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68 Comments
- inactive, on 04/30/2009, -3/+20I refuse to live in fear. Try again!
- Vaasman, on 04/30/2009, -1/+12Good, toughens the lungs. Real men breath the air from industrial parks, and the manliest of men just breath straight from the smoke stack.
- serif69, on 04/30/2009, -0/+7Perri-air™
- macmcraeart, on 04/30/2009, -0/+7the other half living with dirty women.
- inactive, on 04/30/2009, -1/+8so what if people are dying from breathing dirty air. What matters is big business is reaping big profits. Let the Heath system help them... Oh they don't have insurance because they have no jobs or money too bad it's the American way.
- Maxwell1234, on 04/30/2009, -0/+5Whatever... I'm an asthmatic living in NYC and worry very little about this. Besides most of the worst spots seem to be in Cali. Hopefully Bill Hicks will be right. C'moooonnn Arizona Bay.
- mjk340, on 04/30/2009, -2/+7The free market will never take negative externalities into account on its own. There has to be a tax to monetize the cost of pollution, or the cost is absorbed into each and every American's wallet as a hidden tax. This is a case where a direct tax is less expensive than the hidden tax, since a direct tax would place accountability on those persons or organizations releasing toxins.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality#Negative
"In these situations the marginal social benefit of consumption is less than the marginal private benefit of consumption. (i.e. SMB < PMB) This leads to the good or service being over-consumed relative to the social optimum. Without intervention the good or service will be under-priced and the negative externalities will not be taken into account." - d3dm, on 04/30/2009, -0/+4FTA: "To aid the cause, consumers can use less electricity, drive less, avoid burning wood or trash and push for clean-up of old diesel bus fleets in their communities, Connor suggested."
Er, how about this suggestion, Professor - move out of the area.
Considering that well over half of Americans live in urban areas with populations of 200K or more, it's not a big surprise that half of Americans breathe dirty air.
If I were raising children, getting out of the big city would be one of the first things that I would do to ensure the health and welfare of my family. - inactive, on 04/30/2009, -3/+7What is with diggers? Every time they see news they don't want to hear, it's instantly some conspiracy to control their lives. *****, tomorrow there could be a news report of an asteroid heading toward Earth, and the big response on digg would be "Oh great, a NASA conspiracy to get more funding through fearmongering." I can't even take this conspiracy theory ***** seriously anymore, it's so pervasive.
- SneakyNinja, on 04/30/2009, -0/+4Nothing can be worse than Mexico City... I was there about 5 years ago... it felt like I was breathing through the exhaust pipe of a car fueled by sewage water.... ugh!!!
It's not surprising that a pandemic arose from there. - pegothejerk, on 04/30/2009, -1/+4This isn't even counting the number of filthy bachelor homes and college dorms in the cleaner cities.
- SpinningHead, on 04/30/2009, -0/+3I'm sure we can expect some of the trolls from the climate change threads to start making that exact argument any second now.
- riddlemod, on 04/30/2009, -0/+3I often hold my breath til' I pass out, so I think I'm safe.
- mmc2068, on 04/30/2009, -2/+5But our cars! Our cars! Our suburban sprawl! Our oil industry! Our auto industry! Our weapons industry-enriching oil wars! Why, if you commie-pinko, tree-hugging ***** had your way, none of those glorious, freedom-giving, Jesus-approved things would exist!
</sarcasm> - krisdahl, on 04/30/2009, -0/+3You have no idea how clean our air is until you go to a developing nation or third world country.
Even the worst air (LA perhaps?) is far better than your average southeast Asian city.
I suspect that we have the cleanest air on the planet, given similar population densities. - inactive, on 04/30/2009, -1/+4That's a very strange definition. I would take into account longterm effects of pollution, as well, but that's just me.
- silenteye100, on 04/30/2009, -1/+4Americans need to call out the industries putting these harmful substances in the air. Only then can the problem be fixed.
- stix213, on 04/30/2009, -0/+2Air pollution has been steadily going down since the 70's even though population and car driving has dramatically increased. If this article was true that 60% of Americans breath air that will send them to the emergency room then we would actually see this happening in our emergency rooms (which we aren't)
Buried obviously - SpinningHead, on 04/30/2009, -0/+2@atomheart
I guess you misread it when they actually said, "Although there have been some improvements in the nation's overall air health over the past decade, those gains are leveling out, said Janice E. Nolen, assistant vice president of national policy and advocacy at the lung association."
Pay particular attention to the terms "some" and "overall" - SpinningHead, on 04/30/2009, -1/+3Well said. We've been carrying the financial burden of big polluters for years.Hell, Bush even passed on the costs of many Superfund sites on to us tax payers rather than the companies responsible.
- slvrbullet87, on 04/30/2009, -0/+2Sadly the most common form of pollution to hurt those with Asthma is pollen. Pollen is also the reason most agricultural communities fail these kinds of air tests.
- SpinningHead, on 04/30/2009, -1/+3How long ago did you retire from the Bush EPA?
- inactive, on 04/30/2009, -0/+2no new jersey?
- MikaStar, on 04/30/2009, -0/+2Oh thank god another fear mongering article. The hysteria of Swine flue was lessening for a second, I needed another article about ***** that can kill me and that I have no control over. Now where's the article on how all of our water supplies is contaminated with viagra and anti-depressants? Or the one on how all the foods I eat will kill me for whatever reason?
- mintedmeadow, on 04/30/2009, -0/+2Actually most conservatives I know are bothered by the fact that the green movement completely disregards pollution -- a real and current issue -- over something that is simply theoretical.
- jba68, on 04/30/2009, -0/+1that's cuz the "other half" in the relationship won't stop bustin' ass....
- xsecretfiles, on 04/30/2009, -4/+4Just wait until I fart...
- pathouston22, on 04/30/2009, -3/+4YEAH. I'M TYPING IN CAPS ON DIGG, THAT'S HOW MAD I AM. I'M GONNA KEEP POSTING UNTIL SOMEBODY READS THIS.
- randumbusername, on 05/01/2009, -0/+1thumbs up on the IQAir. the rebate check congress doled out last year couldn't come at a better time.
- jba68, on 04/30/2009, -0/+1mmmmm don't eat the pigs... send them my way..
/hoards bacon - scooterbaga, on 04/30/2009, -0/+1http://www.stateoftheair.org/
- zyko, on 04/30/2009, -0/+1For a cheap hepa filter, you can get a box fan and tape a hepa filter on back. It's noisy but works. If you are concerned about VOC's, you can buy an IQAir HealthPro. But unless you pressurize your house, it's a losing battle.
- SpinningHead, on 04/30/2009, -0/+1Yes, we have been trying to bring them down since the 70s and the Clean Air Act went a long way towards that. However, the last administration went limp when it came to enforcing that. Pollution is still a huge problem as is asthma in kids (worst around the shipping hubs in southern CA where nearly half the kids have it). You want to propose a better solution? Fine. You want to pretend there isn't a problem? That wont fly anymore.
And yeah, I'm sure the guy went to work for the American Lung Association for the huge payouts. - TwistyMcFister, on 04/30/2009, -0/+1♫♫♫♫ I Love L.A. ♫♫♫♫
♫♫♫♫ WE LOVE IT!! ♫♫♫♫ - mmc2068, on 04/30/2009, -0/+1cough cough!
- SpinningHead, on 04/30/2009, -0/+1So you prefer to trust what the oil and coal lobby is trying to claim rather than what non-profits are saying? Personally I have a problem with any aspect of C&T that allows big polluters to buy their way out, but that doesn't mean I'm going to oppose the whole thing.
- sodade, on 04/30/2009, -0/+1ROTFL! Since when are "conservatives" into actually conserving anything? They've been fighting against pollution controls for decades.
- atomheartmother, on 04/30/2009, -1/+2Air quality in this country has gotten progressively cleaner and continues to do so. If anyone is wondering about the motives here, take a look at the statement by Jim Wilgus, President of the American Lung Association, who lists their goal as :
"Establish strong community benefit provisions including a requirement to direct fees raised through cap and trade programs to community-level mitigation programs to reduce greenhouse gases and assist in adaptation efforts, especially in environmental justice areas."
http://www.californialung.org/media-center/news-ar ...
Cap and Trade, baby. Show me the money. - Snoogs, on 04/30/2009, -0/+1Try WI--- Come smell our dairy air!
- mlc1138, on 04/30/2009, -0/+1That's it. Nobody drive to work tomorrow!
- Mpwns, on 04/30/2009, -0/+1i blame h1n1.
- browe07, on 04/30/2009, -2/+3"Six out of ten Americans live in areas dirty enough to send people to the emergency room, to shape how kids' lungs develop and even dirty enough to kill,"
Apparently it is shaping kids' lungs in a way to deal with it quite well, because 186 million Americans are not in the emergency room nor on their deathbed as a result of air pollution.
Either that or this is sensationalist fear mongering what's stupidity does more to undermine its cause than to help. - MrBrotato, on 04/30/2009, -1/+2No problem, people are losing their vehicles where I live. And when gas hits $4 again I'm sure I'll stop driving too. Solution is on the way!
- atomheartmother, on 04/30/2009, -0/+1I'm all for enforcing the Clean Air Act- even strengthening it. But let's see this for what it is- an attempt to provide ammunition for cap and trade, which is clear from the ALA's statements. I don't know what his motivations were for joining ALA, hopefully altruistic, but let's face it, it's in their interest to garner support for the organization, whatever his personal motives may be.
- MikeyBillz, on 04/30/2009, -0/+1I misread the title. I thought it said More Than Half of Americans Living with Dirty Hair...that would be a true shocker...
- atomheartmother, on 04/30/2009, -1/+2No, I don't trust the oil and coal lobby, but I sure as hell don't trust slimy politicians either. And if you include power plants and refineries as "big polluters" and you don't "let" them buy their way out, what's the alternative? How do you propose that we function as a nation?
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