Climate Change Exacerbates Poor Air Quality, Risking Human Health
Despite national efforts to improve air quality, climate change has continually compromised air quality and risked human health.
On Monday, February 12, 2024, First Street Foundation, a nonprofit focused on quantifying and relaying the risks of climate change globally, released a report outlining the impacts of climate change on air quality. The report revealed that, despite efforts to improve air quality, climate change has reversed many of these improvements. According to this report, the concept that climate change is undoing air quality improvements promoted through national regulations and policy is a “climate penalty.”
More specifically, environmental impacts such as extreme heat, drought, and wildfires have worsened air quality nationally, increasing the concentrations of O3 and PM2.5.
To quantify the changes in air quality, the organization developed the First Street Air Quality Model (FS-AQM), which uses data from multiple sources to assess and develop a singular model that predominantly considers two significant pollutants: O3 and PM2.5. The model was used to evaluate and project future air quality levels.
Upon analyzing this model's data, the company noted that 25% of Americans, or approximately 83 million people, live in unhealthy air quality thresholds based on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index. Moreover, 10 million people in these generally unhealthy conditions are impacted by very unhealthy air quality levels, and 1.5 million are experiencing hazardous air quality.
The report highlights that western areas of the country — predominantly California, with a specific focus on the Central Valley, San Francisco metro area, and Southern California — are at the most significant risk. Using historical data, the First Street Foundation noted that these areas can experience up to three months of poor air quality annually.
Additionally, the organization anticipates a two-week increase in poor air quality dates across western major metro areas, including Seattle and Portland.
The report also predicted that the number of people exposed to unhealthy, very unhealthy, and hazardous air quality days within the next three decades will increase by 51%, 13%, and 27%, respectively.
Although the report made multiple conclusions, the organization highlighted numerous vital takeaways:
- The Clean Air Act and the emergence of the EPA have contributed to some improvements in air quality.
- Climate penalties driven by climate change have reversed some improvements.
- There is an inequitable distribution of climate penalties, with more significant impacts felt in the western US.
- In the Western US, the number of days with poor air quality increased by up to 477% between 2000 and 2021.
- Focusing on California, the number of green days (good air days) declined 32% between 2000 and 2021, while maroon days (hazardous days) increased by 1,167%.
- Nationally, 10% of all properties have a week or more of unhealthy air quality days.
The reduction in air quality nationally compromised human health. Increased levels of air pollution have been linked to more significant risks of respiratory illnesses, including asthma. Additionally, other studies have linked air pollution and poor air quality to elevated dementia risk and higher levels of depression and anxiety.
Understanding how air pollution impacts human health and seeing the downward trajectory of the national air quality, it is critical to address climate change and the subsequent impact on air quality.
