American Lung Association | Will Barrett

The American Lung Association’s Year of Air Pollution and Health seeks to raise awareness of the health impacts of air pollution, and to generate support for the solutions needed to provide healthy air for every American. This month’s theme is “Where does Air Pollution Come From?”

In California, where I live and work, transportation sources dominate our harmful air pollution burdens. According to the California Air Resources Board, burning fossil fuels for transportation causes approximately 80 percent of the nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollutants that form ozone (AKA “smog”) that threatens the health of tens of millions of our residents (and lands us at the top of the “State of the Air” most-polluted cities list). Ozone is an air pollutant that causes essentially a “sunburn” in the lungs and can be deadly. Transportation emissions are also responsible for roughly half of California’s climate pollution, and transportation is the leading source of climate pollution across the United States.¹ ,²