Anthropogenic activities have deliberately, accidentally and incidentally resulted in the release of persistent organic pollutants into the environment. The atmosphere is then a key medium to disperse them into the general environment, so that they may end up far away from their original source. Using examples of our own work to quantify the link between Atmospheric Emissions-Air-Vegetation-Grazing Animals and Humans, we will consider how chemicals may interact between the air and key environmental compartments. We will try to re-construct the mass balances and global budgets of key chemicals from field observations and monitoring, and consider how the environment can act to degrade, dilute and re-distribute chemicals over time. Finally, we will try to look forward in time, to predict the ultimate environmental fate of chemicals that have been banned or subject to restrictions in use/emission.