Community Issue Article - Essay Example

Community Issue Article: Air Pollution According to reports by the United Nations Environmental Program, estimates of more than one billion people are exposed to urban air pollution. This pollution is associated with over one million untimely deaths that occur every year. In the United States, a new study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology revealed that air pollution causes approximately 200 thousand premature deaths. Though air seems to have gotten cleaner over the past few years, people within urban areas in United States still breathe unclean air.

This dirty air is primarily attributed to the increased motor cars and electrical power generators and industries. The leading cause of pollution within urban areas is road transport, which accounts for more than 53 thousand premature deaths. Air pollution refers to the transfer of harmful and discomforting materials in the atmosphere and the environment. Air pollution has been one of the significant environmental issues affecting communities in United States since the advent of industrialization.

Increased populations in the urban areas and traffic crowding have increased the toxic chemicals in the air within the cities. This traffic-caused pollution is associated with the likelihood of cancer together with pregnancy problems. Many of industries and power generation plants within the neighborhoods of United States communities emit harmful chemicals into the air. Though these companies assist in the development of the country’s economy, the emissions have adverse effects on people’s health.

Scientific studies have also shown that a person’s risk of getting stroke can increase by 30% if they encounter ‘moderate’ amount of air pollution on a daily basis.The adverse effects of air pollution have attracted political and scientific attention. The evidence associating air pollution to premature deaths has made the nation wake up and realize that air pollution is a significant community issue in the urban areas and something need to be done to address it. According to a report by the Voice of America (1), people who die prematurely due to air pollution always die a decade earlier than they would have died.

Premature deaths are prevalent in densely populated regions, which increase residential air pollution through heating and cooking emissions. This is most prevalent in the West and East coasts of United States. Air pollution from industries and power generating industries seem to be high and prevalent in Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia. Gulf coast regions have high air pollution levels because of the proximity to the oil refinery industries along that region.It is, however, surprising to note that road transport pollutes the air more than the industries and factories within the communities.

This is evidenced by the high number of premature deaths compared to the low number of premature deaths caused by emissions from industries and power generating plants. One of the possible explanations for this is that vehicles tend to move along people and affect huge populations while industries are located away from people and their emissions are also deposited far away into higher altitudes.Notably, such a significant public health load of this degree necessitates considerable policy responsiveness, particularly since there are readily available innovations to deal with a substantial portion of these discharges.

Works CitedVoice of America. "Study: Air Pollution Causes 200,000 Early Deaths in US." VOA, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 1 Nov. 2013.