The Effects of Pollution

Over the past couple of weeks, I have become more and more aware of the presence of pollution in the air. I am from a small town in Southern Utah and have rarely experienced the drawbacks of bad air quality. Towards the end of the last week, and after a long day of walking back and forth across campus, I noticed that my eyes were burning along with my lungs. Maybe I am just an unadjusted weakling when compared to all the Cache Valley locals, but still I was pretty concerned about my health. To be honest, I am a little concerned about going through this for the rest of the semester. I decided to do a little research about the effects of air pollution and found an article that explains the damaging effects that bad air quality has on teenagers and their lungs.

There was an intense eight year study done on the lung condition of teenagers who lived in smoggy cities. At the conclusion of the study it was found that these teens were five times as likely to have clinically low lung function. These people were also found to have only 80% of normal lung capacity when compared to teens who lived outside of polluted areas. Perhaps the most disturbing news came when it was most likely that the damage to these teenagers' lungs was permanent, because most lungs are still developing until about the age of 18-20. Regardless of our ages, we all suffer the consequences of bad air quality. But worse off are the children and teenagers who have to unconsciously endure the costs of our individual donations to the "pollution pool".