<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/26/us-air-pollution-health-americans>
"Vast swaths of the continental US will be exposed to unhealthy, polluted air
by 2054, according to an alarming new report.
Researchers at First Street Foundation, a non-profit that analyzes climate
risk, found that one in four Americans are already exposed to air that is
deemed “unhealthy” by the Air Quality Index (AQI), which provides daily air
quality readings. That number is expected to grow by 50% in the next few
decades, with an estimated total of 125 million Americans experiencing
dangerous air pollution by the middle of the century.
The report warns that climate-related wildfires and heatwaves are undoing many
of the gains from federal clean air regulations. Between 2010 and 2016, the
United States started to see an increase in air pollution for the first time in
80 years, said Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research at First
Street.
“If we’re going to start thinking about solutions, we have to start combating
the origin of the air pollutants, which are wildfires and extreme heat,” Porter
said.
In June 2023, smoke from forest fires in Canada caused Americans to suffer the
worst day of average exposure to such pollution since 2006. The orange,
apocalyptic haze that blanketed much of the continent carried PM2.5, tiny air
pollutants that can lodge deep inside a person’s lungs. The particles, which
measure less than 2.5 microns in diameter, are tiny enough to cross the
blood-brain barrier, and high levels of exposure are linked to dementia and
Parkinson’s disease, along with a host of respiratory illnesses.
This week, US health researchers found that there is no safe amount of exposure
to PM2.5.
“That’s why it’s so important to have this concerted, across-the-aisle effort
to improve air quality,” said Porter."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
