Air Pollution : Factors Responsible For Poor Air Quality

There are various types of air pollution contributors in California such as fire generated pollutants and vehicle traffic, which add particulate matter and carbon monoxide into the air we breathe. According to an article by Union of Concerned Scientists (Cars, trucks, and air pollution, 2014) particulate matter is made up of fine particles soot and metal that can pose serious threats to human health when deep in the lungs. Other pollutants emitted from vehicles are: nitrogen oxide which lowers the body’s defense system against respiratory infections such as pneumonia, carbon monoxide which blocks oxygen from reaching vital organs, sulfur dioxide which is emitted by both power plants and vehicles affect children and asthmatics, and hazardous air pollutants (toxics) which are chemicals that are linked to cancer, birth defects and other illnesses (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2014).

In the areas nearby vehicles are considered “safer” for the environment and for the level of pollution but, the level still rises from the vehicles and the human activity (“Air Quality”). Most pollutions are severe enough to cause harm to the people and the environment. Wildfires are a big concern to the air pollution in the Mojave Desert, the fires are a big threat to the Cajon Pass, a train station in Los Angeles, California (Nolan). Wildfires are the leading cause of air pollution during the dry season, May through October. The seasons now are months longer than the average season, from the dry seasons that come after the wet one (“Quality Management”). With changing weather, the fire conditions will then be determined how the desert will be affected during that particular season. The main contributor that causes wildfires to affect the air pollution a great amount is combustion, the process of burning something (“Air Quality Management”). The main effect from wildfires is from the smoke that impacts the air. With the surrounding areas of the Mojave

The Central Valley is one of the many sites of where air pollution is most greatly produced. This is due to the vast majority of electricity, fuels, and transportation that people in the Central Valley utilize along with the amount of agriculture that is produced here. Many people go through their daily activities without thinking about how they are harming not only the environment but also the health and well being of humans. The cause of air pollution is not only due to natural events like volcanoes and wildfires but is mostly contributed to human activities. These include use of gases, the burning of wood, power generation, driving, the use of household and farming chemicals, and more! (Lad, 2016) Air pollution is interconnected with many health effects like upper respiratory infections and chronic respiratory diseases like asthma. (cdc.gov, 2016) However, there are many mitigation strategies that are being implemented to help address the health effects of air pollution.

Most consider the valley to be almost like a bowl that is surrounded by mountains. These mountains keep air pollutants trapped within the valley. California has been suffering from a severe drought since 2012, this drought has seriously affected the San Joaquin Valley. Due to the lack of rain the valley have accumulated a large quantity of particles are the air. With more particulates and toxins accumulating in the valleys’ atmosphere the worse the air quality

There are different components that are contributing to the levels of air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley in California. Those components are the main reason for the air to be polluted and causing harm to the residents of the valley. The San Joaquin Valley is known very well for its agriculture. This according to an article called “Move Over, Los Angeles” By Marylin Berlin Snell talks about the main point of how serious the air quality has been and how it has been becoming worse than the city of Los Angeles. The southern part of the great central valley has now been covered in a brown murky layer of mist being at its worse air quality. The Valley has a “combination of pesticide spraying, heavy duty-diesel equipment, dust stirred up during

Air pollution is really bad for the environment. Some companies operating in Southern California are spending millions of dollars to help reduce air pollution. According to a report by the American Lung Association. “Los Angeles, Riverside and Long Beach still remain the worst place

Not much air pollution comes from different places but the northern part of the district which consist of San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Merced get 27% of there air pollution from San Francisco Bay & Sacramento. Where as the central region that consist of Fresno, Madera and Kings counties only transport 11% air pollution to us and finally a very minimal of 7% comes from the south valley, which consist of Kern (valley portion) and Tulare Counties ("Is there an air pollution

The San Joaquin Valley is home to over 3.5 million people who reside in the counties of Fresno, Kern, Merced, Stanislaus, Tulare, Kings, Madera, and San Joaquin. It is approximately 250 miles long, and is surrounded by three different mountain ranges, which gives it a narrow bowl-shape that collects and traps emissions in the surrounding counties. The air quality in the California Central Valley ranks among the worst in the country, which results from high levels of ozone (o3) and particulate matter (PM) that exceed state and federal air quality standards. There are many sources of pollution that contribute to the poor air quality of the Central Valley such as, agriculture operations, motor vehicles, industrial facilities, factories, and

Arizona is on the rise as one of the fastest metropolitan areas in the United States of America. In fact, in 2015 Forbes Magazine ranks Phoenix, Arizona as the 11th fastest growing city in the U.S.1 This growth is due the unprecedented resources and growing opportunities in the state of Arizona. With all of these opportunities come more production, which means more emissions from various industries and cars, more fossil fuels burned, and household and farming chemicals added to the sky. All of these are examples of pollution; which is one the sacrifices that comes with being a large city that is emerging. Pollution is defined as the action or process of making land, water, air, etc., dirty and not safe or suitable to use.2 We understand that Phoenix is a rapidly growing city, but they should be able to grow without being a detriment to the environment and health of their citizens. The purpose of my report is to examine the problem of air pollution in Phoenix, Arizona and look at solutions to fix this problem.

As suggested earlier, agricultural practices in the Central Valley are the most significant causes of air pollution in the region. There are specific farming practices that contribute to the formation of particulate matter and ozone. These include the extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides in this vast

In our central valley they have done research with kids of Fresno from their birth to teenage hood tracking their health and environmental exposures. Air pollution causes 1,300 premature deaths as well as asthma attacks. The climate change also affects the pollution. In our San Joaquin Valley, hot weather, and boarding mountains traps air pollution. California has study our San Joaquin Valley would reduce health cost by $416 by 2035. San Joaquin valley is the most productive agricultural region in the country. Heavy duty-diesel trucks constantly come in and out of the Valley. Therefore, that leads to 14 tons of the greenhouse gas Ozone daily. Animal feed spews a whopping 25 tons of Ozone to form. Pollution streams down from the Bay Area and the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the east trap even more air in our valley. The pollution creates a thick greyish-brown smog hanging over the

California’s central valley air contains several different toxic pollutants produced by things such as industries, vehicles, and other means. Ozone is a type of pollutant that can cause serious health issues. It is produced when nitrogen dioxide, which is produced by cars and power plants, is exposed to the sun. Nitrogen dioxide alone can cause breathing issues and damage to the lungs. When nitrogen dioxide becomes ozone, it can cause eye, nose and throat irritation, cause damage to rubber, paint, and paper surfaces, and damage plants. Carbon monoxide, nitrates and other oxides are also problematic in California. The state also has an abundance of natural pollutants such as dust and smoke. In California, we do not get enough rain to wash the air clean, and we get enough sun to create an increase in issues with pollution.

It’s located in the center of California measuring to be 40 to 60 miles wide and 450 miles from north north-west to south south-east. The Central Valley is known for its fertile soil; “It’s eight counties grow about half of the nation’s fruits and vegetables largely due to its geography” (Berg). Unfortunately, that’s one of reasons why the Central Valley has such terrible air quality. Normally, air circulation can assist with keeping pollution from building up at ground level; however, the Central Valley is surrounded on three sides by mountain ranges, which makes the area act as a bowl, and pollution is trapped in an inversion layer of warm air. “The inversion layer acts like a blanket on the smog layer, preventing it from dissipating higher in the atmosphere” (valley air). The elevation of the Central Valley is nearly at sea level, which makes matters worse. At night the valley fills with cool air underneath the warm heavy air reaching up to 3000 feet thick. Pollutants are subsequently trapped until the sun warms the cool layer of air leveling the temperature. The inversion then breaks up allowing pollutants to be carried into the mountain on upslope

In order to collect appropriate materials for this review, I analyzed a computerized literature search of Google Scholars and GeoRef databases using the keywords “quality”, “pollution”, “San Joaquin Valley”, and “environmental health.” Afterwards, each of these keywords was individually and doubly paired with the main terms: “air.” To be selected in this analysis, findings needed to present information more specifically about air contamination and its link to pollution.

Vehicles emissions and waste products currently have a significant impact on the health of the environment. In American vehicles have the largest impact upon air quality, producing approximately one-third of all America's air pollution (National Geographic, n.d). There are multiple waste products which are produced by vehicles including; smog, carbon monoxide, and other toxins which are emitted out of the tailpipe (National Geographic, n.d). Tailpipes as they are at street level, are extremely dangerous as humans are able to breathe in the polluted air directly into their lungs (National Geographic, n.d).