Chapter 25. Chapter 25: Air Pollution

What are the health, economic, and ecological consequences of air pollution?

Why You Should Care

Air pollution has many components and many impacts on humans, ecosystems, and economies. For humans, air pollution has direct health impacts. These impacts are varied and depend on which pollutant is inhaled, what concentration is inhaled, and for how long. In general, medical research groups all impacts into general measures.

Environmentally, air pollution can travel with prevailing winds far from its original source: This transboundary property means that source and impact can be separated by political and national boundaries. This makes the clean-up and regulation of the air pollution much more challenging. In the Northeast United States, forests are dying due to acid deposition from coal-fired power plants in the Upper Midwest. Which state pays for the costly clean-up: the source state or the impacted state? What if the pollution crosses national boundaries?

This brings up the economic aspect of air pollution: Does transboundary air pollution reinforce the concept of “sacrifice zones”? These are areas that suffer environmental impact (increased death and environmental damage) for the greater good. Should all people have the right to a safe place to live? Environmental justice would argue it does. Many cases of air pollution lead to questions of who lives in these sacrifice zones—most often, the residents are minorities and working poor. This leads to questions of environmental racism since these residents are the powerless ones of society. More than any other type of pollution, air pollution forces us to address how to measure consequences.

1.

Which city had the largest drop in death rate (compare green and blue dots for each city)?

A.

Harriman, Tennesse

B.

St. Louis, Missouri

C.

Steubenville, Ohio

D.

Topeka, Kansas

999

Try again.

Correct.

Incorrect.

2.

Which city actually increased its PM_2.5 level while dropping its mortality?

A.

Harriman Tennessee

B.

St. Louis, Missouri

C.

Steubenville, Ohio

D.

Topeka, Kansas

999

Try again.

Correct.

Incorrect.

3.

Why did PM_2.5 levels decrease in the 1990-1998 period compared to the 1970-1989 period?

A.

Fewer cars, trucks and buses releasing PM2.5.

B.

Increased regulation of PM2.5 release.

C.

Larger and wider interstate highways that increased fuel usage around these cities

D.

All of the above

999

Try again.

Correct.

Incorrect.

4.

Why don’t the cities with lower levels of PM_2.5 have lower death rates than all of the cities with high levels of PM_2.5?

There are other factors that play into the death rate: Prevailing winds or the topography of the city’s landscape may sweep away the PM_2.5 particles more slowly or quickly. If they leave more slowly, they will have a greater effect and increase the death rate. Every city will be slightly different.

Activity results are being submitted...