Air pollution affects breathing ability after commuting to and from work by car and bus but not on a bicycle: non-technical synopsis.

“The Road to Clean Air” is a new report by the American Lung Association in California showing that California could avoid $7.2 billion in health and societal costs and reduce all major

We have known about the perils of climate change for more than two decades. But global efforts to slow it down by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions have largely failed. Even if we could stop producing greenhouse gases tomorrow, the high concentration of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere will cause the climate to continue to change. As a result we must not only intensify our efforts to reduce climate change but start preparing for its inevitable effects.

The State of the Air 2011 shows that the air quality in many places has improved during 2007-2009. Still, over 154 million people—just over one half the nation—suffer pollution levels that are too often dangerous to breathe. Despite great progress, air pollution lingers as a widespread and dangerous reality. It is important to note this progress, even as some seek to weaken the public health law that has improved the air we breathe since 1970, the Clean Air Act.

This report presents a survey of the current state of knowledge of the potential impacts of climate change and variability on aeroallergens—pollen, mold, and indoor allergens—in the United States and the allergic diseases associated with them. Allergies are prevalent in the United States and impose substantial economic and quality-of-life burdens.  ...

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CLIMATE_VARIABILITY_&_AEROALLERGENS_-_FINAL_063009.PDF

This study demonstrates how new air pollution rules proposed for the electric power sector by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will provide long-term economic benefits across much of the United States in the form of highly skilled, well paying jobs through infrastructure investment in the nation's generation fleet. Significantly, many of these jobs will be created over the next five years as the United States recovers from its severe economic downturn.