Cifuentes 1

Kimberly Cifuentes
Professor Amy Reynolds
English 113B
6 May 2016
Air Pollution
Air pollution is the use of chemicals that have a certain substance that emits into our
atmosphere and affects the air everyone breathes. Throughout California many factories and cars
have been used by humans every day that dont see the effect it has on our environment. All this
time we have been polluting our air with many substances that flow through us but we are not
able to see it. I have decided to write about air pollution because it has been a problem for many
years. Air pollution has a harmful effect on peoples health, too much burning of fossil fuels, and
certain chemicals that are being emitted into our air.
Air pollution emitted into the air affects peoples health. Many people dont notice this
but could have health issues based on the air they breathe in every day. For example in the article
it talks about how air pollution exposure can affect someones health. It says, Long- term
exposures have been associated with measures of atherosclerosis, including intima-media
thickness (CIMT) and arterial stiffness (CAS), both of which predict cardiovascular events in
adults (PLOS 2). This means that when people are exposed to this contaminated air they could
get long term effects because the air has substances that are too strong for people. These longterm effects can be like asthma, lung cancer, bronchitis, or even affect organs inside someones
body. This shows that high risks of air pollution going into somebodys body can affect them
really bad and give them certain effects that could kill them.
Many chemicals that are associated with air pollution can bring hazardous effects to
babies that are not born yet. For example many substances that are used for certain factories to
produce the things they need have effects because this goes into our clean air and contaminates

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our air. It says, study-specific census tract pollution scores derived from annual average
concentrations and found hazardous air pollutant (HAP) concentrations (i.e., mercury, cadmium,
nickel, trichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride) near birth residences to be associated with autism
(PMC 14). This means that all these chemicals are affecting people and kids because the women
are breathing the air in which affects their unborn child and affects them. Not only does these
chemicals affect the unborn child it can cause for them to die or be born with a certain disability
because of this. It shows that the uses of chemicals by certain factories are hazardous and can
create disorders to kids that are not even born yet.
The use of cars brings a harmful effect to our atmosphere because they pollute more air
as well. For example many people dont like taking the metro or bus because it takes too long or
it gets packed and doesnt take you right away to your destination. But even if cars can be helpful
and easier it pollutes our environment with different chemicals that affects our air. It says,
VOCs, primarily emitted from vehicles, are a key ingredient in the formation of ground-level
ozone which, at high levels, can harm peoples lungs and damage crops and other plants,
according to NOAA (GRFR 5). This means that cars that emit this type of carbon chemicals
affect peoples health because they go into our air and surround us. Also it affects our plants
because the smog the cars release go into the air and flys everywhere which means that these
polluted smog lands in our plants and affect them too. This shows that cars that emit VOCs are
dangerous because not only is it affecting humans but our surroundings like plants in our
environment.
The different chemicals that are being used sometimes by factories or just to make our
environment cleaner which sometimes doesnt result in a good way. Certain chemicals are
affecting our environment it says, the ethanol mixtures tend to evaporate more quickly,
releasing more pollution (Researchers Fail to prove). This explains how California is trying to

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change to ethanol in gasoline, so that it can emit better quality of air. But after certain studies
they did, it showed that ethanol does not clean the air, instead its polluting the air more. For
example since I commute to CSUN back and forth I noticed on the 405 freeway a Budweiser
factory that is always in use and I see smog coming out from the factory which this smog goes
into our atmosphere. By changing to ethanol it would only worsen air pollution and not help
reduce it which will affect more peoples health. The use of chemicals that are supposed to
clean our environment should be studied more so that it can reduce air pollution.
Many people in our environment use fossil fuels as part of their daily lives but arent
aware of the impacts it has. For example we use fossil fuels for cars, airplanes, electricity power
plants, and even heat for our homes. Even parks and organisms that belong to our environment
are getting affected by air pollution as well. It says, most of the pollution was coming from
cities and farms relatively near the parks (Learn 3). This shows pollution that is coming from
cities like the use of factories to produce consumers needs affect us as well because factories
emit a variety of chemicals into our air. Farms are also something that contributes to air
pollution because of the use of different pesticides which are also chemicals that are sprayed into
our air and vegetables. This not only contributes to air pollution but also affects peoples health
because we are the ones buying the vegetables and eating them.
Overall air pollution is affecting everyone including our atmosphere and if we dont do
anything to reduce it will start killing us all even our animals. I have proven throughout my essay
that air pollution in our environment is affecting peoples health, the use of fossil fuels is
impacting the air more, and the chemicals that are being emitted in the air will affect everyone.
Many solutions can be done to reduce the use of air pollution like instead of using cars for a lot
of people we can carpool with one another to reduce the smog coming out of cars. Also building
factories far from cities or away from families so it wont affect their health or even by changing

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the types of chemicals that factories use. In order to prevent air pollution from increasing we all
should stand together and take actions about this because when we notice its going to be late to
save our environment and ourselves.
Works Cited
Becerra, TA, M Wilhelm, J Olsen, M Cockburn, and B Ritz. "Ambient Air Pollution and Autism
in Los Angeles County, California." Environmental Health Perspectives, 121.3 (2013):
380-386.
Breton, Carrie V., et al. "Prenatal Air Pollution Exposure and Early Cardiovascular Phenotypes
In Young Adults." Plos ONE 11.3 (2016): 1-12. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Apr.
2016.
Leon, D. K. (2001, Jun 29). Researchers fail to prove ethanol reduces pollution; study: Gains in
Air quality offset by other chemicals. Daily Breeze.
Learn, S., & Milstein, M. (2008, Feb 29). Pollution in air taints U.S. parks. McClatchy Tribune
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