Air Pollution and Human Health Abstract

Air pollution and traffic corridors are a problem that has been increasing over the years. Air pollution primarily comes from six different particulate pollutants. These pollutants include: particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone and lead. Traffic corridors are urban neighborhoods that see a lot of traffic. “Traffic corridors can cause air pollution; which will increase the risk of human health problems”(Rincon, Chris). Traffic corridors are often located in lower income neighborhoods, causing habitants to have potentially greater health problems.

Traffic corridors are sometimes referred to as asthma corridors because of the different health issues associated with living in urban areas with heavy traffic. “Nine percent of all childhood asthma cases in Long Beach and six percent in Riverside were attributable to traffic proximity.³” “Approximately 1,400 yearly episodes of asthma-related bronchitis episodes in Long Beach (21 percent of the total) were caused by the contribution of ship emissions to nitrogen dioxide levels in the city.³”

We are burning fossil fuels at an alarming rate, and if we continue, the levels of CO2 will continue to climb. The rising CO2 levels increase air pollution; which contributes to deteriorating human health. We need to find an efficient way to ease off our fossil fuel dependence by looking for alternative fuels. We need to realize that it’s not only the environment we’re hurting; we’re hurting ourselves. We are contributing to the respiratory illnesses, childhood asthma, lung disease, heart disease and so many more human health issues. The worst part is that these illnesses are affecting people that live in traffic corridors, people that don’t necessarily live in the best neighborhoods or have the ability to go to the doctor or have the political power to change their situation.

Pull Quote:

"The rising CO2 levels increase air pollution; which contributes to deteriorating human health."

Recipe

Strawberry and Feta Salad

Ingredients

• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup raspberry vinegar
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 head romaine lettuce, torn
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

1. In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook the almonds, stirring frequently, until lightly toasted. Remove from heat, and set aside.
2. In a bowl, prepare the dressing by whisking together the garlic, honey, Dijon mustard, raspberry vinegar, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, and vegetable oil.
3. In a large bowl, toss together the toasted almonds, romaine lettuce, strawberries, and feta cheese. Cover with the dressing mixture, and toss to serve.

Nutritional Information

Strawberry and Feta Salad

Servings Per Recipe: 10

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 378

• Total Fat: 34.3g
• Cholesterol: 22mg
• Sodium: 301mg
• Total Carbs: 12.4g
• Dietary Fiber: 2.7g
• Protein: 7.1g

My Abstract Yo.

Air pollution and traffic corridors are a problem that has been increasing over the years. Air pollution primarily comes from six different particulate pollutants. These pollutants include, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone and lead. Traffic corridors are urban neighborhoods that see a lot of traffic. Traffic corridors can cause air pollution; which will increase the risk of human health problems. Traffic corridors are often located in lower income neighborhoods, causing habitants to have potentially greater health problems. This paper will go in depth about the different pollutants and what kind of negative affects they have on human health.

Traffic corridors are sometimes referred to as asthma corridors because of the different health issues associated with living by urban areas with heavy traffic. “Nine percent of all childhood asthma cases in Long Beach and six percent in Riverside were attributable to traffic proximity.³” “Approximately 1,400 yearly episodes of asthma-related bronchitis episodes in Long Beach (21 percent of the total) were caused by the contribution of ship emissions to nitrogen dioxide levels in the city.³” Air pollution is contributing to an increasing amount of health related issues, and a lot of the air pollution is concentrated in these traffic corridors.

We are burning fossil fuels at an alarming rate, and if we continue, the levels of CO2 will continue to climb. The rising CO2 levels increase air pollution; which contributes to deteriorating human health. We need to find an efficient way to ease off our CO2 dependence by looking for alternative fuels. We need to realize that it’s not only the environment we’re hurting; we’re hurting ourselves. We are contributing to the respiratory illnesses, childhood asthma, lung disease, heart disease and so many more human health issues. The worst part is that these illnesses are affecting people that live in traffic corridors, people that don’t necessarily live in the best neighborhoods or have the ability to go to the doctor all the time.

If traffic corridors continue, the health of nearby residents will dramatically decrease. With less carbon emissions and less pollutants in the air, residents will have less medical problems.

Pull Quote:

"The rising CO2 levels increase air pollution; which contributes to deteriorating human health."

Food Inc.

This movie really helped open my eyes to how the food industry is handled and what are the inner workings of it. Immediately I learned that there are only about four major companies that deal with all of our food. I knew that a lot of our food had corn in it but I did not realize that most of it had something to do with corn. After watching the movie, I realized that both cows and humans are being fed corn to gain weight at a staggering pace. This film has definitely given me a new perspective on food and how to go about picking what to eat.

It was really hard to watch what the animals had to go through in the factories. They weren't treated as if they were alive, they were treated as if they were an object with absolutely no feelings. The difference between the animals raised on the farm and the animals that were butchered in the factories is huge. It looked as though the animals on the farm had respect while they were alive, they had a happy little life. The animals in the factories weren't even treated as if they were animals.

I enjoyed how much politics there were in this movie as well. I enjoyed learning about Kevin's Law and what's being done to help prevent things like salmonella and e.coli.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie thoroughly and think we should watch it again!

Peer Readings

Alliance., The Resilience. "Conservation Ecology: Biodiversity, urban areas, and agriculture: locating priority ecoregions for conservation." Ecology and Society. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol8/iss2/art1/inline.html (accessed February 25, 2010).
This peer review was about the effect urban sprawl has biodiversity. There was a map showing the different ecoregions. There were a lot of maps showing the different effects that urban sprawl can have. Human influence is increasing and for that reason, biodiversity is decreasing.

http://www.foodwebs.org/Sala2000Science.pdf
The above PDF shows the different scenarios that could happen with biodiversity by the year 2100. I thought this article was very useful because it gives scenarios for the future and that's what our senior project is about.

Nathan Lewis Reflection

At first I didn't understand Dr. Lewis' presentation. There was a lot of talk about power units and different complex things that I have yet to understand. Dr. Nathan Lewis also spoke about our use of coal and our dependency on other fossil fuels. I learned that coal was very abundant and very inexpensive so if we want a change to be made, it's going to be hard. Another thing that I found interesting was that even though China and India's populations are going up exponentially, the reason why their CO2 emissions are going up is because they're taking up our kind of energy lifestyle.
Dr. Lewis said a lot of things that actually made me wonder how lucky people feel. There are so many signs directly showing that we have an impact on the environment. We can see that Coral's are bleaching, that glaciers are retreating, sea levels are rising, wildfires are increasing, and so many other signs.
There are three carbon free powers that we could explore, nuclear, carbon sequestration - CO2 burial and renewables. He said that we need cheap solar fuel, and with the information that he gave, I agree. It seems as if it would be a big initial investment but it would pay for itself in the long run.

Three More Annotated Sources

Abdulla, Ameer. "Ecosystem Marketplace - ." Ecosystem Marketplace - . http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/dynamic/article.page.php?page_id=7443&section=news_articles&eod=1 (accessed February 10, 2010).

This article is mostly about improving marine biodiversity. It gives information on how to keep marine biodiversity high. "Designing an offset entails understanding which of the habitats at the development location have been impacted, and whether that impact is partial, significant or total, then quantifying this per unit area (square meter or square kilometre, for example) while weighting its “biodiversity significance” with a score." This article also talks a lot about biodiversity offsets, “measurable conservation outcomes that are the result of activities designed to compensate for significant and unavoidable impacts on biodiversity”.

Ford, Matt. "Costing the Earth: Investing in protecting the planet - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/11/01/value.nature.conservation/index.html?iref=allsearch (accessed February 10, 2010).

"These ecosystems are on the point of collapse," said Sukhdev at the conference in South Africa. "Unless we can get the right deal at the [UN Climate Talks in December] in Copenhagen, things look very bleak.

This article mostly talks about how the downfall of biodiversity is making us all lose a lot of money. It is putting business in with the environment. I believe that this article did a really good job at explaining how we need to do something now about biodiversity because if we don't do something now, it will cost us more in the long run. "Apart from a moral obligation to look after our environment, Sukdev believes that even in simple cost benefit terms conservation is good sense and investing $45 billion could secure "nature-based services" worth $4.5 trillion to $5.2 trillion annually." We need to do more than throw money at the problem of biodiversity, ""If you start throwing more money into that context it's like throwing petrol on a fire."

"UN opens Biodiversity Year with plea to save world's ecosystems." Welcome to the United Nations: It's Your World. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33393&Cr=envirionment&Cr1= (accessed February 10, 2010).

"In a bid to curb the unprecedented loss of the world's species due to human activity – at a rate some experts put at 1,000 times the natural progression." This article is mostly about what the UN plans to do about biodiversity and raising awareness. This article lacks a lot of facts but has a lot of good quotes about what biodiversity does. It helps put things into perspective.“Biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth, is essential to sustaining the living networks and systems that provide us all with health, wealth, food, fuel and the vital services our lives depend on. Human activity is causing the diversity of life on Earth to be lost at a greatly accelerated rate. These losses are irreversible, impoverish us all and damage the life support systems we rely on every day. But we can prevent them.”