Lesly Cardenas

Instructor Jaya Dubey

Writing 39C
May 15, 2014
Air Pollution is a Hard Choice
How would life be if it became difficult to do one of the most unconscious and simple
tasks known to mankind, like breathing? That is the case for many children with asthma in the
L.A. County area. The Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma, a nonprofit organization
that promotes asthma awareness by providing useful facts to the public, concludes that
approximately 6.8 million children have asthma in the country alone. One of the main culprits of
the lifelong disease of asthma is the air. Air pollution has staggered the county within the last
couple of years. According to Stephanie ONeill, a reporter for the Southern California Public
Radio that works with the American Lung Association, Los Angeles has the worst overall ozone
layer in the country. This means that the air is more prone to particulate particles in the air,
leading to higher asthma, stroke, and lung cancer rates in the area (ONeill). The Natural
Resource Defense Council, an environmental group with over 1 million members, states that
when a person has asthma their air pathways are covered by a mucus that makes it difficult to
breathe. This causes coughing, wheezing, and panic. Without their inhaler, a person would need
to visit the emergency room, costing a fortune. There must be a to solve the issue at hand. The
lives of millions of people in the Los Angeles County are at stake.
One of the biggest factors that contributes to air pollution in the vicinity is traffic
congestion and a lack of public transportation. Kristin Eberhard, a long time advocate for energy
efficiency whom wrote many articles for the National Resource Defense Council, surveyed
several cities in California and asked what they thought was their citys greatest problem. As the
figure that follows shows, citizens from Los Angeles declare air pollution to be the greatest
problem however, only 12% use public transit in order to get to their destination. The greatest
concern for the citizens is not so much for health purposes but for the increasing gas prices
(Eberhard).
Expanding public
transportation can
help reduce both of
the issues. The
American Public
Transportation
Association
(APTA), a public
organization whose members include owners of companies that support transport services,
assures that by switching over to public transportation 37 million metric tons of carbon emission
will be reduced annually. With more public transit, the carbon tax that citizens pay through gas
prices would not have to be increased as frequently and people can enjoy an alternate form of
traveling.
Metro, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is expanding its
transportation system in order to provide easier travel in the L.A. county and reduce carbon that
cars emit. Its program includes creating many composite buses besides the 300 already available
ones. Composite buses are buses that are advanced, lightweight, all-composite vehicle
structures. Its services also include providing different types of buses to fit the needs of its
customers. For example, the Rapid is a bus program initiated in 2000 in order to combat setbacks
in travel speed such as red lights and constant bus stops. With just two new red lines rideability
increased by 26% in Whittier, California (Metro). In order to better the condition of air pollution
in Los Angeles the city should cooperate with the Metro Advanced Transit Vehicle Consortium
(ATVC) Program and promote the use of buses in high density areas to reduce carbon emissions.

"Advanced Transit Vehicle Consortium (ATVC)." Metro. Metro, 25 Mar. 2010. Web. 18
May 2014. <http://www.metro.net/projects/atvc/>.
Eberhard, Kristen. "People in Los Angeles Say Air Pollution Is Still a Problem.
Alternative Forms of Transportation Are a Part of the Solution." NRDC Council Staff Blog.
NRDC, 1 Aug. 2011. Web. 18 May 2014.
<http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kgrenfell/people_in_los_angeles_say_air_1.html>.
"Final Report: Los Angeles Metro Rapid Demonstration Program." Metro. Metro, Mar.
2002. Web. 17 May 2014.
<http://media.metro.net/projects_studies/rapid/images/demonstration_program_report.pdf
>.
O'Neill, Stephanie. "LA-area Has Nation's Worst Ozone, but Quality Is Improving."
KPCC. American Lung Association, 24 Apr. 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.scpr.org/news/2013/04/24/36955/lung-association-state-of-the-air-report-la-
area-h/>
"Together We Can Control Asthma Now!" LBACA. Osorio Multimedia, 2014. Web. 18
Apr. 2014. <http://lbaca.org/>.