On April 23, 2025, a report known as “State of the Air” was announced by the American Lung Association, painting a shocking image of the nation’s air quality. According to this report, 156 million people are living in areas that received an “F” grade for either ozone or particle pollution–an increase of 25 million from 2024. Some of the major driving forces contributing to this worsening air quality are the extreme heat and wildfires that have been prominent in recent months.
Young children and outdoor workers are bearing the brunt of this newfound poor air quality. For example, children are having asthma attacks more frequently and people who work outside are experiencing extreme illness. Moreover, babies are being born with low birth weight.
As awareness has increased, many are questioning why organizations such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aren’t tackling these problems. According to the CEO of the American Lung Association, Harold Wimmer, “Even as more people are breathing unhealthy air, the federal staff, programs and policies that are supposed to be cleaning up pollution are facing rollbacks, restructuring and funding challenges. For decades, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has worked to ensure people have clean air to breathe, from providing trustworthy air quality forecasts to making sure polluters who violate the law clean up. Efforts to slash staff, funding and programs at EPA are leaving families even more vulnerable to harmful air pollution. We need to protect the EPA.”
The air pollutants that were covered in this study are widespread and can impact anyone’s health. Specifically, fine particulate matter air pollution, known as PM2.5, can be deadly, and come from sources like wood-burning stoves and wildfires. Both ozone and particle pollution can lead to premature death, asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes and impaired cognitive functioning later in life.
There are different types of particle and ozone pollution, such as short-term and year-round particle pollution, along with ground-level ozone pollution. While short-term particle pollution refers to acute exposures to fine particles that tend to cause cardiovascular events and hospitalization, long-term exposure to particle pollution can increase the risk of strokes, coronary heart disease and cause premature deaths. In addition, ground-level ozone pollution, more commonly referred to as “smog,” is a powerful respiratory irritant whose effects tend to that of sunburn of the lungs. This pollution can cause shortness of breath, asthma attacks and shorten life.
This pollution raises many questions regarding public health measures. Some feel as though government agencies should be exerting more control over companies in order to fight against carbon emissions, while others feel as though this won’t solve the problem that we are currently facing.
