State must step up work to keep air we breathe clean
By Jonathan Witte / For The Herald
I want to express my appreciation to The Herald for publishing the recent guest commentary by Paul Roberts (“Eco-nomics: We’re breathing in what we put into the air,” The Herald, March 3). Thanks and congratulations also to Roberts for writing such an informative and timely article. It provides an excellent summary of the range of serious health impacts caused by the climate crisis.
As a retired physician, I am deeply concerned about these impacts and the health predicament that we find ourselves in. One of the major health impacts is caused by air pollution generated from burning fossil fuels. It’s estimated that 1,100 Washingtonians die each year from heart attacks caused by outdoor air pollution, not to mention thousands of cases of flare-ups of asthma and other respiratory diseases. Cancers, diabetes and dementia are also linked to air pollution.
We generally think that our air in Washington state is pretty clean. However, between 2021 and 2023, according to America’s Health Rankings (from United Health Foundation) Washington ranked only 35th out of all 50 states. When one looks at the Washington Environmental Health Disparities Map (tinyurl.com/WAhealthmap), it is clear that most of the poor air quality is concentrated in certain areas, most notably near the sate’s larger cities and extending along the I-5 traffic corridor throughout Puget Sound.
Low income communities and communities of color tend to be located in these areas of heavy traffic and industrial plants, which are major sources of air pollution. This results in a disproportionately high incidence of adverse health impacts in these communities. A report from the Washington Department of Ecology (tinyurl.com/EcologyAirReport) predicts that older adults in these communities are twice as likely to die from health conditions linked to breathing fine particles from human-caused sources. This report also found that between 2016 and 2020 people of all ages in these communities lived an average 2.4 years fewer than people in the rest of Washington.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-state-must-step-up-work-to-keep-air-we-breathe-clean/