Air
quality is very important for the environment and also to humans. Humans
breathe about 20,000 breathes every day. Many people are also unaware that some
of the air they breathe in is very polluted. Polluted air is most likely around
big cities. Factories and vehicles are the biggest problems. Short term
exposure causes irritation in the nose throat and lungs. If you are exposed to
poor air equality for a long period of time it leads to poor lung function
which could possibly lead to lung cancer.
People
are able to check how the air quality is around where they live. The United
States has an Environmental Health Agency. This agency has a website and a map
that’s shows you how the air quality is around the United States. Air quality
is measures on a chart, or air quality index. This chart goes from good being
the lowest to hazardous being the highest. It is based off of numbers 1 being the less
hazardous to the highest being 500. The range 1-50 is considered good where the
pollutants pose no health effects. In the middle of the numbers this is
considered unhealthy and that people may begin to experience health effects. The
highest numbers on the chart are labeled as hazardous. Looking at two cities, Cincinnati
and Cleveland they have significant different air quality numbers. The air in the Cleveland area is more polluted
than the air in Cincinnati. Many of the numbers from Cleveland are considered
unhealthy. If you would live in this area considered unhealthy you would develop
health effects from it. These health effects could range from lung disease to
even death. The air quality in Cincinnati is considered to be good. The numbers
on the chart are low and in the lowest range. Living in a place that is very
high with pollutants in the air is very unhealthy and poses great damage to a person’s
health.
