This text addresses some of the major issues of concern relating to atmospheric pollution at a variety of scales, from the global to the local, and relates these issues to environmental impacts. In trying to integrate these two areas, it takes a long temporal perspective on both the atmosphere and the natural environments, using examples from a range of time dimensions, drawn from around the world. Using the range of scales as her basic framework, the author moves on from discussions of the various problems to examine the various policy approaches currently being adopted. An entire chapter is devoted specifically to the use of models, again across the range of scales. In seeking to be selective in the use of examples, the author focuses on those issues which have clear links to policy (that is, are in some way controllable) and where the pollutants are recognised as playing a part in both the climate system and at other scales and in other contacts as potentially damaging pollutants for natural ecosystems or human health.