particulate pollution

According to the American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air report, at least 156 million Americans – 46% of the population – live with unsafe levels of ozone, particulate pollution, or both.

The report analyzed ozone and particulate pollution levels between 2021 and 2023, during which the worst wildfire season on record took place in Canada. The report ranked pollution levels in counties and cities across the country on a grading scale from A to F. At least 156 million people live with air that got the poorest grade of F for at least one of three pollutants. At least 42 million people live in counties that failed all three pollutant standards measured.

While the report attempts to provide a complete picture of air quality around the country, about two-thirds of counties lack air quality monitoring for ozone or particulate pollution.

The wildfires in Canada are responsible for much of the increase in air pollution in the past several years. However, climate projections suggest that the conditions that fueled those fires are likely to become increasingly common.

Air quality standards in the United States have generally been improving since the Clean Air Act was enacted by Congress in 1970. Since that time, levels of key pollutants have dropped by nearly 80%. But millions of Americans are still breathing polluted air, leading to both acute and chronic health conditions.

Plans by the Trump administration to loosen environmental regulations and cut funding for air quality research are likely to only make matters worse.

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Almost Half of Americans Breathe Unhealthy Air, Report Finds

Photo, posted June 8, 2023, courtesy of Anthony Quintano via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

It has been the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community for a long time that human activity and other external factors are responsible for the continuing rise in global temperature. Despite this widespread agreement, there have been those who argue that natural ocean cycles might be influencing global warming over the course of multiple decades.

A new study, published in the Journal of Climate, provides an answer to the question of how much influence natural cycles might have, and that answer is very little to none.

The study looked at observed ocean and land temperature data since 1850 and, apart from human-induced factors such as greenhouse gas concentrations, took into account other occurrences such as volcanic eruptions, solar activity, and air pollution peaks. The findings demonstrated that slow-acting ocean cycles do not explain the long-term changes in global temperatures.

Based on the study, the researchers can state with confidence that human factors like greenhouse gas emissions and particulate pollution, along with year-to-year changes caused by natural phenomena like volcanic eruptions or El Niño, are sufficient to explain virtually all the long-term changes in temperature. The idea that the oceans could have been driving the climate either in a colder or warmer direction for multiple decades in the past and therefore will do so in the future is unlikely to be correct.

A number of previous studies have compared flawed observations with flawed modeling results to claim that naturally-occurring ocean cycles have played a large role in global temperatures. The new study shows that such cycles have little influence on the climate. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is really what we need to do.

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Global temperature change attributable to external factors, confirms new study

Photo, posted November 13, 2007, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Americans breathe unhealthy air

According to the American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air report, at least 156 million Americans – 46% of the population – live with unsafe levels of ozone, particulate pollution, or both.

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Climate Change Is Not Natural

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