What is the optimal level of air pollution and how can we graph it?

Question

What is the optimal level of air pollution and how can we graph it?

Answer 1

To graph it, you'd have to compare the level of air pollution to something else, say the amount of deaths per year caused by air pollution.  Then you could say that an increase of X tons of air polutants, or whatever, beyond the current level of air pollution, would result in Y number of additional deaths per year.

"Optimal" in this case would have to do with the trade-off between lives lost and the advantages (if you can even call it that) gained by putting additional polutants into the air.

Its really a question of how many deaths per year, that are caused by air pollution, can we tolerate?  Its also a question of opportunity cost - the cost of X additional tons of polutants to the air costs us Y lives per year.