Which cities have the most air pollution?

[omega3]

I don't live in a big city but wanted to ask to those who do, if air pollution is considered a real health problem or not so much?

Which big cities in the US are the worst and best regarding both CO2 levels and particulates*?

Do you consider living in big cities unhealthy for that reason?

*particulates (fine dust) are invisible but penetrate deep in your lungs and blood stream, responsible for all kinds of (respiratory) diseases and various forms of cancer.

 

[FIVR]

Long Beach, CA is (I think) the worst in terms of NOx due to a weird combination of weather phenomenon and all the container ships burning bunker oil at the port of Los Angles.


Edit: This looks pertinent http://www.lung.org/assets/documents/healthy-air/state-of-the-air/state-of-the-air-2017.pdf

2017
Rank1 Metropolitan Statistical Areas
People at Risk In 25 U.S. Cites Most Polluted by Short-Term Par cle Pollu on (24-hour PM2.5)

1. 1 Bakersield, CA
   
   
2. 2 Visalia-Porterville-Hanford, CA
   

2 Fresno-Madera, CA

1. 4 Modesto-Merced, CA
   
   
2. 5 Fairbanks, AK
   
   
3. 6 San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
   
   
4. 7 Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem, UT
   
   
5. 8 Logan, UT-ID
   
   
6. 9 Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
   
   
7. 10 Reno-Carson City-Fernley, NV
   
   
8. 11 El Centro, CA
   
   
9. 12 Lancaster, PA
   
   
10. 13 Missoula, MT
    
    
11. 14 Sacramento-Roseville, CA
    

14 Anchorage, AK

1. 16 Yakima, WA
   
   
2. 17 Pi sburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV
   

17 Sea le-Tacoma, WA

1. 19 Medford-Grants Pass, OR
   
   
2. 20 Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD
   
   
3. 21 South Bend-Elkhart-Mishawaka, IN-MI
   

21 Harrisburg-York-Lebanon, PA

1. 23 Eugene, OR
   
   
2. 24 Phoenix-Mesa-Sco sdale, AZ
   
   
3. 25 Bend-Redmond-Prineville, OR
   

 

[SKORPI0]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_polluted_cities_by_particulate_matter_concentration

 

[FIVR]

Australia: Cleanest air in the world and they still manage to destroy the worlds largest reef by far and pollute more per capita than anybody else.

 

[brycejones]

Australia: Cleanest air in the world and they still manage to destroy the worlds largest reef by far

I thought the main issue with the Great Barrier Reef was bleaching which is commonly associated with warming water temps. Throwing all that on Australia seems a bit unfair.

 

[Commodus]

I thought the main issue with the Great Barrier Reef was bleaching which is commonly associated with warming water temps. Throwing all that on Australia seems a bit unfair.

It's more the irony than any kind of deliberate action, I'd say. It's a country where the skies are pristine, but the sea is looking like a coral graveyard.

 

[WelshBloke]

I thought the main issue with the Great Barrier Reef was bleaching which is commonly associated with warming water temps. Throwing all that on Australia seems a bit unfair.

http://www.minerals.org.au/resources/coal

 

[omega3]

I'm surprised so many cities in California have air pollution. I thought CA had some of the most strict regulations.

On the wiki map however the US looks green. Strange areas affected by particulate matter are not the same as those with high CO2.

 

[Jerem]

I'm surprised so many cities in California have air pollution. I thought CA had some of the most strict regulations.

On the wiki map however the US looks green. Strange areas affected by particulate matter are not the same as those with high CO2.

About half the Ca. ones are Central Valley. The pollution is trapped in by mountain ranges. Used to be a lot worse.

 

[omega3]

About half the Ca. ones are Central Valley. The pollution is trapped in by mountain ranges. Used to be a lot worse.

Thanks for the info. What about Los Angeles esp. the more expensive neighbourhoods. How is air quality over there?

My main concern is this.. if some cities have severe air pollution, does that also have impact on other places? Air doesn't stay local after all and it all ends up in the atmosphere. Doesn't air pollution cumulate and spread over time like a "virus" giving pollution to more and more cities, no matter where you live?

Are we in the US also indirectly affected by air pollution in India for example?

 

[peonyu]

Australia just like Canada has a tiny population though, i think the USA does a great job with pollution considering we have more than 300 million people living here and every one [or nearly everyone] owns a car.

 

[pauldun170]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_polluted_cities_by_particulate_matter_concentration

That map is glorious.
We definitely need to get rid of the EPA.
We are behind the rest of the world in particle production.
All the particle producing jobs have gone to China.
Hopefully Trump will negotiate a better deal

 

[zinfamous]

That map is glorious.
We definitely need to get rid of the EPA.
We are behind the rest of the world in particle production.
All the particle producing jobs have gone to China.
Hopefully Trump will negotiate a better deal

See! The EPA has done its job, so it's no longer needed! Time to get rid of it!

....so goes the infantile logic behind SCOTUS gutting the Voting Rights Act, a few years ago. Boy, that worked out well already!

 

[K1052]

FYI in case nobody was watching: Congress deal funds the EPA at over 99% of current level through end of fiscal year. Trump's bigly budget requests are getting almost entirely ignored.

 

[IronWing]

Trump's bigly budget requests are getting almost entirely ignored.

That's been true of pretty much every President's budget. "Dead on arrival" is the phrase most often applied to Presidential budgets. But it's the law that a President has to submit a budget so most of them have used the opportunity to write works of fiscal fiction to use as ammo in the next election cycle. "I submitted four balanced budgets, Congress screwed them all up."

 

[K1052]

That's been true of pretty much every President's budget. "Dead on arrival" is the phrase most often applied to Presidential budgets. But it's the law that a President has to submit a budget so most of them have used the opportunity to write works of fiscal fiction to use as ammo in the next election cycle. "I submitted four balanced budgets, Congress screwed them all up."

I'm not sure there has been one that garnered more bipartisan disparagement in recent memory though.

The fall should be interesting when the next fiscal year needs to be passed and his growing basket of troubled legislative fruit is ripe to the point of rot.