Air Pollution from Fossil Fuels

One of the main sources of air pollution is burning fossil fuels like oil, gasoline, and coal. These fossil fuels come from the fossils of ancient plants and animals that lived on earth millions of years ago. Fossil fuels are burned to create energy so that we can drive cars and trucks, fly planes, make electricity, and run factories. Fossil fuels will not last forever, and we are using them up very quickly.

When fossil fuels are burned they create different types of air pollution problems. Besides creating particulate matter, burning fossil fuels creates smog. Smog makes the air look brown and dirty and can make people sick if they spend too much time outside breathing it in. Burning fossil fuels also creates dangerous gases that trap heat from the sun and make the planet too warm. This is called global warming and it makes the weather, or climate, change in serious ways.