These days lots of people are worried about air pollution and whether it will affect your health. Most of the time though the pollution levels are LOW and if you are in general good health then you are unlikely to have any serious short-term effects.

If we think back to the days of the Industrial Revolution, when heavy industry used huge amounts of coal for power, and smoking chimneys were seen everywhere, the air that people had to breathe was far more dangerous than it is today.

However, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't care about the air around us and the ways in which air pollution can make us all ill. People who already have lung and heart conditions and very young or very old people, are at more risk from changes in the air quality.