Pollution & The Planner's Role

September, 2018

I believe we are poisoning the world’s air. From every car, factory, and cow farm, we are slowly destroying the air we breathe. I believe air quality is an important topic because it is the sneakiest type of pollution. We can (mostly) see dirty water, and we can see the accumulation of solid waste, but how does one see the air you breathe as dirty? There are extreme cases like in china and other places where there is heavy smog, and health advisories go out, but these are only extremes. To the untrained, one cant see (or smell) the consequences of air pollution. (Milner 2017) It is tough to actually find solutions to air pollution issues, but when they are found it is great not only for us but for the future of the planet as well. Air pollution of all types has grown considerably in the past 10 years. Although the united states have decreased its amounts of sulfates and particulate matter, we still have a large role to play in the world's carbon dioxide emissions. (Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. 2017) Planners can access most of this information from online databases. (EPA 2018) The Environmental Protection Agency updates its air quality reports very often, and their reports go all the way from national data to city-to-city data.

The main governing law for air in the United States is the Clean Air Act 42 U.S.C. §7401 et seq. (1970). The Clean Air Act is a law that regulates emissions from all sources. This law gave the government a reason to start tracking air pollution in more detail, and also gave the Government the authority to crack down on many large companies who were polluting the air without any consequences. There are many different sections to this act that deal with all types of air pollution. (EPA 2018)

Istanbul, Turkey is a great example of a city making changes to create better air quality. In Istanbul, they used to use coal for heating homes. (IGU 2015) As you may know, coal is one of the dirtiest fuels to use, and the city of Istanbul also knew that. To eliminate the use of these fuels (especially in residential areas) the city decided to switch to alternative heating sources in residential areas. (IGU 2015) First, Istanbul had to invest in updating infrastructure to accommodate to the change in energy. This meant that they had to now install gas lines to residential areas. Since Turkey doesn’t produce its own natural gas it also had to invest in buying gas from other countries. Lastly, the country then had to outlaw the use of the coal that was originally polluting the city. Improving air quality is an intensive task that involves engineers (implementing new gas lines), large-scale energy companies (like those who needed to buy gas from other countries), and government officials (making laws against using pollutants). Since Istanbul implemented this new system, the sulfate levels in their air have declined dramatically. If a change like this is possible throughout the world, there’s no stopping what recovery efforts we could make.

Resources

EPA. (2018, July 25). Air Quality - Cities and Counties. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/air-trends/air-quality-cities-and-counties

IGU. (2015, December 1). Case studies Improving Urban Air Quality, December 2015 | IGU. Retrieved from https://www.igu.org/sites/default/files/IGU_Urban Air Quality FINAL for web etc.pdf

Milner, C. (2017, May 05). Indoor Air Pollution: The Hidden Health Hazard. Retrieved from https://www.theepochtimes.com/indoor-air-pollution-the-hidden-health-hazard_2245535.html

Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2017, April). Air Pollution. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/air-pollution

Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2017, April). CO₂ and other Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Retrieved September 17, 2018, from https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions

EPA. (2017, August 24). Summary of the Clean Air Act. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-air-act