Ozone air quality alerts plague the Philadelphia Region. One of the leading causes of bad air quality is Ground Level Ozone.
Low level ozone (tropospheric ozone) is highly volatile and is created in large part due to vehicle emissions. “Ground level ozone is a serious problem in cities with lots of traffic, such as Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Houston and New York City. In 2013, according to the American Lung Association, nearly four in 10 people in the United States (38 percent) lived in areas with unhealthful levels of ozone.” The use of ethanol in gasoline is causing a dramatic increase in low level ozone.
The harmful ozone is created when partially combusted fuel reacts with the temperature and ultraviolet light. May 2 is early in the season for an ozone alert.
View the current air quality for Philadelphia.
NOTE: Graphics are from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency of the United States of America)
Asthma is a chronic lung disease that affects an estimated 16.4 million adults and 7.0 million children in the United States, regardless of age, sex, race, or ethnicity.(1) Although the exact cause of asthma is unknown and it cannot be cured, bad air quality is believed to be the main cause. In particular, low level ozone is causing an increase in asthma-like symptoms.(2) What many people believe are food allergies are just symptoms of respiratory and immune system damage caused by ozone.
Death By Ozone | The Ozone Know Zone
Ozone is not only killing humans, it is also killing the trees. The chain reaction is known as an adverse feedback loop.
Dying Trees, The Membrane Domain