Maybe I’m hyper attuned to breathing these days because I’ve been suffering with bronchitis for six days. Breathing is a simple act; we take air into our lungs and expel carbon dioxide waste from our body upon exhaling. Air is made up of all kinds of things, depending on weather, local industry, just to name a few things that might add or subtract elements.
Anything in the air goes into our lungs, and thus every cell in our body. Usually foreign substances are rejected by the lungs and we cough or sneeze them out. If the lungs are subjected to foreign substances on a regular basis, they lose their ability to function at full capacity. That’s why people who smoke for a lifetime often end up hauling around oxygen bottles just to survive.
The most important component of air is oxygen. Every cell in our body requires oxygen in order to live. If oxygen increasingly is a smaller and smaller component of the chemical make-up of air, it can’t possibly be a good thing.
Which brings me to my question: Given that we thrive on air that is pure and clean, and hack and wheeze on air that is filled with things other than oxygen, why aren’t we more concerned about the quality of air that we breathe? Smoke often fills the air at this time of year as we enter “burn season,” which results in the medical profession seeing an increases in people seeking help with respiratory diseases.
Farmers burning fields isn’t the only contributor of foreign chemicals to our air. The flares on natural gas wells contribute some pretty serious chemicals to the mix: acetalhyde, acrolein, benzene, ethyl benzene, formaldehyde, hexane, naphthalene, propylene, toluene, and xylenes. Some of these are proven carcinogens.
I lived in Denver when the famous brown cloud took up most of the sky. I’ve been in Salt Lake City when it was impossible to see the Wasatch Mountains from the airport because of a similar brown cloud. Both cities had prominent air testing stations, and regularly issued warnings when air quality was bad. Denver’s brown cloud can still be seen, but has diminished; despite increasing population. People were informed about the dangers of polluted air and worked to decrease the introduction of hazardous substances into the atmosphere.
Here, in Happy Valley, we have a task force looking at how high air quality standards in a national park might hurt local businesses. Local businesses, in this case, are a euphemism for the oil and gas companies that want to Drill Baby Drill in our backyard. Those companies are here when prices are high, and gone when prices are low. But we live here all the time. It is time for our local governments to start protecting people instead of profits. We need regular monitoring of air quality that is communicated on the nightly news every night, not just in winter. We need the equivalent of time and temperature signs all over town telling citizens if they need to invest in respirators. We need to stop grousing about regulations that keep us healthy. We need to stop valuing profits over people.
Homework
How Lungs Work
California Study On Field Burning
Gas Flares
Air Quality Monitoring in Mesa County
Obama Throws Breathing Under the Bus
Anything in the air goes into our lungs, and thus every cell in our body. Usually foreign substances are rejected by the lungs and we cough or sneeze them out. If the lungs are subjected to foreign substances on a regular basis, they lose their ability to function at full capacity. That’s why people who smoke for a lifetime often end up hauling around oxygen bottles just to survive.
The most important component of air is oxygen. Every cell in our body requires oxygen in order to live. If oxygen increasingly is a smaller and smaller component of the chemical make-up of air, it can’t possibly be a good thing.
Which brings me to my question: Given that we thrive on air that is pure and clean, and hack and wheeze on air that is filled with things other than oxygen, why aren’t we more concerned about the quality of air that we breathe? Smoke often fills the air at this time of year as we enter “burn season,” which results in the medical profession seeing an increases in people seeking help with respiratory diseases.
Farmers burning fields isn’t the only contributor of foreign chemicals to our air. The flares on natural gas wells contribute some pretty serious chemicals to the mix: acetalhyde, acrolein, benzene, ethyl benzene, formaldehyde, hexane, naphthalene, propylene, toluene, and xylenes. Some of these are proven carcinogens.
I lived in Denver when the famous brown cloud took up most of the sky. I’ve been in Salt Lake City when it was impossible to see the Wasatch Mountains from the airport because of a similar brown cloud. Both cities had prominent air testing stations, and regularly issued warnings when air quality was bad. Denver’s brown cloud can still be seen, but has diminished; despite increasing population. People were informed about the dangers of polluted air and worked to decrease the introduction of hazardous substances into the atmosphere.
Here, in Happy Valley, we have a task force looking at how high air quality standards in a national park might hurt local businesses. Local businesses, in this case, are a euphemism for the oil and gas companies that want to Drill Baby Drill in our backyard. Those companies are here when prices are high, and gone when prices are low. But we live here all the time. It is time for our local governments to start protecting people instead of profits. We need regular monitoring of air quality that is communicated on the nightly news every night, not just in winter. We need the equivalent of time and temperature signs all over town telling citizens if they need to invest in respirators. We need to stop grousing about regulations that keep us healthy. We need to stop valuing profits over people.
Homework
How Lungs Work
California Study On Field Burning
Gas Flares
Air Quality Monitoring in Mesa County
Obama Throws Breathing Under the Bus
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