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I consider myself a city kid. I was born and raised in the "Big Apple" and couldn't imagine myself living anywhere else in the world. Although I love to get away from the street noise and bright lights once in a while, I always come back to my nurturing home in New York City. There are many advantages to living in NYC, such as the delicious (Italian) food, designer stores, great museums, and fabulous Broadway plays, but one major drawback to living in a big city is pollution. Not only is pollution a great threat to the environment, but it effects people's health and is linked to respiratory problems such as asthma. 
Intro to asthma
Do you or anybody you know have asthma? Well, asthma is a disease that causes the air passages in the lungs to inflame, making it very hard for the patient to breathe. If not handled with the proper medical attention, a person may die of an asthma attack from suffocation. Worldwide, about 300 million people have asthma, which is about the number of people living in the United States. In addition, 30,000 Americans a day suffer from asthma attacks and about 5,000 of them die each year from the brutal attacks.
Although there are many possible causes of asthma, such as respiratory infections or genetics, scientists have linked air pollution to be one of the factors. If a person already has asthma, it may worsen due to the amount of pollutants in the air and bring about more asthma attacks. About 159 million Americans breathe in polluted air every day and don't even know it. Just as carbon dioxide is a "silent killer", air pollution is a "silent health hazard."
Smog
Many cities, such as Los Angeles, California are so polluted that if you look up at the sky toward the horizon, sometimes you can see thick, lightly colored fog-like clouds hovering over the city. This haze is referred to as smog and consists of all the air pollutants that the city releases into the air. Most of the pollution comes from cars and other uses of transportation that run on fossil fuels, and when all these pollutants mix with the sun's rays it creates ozone through photochemical reactions. Therefore, smog is more powerful when the temperature is high and the heat engulfs a city.
Pollutants in the average city air
One major pollutant in the air that harms the respiratory system is ozone. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, ozone a huge factor in the creating of smog. Yes, we need ozone in our atmosphere to block out the harmful UV rays from the sun, but when it is low to the ground and hangs above a city, it is very harmful. If breathed in for a long period of time, it damages a person's lungs and worsens a person's asthma. The more ozone you breathe, the greater the likelihood of developing respiratory conditions, such as asthma. Some other pollutants include nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide. Nitrogen oxide aids in the formation of smog and is emitted into the air by car emissions and factories. Sulfur Dioxide is a huge factor in acid rain and can be dangerous for people with asthma to breathe in.
Air Quality Index
Some days the air is more polluted than others, so to help with their asthma symptoms, asthma patients can check their local air quality index. (AQI)The highest number is 500, which is very hazardous to breath, and the lowest number is 0. Anything between 0 and 50 is considered to be excellent. The higher the number the more pollution in the air. The more pollution in the air, the more your health is in danger.
Even though cities emit many pollutants into the air, many cities, such as New York, are trying to decrease the amount by using cleaner energy sources. In my future blog posts, I will write about the many different ways my city, New York, is trying to cut back on the amount of pollutants it releases into the air and the efforts in decreasing its carbon footprint.
Photo Source: Gerard Fritz (Via Flickr)
Sources:
"Air Quality Index (AQI)- A Guide to air quality and your Health" AirNow September 3, 2010
"Asthma and Air Pollution" Natural Resources Defense Council June 8, 2005
"Asthma Facts and Figures" Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America
"What is Smog" Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
