Carbon Monoxide
It's undetectable, and can kill us in seconds.
What is it?
Carbon Monoxide is a gas that can kill anyone if it reaches them. You can't smell it, hear it, or see it, and we use it almost every single day. It is produced by the burning of fossil fuels, like gas in our cars. What happens is when we breath in this gas, it attaches to our red blood cells and we aren't able to deliver oxygen where we need it. If Carbon Monoxide is inhaled in large amounts, it can lead to almost immediate death.
How does it affect us?
Carbon Dioxide poisoning can be very harmful to our loved ones. Carbon Dioxide is estimated to cause more than 50,000 emergency room visits in the US every year. Almost 450 people die each year from CO and the number is growing every year.
Can we stop it?
Carbon Monoxide is easily detected by CO detectors and they can help save lives in your house. Make sure that your gas appliances or fossil fuel burning appliances are vented to the outdoors and have no leaks. Also make sure that you aren't using gas appliances in closed off areas because the CO can linger in the air and you might breath it in.
What else can we do?
We can stop Carbon Dioxide and protect the environment at the same time by limiting our fossil fuel burning. We can carpool with other people so that we don't use as much gas. We can compost and recycle as much as possible so that we don't burn as much trash and release CO. Using more fuel efficient cars can also help us in the long run to limit air pollution in the US and around the world.
Works Cited
"Carbon Monoxide Indoors - American Lung Association." American Lung Association. N.p., Aug. 2009. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.
"Carbon Monoxide Poisoning." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 27 Feb. 2015. Web. 06 Apr. 2015.
"Fighting for Air." Lung.org. American Lung Association, 16 Nov. 2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
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