Blog Post 6: Air Polution

Air pollution has become a serious problem around the world. According to the EPA, "you could go days without food and hours without water, but you would last only a few minutes without air. On average, each of us breathes over 3,000 gallons of air each day," and "air pollution isn’t just a threat to our health, it also damages our environment. Toxic air pollutants and the chemicals that form acid rain and ground-level ozone can damage trees, crops, wildlife, lakes and other bodies of water. Those pollutants can also harm fish and other aquatic life." “Young children and elderly people often suffer more from the effects of air pollution. People with health problems such as asthma, heart and lung disease may also suffer more when the air is polluted,” (http://www.lbl.gov/Education/ELSI/Frames/pollution-health-effects-f.html).

According to Dictionary.com, asthma is “a paroxysmal [a severe attack or a sudden increase in intensity of a disease, usually recurring periodically], often allergic disorder of respiration, characterized by bronchospasm, wheezing, and difficulty in expiration, often accompanied by coughing and a feeling of constriction in the chest.”

According to http://www.lbl.gov/Education/ELSI/Frames/pollution-health-effects-f.html, “Short-term effects include irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, and upper respiratory infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia. Other symptoms can include headaches, nausea, and allergic reactions. Short-term air pollution can aggravate the medical conditions of individuals with asthma and emphysema.”
and
“Long-term health effects can include chronic respiratory disease, lung cancer, heart disease, and even damage to the brain, nerves, liver, or kidneys. Continual exposure to air pollution affects the lungs of growing children and may aggravate or complicate medical conditions in the elderly. It is estimated that half a million people die prematurely every year in the United States as a result of smoking cigarettes.”

What causes air polution?
The EPA lists a page full of links to other sites just about air pollutants. Some of the pages include aerosols, Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), lead, radiation and many others. For more information about the headings mentioned above and/or to see the others listed, please click here.

Are you interested how the air quality in your state is? Below are a few states that I've selected:

West Virginia

California

Iowa

New Hampshire


Your state wasn't listed? No worries! Click here then select your state at the top right pull down window.


China:
The following pictures so how terrible the air polution in China actually is.

As you can see, conditions are so severe that many citizens choose to wear masks in attempt to protect themselves from the pollution.