News Today

As usual, whenever we discuss a topic through a new module, there is always a relevant article in today’s news that corresponds.  According to a new study, children more highly exposed to air pollutants were seen more frequently in emergency rooms for mental health problems than those less exposed.  There is a correlation between exposure to small particle air pollutants negatively affecting mental health in children.  Children who live in poverty proved even stronger associations to emergency room visits due to air pollutants.  More research surrounding this topic is to be done in the future.  With increased emergency room visits due to mental health illnesses in my own workplace, this seems like a viable component adding to the mental health crisis. 

Blog 10- The Air We Breathe

The air we breathe is essential to life but can also be hazardous to health.  I believe the air quality contributes to multiple health conditions.  In my last “News Today” I talked about how air pollution is passed through the body and into placentas.  There is factual evidence to suggest that air quality is directly related and linked to hazardous health conditions, including respiratory problems, compromising immune systems, and neurodevelopment. 

The air quality in my home I feel is rather clean.  I notice a difference when I visit different cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, in my breathing and respiratory efforts.  In addition to respiratory compromise in Los Angeles, I also feel smothered, perhaps claustrophobic is a better term, from all of the air pollution.  I would be interested to see if I was the only one who felt like this, or if there was a direct link to psychosocial illnesses due to air pollution.

Blog 9- Air Pollutants

Air pollutants are something we are all aware we contribute to yet do nothing about.  My vacation to Mexico this summer, I feel, is a great example of sickness due to air pollutants.  When I ventured to the Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, I got really sick from all of the pollutants in the air.  My immune system was completely compromised, as was the rest of my family’s.  Surprisingly, as a nation, the United State of America statistically does not produce the most amount of air pollutants in the world.  Even though we contribute stationary and mobile sources of pollutants, we have dedicated measures to ensuring our pollutants are contained or refined to better the atmosphere.  Other industrial countries, like China, supply a large amount of global air pollution.  Unfortunately, China is not concerned with air pollution enough to make drastic environmental changes.