Cornell University. (2019, July 30). To conserve water, Indian farmers fire up air pollution. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 24, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190730125338.htm 

 

A measure to conserve groundwater in northwestern India has led to unexpected consequences: added air pollution in an area already beset by haze and smog. water-use policies require farmers to transplant rice later in the year, which in turn delays harvests and concentrates agricultural burning of crop residues in November — a month when breezes stagnate — leading to increased air pollution. The stormy conditions of November have caused air pollution concentrations to rise by nearly thirty percent.  

 

In two thousand fifteen, almost one point one million Indians died due to air pollution. This added up to costs equaling three percent of the country’s GDP. I find it interesting how one resource depleting (groundwater) can actually cause something like air pollution to increase which also hurts the environment. I liked that this article gave a possible solution to the issue. One solution could be due get the tractor-mounted Happy Seeder which would allow farmers to dig deep into the ground to plant seeds rather than utilizing their burning tactic. By doing this, they also won’t have to farm in the stormy month of November when it is most likely to increase air pollution. 

 

    

 

NIH/Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2019, July 19). Air pollution linked to increase in newborn intensive care admissions. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 24, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190719135534.htm 

 

Infants born to women exposed to high levels of air pollution in the week before delivery are more likely to be admitted to a newborn intensive care unit (NICU), suggests a new analysis. Newborns are more likely to be born prematurely when exposed to air pollution. Some are also diagnosed with having a sort of diabetes when they are born after being exposed to air pollution. Research to further understand this effect has been done through a study of over two hundred twenty twenty three thousand births in twelve clinical sites. 

 

The likelihood of a newborn having to be admitted to a NICU increases if the newborn is exposed to air pollution the day before or the day of as opposed to a week before. Researchers still don’t know exactly why this is, but they believe that it has something to do with pollutants increasing inflammation which leads to impaired blood vessel growth. The certain area where this occurs is most likely in the placenta, where the fetus is given nutrients and oxygen from. I’m interested to learn more about the progress they have made in this study, and how long air pollution can affect a person’s life. I would also like to know if it significantly affects life expectancy in humans. 

 

European Society of Cardiology. (2019, August 23). Pollution and winter linked with rise in heart attack treatment. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 23, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190823080021.htm 

Heavily polluted areas have a higher rate of angioplasty procedures to treat blocked arteries than areas with clean air, according to new research. Procedures are even more common in winter, the most polluted time of year. This article further addresses how people in less polluted areas are more sensitive to changes in air pollution, while people in greatly polluted areas are more capable of adapting. Researchers used a study of six unpolluted cities and five polluted cities to gather data and results. 

 

After the research was done, the researchers concluded that the air pollution directly impacts the susceptibility to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The susceptibility to PCI rose in the winter and in places that previously had cleaner air. This is due to the people in those area’s bodies not being able to adapt and cope with the rising pollution. I found that it was interesting that air pollution levels go up in the winter. The article states that it is due to factors such as the artificial heating and the resulting smog. The article states that there needs to be more action towards lowering pollution but similar to the first article, it does not specify exactly how. I assume one way would be to use less artificial heating and more natural heating in households. 

 

Monash University. ( 21 August 2019) “Air pollution linked to risk of premature death.” ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 23, 2019, from <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190821173711.htm>. 

 

A new international study has found that air pollution is linked to increased cardiovascular and respiratory death rates. The study is the largest of its kind to investigate the short-term impacts of air pollution on death, conducted over a thirty-year period. The study analyzed data on air pollution and mortality in twenty four countries and regions. The study shows that even small amounts of PM^2.5 can cause an increase in the risk of death. 

 

The article goes into the severity of air pollution in a place in the world other than the United States. Australia is the main focus in this article. A doctor in the article talks about how Australia’s air pollution concentration is lower than most places. However, Australians are more sensitive to particulate matter air pollution and cannot resist the adverse impacts. The idea is that Australian’s bodies have gotten used to areas with very low particulate matter pollution that even a small amount of it creates a huge impact. In the article I was able to learn that the smaller the airborne particles, the easier it is for them to penetrate deep into the lungs causing death. I found the article interesting and it makes me wonder which areas are most sensitive to particulate matter air pollution.    

 

Adopt-a-Topic: Air Pollution    Phase: United States and World  

Carnegie Mellon University. (2019, July 24th). 30,000plus U.S.lives could be saved by reducing air pollution levels below current standard. Retrieved August 16, 2019, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190724104010.htm 

 

Research findings show significant human health benefits when air quality is better than the current national ambient air quality standard. The estimate of lives that could be saved by further reduction of air pollution levels is more than thirty thousand, which is similar to the number of deaths from car accidents each year. Each study has collected lots of data throughout a span of twenty eight years and ended up with shocking evidence of eighteen point four million cardiorespiratory deaths between just nineteen ninety nine and two thousand fifteen. 

 

The article focuses on the devastating effect of particulate matter pollution or PM^2.5. It is a result of a complex reaction of chemicals. Well known sources of PM^2.5 are power plants, industries and automobiles. It has caused a large increase in deaths that could be prevented in the future through clean ups. I feel that this is very important because studies have shown that in California, the life expectancy has risen by 0.3 years in areas that are starting to clear the air through clean ups. The only problem I have with this article is that it is a bit vague. It talks about how these “clean ups” are one solution to the air pollution issue, but it doesn’t specify what people are doing to clean up or what the process is.