THE LAST GASPSUSTAINING LOS ANGELES FOR A

BREATHABLE FUTURE

Zach Rieck

WHY LOS ANGELES??

• Los Angeles serves as a “worst case scenario” for many other urban areas

• Many natural obstacles working against it

• City has worked toward many solutions and failed

IT HAS ACTUALLY GOTTEN BETTER!!

• Data shows that the “worst” smog occurred in the ’40s

• Reasons: lack of knowledge, diesel buses, poor regulation

• This ISN’T to say the air is good now!

• There are actually mountain in LA!!

MODERN CONCERNS

• Urban heat island effect

• Runaway population growth

• Ethanol : Not as clean as we think?

HEALTH RISKS

• Air quality has historically reached levels where masks were necessary

• Elderly and people with respiratory diseases faces potentially deadly consequences for breathing

• Children may develop respiratory disease

WHAT CAUSES THE SMOG

• Natural topography causes the basin inversion effect (similar to what happens in Salt Lake Valley in winter)

• Large car emissions due to a poor public transportation system

• Relaxed emission standards

HOW IT CAN BE IMPROVED

• Investing in an affordable, practical public transportation system in the area

• Using cleaner, renewable energy that doesn’t worsen the smog as much

• Creating stricter emission requirements and harsher consequences for exceeding these standards

“THE GOAL”

• Efforts to improve LA’s smog can be applied to other cities with pollution issues

• LA is not one of a kind

• Biggest faults are the same as other cities

SOURCES FOR EXTRA PICTURES

• http://world.time.com/2013/02/28/spring-sandstorms-add-to-chinas-bad-air-misery/

• http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tokyo_Public_Transportation_L8609.jpg

• http://cgge.aag.org/PopulationandNaturalResources1e/CS_US_July09/CS_US_July094.html

• http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Los_Angeles,_CA_from_the_air.jpg

• http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/01/health/time-bad-air/

http://www.melonacres.com/SweetCorn.html