Is smog that bad? (Los Angeles, San Francisco: to live, zip code, dangerous)

[brian_2]

I left Southern California for a variety of reasons, with unhealthy air quality at the top of the list. It saddens me to read the many residents here and elsewhere who dismiss the health affects of a toxic environment. I understand that when people are young(er) and less sensitive to their environments, they don't fell the need to ruminate on issues of poor air quality that may or may not be harming their future health. I'm not a smoker. I never had serious respiratory health issues until I lived in Southern California, and after seven years in the LA/Orange County areas I finally felt the impact. I had resection surgery to a lung and moderate scaring to both lungs. I've had a surgeon and an oncologist mention to me their concerns about the risks of living in an environment such as Southern California over the long-term. Do some people appear outwardly to escape health issues associated with a toxic environment such as that in Los Angeles over their lifetimes? Yes, of course some people appear to manage well for whatever reasons. Is there worse? Yes. I've traveled to Mexico City and that is unreal bad. I wonder what the morbidity is in Mexico City from the health affects associated with that air quality. Yes, LA has better air than Mexico City..but, is better good enough for you and your family?

Thank goodness for all its toxicity, LA/Orange County have some excellent hospital care (if you search it out and have excellent medical coverage). UCLA turns out excellent medical students, and several top-tier teaching hospitals in CA are top-notch. Life is indeed about trade-offs, but I would consider the possible long-term health consequences of breathing Southern California (or anywhere else that has a poor environmental profile) air day after day, year after year. One might ask themselves if raising children in such an environment is ethical? Will your children suffer long-term health affects? Is it wise exposing kids to a detrimental environment (especially) during the years their young bodies are developing? Incidentally, I have had no respiratory health issues since leaving Southern California years ago.

[Sorcerer68]

When I was a kid in the 70's, I remember driving on the 110 Fwy and barely being able to see downtown as we passed it. Although we've had improvement, it's still there...however exponentially improved. We all know the further inland, the worse it gets. I've noticed an interesting phenomena on tree lined streets in smoggy areas...the smog mostly seems to stay at the treetops and above. My grandmothers neighborhood in South Pas is like this. I've had breathing problems in other parts of the country and migraines in Hawaii from VOG (volcanic supher dioxide gas) but smog doesn't bother me unless it's absolutely terrible and I'm outside, then my eyes burn a little and I feel fatugued. This happens once every couple years or so. It mostly doesn't bother me. I've wondered about long-term effects...I'm 3rd generation Angeleno. So far we've proven healthy and live long (except for the ones who liked the bottle too much).

I've breathed smog most of my 38 years and I'm ok except I could stand to lose a few ~

[Keithns]

Originally Posted by Bangofan13

Like I hear all these people saying I want to leave LA because of the smog. Is it really that big of a concern to people as some make it sound?

Stay upwind, the beaches.

[artichoke63]

Hell yeah, it's bad. Just look out the airplane window when your landing in LAX. You see a layer of brown. It is absolutely hideous. I don't think it's the equivalent of smoking a pack a day like fastfilm said, but it can be gross!

[JonathanLB]

Originally Posted by Ms.Phitt

Just because it is somewhat better than it used to be doesn't mean it is good.

But don't take my word for it. Ask any hospital how many of us asthmatics swarm into their emergency rooms every summer when there is no rain to clean the air, especially on the bad days. Any asthmatic can tell you how we feel during those times. Go into any tall building and take a good look at the cap of brownish muck hovering over the city. Check the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Los Angeles compared to almost any other major city in the world.

Just because you don't think it personally affects you very much doesn't mean that it's not bad and it's not affecting people's health.

Other peoples' health is not my concern, that's their concern. Los Angeles air seems just fine to me, I've never had any problems breathing it and I lived in Portland, OR, before Los Angeles for all of my life. I've been here for two years, the air is great, there's nothing wrong with it, and I've never seen smog and I live in downtown Los Angeles. Smog is a total non-issue. It's the boogeyman. It's something people like to complain about and mark off as a 'strike' against Los Angeles, even though this is clearly the best city on earth with the most wealth besides maybe New York, the most to do, the most famous people, basically everything that counts happens in Los Angeles. And thank god we don't get rain during the summer to "wash away the pollutants," I came here partially for NO RAIN during the summer. I don't want to see rain, I don't care what positive effects it may also have, rain is terrible and as far as I care I'll die a happy man if I never see it again.

And stop spreading misinformation people -- living in L.A. is NOT like smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. I heard it said before that walking around ALL DAY in Los Angeles, outside, would be like smoking a pack of cigarettes. I don't believe that either, but to say that just living in L.A., even if you stay in an air-conditioned condo all day, is like smoking a pack a day, get real.

[BRinSM]

smog in LA proper isn't that bad, i agree. if you want smog, go to china. if you want smog locally, head out to san bernardino, it is much worse there. as long as you're within 10-15 miles of the coast (maybe even 20 miles in some areas) and not near a freeway with direct port access (710/110), smog isn't a big deal except for maybe a few days a year, max.

[JonathanLB]

Well, that's probably one reason I say it isn't bad -- I went to China and South Korea before I ever moved to Los Angeles, just a few summers ago actually, and the smog in China is so bad it's unreal. When people point here and say, "See, there's smog!" I am like, "I am sorry I don't see it. I see a little haze because it's the morning and it hasn't burned off yet -- we get this in Portland, too, it's not smog." But in China you can't avoid it. In Beijing it's like, "Ok, you see ALL AROUND? Yeah, that's ALL smog." South Korea was terrible like that too, I didn't realize it would be that bad, but for the first 4 days there we didn't see the sun. At all. Finally one day, I saw the sun, but besides that it was just a huge cloud of smog everywhere. It was awful.

[matt345]

Many times, what people think is smog in LA, is really haze and moisture in the atmosphere coming from the ocean. I think I read somewhere that the LA basin was known for having a "smokey" look to it long before the first car was ever driven here.

[alexanderaf]

Originally Posted by irwin

WJD-

I read somewhere recently that even if every car in the LA area had the best pollution reduction technology, there still would be a smog problem because of the number of vehicles. The automobile is the problem here. We need to start figuring that out.

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http://www.scottusa.com/service/files/images/products/products/photos/d4F0P8efHJ7WY8r83XrtD4NM1B971psG.jpg (broken link)


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Oops...not the last one!

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by matt345

Many times, what people think is smog in LA, is really haze and moisture in the atmosphere coming from the ocean. I think I read somewhere that the LA basin was known for having a "smokey" look to it long before the first car was ever driven here.

The Tongva Indians, who were the original inhabitants of the basin, named it "Valley of the Smokes". And that was back when barely 5000 people lived there. It's all about the inversion layer.