In October more than countries reached an agreement to reduce the use of these chemicals—which are found in air conditioners and refrigerators—and develop greener alternatives over time. Though President Trump was unwilling to sign on to this agreement, a bipartisan group of senators overrode his objections in and set the United States on track to slash HFCs by 85 percent by Mold and allergens from trees, weeds, and grass are also carried in the air, are exacerbated by climate change, and can be hazardous to health.
Pollen allergies are worsening because of climate change. According to the most recent State of Global Air report —which summarizes the latest scientific understanding of air pollution around the world—4. Some four out of ten U.
Since the annual report was first published, in , its findings have shown how the Clean Air Act has been able to reduce harmful emissions from transportation, power plants, and manufacturing. Recent findings, however, reflect how climate change—fueled wildfires and extreme heat are adding to the challenges of protecting public health.
The latest report—which focuses on ozone, year-round particle pollution, and short-term particle pollution—also finds that people of color are 61 percent more likely than white people to live in a county with a failing grade in at least one of those categories, and three times more likely to live in a county that fails in all three. In rankings for each of the three pollution categories covered by the ALA report, California cities occupy the top three slots i.
You can check the air quality of your own city or state on this map. No one wants to live next door to an incinerator, oil refinery, port, toxic waste dump, or other polluting site. Yet millions of people around the world do, and this puts them at a much higher risk for respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, neurological damage, cancer, and death. In the United States, people of color are 1. Historically, racist zoning policies and the discriminatory lending practices known as redlining have combined to keep polluting industries and car-choked highways away from white neighborhoods and have turned communities of color—especially poor and working-class communities of color—into sacrifice zones where residents are forced to breathe dirty air and suffer the many health problems associated with it.
In addition to the increased health risks that come from living in such places, members of these communities experience economic harm in the form of missed workdays, higher medical costs, and local underinvestment. Environmental racism isn't limited to cities and industrial areas. Outdoor laborers, including the estimated three million migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the United States, are among the most vulnerable to air pollution—and also among the least equipped, politically, to pressure employers and lawmakers to affirm their right to breathe clean air.
Recently, c umulative impact mapping , which uses data on environmental conditions and demographics, has been able to show how some communities are overburdened with layers of issues, like high levels of poverty, unemployment, and pollution.
In the United States, the Clean Air Act has been a crucial tool for reducing air pollution since its passage in , although fossil-fuel interests aided by industry-friendly lawmakers have frequently attempted to weaken its many protections.
Ensuring that this bedrock environmental law remains intact and properly enforced will always be key to maintaining and improving our air quality. But the best, most effective way to control air pollution is to speed up our transition to cleaner fuels and industrial processes.
By switching over to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power , maximizing fuel efficiency in our vehicles, and replacing more and more of our gasoline-powered cars and trucks with electric versions, we'll be limiting air pollution at its source while also curbing the global warming that heightens so many of its worst health impacts.
And what about the economic costs of controlling air pollution? According to a report on the Clean Air Act commissioned by NRDC, the annual benefits of cleaner air are up to 32 times greater than the cost of clean-air regulations. When you can, walk, ride a bike, or take public transportation.
For driving, choose a car that gets better miles per gallon of gas, or choose an electric car. Buying your food locally cuts down on the fossil fuels burned in trucking or flying food in from across the country.
This story was originally published on November 1, , and has been updated with new information and links. Those most vulnerable to climate related health effects - such as children, the elderly, the poor, and future generations - face disproportionate risks. Studies also find that climate change poses particular threats to the health, well-being, and ways of life of indigenous peoples in the U.
The National Research Council NRC and other scientific bodies have emphasized that it is important to take initial steps to reduce greenhouse gases without delay because, once emitted, greenhouse gases persist in the atmosphere for long time periods.
Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is taking initial common sense steps to limit greenhouse gas pollution from large sources:. EPA and the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration between and issued the first national greenhouse gas emission standards and fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks for model years , and for medium- and heavy-duty trucks for Proposed truck standards for and beyond were announced in June EPA is also responsible for developing and implementing regulations to ensure that transportation fuel sold in the United States contains a minimum volume of renewable fuel.
Learn more about clean vehicles. EPA and states in began requiring preconstruction permits that limit greenhouse gas emissions from large new stationary sources - such as power plants, refineries, cement plants, and steel mills - when they are built or undergo major modification. Learn more about GHG permitting. This partnership is laid out in the Clean Power Plan. EPA firmly believes the Clean Power Plan will be upheld when the merits are considered because the rule rests on strong scientific and legal foundations.
In January EPA announced a new goal to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 — 45 percent from levels by , and a set of actions by EPA and other agencies to put the U. In August , EPA proposed new common-sense measures to cut methane emissions, reduce smog-forming air pollution and provide certainty for industry through proposed rules for the oil and gas industry.
The agency also proposed to further reduce emissions of methane-rich gas from municipal solid waste landfills. EPA in July finalized a rule to prohibit certain uses of hydrofluorocarbons -- a class of potent greenhouse gases used in air conditioning, refrigeration and other equipment -- in favor of safer alternatives.
While overall emissions of air toxics have declined significantly since , substantial quantities of toxic pollutants continue to be released into the air. Elevated risks can occur in urban areas, near industrial facilities, and in areas with high transportation emissions. Hazardous air pollutants, also called air toxics, include pollutants listed in the Clean Air Act.
EPA can add pollutants that are known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as reproductive effects or birth defects, or to cause adverse environmental effects. Examples of air toxics include benzene, which is found in gasoline; perchloroethylene, which is emitted from some dry cleaning facilities; and methylene chloride, which is used as a solvent and paint stripper by a number of industries.
Other examples of air toxics include dioxin, asbestos, and metals such as cadmium, mercury, chromium, and lead compounds. Numerous categories of stationary sources emit air toxics, including power plants, chemical manufacturing, aerospace manufacturing and steel mills.
Some air toxics are released in large amounts from natural sources such as forest fires. Since that assessment, EPA standards have required significant further reductions in toxic emissions. Benzene and formaldehyde are two of the biggest cancer risk drivers, and acrolein tends to dominate non-cancer risks.
EPA standards based on technology performance have been successful in achieving large reductions in national emissions of air toxics. As directed by Congress, EPA has completed emissions standards for all major source categories, and 68 categories of small area sources representing 90 percent of emissions of 30 priority pollutants for urban areas. In addition, EPA has reduced the benzene content in gasoline, and has established stringent emission standards for on-road and nonroad diesel and gasoline engine emissions that significantly reduce emissions of mobile source air toxics.
As required by the Act, EPA has completed residual risk assessments and technology reviews covering numerous regulated source categories to assess whether more protective air toxics standards are warranted. EPA has updated standards as appropriate. Additional residual risk assessments and technology reviews are currently underway. EPA also encourages and supports area-wide air toxics strategies of state, tribal and local agencies through national, regional and community-based initiatives.
Among these initiatives are the National Clean Diesel Campaign , which through partnerships and grants reduces diesel emissions for existing engines that EPA does not regulate; Clean School Bus USA , a national partnership to minimize pollution from school buses; the SmartWay Transport Partnership to promote efficient goods movement; wood smoke reduction initiatives; a collision repair campaign involving autobody shops; community-scale air toxics ambient monitoring grants ; and other programs including Community Action for a Renewed Environment CARE.
The CARE program helps communities develop broad-based local partnerships that include business and local government and conduct community-driven problem solving as they build capacity to understand and take effective actions on addressing environmental problems. Methane is a major emission from coal plants and agricultural processes. Nitrous oxide is a common emission from industrial factories, agriculture, and the burning of fossil fuels in cars. Fluorinate d gases, such as hydrofluorocarbon s, are emitted by industry.
Fluorinated gases are often used instead of gases such as chlorofluorocarbons CFCs. CFCs have been outlawed in many places because they deplete the ozone layer. Worldwide, many countries have taken steps to reduce or limit greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming.
The Kyoto Protocol , first adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in , is an agreement between countries that they will work to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. The United States has not signed that treaty. Regulation In addition to the international Kyoto Protocol, most developed nations have adopted laws to regulate emissions and reduce air pollution.
In the United States, debate is under way about a system called cap and trade to limit emissions. This system would cap, or place a limit, on the amount of pollution a company is allowed. Companies that exceeded their cap would have to pay.
Companies that polluted less than their cap could trade or sell their remaining pollution allowance to other companies. Cap and trade would essentially pay companies to limit pollution. The WHOs guidelines are tougher than most individual countries existing guidelines. The WHO guidelines aim to reduce air pollution-related deaths by 15 percent a year.
Reduction Anybody can take steps to reduce air pollution. Millions of people every day make simple changes in their lives to do this. Taking public transportation instead of driving a car, or riding a bike instead of traveling in carbon dioxide-emitting vehicles are a couple of ways to reduce air pollution. Avoiding aerosol cans, recycling yard trimmings instead of burning them, and not smoking cigarettes are others. These tests sent invisible radioactive particles into the atmosphere.
These air pollution particles traveled with wind currents, eventually falling to Earth, sometimes hundreds of miles away in states including Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and Washington. These areas were considered to be "downwind" from the Nevada Test Site. Decades later, people living in those downwind areascalled "downwinders"began developing cancer at above-normal rates. In , the U. London Smog What has come to be known as the London Smog of , or the Great Smog of , was a four-day incident that sickened , people and caused as many as 12, deaths.
Very cold weather in December led residents of London, England, to burn more coal to keep warm. Smoke and other pollutants became trapped by a thick fog that settled over the city. The polluted fog became so thick that people could only see a few meters in front of them.
Greenhouse Gases There are five major greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere. Acid rain can be manmade or occur naturally. When released through a small opening, the liquid becomes a spray or foam.
Carbon dioxide is also the byproduct of burning fossil fuels. Some CFCs have destructive effects on the ozone layer. Gas molecules are in constant, random motion. December 5December 9, severe smog that killed between 4, and 12, people in London, England.
Also called the Great Smog. Nuclear weapons testing was discontinued there in Also known as laughing gas or happy gas.
Also called a hot particle. Also called yard waste. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society. Dunn, Margery G. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher.
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Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives. Fire can be an incredibly useful tool. We cook our food with fire, warm our homes, light candles, roast marshmallows, shape metals, and create new energy — all with fire.
However, using fire as a tool requires extreme awareness of safety, because it can be incredibly dangerous and destructive. Even a single spark in a dry forest can start a wildfire that engulfs hundreds of thousands of acres. Depending on the weather, these small sparks can wipe out entire forests and cities within days, destroying everything in their path and polluting the air with smoke thick enough to be seen from space.
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