Why Air Quality In The U.S. Is So Bad

Air pollution still remains one of the key environmental issues in the United States. Although it has seen incredible improvement since the 1970s, more than 4 in 10 Americans are still estimated to live in counties with poor air quality. Every year, air pollution kills more than 6 million people worldwide from heart attacks, stroke and diabetes. So just how clean is the air we breathe in the U.S.?

More more than 135 million Americans live with polluted air, placing their health and lives at risk, according to an American Lung Association report published Wednesday.

“It is impacting you, whether you know it or not,” said Becki Baker, an asthma patient. “People don’t realize that over time, this is cumulative.”

Air pollution remains one of the key environmental issues in the United States. Although it has seen incredible improvement since the 1970s thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air Act, the number of Americans exposed to poor air quality has consistently stayed over 125 million since 2013.

“Generally, there are two local air pollutants that the U.S., EPA, and other researchers tend to focus on,” explained Nicholas Muller, associate professor of economics, engineering, and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. “Those are fine particulate matter and tropospheric or ground-level ozone.”

Particle matter pollution refers to tiny pieces of solids or liquids in the air that consist of contaminants like dust, dirt soot and smoke. Nearly 21 million people in the U.S. are estimated to live in counties with unhealthy levels of particle pollution year-round, Wednesday’s report said.

“It comes very small, much smaller than a human hair,” American Lung Association national senior vice president of advocacy Paul Billings said. “You can often see them when you look at a sunset and you see all of that haze in the evening.”

Ground-level ozone pollutants, meanwhile, are often better known by another name: smog. This is created when pollutants from cars, power plants, and other known sources chemically react in the air under sunlight. More than 123 million people in the U.S. are thought to live in counties with bad ozone pollution, with just over 28 million of them being children and 18.2 million aged 65 or older, the report said.

“It’s likened to a sunburn of the lung because it irritates the respiratory tract,” Billings said.

The report also found that communities and people of color are disproportionately affected by poor air quality. People of color are 3 times as likely to live in the most polluted places.

“And that’s actually not surprising,” Yale University environmental justice professor Gerald Torres said. “The data has indicated that before Covid-19 but what Covid-19 did was highlight that.”

Poor air quality is also costing the U.S. roughly $617 billion in damages every year, according to the World Economic Forum. Additionally, the EPA estimates the U.S. spends about $65 billion every year to clean the air.

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Why Clean Air Is So Expensive In The U.S.

[testuser]

Here's why clean air is so expensive, it is because dirty air is so CHEAP!

[yuliamel]

I lived in Fresno, CA and the air was AWFUL! When checking the weather app, there would always be a warning that it’s dangerous to be outside for people with respiratory diseases 😐
Then when I visited LA, I couldn’t believe people actually live in that polluted sh”thole. It’s definitely a place where you get cancer from all that toxic waste floating in the air.

[abisek.e]

in America: why clean air is expensive?
in India: why normal air is expensive?

[pyroman]

The enormous cost of air pollution and climate change clearly show that it would be one of the best investments ever to transition to clean energy generation and EVs. 3% of GDP is an enormous cost.

[bowlampar]

Because oil industry and corporations don't like clean air.

[zeryphex]

I live in Las Vegas.
The poorer people live in East Las Vegas and North Las Vegas.
The ground elevation is lower in those areas, so polluted air does collect more frequently in those areas.
Any rich area is at higher elevation where the air is cleaner.

[FinancialShinanigan]

We live in a crazy world where people buy bottled air smh

[joydeepsharma]

Come over to Dhaka, Bangladesh. You'll definitely come to know what polluted air is.

[aa]

Because you have to drive your V8 suburban to take the 20 pound toddler to day can pick on oil companies but not on the public over their unhealthy behavior

[rohitjindal]

come to delhi😶 new york will seem like mountains

[derekmeyer]

air quality in the US has actually improved exponentially ever since the clean air act in 1970

[Santo-Capro]

Health is wealth. Air quality is important. Yes industrialization and urbanization is good, but there must be a respect and balance for the nature around us. Take Dr. Seuss's The Lorax for example.

[faridjafari]

The world must speed up going green and expand the use of renewable energy.

[hscollier]

The air quality in Central and West Texas used to be clear and clean, but now there are very few days the air quality is “good”, most days it starts out “moderate” goes into “unhealthy for sensitive groups”. Very often we have days that are “unhealthy”, and several times a year “very unhealthy” with NO NOTIFICATION OR WARNING TO THE PUBLIC. New Years Eve 2019 the air quality in most of South and Central Texas was “Hazardous” and no warnings were issued.
This is a real crisis and the government at all levels is complicit in a failure to warn and inform the public of the dangers. Local news stations make light, pithy announcements that sound like a reminder to put on sunscreen, “We have some air quality issues out there today so if your sensitive you might want to take precautions.” What the hell does that even mean?
When I inquired of a federal government agency as to the cause of the “Hazardous” air quality on 1-1-2019 the response was that it was “probably some new coal fired power plants in Mexico”, but they were not sure. There is what should be considered criminal level negligence going on and it’s being glossed over by those responsible for overseeing public health.
Over 100, 000 people a year die (as stated in this video) from poor air quality, an untold millions of others negatively impacted, and there is no sense of urgency to clean up the air quality.
Indifferent politicians who only cater to their corporate sponsors, and pretend to care about whatever the crisis of the month is for fund raising purposes, are culpable in every death from poor air quality. Even so-called progressives have never mentioned NATION-WIDE BAD AIR QUALITY as anything that needs to be addressed. Deadbeat bureaucrats who live in CYA mode have no incentive to do anything about the problem.
What good is a healthy economy if there is no healthy air?

[hancock]

visit korea once. you will rethink and appreciate the air quality in the us.

[CHRIZZ]

Air quality in US is not as bad as in South Asia LOL😂

[vanessaoelmann]

Regular viewer from Germany - I just love all of your documentaries!

[harryjames]

While capitalism enriches the billionaires even during pandemic, record unemployment dogs the working class.

[ashwinirde]

Don't forget Bakersfield CA, the armpit of usa

[ajr]

environmental racism??? Major eye roll. That isn't racism. Air pollution doesn't hate black people. Air pollution doesn't make judgements based on skin color. Please stop pushing such nonsense. Environmental racism isn't a thing; the fact that black people suffer more is because of poverty, not racism.