Module 3 Blog Post:
Part 1:
According to America’s Health Rankings Air Pollution
report in the United States, the healthiest state is Wyoming, and the least
healthy state is California. In 2011, air pollution created by fine particular
matter produced by human activity was responsible for 107,000 premature deaths
in the United States, and it had a negative effect on the economy, estimating a
cost of $886 billion (America’s Health Rankings United Health Foundation,
2021). Fine particle air pollution and wildfires (more often nowadays) cause
decreased lung function, asthma, irregular heartbeat, heart attacks, and early
death for many suffering from heart and lung diseases.
Goodkind et al. show on the graph below the amount of money, premature mortality by pollution, and the levels of emissions measured in 2011. Air pollution has a very high cost on our health, lives, economy, and resources (Goodkind et al., 2019b).
(Goodkind et al., 2019)
Dallas, TX is ranked #16 for high ozone days “out of 226 metropolitan areas, #24 for “24-hour particle pollution out of 221 metropolitan areas”, and #48 for “annual particle pollution out of 202 metropolitan areas”. Unfortunately, our children, pregnant women, people of color, and people suffering from respiratory, cardiovascular, and lung diseases are more at risk of being affected by air pollution (American Lung Association. Texas: Dallas, 2022). In addition, in April 2022, the American Lung Association released and “State of the Air” report stating that the Dallas-Fort Worth area’s air quality is worse for some of the most damaging air polluters such as particle pollution and ozone (American Lung Association. State of the Air 2022, 2022). So even if Air pollution has been improving in the country, it seems challenging for Dallas, TX, to improve air quality.
References
America’s Health Rankings United Health Foundation.
(2021). Public Health Impact: Air
Pollution.
www.americashealthrankings.org. Retrieved July 24, 2022, from
https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/annual/measure/air/state/ALL
American Lung Association. Texas: Dallas. (2022).
Texas: Dallas. www.lung.org. Retrieved July
24,
2022, from https://www.lung.org/research/sota/city-rankings/states/texas/dallas
American Lung Association. State of the Air 2022. (2022). Texas: Dallas. www.lung.org.
Retrieved July 24, 2022, from https://www.lung.org/research/sota/city-
rankings/states/texas/dallas
Goodkind, A., Tessum, C., Coggins, J., & Marshall, J. (2019, April 8). Damages by Economic
Sector [Graph]. Fine-Scale Damage Estimates of Particulate Matter Air Pollution Reveal
Opportunities for Location-Specific Mitigation of Emissions.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1816102116#supplementary-materials
Goodkind, A., Tessum, C., Coggins, J., & Marshall, J. (2019b, April 8). Fine-scale damage
estimates of particulate matter air pollution reveal opportunities for location-specific
mitigation of emissions. Https://Www.Pnas.Org/Doi/Full/10.1073/Pnas.1816102116.
Retrieved July 29,
2022, from https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1816102116
Part 2:
In this video, Dr. Maria Neira from the World Health Organization explains the seriousness of air pollution and how it is also affecting the current COVID situation, and how we can take action.
World Health Organization (WHO) [YouTube].
(2022, February 11). WHO’s Science in 5 : Air
pollution, a public health
emergency [Video]. YouTube.