Climate Change Is Poisoning Our Air & Killing Our People

     Today, roughly 55% of the world population lives in urban areas, with that number projected to reach 68% by 2050. These urban areas are known as  hotspots for air pollutants because of the large amount of different emissions compacted into their relatively small areas. This pollution is very reliant on an area´s weather conditions which are greatly and negatively affected by climate change daily. If nothing is done to combat climate change, these conditions will only continue to get worse and worse and spread farther throughout the world.

     Particulate matter or PM2.5, is the mixture of solid and liquid particles and droplets in the air and is one of, if not the most health-harmful air pollutant. As such, it accounts for about 3.8 million deaths each year with almost 80% of those deaths are heart disease and stroke, while another 20% are from respiratory illnesses and cancers.Some sources such as dust and ash are man-made, while others like sea-spray form naturally. Particulate matter is dispersed during the combustion of both solid and liquid fuels. This usually happens when we generate power to fuel & heat our cars and homes.

     In the most recent survey done by WHO (the World Health Organization), they found that in over four thousand cities worldwide, only about twenty percent of the urban population lived in areas that had ¨safe¨ amounts of PM2.5 in their atmosphere. They also found that the amounts of particulate matter in the atmospheres of many developing cities were, on average, four to fifteen times higher than deemed safe by the organization, which puts many at risk of long term related health problems. They also found that over the years, this particular kind of air pollution has worsened over the past several years in low and middle class cities because of the huge increases in power demand & cars on the road.

     For more information on climate change, rallies against it, and more, visit the websites of organizations such as the Nature Conservancy, Worldwide Life, Peoples Climate, and many more.