More than 1/3rd? That’s wild. But I guess that’s also big cities.
It’s not big cities: it’s primarily 3 things
- Wildfires (see also: climate change)
- Energy generation and heavy industry (generally done rurally)
- Cars
Something as simple as living near an interstate can result in significant lung and heart damage over time. Brake dust is carcinogenic and the partial combustion products, particularly from diesel, are extremely toxic.
Usually if a city has particularly bad air quality it is because it is placed near a land formation that collects or traps bad air from another location. That’s what’s particularly foul about Salt Lake City or Bakersfield, for example.
Mostly Californian cities according to the American Lung Association’s State of the Air Report.
You can literally see the giant brown fart cloud of garbage when you come up over the Grapevine into Los Angeles from the North.
You should write poetry.
Family Vacation by Kolanaki
Finally! It’s summer, hey-oh!
Dad’s got the tickets to Disney Land, our suitcases are packed,
Get in the car and away we go.
We’re almost there, oh what a thrill,
But what’s that I see, up over the hill?
A giant brown fart cloud over the city,
Making everything smelly, ugly and shitty.
“What is that, dad?” I asked in confusion,
“Nothing to worry about, just the pollution.”
