Air Pollution

For decades, the air quality in Birmingham did not meet EPA criteria, but crossed the threshold this year. This achievement demonstrates the prominent progress made by the industries and residents to improve 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).

The city of Pekin has a history of very dangerous and unhealthy levels of air pollution caused by power plants and ethanol manufactures. “The Pekin area has the highest level of sulfur dioxide air pollution in the state, according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), a level that now exceeds tightened federal standards” (Pekin has worst sulfur dioxide air pollution in state, 2011). This environmental issue has had great health effects on the Pekin community because of the mass quantity of sulfur dioxide pollutants in the air. “Exposure to sulfur dioxide, which is released when fossil fuels like coal and oil are burned, causes respiratory problems for children, the elderly and those with asthma or other respiratory illnesses, according to the IEPA. It narrows airways, leading to difficulty breathing” (Pekin has worst sulfur dioxide air pollution in state, 2011). The health problems that sulfur dioxide cause is detrimental to the health of the citizens in the city of

Currently, it is undoubtedly apparent that Texas has complications with its management of pollution in its multitudinous cities and metropolitan areas; such examples that distinctly portray the incompetence of maintaining a clean and healthy environment would be: detritus littering profusely in public places in cities, the health issues facing many Texans due to pollution, and the environmental ordeals occurring that effectively influence people, food, and water. Environmental pollution is a preeminent issue that needs to be allocated and resolved as swiftly as possible; it is an effort that would necessitate numerous organizations and communal aid.

Lockwood, Jocelyn. “Air Quality Worsened in DFW: American Lung Assoc.” NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, 29 Apr. 2015, www.nbcdfw.com/weather/stories/Air-quality-Worsened-in-Dallas-Fort-Worth-American-Lung-Association-301752691.html. Accessed 26 Apr. 2018.

At the moment the o zone regulation limit is seventy five parts per billion and the EPA’S Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee recommends to set the standard in between sixty and seventy parts per billion. The National Association of Manufactures says that the new regulation woud increase energy cost and reduce family incomes to about an equal amount of one hundred eighty two thousand lost jobs for Texas. The new ozone regulations could put a kink in natural gas production and then result in about a fifteen percent increase in electricity prices. Forty percent of the U.S. population already live in areas that don’t meet the current EPA regulation. Those people are at risk for aggravated asthma, difficulty breathing, pre mature death, cardiovascular harm, and lower birth

Under the Clean Air Act, many of these air pollutants have been reduced, but there is still a threat to the quality of life in

Phoenix Arizona’s growing air pollution. Anyone who lives in metro Phoenix has seen the ugly brown cloud that seems to hover over the city, the pollution is more than what can be seen. 1 Valley air carries bits of dirt, toxic fumes, ammonia from farm fertilizer. Freeways have a mix of exhaust and dust, putting anyone who lives nearby at an increased risk.

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

The good news was that that “the 375 cities included in the list 36 of them passed the WHO’s air quality standard of 20 micrograms of particulates per cubic meter”. The bad news is that out of the ten worst performing cities; five are located here in the central valley (Berg, "Why Does California's Central Valley Have Such Bad Air Pollution?").

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.

In recent years, California’s Central Valley has gone from being America’s breadbasket to a near-dystopian wasteland—a landscape beset with air pollution with strikingly diverse causes. Five of the ten most polluted American cities can be found in this region (Wheeler, Morris and Gordon). This is not surprising given the host of actual and potential causes of air pollution problem in the heart of California. Ground level ozone is a major type of pollution in the Valley that primarily causes summertime “smog,” produced through the photochemical or sunlight-induced reactions between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) (San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District 3). The other type of pollution, particulate matter (PM), refers to small solid or liquid particles that form in the atmosphere through gases or photochemical reactions. While the causes of air pollution in the Central Valley are undoubtedly manifold, the region’s agricultural practices still count as the most substantial factors for this environmental problem; in any case, the Valley’s unique meteorological and topographical conditions exacerbate the level of air pollution.

According to CalEnviroscreen, Stockton scored very high, exceeding the 90th percentile, in terms of having the most challenges with pollution exposure, environmental conditions, and population characteristics. The air quality in the area is exasperated by traffic congestion and geographical characteristics of the region. Improvements in air quality are critical in an area that has faced extreme challenges with air quality and pollution related diseases. Under the Clean Air Act, the San Joaquin Valley is classified as a non-attainment area and the conditions are extreme for the 8-Hr Ozone standards and moderate for PM-2.5. Located in a basin, the area has a non-attainment profile that closely mirrors Los Angeles air quality districts.

Another form of smoking is passive smoking, also known as involuntary smoking. Passive smoking is when someone inhales the mixture of smoke that comes from the burning end of tobacco products, such as a cigarette, and is also the smoke exhaled by a smoker. This mixture of smoke is called “environmental smoke.” Environmental smoke contains more than 4,000 harmful substances and 40 of them are known to cause cancer. Although environmental smoke seems like less of a risk than mainstream smoke, which is inhaled by an active smoker, many of the substances are the same harmful toxins. In 1986, the National Research Council and also the Surgeon General announced that environmental smoke can cause lung cancer in non-smokers and also increase your risk for respiratory problems and decrease lung function in children of smoker parents. Also, in 1992, the EPA

"Environmental tobacco smoke-the secondhand cigarette smoke breathed by nonsmokers is a known carcinogen and the most dangerous environmental pollutant."(Waxman 1995) Surprisingly secondhand smoke causes as many deaths as the tobacco smokers do. "Most people die from secondhand smoke each year than from car accidents."(Waxman 1995) There are a lot of reasons that causes the deaths from secondhand smoke. "Lung cancer is the best known risk from secondhand smoke."(Wilson 1997)