Sisson, P. (2019, October 11). Global cities sign Clean Air Cities Declaration, pledging to fight air pollution crisis. Retrieved November 11, 2019, from https://www.curbed.com/2019/10/11/20907990/air-pollution-cities-air-quality-smog-c40.

 

At the C40 World Mayors Summit, 35 cities agreed to help fight air pollution. Some of the cities include Los Angeles, Houston, Washington D.C, Mexico City and Paris. The agreement pushes cities to set ambitious pollution goals to try and meet the World Health Organization guidelines. The agreement also states that these cities will implement strict clean air policies by 2025. It’s estimated that around 100,000 Americans die every year due to problems caused by air pollution, more than car crashes and gun violence combined. Predictions show that if these 35 cities can meet the World Health Organization guidelines, it will prevent around 40,000 deaths per year

This agreement is huge for the future of our environment. Some of these cities, like Los Angeles, not only are very polluted but have a huge influence on the rest of the world. If plans like these start to work, it could lead the way for other cities to follow along, overall helping the problem of air pollution. I was really surprised to see that with only these 35 cities, 40,000 deaths could be prevented. Even just adding another 10 to 15 more cities could make this number close to 50,000. Also the statistic about air pollution problems killing more people than car crashes and gun violence combined was eye opening. It seems like those issues get talked about so much, but even though air pollution causes more deaths, it isn’t talked about as a threat like the other two.