– Table of Contents – Unit 2 – Lesson 2 –
Students will become familiar with the environmental and health effects of the six criteria pollutants identified by the U.S. EPA, along with the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.
The students will:
English, Language Arts, and Reading
Science
Health Education
Background Information
The invention of the automobile transformed the world. It offered convenience, independence, and efficiency. Cars made it easier for people to live far away from their workplace and created new opportunities for leisure travel, adventure, and recreation. Cars even served as status symbols.
Today, travel by automobile also creates problems. We inadvertently damage air and water quality, and alter the global climate. Automobile pollutants significantly affect our health.
When a car’s engine burns gasoline, several harmful compounds are emitted. These include carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and particulates. Before the transition to unleaded gasoline, car engines also emitted lead. In the presence of sunlight, NOx reacts with VOCs to form ozone (O3), also known as smog. The U.S. Federal Clean Air Act identifies these six pollutants as having significant health impacts on humans. These are often referred to as the six criteria pollutants. For more information see the student information sheet, Adverse Effects of Automobile Emissions.
By the 1940s, car exhaust and emissions from oil refineries had produced periods of severe air pollution in Los Angeles and other cities. In 1950, scientists linked automobile exhaust to the creation of smog. As the number of cars continued to increase, the American public became more aware of the environmental problems that stemmed from the use of oil and man-made chemical compounds.
In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book that described many of the suspected side effects of using man-made chemical compounds. Silent Spring reached millions of people and raised the environmental consciousness of the American people.
On Thanksgiving weekend 1966, pollution, trapped by weather conditions in New York City, was blamed for the deaths of 168 people. In 1969, Cleveland’s oily Cuyahoga River burst into flames, catching the attention of the American public. Public outrage over these and other environmental problems helped lawmakers establish, in 1970, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) along with the Federal Clean Air and the Clean Water Acts.
As an independent agency of the U.S. government, the EPA’s mission is to assume responsibility for environmental regulation and protection. In time, emission standards were established which limited the amount of pollution generated by motor vehicles.
> What is it that we are breathing? Do you think the composition or chemical makeup of our air has changed since the car was invented? How?
Examples: Carbon dioxide levels have increased by 30 percent. Automobiles, as well as industrial processes, have increased the levels of harmful chemical compounds in our air.
> What affects the quality of the air we breathe in this community?
Consider manufacturing, electricity generation, residential factors, as well as transportation.
> What are fossil fuels?
They are naturally occurring fuels formed from the remains of prehistoric organisms.
> Does anyone know what the biggest polluter of our air is?
Passenger cars and small trucks. There is one vehicle for every 1.7 people in this country. Almost all of them run on gasoline, a fossil fuel.
> What comes out the tailpipe when a car burns gasoline?
List on the board the major pollutants/compounds resulting from gasoline-powered motors.
Carbon monoxide (CO)
Results from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Results from combustion of fossil fuels
Nitrous oxides (NOx)
Result from burning fossil fuels at a high temperature
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
Result from evaporation of gasoline and are released during the incomplete burning of fossil fuels
Particulate matter (PM)
Solid particles left over after combustion
Lead (Pb)
Used to be contained in gasoline
Ozone (O3)
Results when NOx and VOC react in the presence of sunlight
> How do you think these emissions impact our health?
Classroom Materials 
Web Sites
> http://www.scorecard.org/
Environmental Defense
For a descriptive listing of the criteria air pollutants, go to www.scorecard.org, (1) click on "Criteria Air Pollutants," (2) find and click on it again, and (3) find the pollutant listed and click on it.
This site also rates counties on emission levels of criteria air pollutants and health effects of air pollutants. Go to www.scorecard.org, (1) click on "Criteria Air Pollutants," (2) on the map, click on your state, and (3) scroll down and click on the name of your state.
> http://www.lungusa.org/site/apps/lk/links.aspx?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=36751
Outdoor Air Quality, American Lung Association
> http://www.nsc.org/ehc/mobile/airpollu.htm
National Safety Council
This site also has tips on what you can do to reduce air pollution.
> http://www.epa.gov/otaq/
Office of Transportation and Air Quality, EPA
This site also has discussions on fuels, vehicles, and engines.
> Information can also be found in online encyclopedias although not as easily.
Source: "Transportation and Air Quality," Chapter 2, page 29, Northeast Sustainable Energy Association
