The value of a deep breath can not be fully realized until an airway is compromised. Whether the cause is smoke from fires, tobacco, air pollution, illness, or lung disease, there is so much more to learn about the importance of clean air and one’s ability to take a deep breath.
Did you know that indoor air pollution and poor urban air quality are listed as two of the world’s worst toxic pollution problems? Air Pollution causes 8.8 million deaths a year — more than tobacco smoking.
CNN News Report based on the 2017 Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health Report: What in the World: A deadly pollution problem, Fareed Zakaria, GPS
Resources
American Lung Association resources on Healthy Air
- American Lung Association uses air quality monitors (see below) to compile their State of the Air Report
- Healthy Air Indoors
- Health Air Outdoors
- Healthy Air Policy Positions
- In Your Community
EPA resources:
- Actions You Can Take to Reduce Air Pollution
- Information on the health effects of ozone
- Information on the health effects of particles (PDF)
- EPA’s Resources on Air Pollution and your Heart:
Consumer Reports: Avoid the Health Effects of Air Pollution
SCIENCING: How to Reduce the Effects of Pollution
Good visualization of particulates. New York Times: See How the World’s Most Polluted Air Compares With Your City’s
Air Quality Monitoring.
Here are real-time resources to help you check if the air you are breathing is clean. See EPA’s Information on the health effects of particles for a guide to the rating system used at these links.
- The United States Air Now System Air Quality Maps https://airnow.gov
- AirNow’s International Air Quality Resources
- AirNow’s Fire and Your Health
- AirNow Visibility Cameras
- World’s Air Pollution: Real-time Air Quality Index https://waqi.info/
- Get free air pollution alerts by email
