California Air Pollution levels Unchanged after Years of Regulation?
After years of hard hitting regulation California's air pollution levels, on net it is argued, has ended up being the same. Before you start gloating about all the regulation you have avoided by living in a state with less
regulation, let's look at the reason why California has not achieved a net significant reduction in overall pollution levels.
Even though California has in fact reduced it;s own emissions it has fallen prey to pollution from afar.
The source of this pollution is the ongoing less regulated development of Asia as an industrial production and recycling (Recycling often includes incineration of plastics in Asia.) center of goods that are largely consumed in the USA and the rest of the world. Much of Asia is devoid of the type of regulation necessary to assure emissions are minimized from it's manufacturing and recycling activities. Consequently, a portion of the pollution from these processes make the journey across the ocean to California and the by the way the rest of the West Coast of North America.
It’s well known to scientists that particles and other aerosols cover long distances through the Earth’s atmosphere. But the details of this transport, such as that of the lead particles’ 7,000-mile journey from the smokestacks of Asia to the west coast of North America, are largely unknown.
More information at NOAA's Earth Research Facility Online.
![[Asian dust storm and air pollution that impacted the U.S., April 2001]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vLEVMmwwbzeEjuNonzfxfo3JOOILQr3ihXtYkG1l-tVsbE8U_MLJd_aF7O_TwP2IM17fL84WAvmzMhDGK2uLwClWfOTU7Nx9gbJaMN3ciHiI7w3O0_=s0-d)
regulation, let's look at the reason why California has not achieved a net significant reduction in overall pollution levels.
Even though California has in fact reduced it;s own emissions it has fallen prey to pollution from afar.
The source of this pollution is the ongoing less regulated development of Asia as an industrial production and recycling (Recycling often includes incineration of plastics in Asia.) center of goods that are largely consumed in the USA and the rest of the world. Much of Asia is devoid of the type of regulation necessary to assure emissions are minimized from it's manufacturing and recycling activities. Consequently, a portion of the pollution from these processes make the journey across the ocean to California and the by the way the rest of the West Coast of North America.
It’s well known to scientists that particles and other aerosols cover long distances through the Earth’s atmosphere. But the details of this transport, such as that of the lead particles’ 7,000-mile journey from the smokestacks of Asia to the west coast of North America, are largely unknown.
More information at NOAA's Earth Research Facility Online.
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