Air pollution and air quality has been a topic of concern for decades
in the United States. While great progress has been made toward cleaning
up our air, there is still much left to do to make air quality healthful
for the country's citizens. These experts note, "The United States has
achieved remarkable progress in reducing air pollution since the Clean Air
Act was established in 1970" (Mangun and Henning 229). However, most large
cities still experience many days each year where air quality is
unhealthful, and these days can lead to health and breathing problems for
What causes air pollution' One of the major causes of unhealthy air
is automobile emissions, and emissions from factories, power plants, and
other industries. Fossil fuels are one of the biggest problems in
controlling air pollution. Industries and homes that burn fossil fuels
also contaminate the atmosphere, and these fuels must be replaced with
cleaner technologies, such as solar and wind power, and other forms of
power that are less costly in monetary and air pollution terms. The
remainder of these dirty fuels accumulates in the atmosphere. Often they
are invisible, but more often, when the accumulate in enough numbers; they
become the glaze of smog that hangs over most large cities in the United
States. In times of temperature inversion, when heat rises and traps
colder air underneath, air pollution and ozone emissions can be trapped in
valleys, creating a dangerous situation for the area's air quality. As the
Utah Air Quality Web site notes, "Ozone is an invisible gas caused by
vehicle emissions in the presence of sunlight and hot temperatures. [â€]
Continued exposure to ozone can cause breathing problems, reduce lung
function, irritate eyes and nasal passages and reduce resistance to colds
and other infections" ("Air Quality"). Poor air quality can also
exacerbate existing condit...