{"id":16032,"date":"2011-10-21T17:45:45","date_gmt":"2011-10-22T00:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=16032"},"modified":"2018-02-02T00:05:41","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T00:05:41","slug":"clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/","title":{"rendered":"Clearing the Air on Climate and Smog"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lisa Aliferis<\/em><\/p>\n

Why climate change and public health policy make good chemistry<\/strong><\/p>\n

A major study released today in Fresno details the direct link between higher levels of air pollution and asthma-related ER and hospital admissions. So, what\u2019s that got to do with climate change? Plenty.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Tourists snap photos of a murky sunset in San Diego” credit=”Sandy Huffaker \/ Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a division in the public\u2019s mind between global warming and health effects of pollution,\u201d says Dimitri Stanich of the California Air Resources Board.<\/p>\n

In reality, there\u2019s significant overlap. Some components of air pollution shown to have harmful warming effects on the planet are also harming people, especially children, right now.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with ground-level ozone<\/a>. Ground-level ozone is different from the ozone layer<\/em><\/a>, which lies about 15 miles above the earth (not exactly ground level). The ozone layer shields us from most of the sun\u2019s harmful rays. Ozone is good in the atmosphere but bad, in many ways, at or near ground level.<\/p>\n

Ground-level ozone is not part of air pollution itself. Instead, it is formed by a complex chemical reaction starting with the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) component of air pollution. That chemical reaction is especially strong when the air is calm and the sun is shining (California\u2019s Central Valley in the summer, anyone?). This stuff is terrible for your lungs.<\/p>\n

\u201cOzone has the same corrosive aspects of bleach,” explains Bonnie Holmes-Gen, senior policy director for the American Lung Association in California. “When people breathe it in, it damages the lining of the lungs. It\u2019s like getting a sunburn on the lungs. It triggers coughing, wheezing and asthma attacks,\u201d<\/p>\n

Ground-level ozone is also a greenhouse gas. So, while it\u2019s harming people today, it\u2019s simultaneously helping to warm the planet. If that\u2019s not enough, ground-level ozone\u2019s corrosive properties harm crops, too. The Central Valley may be the nation’s salad bowl, but it\u2019s ground zero for ground-level ozone.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s \u201cblack carbon<\/a>.\u201d If you think that sounds ominous, you\u2019re right.Tiny particles of black carbon can lodge deep in a person\u2019s lungs (bad) or circulate in the air and contribute to global warming (also bad). And, in a triple whammy, if black carbon particles land on arctic snow, they can accelerate the ice melt. Scientists say black carbon is a major contributor to climate change<\/a>, perhaps second only to CO2. Black carbon comes from, among other things, the burning of fossil fuels, the stuff that comes from tail pipes and smokestacks.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s New York Times<\/em> featured a depressingly detailed account of Americans\u2019 waning interest in global warming. Climate skepticism is on the rise, at least in political circles. While skepticism about the health effects of air pollution isn\u2019t polled as much, it seems reasonable to think there\u2019s little argument there.<\/p>\n

This is where we get to what policymakers call \u201cco-benefits.\u201d Ms. Holmes-Gen points out that ground level ozone and black carbon are both fairly short-lived in the environment. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge bang for the buck. If we reduce air pollution, we\u2019ll see an immediate health benefit and we get warming pollutants out of the air, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lisa Aliferis is a health news editor at KQED. The complete smog & health study referred to at the top of this post is available as a PDF download<\/a> from Fresno State University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why climate change and public health policy make good chemistry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[20,98,448,522],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-16032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thescience","tag-air-pollution","tag-central-valley","tag-public-health","tag-smog"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nClearing the Air on Climate and Smog | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Clearing the Air on Climate and Smog | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why climate change and public health policy make good chemistry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-22T00:45:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-02T00:05:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2011\/10\/SDsmog_sm.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lisa Aliferis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@laliferis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lisa Aliferis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/\",\"name\":\"Clearing the Air on Climate and Smog | Climate Watch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-22T00:45:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-02T00:05:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/8a68d82aad874d78fbb58c7affd9a478\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Clearing the Air on Climate and Smog\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Watch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/8a68d82aad874d78fbb58c7affd9a478\",\"name\":\"Lisa Aliferis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/4d32b2c023f5089c522c0928c349301a\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/86c339d5cdcb0dcd2b6cf5d7c3f5886b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/86c339d5cdcb0dcd2b6cf5d7c3f5886b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lisa Aliferis\"},\"description\":\"Lisa Aliferis is the founding editor\u00a0of KQED's State of Health blog. Since 2011, she's been writing and editing stories for the site.\u00a0Before taking up blogging, she toiled for many years (more than we can count) producing health stories for television, including Dateline NBC and San Francisco's CBS affiliate, KPIX-TV. She also wrote up a\u00a0handy guide to the Affordable Care Act, especially for Californians. Her work has been honored for many awards. Most recently she was a finalist for \\\"Best Topical Reporting\\\" from the Online News Association. You can follow her on Twitter:\u00a0@laliferis\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/laliferis\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/author\/lisaaliferis\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Clearing the Air on Climate and Smog | Climate Watch","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Clearing the Air on Climate and Smog | Climate Watch","og_description":"Why climate change and public health policy make good chemistry","og_url":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/","og_site_name":"Climate Watch","article_published_time":"2011-10-22T00:45:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-02-02T00:05:41+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2011\/10\/SDsmog_sm.jpg"}],"author":"Lisa Aliferis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@laliferis","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lisa Aliferis","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/","url":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/","name":"Clearing the Air on Climate and Smog | Climate Watch","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-10-22T00:45:45+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-02T00:05:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/8a68d82aad874d78fbb58c7affd9a478"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/21\/clearing-the-air-on-climate-and-smog\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Clearing the Air on Climate and Smog"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/","name":"Climate Watch","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/8a68d82aad874d78fbb58c7affd9a478","name":"Lisa Aliferis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/4d32b2c023f5089c522c0928c349301a","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/86c339d5cdcb0dcd2b6cf5d7c3f5886b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/86c339d5cdcb0dcd2b6cf5d7c3f5886b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lisa Aliferis"},"description":"Lisa Aliferis is the founding editor\u00a0of KQED's State of Health blog. Since 2011, she's been writing and editing stories for the site.\u00a0Before taking up blogging, she toiled for many years (more than we can count) producing health stories for television, including Dateline NBC and San Francisco's CBS affiliate, KPIX-TV. She also wrote up a\u00a0handy guide to the Affordable Care Act, especially for Californians. Her work has been honored for many awards. Most recently she was a finalist for \"Best Topical Reporting\" from the Online News Association. You can follow her on Twitter:\u00a0@laliferis","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/laliferis"],"url":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/author\/lisaaliferis\/"}]}},"template_type":null,"featured_image_type":null,"is_audio_post":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/240"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24657,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16032\/revisions\/24657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16032"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=16032"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=16032"},{"taxonomy":"affiliates","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/affiliates?post=16032"},{"taxonomy":"programs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/programs?post=16032"},{"taxonomy":"collections","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collections?post=16032"},{"taxonomy":"interests","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/interests?post=16032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}