Air Pollution
Inner city air pollution is causing an epidemic of asthma in city youth. This outbreak affects minority children in poor areas more than any other group. Mold species related to higher temperatures due to global warming and vehicle exhaust are two major causes that are to blame for this increase in asthma.
Laws such as the Clean Air Act have been passed to require reduced pollution from power plants and cars, but they are often ignored. Laws such as the Clear Skies Initiative allow one area to buy the rights to make more pollution from another area. This has lead to some areas paying to be allowed to pollute more because they can’t afford to buy more pollution friendly cars and power plants. In the end, kids are still getting sick.
What can citizens do? How can we reduce the pollution? How can we help the sick kids? What should the government do?
December 5th, 2007 at 11:19 am
The government needs to enforce stricter air pollution rules
December 11th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
if only people stop making factories it would be better . so i want to ask people to stop factories please. thanks.
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:13 am
An Act is only effective if it is enforced. Enforcing the Clean Air Act should be our first action. We need to let our voices heard if we are to stand a fighting chance.
December 23rd, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Why are you paying to do something you can’t afford to normally do? People will buy hybrid cars because they believe they are doing their part to help the enviroment. Car dealers do not need to charge as much as they do for the cars; the price will barely offset the money you spend on gas! I hope that our next president does something about this…
December 23rd, 2007 at 3:13 pm
This is a serious issue involving the governments jurisdiction vs the individual rights of companies and businesses. Is it so simple that the government has the right to limit what types of cars people drive, or how businesses are allowed to operate?
December 24th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
we should stop pollution by experimenting with different substitutes for gas.
this is a serious issue that should be acknowledged.
it affects everyone and is more important than anything else.
and i agree with dan…we should save the fish. =]
i also agree with nancee, this is a cool keyboard, =]
December 24th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
the people who are getting sick don’t deserve the pain of being sick. T he people creating the junk are bad they should find more environmentally friendly ways to create power. I mean, why burn thinks and pollute the air. Just use solar panels and windmills.
December 26th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
so true
December 26th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
I don’t thin it is fair the ids dont deserv to be sick. I really wish some body would do some thing about it =(
December 28th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Firstly, though the Clean Air Act was a very good idea and a good start, such acts must be enforced. An act is no good if it is not enforced. If there is no power behind an act, no one attempting to make people toe the line, then the act is about as meaningful as the ink it was written with.
Secondly, while the Clear Skies Initiative was a good idea, and I am glad it was passed… It seems painfully obvious to me that it was not good enough. We need something stronger. We need to make it financially inconvenient for these factories to pollute our skies. Of course, it will have to be gradual, or they will reject it immediately, but we do need a stronger law. And, if it is financially inconvenient to pollute, then they will probably look for an alternative to it. After all, people hate emptying their pocketbooks….
That’s all I’ve got to say here.
Peace.
December 28th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
yea i so agree with the ypoic because you know the environment needs the help from everyone they can gety. they need the stuff.
peace fool\
December 30th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
YO, I HAVE ASTHMA, AND MAN I’M COUGHING! I think that the government should at least DO something. That way, people like me don’t suffer as much. ACK, AIR POLLUTION! EVERYBODY DUCK!
January 12th, 2008 at 11:00 am
so everyone agrees that air pollution is bad but what about the other kinds of pollution? The other types of pollution need our attention as well as air pollution.
January 16th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
People need to become more aware of serious issues like this one.They should get together and do something themselves because the government does not care about people that live in poor areas.Before you know it this world will come to an end from being neglected. Who will be responsible then? If you don’t have money the government will do nothing. In situations like this money should not be the issue because there are ways of stopping things that harm the universe by working together as one because this is our home and humans will suffer in the end.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
enforce the act!! too many kids are getting sick!!!
January 29th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Increase public transportation. Make it cheaper. Extend the service into the city and within the city. Make it more user friendly.
Plant trees within the city. Studies have shown that they decrease pollution and are helpful when combating global warming.
February 18th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
there is only one way to sole this issue. you have to enforce the clean air act,you have to unish eole who dont fallow the law
March 8th, 2008 at 9:04 am
the clean air acts must be enforced–if energy and fuel efficient products are available to the rich, the should be tweaked so that they can be affordable to the general public. once the means to protect the earth are affordable, the pollution levels should alleviate.
March 8th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
It’s apparent to me that we need to have better laws in place to regulate pollution… but what’s more important, and commonly overlooked is the lack of enforcement of the laws already on the books. We need to make changes, but we need to enforce the changes we’ve already made thus far first.
April 18th, 2008 at 9:54 am
I think citizens can be more cautious of how they are using cars, and every day objects. The use of cars is not only hurting people’s health conditions but the environment around them. I think is people were more aware of the situation they (the people) are more likely to help and change the situation. If people really wanted to help this situation they could help enforce the Clean Air Act. They could help make the government more aware of their situation.
We can reduce the pollution by using less gas and increasing public transportation. Maybe instead of using gas you can use things like excess cooking oil to heat homes and such. We can also reduce pollution by reusing things. It may be more convenient to pollute and it may take more time to help the environment but by taking the time we can help reduce the amount of pollutants and we can help reduce the amount of sickness’.
We can help the sick kids by seeking help from the community if the government is unwilling to help. Beacause this is happening in more unfortunate communitites there is less help. In these situations money should not be the biggest issue. The biggest issue should be helping the unfortunate kids recover from sickness’ or something like asthma.
The government should be more of a help because what good is a government if they are not prepared to help EVERYONE and not just the ones who have million dollar houses.
May 31st, 2008 at 8:35 am
If the governent wants to create social equality with respect to air quality it would need to recognize that air polluting industries will always use cash loopholes to continue to produce in certain areas. Unless congress recognizes this and uses the collected funds to create controls to reduce this pollution, then concerns will not change their behavior.
May 31st, 2008 at 8:46 am
The issue with grassroots organizations is that their power over this sort of thing is very restricted. It’s true that, if individuals were to reduce their own carbon footprints, then air quality would be drastically better, even without the cooperation of polluting corporations. But the willingness of the public to live ‘greener’ lifestyles only goes so far; we can’t buy hybrid cars or low-energy light bulbs if nobody is selling affordable, eco-friendly products.
In light of this, raising the consciousness of citizens can only go so far towards alleviating the air-pollution issue (and, generally, the weather change issue). Until the necessary products and alternatives are widely available, it’s nearly irrelevant to point out that the general public isn’t doing enough to significantly alter their individual contributions to pollution. Of course they’re (we’re) not! It’s the responsibility of the corporations which produce the goods that we all use to ensure that we’re even able to change the way we interact with nature. We can only choose between the available options.
July 1st, 2008 at 3:05 pm
The Clear Skies Initiative is a downright corrupt policy. Businesses should not have the ability to purchase these…indulgences (referring to the pardoning of sins by priests for a fee). It’s nothing more than common bribery, endorsed by our government. If a business can’t afford to meet restrictions, they should close down. Yes, this will kill our economy for a time. But we’l recover. And if we don’t turn around soon, we’ll crash, and suffer a good deal more. We’re past the point of no return. We have to give up something in order to fix things. When people realize that, and are selfless enough to sacrifice a bit of the happiness of their generation for posterity, then we’ll see some change.
July 13th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Political will is key. Current adinistration has not been willing to sign onto the Kyoto Protocol or create incentives for exploration and developent of alternative energy. Unless we, as citizens, hold our representatives accountable for not ust passing legislation but enabling and funding it…and are willing to ake tough choices, nothing is going to change.