Society as a whole faces many environmental problems, and as a result, environmental awareness tends to be a pressing issue. Everyday, people recycle cans, glass bottles, and newspapers. Many people buy bottled water, or own filters for their tap water, as a health precaution from the pollutants in normal everyday drinking water. Everyone seems to be concerned with issues such as, littering, and what is going to happen when there are no more land fills. Some people are even talking about the introduction of the electric car sometime in the near future. Air pollution is perhaps the biggest environmental issue the Earth is facing. Automobiles are responsible for a notable amount of the air pollution problem. Of course, on the other hand so are factories. If the fight against air pollution were to be taken to a higher level, putting pressure on factories that produce air pollution will have a greater effect than focusing on automobiles. The solution for problems caused by automobiles can only be taken to the level of removing vehicles off the road that cause excessive pollution. A campaign to promote car-pooling, and the use of public transportation could be started up, but those types of promotions do not get enough support. Clearly, factories should be targeted for the best results. The environmental policies that the government regulates for factories or other companies who produce air pollution must be made stricter. Factories are causing enormous amounts of air pollution, the air in most metropolitan areas is filled with pollutants, and passing laws that are more strictly enforced could have a positive effect on the situation.

             Air pollution can be simply defined as "all the substances that are exhausted into the atmosphere that do not normally make up the air."(Sorvall 17) These substances are next divided into two basic categories: aerosols and unwanted gases.