After a steady 23-year decline in pollution levels in the United States in 2017, the American Lung Air Association’s 2022 report found a sharp rise in pollution over the past five years.
Nearly 9 million more people have been exposed to deadly peaks of particulate pollution than in last year’s report, and more than 137 million Americans live in unhealthy air districts.
Black people were disproportionately affected by pollution in the United States. They are 61% more likely than whites to live in a county with an unsuccessful assessment of at least one form of pollution and 3.6 times more likely to live in a county that fails for all three measured forms: year-round particulate pollution. , short-term pollution with particles and ozone.
“This is certainly a worrying trend and one of the challenges we need to address to promote health and environmental justice,” said Paul Billings, senior vice president of the American Lung Association. “We see the impact of systemic racism on those who carry the greater burden of pollution.”
The report also found that 1.5 million pregnant people live in counties with an underestimation of at least one pollutant. Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy can cause problems, including higher infant mortality, lower birth weight, impaired lung development and early changes in immune development, studies show.
Some experts have predicted that with the Covid-19 pandemic and fewer people driving during the blockade, pollution levels will fall. There have indeed been some improvements in air quality, Billings said, but progress is not holding back across the country in 2020.
People didn’t drive as much to work, but online shopping increased significantly. All of these supplies may have had a negative effect on pollution levels, Billings said.
Fine particulate pollution, also known as particulate pollution or PM 2.5 pollution, can come from things like fossil fuel plants, cars and agriculture. This is one of the smallest but most dangerous pollutants. When inhaled, the contamination passes deep into the lung tissue, where it can enter the bloodstream. Exposure has been linked to several health problems, including asthma, heart disease, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory diseases. Particulate pollution is also thought to make people more susceptible to Covid-19, even after short-term exposure, studies show. Long-term exposure is associated with more severe results than Covid-19.
For healthy people, exposure to this type of pollution means more coughing, wheezing, asthma attacks and shortness of breath, Billings said. For people with asthma and other chronic diseases, exposure means a higher rate of premature death.
The cities most polluted by year-round particulate pollution were all in California, with Bakersfield topping the list, followed by Fresno-Madera-Hanford, Visalia, San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland and Los Angeles. About 20.3 million people live in these areas.
The worst five areas for short-term particulate pollution are also largely concentrated in California. The worst were the Fresno-Madera-Hanford and Bakersfield areas. Fairbanks, Alaska, came in third, followed by two other counties in California: San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland and Reading-Red Bluff. More than 63.2 million people live in these areas.
The five worst cities for ozone pollution are Los Angeles-Long Beach, Bakersfield, Visalia and the Fresno-Madera-Hanford regions of California. Rounding out the top five was Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona. More than 122.3 million people live in the county with an underestimated ozone rating, but this is an improvement over last year’s report.
There has been progress in reducing pollution, but one phenomenon driving the overall increase – particularly in the West – is the endless season of forest fires. Other studies show that this smoke can be carried as far as New York. In July 2021, a year not covered by the latest air condition report, western forest fire smoke contributed to New York’s worst air quality day in 15 years. With conditions of moderate to extreme drought in California and abnormal temperatures forecast in the spring, the state says there may be more wildfires this year. The climate crisis has prolonged the forest fire season in the country, so it now continues throughout the year.
“We’ve seen some really bad events with air pollution that are really caused by forest fires in the West, and I think that’s a real change,” Billings said. “We really see the impact of climate change on our air quality, which has really significant adverse effects on the health of the American people.
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