AIR POLLUTION

WHAT IS AIR POLLUTION?

How Air Aware are you? Did you know that pesticides and smoke from our gardens and factories make it difficult for us to breathe and cause respiratory illnesses? According to United Nations, “air pollution is one of the leading avoidable causes of disease and death globally with 4.3 million deaths occurring each year from exposure to household (indoor) air pollution and 3.7 million deaths each year attributed to ambient (outdoor) air pollution, at a high cost to societies.” But  what is air pollution?

According to cbs news,

“The air we breathe in many cities is polluted by driving cars and trucks; burning coal, oil, and other fossil fuels; and manufacturing chemicals. Millions of people live in areas where urban smog, caused by

 vehicle exhaust and industrial processes or wildfires.

While often invisible, pollutants in the air create smog and acid rain, cause cancer or other serious health effects, diminish the protective ozone layer in the upper atmosphere, and contribute to world climate change. Some pollutants are: Carbon Monoxide, Lead, Nitrogen Dioxide, Ozone, Particulate matter, and Sulfur Dioxide.”

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/air-pollution-facts/

VIDEO LESSONS

Here is 2.57 mins Learning Junction video that talks about causes, effects & solution of air pollution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Q7y_xjR5E

Let us learn about the link between air pollution and global warming in this 8.10 mins Smart Learning video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqxMzKLYrZ4

Watch this 3.52 mins National Geographic video, Air pollution 101, to find ou  how greenhouse gasses, smog, and toxic pollutants effect climate change, and human health

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6rglsLy1Ys

What causes climate change (also known as global warming)? And what are the effects of climate change? Learn about the human impact and consequences of climate change for the environment, and our lives through this 3.04 minsNational Geographic video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4H1N_yXBiA

Whenever there is too much smoke in the air, an air alert goes off. In fact, the American Lung  Association rates every county and town depending on how good the air is. Did you know that  the American Lung Association, gave Middlesex county an F.

How can we change what is happening? Here is a 2.41 secs video  about how planting trees can help clean the air and save the earth set to the tune of “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55pHnLYhF5Q

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You can check the quality of air every day here: 

http://airquality.weather.gov/

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A way to fight and preserve our rights to clean air is to be a tree hugger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTV8vE9NdHc

This is a 2.10 sec long tree hugger song.

Plant a tree or hug one everyday. That can be a way to Air affirm as well

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KIDS CAN HELP

While keeping yourself healthy, you can join the fight against air pollution. Like

14 year old Lupita did. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/javier-sierra/sick-tired-of-pollution_b_6864000.html

Lupita Pérez had just had it breathing dirty air during her young life. At 14, she has decided to join the fight for a clean air future for her baby sister

“Babies are not born with asthma. They get it because of the bad air and they can die from that,” says Lupita, a freshman at Desert Mirage High School, in the Coachella Valley, one of the country’s regions with the worst air quality.

The Valley — especially its eastern part, where thousands of Latino families live — saw 40 days of air quality violations in 2014. Few places in California, or the U.S. for that matter, suffer a more intense toxic bombardment than here. In fact, 10 percent of the Valley’s children suffer from asthma.

One of them is the younger brother of Elijah Martínez, a 17-year-old senior at Desert Mirage HS.

“He plays soccer very well. And he dreams of becoming a pro, but it saddens me that he can’t play as much as he wants because he has asthma,” he laments.

Thousands of young Latinos in the Valley have their own story about the suffering caused by air pollution, including Selene Hernández, whose grandmother recently died of lung cancer.

“During her last days she got very sick and could barely breathe because of the dirty air. I don’t want anyone else to go through something like that,” says Selene, who’s also a senior at Desert Mirage HS.

Just like Lupita, Selene, Elijah and 100 other students at Desert Mirage HS said enough is enough, and in February, they all traveled for nine hours to Sacramento to testify at the EPA hearings about the improvement of the federal smog standards. Smog, a toxic gas generated by the burning of fossil fuels, can have the same effects on lung tissue as sunburn on the skin.

The current standard is 75 parts per billion (ppb), but health experts, such as the American Lung Association, insist to really protect public health the standard must be reduced to 60 ppb. The EPA has proposed a standard as low as 65 ppb but is also accepting comments on a 60-ppb one.

“I demanded for them to bring the ppb down to 60 because it is a human right to have fresh air to breathe,” says Lupita.

“It got very emotional when we all shared our stories about how the air pollution is affecting us. And some representatives of the EPA were getting teary-eyed just by listening to us,” remembers Selene.

The benefits of fighting air pollution can be enormous. A recent University of Southern California study found that a substantial improvement of the air quality allows children to develop bigger, stronger lungs. From 1999 to 2011, a period during which air quality in California improved exponentially thanks to the Clean Air Act, researchers observed that among the 2,000 participants in the study, there was a 10-percent increase in lung capacity on average. Also, premature deaths were greatly reduced.

Polluters, on the other hand, insist improving the current smog standard would undermine the growth and profits of their industries. This is what the students have to say to the polluters:

“Come down to the Valley and see for yourselves any children who have asthma and see how hard it is for them to breathe and play,” says Elijah.

“There are people’s lives on the line. And also there are clean alternatives, such as solar and wind,” responds Selene.

“If they think they could be losing money, we out here could be losing our lives. By refusing to lower the ppb, they are putting our lives in danger. Asthma can come just like that, especially for little babies. Our lives are more important that their profits,” concludes Lupita, who dreams of attending Harvard or Stanford to become an environmental lawyer and “fight polluters in the courts.”

Source: Huffington Pos, May 30,2015