Four out of ten Americans are exposed to dangerous air pollution, according to a new study. Air pollution can be caused by heat, drought, and wildfires in California, which is home to four of the five worst places right now, according to reports.
More than 130 million Americans breathe in air pollution that is too high for their health. State of the Air Report, which was made by the American Lung Association, said that this was more than eleven million more people than last year.
“Climate change is not far away or an idea,” said Paul Billings, senior vice president for lobbying at the American Lung Association. Millions of people from coast to coast are affected by this fact every year, and it changes their health.
It was the Clean Air Act that really helped clean up the air, but the flames have undone all the good work that the act did. Some of the twenty-five most polluted towns were found to be in Alaska and Idaho, like Boise and Fairbanks. A year ago, people in the 25 most polluted areas were exposed to harmful particle pollutants for an average of two days. This year, they are exposed for twenty-one days on average.
“The number of very unhealthy and dangerous days has skyrocketed,” says Billings. “They are signaling the size of the wildfires and the effect they’re having on public health,” he said.
As was already said, California has the most polluted places. Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona are the next four states. People of color are also said to be more likely to be exposed because dirty factories and industrial sites were put in the areas of minorities because of racist zoning laws.
According to experts, fighting air pollution isn’t something that just one person or state can do. Instead, we all need to work together to change the things we do that make pollution worse.
