weather and little wind, helped to trap the pollutants. This caused higher concentrations of fine particles and therefore, poor air quality readings.

 A greenhouse effect is caused by the increase in the earth's temperature due to accumulation of carbon dioxide and water vapor in warm air trapped by a cold air mass. This results in keeping the sun's infrared rays closer to the earth and increases the earth's surface temperature and causes melting of some polar ice.

 Our air is being destroyed due to exhaust from transportation vehicles and especially from diesel engines, smoking cigars and cigarettes, leaf burning, painting, fuel combustion of heating sources such as propane and natural gas and industries such as coal fired generating plants, oil refineries, steel plants and chemical manufacturers.

 Clean air is so important because, it is what we need to breathe and survive. We would have less cancers, medical problems and breathing diseases such as asthma, bronchitis and emphysema. Some suggestions for improving our air supply would be to improve our energy efficiency by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which will slow the rate of our climate change. We could convert to solar energy, use wind power, car pooling or use public transportation to reduce fuel emissions, walk or ride bicycles more, reduce land fill and plant more trees and have more green areas and parks which would all help to improve our air quality.