Air Pollution and Climate Change: The Basics

This book identifies four key forms of air pollution: indoor, urban, regional and global. It discusses how these four types of pollution are manifest in today’s society and examines the scientific and policy challenges that stand in the way of progress.

Written in a style that balances scientific underpinnings with accessible language, Pearson and Derwent examine the sources and historical context of air pollutants, before dedicating a chapter to each of the key forms. Armed with these basics, they begin to address the challenges faced by improving indoor, urban and regional air quality, whilst reducing global warming in the years ahead. This leads to a greater understanding of the challenges of global climate change, with new proposals for reducing global warming. However, the authors conclude that it is only when we have a scenario of reforestation combined with reductions in emissions of all greenhouse gases that real progress will be made in the fight against climate change. Then, air pollution will also be consigned to history.

With a foreword written by Professor James Lovelock, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change and environmental policy, as well as air quality professionals working in this important field.

John K. Pearson enjoyed a 30-year career in research with Royal Dutch Shell, including two European assignments. Since his early retirement from Shell, John has been an air quality consultant to industry, working on the development of emissions inventories and exploring air quality opportunities, as well as encouraging research councils to promote user applied science. He is the author of the book Improving Air Quality, published in 2001, which builds upon his experience in both Europe and the United States on energy companies, motor manufacturers and legislators working together. His most recent scientific contribution in 2019 was 'Improving Solvent VOC Emissions Inventories', published in Atmospheric Environment.

Richard (Dick) G. Derwent took an MA degree and a PhD in physical chemistry from Queens’ College in the University of Cambridge. He has spent much of his scientific career studying air pollution and atmospheric chemistry. Dick is one of the foremost experts within the fields of air pollution, atmospheric chemistry and global climate, and has published over 550 peer-reviewed scientific papers, reports and book chapters. He is the joint author of two books: Atmospheric Pollution and Environment Change and Mechanisms of Atmospheric Oxidation of the Alkanes. He is a visiting professor in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham.