Sci/275 Community Environmental Issue Research Paper

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Community Environmental Issue Phillip Toms SCI/275 August 4, 2013 Sarah Shafer Community Environmental Issue The issue I chose to write about is air quality. I live in North Carolina, close to Charlotte and the information provided in this paper is from Mecklenburg County. The Mecklenburg County Air Quality (MCAQ) monitoring program, a division of the Mecklenburg County Land Use and Environmental Services Agency (LUESA); provides air quality monitoring services in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (www.epa.gov). Mecklenburg County Air Quality is a state “certified” local air pollution program whose purpose is to improve and maintain ambient air quality and reduce exposure to unhealthy levels of air pollution (www.ncair.org).…show more content…
• People with lung disease: Exposure to air pollution might worsen their symptoms. This includes people with chronic bronchitis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). • People with cardiovascular (heart) disease: Exposure to air pollution might induce symptoms such as palpitations, chest pain, or shortness of breath. • Unborn babies (pregnant women): Exposure to high levels of air pollution over longer time periods (weeks to months) may be linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes such as reduced birth weight or premature births. • Children are likely to be more vulnerable to exposure to air pollution compared to adults for the following reasons; their lungs are still growing and developing, their immune and metabolic systems are still developing, they suffer from frequent respiratory infections, and they are more active outdoors than adults and therefore breathe in higher doses of outdoor pollutants. • Older adults: Older people are more likely to be affected by air pollution, perhaps due to generally weaker immune systems, or undiagnosed respiratory or cardiovascular health
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