Majority of US will be exposed to polluted air by 2054, says report
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Researchers say the number of Americans exposed to unhealthy air will rise by 50% by the middle of the century
February 26, 2024
Vast swaths of the continental US will be exposed to unhealthy, polluted air by 2054, according to an alarming new report.
Researchers at First Street Foundation, a non-profit that analyzes climate risk, found that one in four Americans are already exposed to air that is deemed “unhealthy” by the Air Quality Index (AQI), which provides daily air quality readings. That number is expected to grow by 50% in the next few decades, with an estimated total of 125 million Americans experiencing dangerous air pollution by the middle of the century.
The report warns that climate-related wildfires and heatwaves are undoing many of the gains from federal clean air regulations. Between 2010 and 2016, the United States started to see an increase in air pollution for the first time in 80 years, said Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research at First Street.
“If we’re going to start thinking about solutions, we have to start combating the origin of the air pollutants, which are wildfires and extreme heat,” Porter said.
In June 2023, smoke from forest fires in Canada caused Americans to suffer the worst day of average exposure to such pollution since 2006. The orange, apocalyptic haze that blanketed much of the continent carried PM2.5, tiny air pollutants that can lodge deep inside a person’s lungs. The particles, which measure less than 2.5 microns in diameter, are tiny enough to cross the blood-brain barrier, and high levels of exposure are linked to dementia and Parkinson’s disease, along with a host of respiratory illnesses.
To read the full article, click here:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/26/us-air-pollution-health-americans
