Air pollution problems in the city of Los Angeles is one of the major issues that impact many people in the city today. The development of automobiles and industrial manufacturing create a series of air pollution and the problems still continue to affect Los Angeles today. The city has ranked one of the poorest air quality in the nation with a long history of smog and highest levels of air pollutant. Poor levels of air pollution do not only result to higher ozone and smog levels but also contributes to severe health problems to individuals who expose to polluted air and cause life and economic losses surrounding with poor air quality. Since air pollutants spread through the region in such a large scale of poor air quality, it affects the whole region in the city of Los Angeles and the communities nearby from the coasts, downtown, and valley locations. In response to the issues, I believe that the state and federal government, as well as people in Los Angeles, are responsible to reduce air pollution problems by regulating automobile and industrial emissions by reducing the consumption of fossil fuels. It is important for people to take actions against air pollution because air pollution creates a dangerous environment for people who live in the polluted city.
Research:
Many research claim that Los Angeles has one of the worse air quality in the nation. Although Los Angeles had seen major improvements since the late 20th century, they found that the air contains high volume of toxic pollutants, such as particulate matter. In 2018 summer, the Los Angeles region had set a new record of the longest streak on worse air quality in the recent years, which indicated 87 consecutive days with smog and bad air. It is the longest period of poor air quality recorded in 20 years. This should be calling for people that bad smog could strike the city again if people continue to contribute more pollutant emissions in the air. In other report from world health organization, it claims that about 80% of urban population lives under worse air quality with WHO standards, which resulted 4.2 million deaths every year from suffering air pollution. Air in Los Angeles is improving but still it has a long way to go.
Days with ozone above 70 parts per billion from 1999 to 2018, South Coast Air Basin - Los Angeles Times achieved.
Taken in February 1953 in Los Angeles' theme song "Weep some more, my lady" - Los Angeles Times achieved.
Personal:
I care about the issue because I live in Los Angeles today, and it affects every with reside in Los Angeles every day. Exposing to poor air impacts on human health and their body functions. Although the air quality in Los Angeles is not as bad as in my hometown Hong Kong and China, I still consider the air is poor in Los Angeles due to the higher level of pollutants and smog. Asthma and heart disease are the most common long-term consequences and it will decrease human lung functions as well as shorten human lifespan. Therefore, I support fighting against air pollution because people deserve the rights to breath clean air every day in life without worrying about dirty air. I believe everyone is responsible to take actions and solve the issues by reducing our emissions, such as conserving energy and reduce driving. I would like to be able to see clear skies and enjoy clean air every day in my life here in Los Angeles one day.
Community:
Andre Rodriguez: I mean the air is pretty bad because of all the concentration of people driving cars around the city and there is smog in LA that I could not see the peak of the mountain. I did have asthma when I was young due to allergic to dust pollutants. I believe the government should promote the use of electric car and invest on renewable energy. What I will do to protect our environment is to walk and bike to places instead of driving and install solar panels in the roof of my house in the future.
Yanna Nie: I think air is moderate in LA depending on different regions in LA. Of course, wildfire and summer season is more severe as you can see the difference from looking at the sky. I have visited places where the air was a lot worse than LA so compared to those places LA is acceptable to me. I do carpool commuting with my family most of the time to reduce unnecessary driving and pollution, but I believe expanding public transportation system like subway, incentives to ride-sharing program and discounts for electric cars purchase will help by bringing awareness to people and taking actions to protect our health and community.
Angela Ching: The air in LA is terrible. I mean there are so many cars on the road and it just keeps polluting our air and the government should limit cars driving on the road.
Paul Lim: Air is not good too many cars produce pollutants in the air. I believe discussing the issues with local representatives and congressman so your voices can be heard from the congress. We need more incentives and affordable options for electric cars so people can benefit in buying one.
Arielle Taccad: Well I am not familiar with the issues but I agree the air I breath is really bad, you can tell the different between countryside and the city. Cars, business and manufacturing contribute lots of pollution in to our air and make it worse. We need to have more awareness about air pollution problems and implement laws to help improving air pollution. I would probably do more research on air pollution, like the major causes, the statistics, and the facts to gain knowledge of air pollution and support tougher emission standards.
“Air Pollution.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 3 Nov. 2018, www.who.int/airpollution/en/.
Barboza, Tony. “87 Days of Smog: Southern California Just Saw Its Longest Streak of Bad Air in Decades.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 21 Sept. 2018, www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-smog-streak-20180921-story.html.
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