Americans emit 70% less air pollution today than they did in 1970, when the Clean Air Act was passed. But global warming makes it easier for smog to form, and creates more and bigger wildfires. The number of Americans breathing unhealthy air is rising.
Wildfires caused high levels of air pollution in San Francisco in November 2018. Climate change is making wildfires and heat waves more likely, and driving more days of unhealthy air in many U.S. cities.Wildfires caused high levels of air pollution in San Francisco in November 2018. Climate change is making wildfires and heat waves more likely, and driving more days of unhealthy air in many U.S. cities.
The latest data on the nation's air comes from the American Lung Association, a public health group. The group's 21st annual State of the Air report warns that climate change is undercutting decades of regulatory progress that has reduced pollution from factories, cars, power plants and other major air pollution sources, because more frequent and intense heat waves and wildfires are leading to more days with dangerously high levels of ozone and particulate matter.
Hot weather helps create ozone, or smog."Emissions of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide cook in the presence of sunlight to create ozone or smog," explains Paul Billings, the senior vice president for public policy at the American Lung Association. "What we've seen is that hot weather is making it more difficult to achieve health-based [air quality] standards," Billings explains. Even though overall emissions are down,"climate change makes the conditions for formation of smog or ozone easier, so we need to do more to reduce the underlying emissions."the Environmental Protection Agency bears that out. Americans emit about 70% less air pollution today than they did in 1970, when the Clean Air Act was passed.
Yet the number of people breathing air that is bad for their health is rising — the American Lung Association estimates that about 137 million people lived in places with unhealthy levels of ozone between 2016 and 2018. Breathing polluted air is associated with shorter average life expectancies, and is a risk factor for heart and respiratory disease.
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