Air pollution photo essay

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Despite significant progress, the State of the Air 2010 report, found that nearly 58percent of Americans continue to inhale dangerously polluted air.

According to Opednews.com, over-population exponentially increases air pollution.The United States (U.S.) is expected to add at least 100 million more people by 2040.

Sardinero Beach saturated with people in Santander, Spain

In the U.S., transportation is the largest single source of air pollution. It caused over halfof the carbon monoxide, over a third of the nitrogen oxides, and almost a quarter of thehydrocarbons emitted in 2006, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’sNational Emissions Inventory Trends Report.

According to the American Lung Association (ALA), pollution from heavy highway traffic contributes to a higher risk of heart attack, allergies, premature births, anddeaths of infants around the time they are born. Women are at a higher risk than men, and long term exposure to particle pollution increases women’s risk of lower lung function, developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and dying prematurely.

Trucks are a major source of smog, toxic chemical pollution, and fine particle diesel soot, which causes respiratory problems, cancer, and up to 50,000 premature deaths a year. According to Clean Air Trust, trucks could use 90% cleaner fuel with less sulfur.

According to the ALA, long-term particle pollution is linked to increased hospitalizationfor asthma attacks for children living near roads with heavy traffic.

Burning wood produces the raw materials for particle pollution, according to the ALA.

Open-fire in Breckenridge, Colorado

According to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection,toxic pollutants in the air and deposited on soils or surface waters harm wildlife in numerous ways. Studies show that air pollution is contributing to birth defects, reproductive failure, and disease in animals.

Birds are more susceptible to ozone, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide because of their high respiratory rates and die from inhaling pollution and consuming polluted sources, according to the article, “Impacts of Air Pollution & Acid Rain on Wildlife.”

Air pollutants harm trees by damaging their foliage and impairing the process of photosynthesis. Preserving the nation’s forests is very important to counteract air pollution,especially in urban areas, as trees are the principal absorber of carbon dioxide, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service.

Ever since the 1970s, pollution hanging over downtown Denver, famously known as “the Brown Cloud,” can often be clearly seen, especially on cold winter days. The hazy skies above the city are due to Denver’s location at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, which causes temperature inversions where warm air, which is less dense, rises and traps the cooler air near the ground, trapping pollutants below the atmosphere.

According to inventory data produced by the Colorado Department of Public Health, from 2004 and 2005, oil and gas production facilities were accountable for more than 50% of all the volatile organic compounds released from stationary sources in Colorado, at times causing dangerous levels of ozone in the air.

According to the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission, the Denver Metro- North Front Range region has exceeded ozone standards since the early 2000s and was designated a federal nonattainment area for ozone in 2007. A major source of pollution in this area is the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.

The Rocky Mountain Arsenal was used as a chemical weapons manufacturing centerduring World War II, and dangerous levels of air pollution resulted from the routinedemolition of obsolete munitions.

The arsenal was placed on the National Priorities List of Superfund sites in 1987, and has since become one of the largest environmental cleanup programsIn the nation.

The cleanup program is expected to end in 2011, and the Rocky Mountain Arsenalis becoming one of the largest urban national wildlife refuges.

To aid legislation in the 1977 Clean Air Act to prevent and aid existing visibility impairment to Class I areas, the IMPROVE program was initiated in 1985. Arches National Park in Utah is a Class I area because it is greater than 6,000 acres.

This program implemented an extensive long term monitoring program to track changes in visibility and determine causal mechanisms for the visibility impairment in the National Parks and Wilderness Areas.

In 2006, the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission approved restrictions on the oil and gas industry to curb emissions and in 2010 approved a plan to replace power plants with commercial boilers to reduce “regional haze” in a unanimous vote. The plan is expected to reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 70,000 tons by 2018.

According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), public transportation in the U.S. saves approximately 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline and about 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. Yet, 88 percent of all trips in the U.S. are made bycar.

According to Treehugger.com, if just one in 10 Americans used public transportation daily,U.S. dependence on foreign oil would decrease by 40 percent.

Hybrid cars, like the 2011 Toyota Prius, emit far lower levels of air pollutants than conventional cars because of increased gas mileage. Emissions can be reduced up to 90 percent, when comparing hybrid cars to traditional gas-powered vehicles, according to CarbonMonoxidePoisoning.Com.

Solar power is a great alternative and renewable energy source, and can be used to chargeElectric Vehicles (EVs). According to EnergyIndependence, the technology to harness the powerof the sun is available now and could provide all of the energy that Americans consume.