Dusty environments contribute to lung damge. Cf- coal miner's lung, silicosis, bagassosis (molassis workers) or byssinosis (cotton mill workers) etc. COPD defined by decreases in pulm function tests has about a 10% rate of incidencee among the general population, but occurs in 75% of cement plant workers (!!)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33345327/
But luckily, dust levels decrease by the square of the distance from the source, so even living just across the street from a plant probably doesn't affect ambient dust levels much anyways. Street traffic produces more dust than the plants....and MotherNature herself is pretty sloppy-- I have more dust in my house now living in rural WI than I did when I lived a mile from the intersection of I 55 & I 294 in Chicago.
Car tires lose about one layer of rubber molecules for ever revolution (classic example of a "Fermi Solution"). Multiply that by 1000 revs for every km driven times how many cars on the road and you've got a heckuvalot of rubber in the air in busy cities, not to mention the wear on the pavement and other sources of dust.
Those factories aren't that big a problem.
Bigger enviro problem in Phoenix-- water. Keep your priorities in order.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
