SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
High ozone levels and a quickly growing population are making it tough to implement regulations to reduce pollution, says a Cal State LA professor.
The quality of the air in California may be improving, but it's still dire.
That's according to the American Lung Association's recent "State of the Air 2017" report, which labeled the state and region a leader in air pollution, with the highest ozone levels.
The annual study ranks the cleanest and most polluted areas in the country by grading counties in the U.S. based on harmful recorded levels of ozone (smog) and particle pollution. The 2017 report used data collected from 2013 to 2015.
The top three regions in the country with the worst smog levels were Los Angeles-Long Beach; Bakersfield; and Fresno-Madera; Salinas, though, was recognized as one of the cleanest cities in the state and the country.
"The Los Angeles basin is exposed to the highest ozone levels in the country," explains Steve LaDochy, Ph.D., professor of geosciences and environment at California State University, Los Angeles, an expert in air pollution and climate. "It is getting better here, but it's still the worst."
The toughest CAFE standard in the country does not seem to have solved California's air pollution problem.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 23 2017, @02:16AM (3 children)
No one ever wants to just say it.
There are too many people on earth.
The earth and its ecosystems are suffering, and quality of life is arguably worse for all but the few humans who are wealthy enough to avoid unpleasant situations.
Air pollution, water scarcity, and many other problems could all be dramatically reduced if the population was cut by 50%.
We used to have wars which culled the herd. Now, that isn't an option on the sort of scale that would achieve significant reductions in the population, so it's going to have to happen some other way. A flu pandemic might work. In the mean time, anyone who has more than two children per family is an asshole and should be treated accordingly by society.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 23 2017, @02:36AM (1 child)
Condition health services in 3rd world countries with family planning and tax private jets. Make it cost to produce an excess of kids and condition family assistance with good parenting.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 23 2017, @10:05AM
Birth control should be handed out like Halloween candy, worldwide.
...of course, there are Catholics in the places where this is needed.
...and, in the USA, with its tight-assed if-you-fuck,-you-should-get-pregnant prudes in many state governments, things are going in the opposite direction.
OTOH, I've heard of judges requiring chicks to get Norplant [google.com] or do jail time.
condition family assistance with good parenting
...because punishing kids for having bad parents is such a great idea.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday June 23 2017, @12:34PM
California is not overpopulated. It is a huge state. Most of it is quite rural. Venture outside the Bay Area and Orange County and that quickly becomes apparent. If they filled up the rest of their acreage with the same density as the SF peninsula they could probably fit the entire population of the United States.
They would have to do things differently than they do, such as dramatically expand mass transit to move all those people around, but a lack of space is not their problem.
Washington DC delenda est.