One of the consequences of the current epidemic has been a drastic fall in air and road traffic across most of the world. This in turn has led to a marked fall in air pollution in many cities around the globe. This fall in air pollution can only be beneficial for our general health.
If you are unconvinced about the dangers of air pollution then you might want to refer to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) interactive map which visualizes The Benefits of the Clean Air Act. The 1963 Clean Air Act introduced a number of measures designed to limit air pollution from cars and trucks, power plants, and industrial smokestacks. According to the NRDC this has resulted in annual benefits including "up to 370,000 avoided premature deaths, 189,000 fewer hospital admissions for cardiac and respiratory illnesses, and net economic benefits of up to $3.8 trillion for the U.S. economy".
The health and economic benefits of the Clean Air Act can be seen on the NRDC's interactive map. If you enter an address or zip code into the NRDC map you can see how your local area has benefited from the Clean Air Act. The map shows you how many premature deaths have been avoided in your county because of the Clean Air Act and how much money the local economy has benefited from. These figures are based on estimations carried out by Industrial Economics, Inc.
The Trump administration has been rolling back limits to air pollution in the USA and intends to drastically reduce measurements currently enforced by the Clean Air Act.
No comments:
Post a Comment