California takes the top 5 dirtiest metros in the U.S. (Los Angeles: living in, air quality)

[BVitamin]

Top 5

Top 10

The American Lung Association, in its report State Of The Air 2010, finds seven California metropolitan areas with air quality bad enough that they make it onto the list of the Top 10 Dirtiest Cities in America. The 20 million people in these cities are at higher risk of asthma and chronic bronchitis.

Well I'm surprised "someone" else hasn't posted this in part of the numerous thread degrading California based on, well, prospects.

I currently live in No. 4. Thoughts?

The biggest problem spot in the country is California's San Joaquin Valley, where farming, industry, car culture and topography collide to trap smog. Wildfires contribute to the problem. Severe particle pollution in valley burgs like Bakersfield (the center of California's oil industry and the metropolitan area with the worst air in the nation), Fresno (third place), Visalia (fourth) and Modesto (eighth) can damage the lungs in the same way cigarettes do.

I wonder if the damaging of lungs in the same way cigarettes do affect how one ages too, the same way cigarettes do; would explain why I find people here look older than they do as oppose to their coastal counterparts.

[BacktoBlue]

Thanks for adding fuel to the fire

[Majin]

#9

[SacTown11]

20 years of green has turned brown...oh but imagine how bad it would have been if we hadn't regulated you to death!

So tell me, why is the California Air Resources Board still allowed to operate???

[cuzzJB]

Why? I've seen much worse.

[MIKEETC]

Originally Posted by SacTown11

20 years of green has turned brown...oh but imagine how bad it would have been if we hadn't regulated you to death!

So tell me, why is the California Air Resources Board still allowed to operate???

Worse.

[native56]

I believe that bad air is especially harmful to kids. It was actually worse when I grew up in the SFV. But it's still bad. Lots of days when you can't see the mountains from just 10 miles away. Doesn't seem to matter whether you are in LA or Orange County - the air is bad.

The worst air is in places like Riverside and San Bernadino Counties. The best air is within a few miles of the coast, but that's also the most expensive place to live.

[18Montclair]

Anybody else hate that Forbes' fetish where they make you wait through stupid picture slides of each city-they do it for every ranking-its so damn tedious.

Top 10
1 Bakersfield, CA
2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA
3 Fresno-Madera, CA
4 Visalia-Porterville, CA
5 Hanford-Corcoran, CA
6 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
7 Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, AL
8 Modesto, CA
9 Sacramento-Arden Arcade-Yuba City, CA
10 Pittsburgh-New Castle, PA

[BacktoBlue]

I don't live in any of those cities

[18Montclair]

Also, Sacramento, Stockton and possibly Modesto are victims of "SECOND-HAND SMOG" from the Bay Area. Its a widely held belief that the fog, along with strong, cold ocean winds from the Pacific come into the Bay and push smog from the Central Bay Area out to the valley counties to our east and northeast.

Local officials lay the blame on pollution drifting in from the Bay Area, where recent growth has partly reversed past progress in cleaning up the air. But other air-quality officials and environmentalists blame the EPA and the San Joaquin Valley Air Quality Management District for being soft on pollution.

California's Smog Story Is Tale of 2 States - Los Angeles Times

For Yosemite, the unhealthy air is a mix of tailpipe emissions from cars, trucks and farm equipment from the Central Valley as well as other pollutants blown in from the Bay Area.

Yosemite violates new federal smog standard / 3 other national parks in California also fail EPA's 8-hour test - SFGate

And I totally believe it. There are over 6 Million vehicles registered in the SF Bay Area and it doesnt make sense that little Modesto and Hanford should have terrible air while we supposedly have much more pristine air.

Living in the Oakland Hills, I see very clearly what life would be like if we didnt have strong winds and fog in the summer. It only takes 2-3 days of clear, hot skies for the haze to build up around the Bay, so even we have our days...

http://gspp.berkeley.edu/news-events...s/image004.jpg

fortunately for us, after a 2-3 days, the fog rolls in and ocean winds blow in hard and it sweeps all the smog out...