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Graphic: American Lung Association
The American Lung Association issued their 2019 “State of the Air” Report which found that more than 40% of Americans — 141 million — live in a county with unhealthy air, which represents an increase of 7 million people more than last year. Despite some progress, “in 2015-2017, more cities had high days of ozone and short-term particle pollution compared to 2014-2016 and many cities measured increased levels of year-round particle pollution.” According to the American Lung Association:
The report also demonstrates that climate change is worsening air quality and making it hard to protect human health. The Lung Association points out that the “three years covered in this report ranked as the hottest years on record globally. High ozone days and spikes in particle pollution zoomed, putting millions more people at risk and adding challenges to the work cities are doing across the nation to clean up.”
Why This Matters: The numbers are in and it is clear that the Trump Administration’s clean air rule rollbacks are having a detrimental impact. And climate change is exacerbating the problems caused by increasing pollution. Eight cities experience the highest levels of air pollution since the Lung Association began compiling the report 20 years ago — all of them in the West. These record-breaking “worsts” should be a cause for great concern — the American Lung Association is sounding an alarm that air pollution is rising and putting American health and lives at risk. With the federal government loosening standards, it will be up to state air quality managers to take action.
What You Can Do: Check out how your city ranks by clicking here. To fight for cleaner air, you can join or support the Moms Clean Air Force by clicking here.
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