Unfortunately, I was sick the day I was supposed to present my news report. However, you can view the slide below.

Slideshow Presentation

Basically, this article is about the presence of volatile organic compounds in the Earth’s atmosphere. It is no secret that aerosols and adhesives are harmful to the Earth. That has been known for years. However, recent studies show that they are just as harmful to the Earth as gasoline emissions from our cars are. Unlike gas that is stored in gas tanks and burned over a period of time, hairsprays and other aerosols are sprayed directly into the air. Even more alarming, of all of the raw oil used, only 5% of that goes towards making aerosols, but it is responsible for 25% of air pollution produced by Volatile Organic Compounds. Compare this to the 95% of oils used towards fueling vehicles (which makes up 75% of air pollution from VOCs). This article suggests that we have grossly underestimated the effects of non-vehicle volatile organic compounds.

In addition to the obvious consequences of air pollution, these can also have negative health consequences. Exposure to VOCs can lead to asthma attacks. Additionally, exposure to air pollution is considered the 5th highest risk to human health. This number goes up even more in urban environments.

This combines a lot of what we have learned in class so far. Obviously, it is a form of air pollution. It also is a big part of our ecological footprints. Perhaps in addition to the questions about the foods we consume and the houses we live in, the ecological footprint calculator should also ask us about the deodorant, pesticides, hairsprays, and adhesives we use, since they can all be just as harmful to the environment. Another issue that the author brings up is how to regulate these products. Some people use several of these items that create volatile organic compounds daily, while others cannot stand to be around them. How do we go about determining how much or how little of these products can be used when it does not apply equally to everyone? This also has to do with consumption. How much of these products are produced and sold in mass quantities because of our culture of consumerism?

This article was published by BBC News. This is a reputable British news source. They are very open about their company. On their website, you can find the history of BBC, what they do, their annual reports, and a breakdown of where their funding comes from. Also, they provided information about the original source at the end of the article, which allowed me to easily find the publication in Nature.

If you are interested in reading it for yourself you can find the news report here:

If you are really interested in this topic, New York Times also reported on it. Read that here: