What Are The Potential Impacts For Air Pollution In California?
Projected climate changes will impact the quality of California’s air, public health, and environment. Higher temperatures increase the formation of ground level ozone and particulate matter, making it more difficult to meet the health-base air quality standards for these pollutants. Ground-level ozone has been shown to aggravate existing respiratory illnesses such as asthma, reduce lung function, and induce respiratory inflammation. Ambient ozone also reduces agricultural crop yields and impairs ecosystem health. The particulate matter of most concern – PM10 – has a diameter smaller than 10 micrometers and can easily pass into the lung, contributing to the development of lung tissue damage. PM10 has been implicated in exacerbation of cardiovascular disease, asthma, other respiratory diseases, and associated with increased mortality. Air pollution is also made worse by increases in natural hydrocarbon emissions and evaporative emissions of fuels and solvents which leads to higher level
