All tag results for 'pollution'

How is this even possible?!?

When we think of Salt Lake City, Utah, we automatically picture snow capped mountains and greenery, but according to reports, the city has the WORST air quality in the nation throughout January.

During the first month of the year, the Salt Lake region gets smothered by an icy fog, which gets trapped in the mountain valleys, and as a result, causes a whole mess of grime to just linger.

YUCK!

It was announced that the city currently has 130 micrograms of soot per cubic meter, but luckily for Salt Lake residents, it'll eventually go away!!

Want more deets on this nastiness?!? Peep the video (above)!

Tags: air, air quality, january, pollution, salt lake city, smog

Remember that continent sized patch of garbage we were telling you about that is floating around the Pacfic Ocean? It turns out that was just the tip of the iceberg!

University of Washington oceanographer Giora Proskurowski has found evidence that suggests that

Tags: fish, garbage, harm, ocean, oceanographers, pacific, plastic, pollution, trash

Next time you're in a traffic jam, it might not be a bad idea to huff and puff with your windows UP!

According to a study published in the British Medical Journal, breathing in the fumes from heavy traffic can boost your risk of heart attack for up to six hours.

Air pollution won't start causing heart attacks for just anyone, but could increase the chance of heart attacks in people already at risk.

To discover this revelation, researchers looked at health data from 79,288 people who have had a heart attack between 2003 and 2006 in the United Kingdom.

They then looked at traffic pollution data, including carbon monoxide and ozone levels, in different parts of the country.

After studying and comparing the data, it was determined that the likelihood of having a heart attack was the highest 6 hours after the people studied had been exposed to traffic fumes.

The connection is not entirely clear, but pollution can possibly thicken blood to make it more likely to clot. A co-funder of the study told news sources:

"We know that pollution can have a major effect on your heart health, possibly because it can 'thicken' the blood to make it more likely to clot, putting you at higher risk of a heart attack."

A similar study on the link between heart attacks and traffic suggests that although pollution may have an effect on the heart, it may also be stress!

The researcher presenting her findings during American Heart Association's 49th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease, said:

"One potential factor could be the exhaust and air pollution coming from other cars, but we can't exclude the synergy between stress and air pollution that could tip the scale."

It's pretty hard to avoid traffic if you live anywhere near civilization, so the best way to avoid being at risk at ALL is to lead a healthy lifestyle with lots of exercise and good food!

[Image via WENN.]

Tags: air, america, avoiding heart attack, cardiovascular, disease, heart, heart attack, heart problems, lifestyle, ozone, pollution, prevention, research, stress, study, traffic

In Spain, at least!

Bike-sharing programs, which have popped up in cities around the world, will definitely save users money and kill a couple hundred more calories in their body, but recent research has found they will save lives too!

A study published in the British Medical Journal last week showed Barcelona's bike-sharing program not only saved 9,000 tons of pollution from carbon dioxide, but saved 12 lives per year due to the extra heart-healthy exercise.

Despite a VERY SMALL increase in deaths from bike-related traffic accidents (0.03 deaths) and air pollution (0.13), the overall health benefits of physical activity for the 180,000 cyclists using the program outweighed the risks.

We can't advocate bike-sharing programs enough and think they are wonderful!

We've said it before and we'll say it again, do not wait for a city-sponsored program to pop up near you to start benefiting from the healthy exercise this form of transportation has to offer!

[Image via WENN.]

Tags: barcelona, benefits, bike-sharing programs, boston, exercise, pollution, research, spain, study, traffic, washington dc

It's summertime and that means BEACH TIME! Yay!

Unfortunately, that also could mean exposure to contaminated water! Ewww!

Testing the Waters: A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches, a report released on Thursday, gathered data from 3,200 beaches across the country and found that beach closings had occurred 24,901 times in 2010 with 70% of those closings related to bacterial contamination in the water!

Yuck!

Contaminated water poses all sorts of risks including rashes, vomiting, bowel issues and serious infections.

Before you head to your favorite beach this summer, make sure it isn't on the “Top 10 Repeat Offenders” list for having dangerous water.

Check out the top ten most polluted beaches in America below!

Tags: america, bacteria, beach, contaminated, country, dangerous, eww, gross, icky, infection, los angeles, pollution, water, yuck

Good news! The U.S. Clean Air Act is working!

The "State of the Air 2011" report from the American Lung Association concluded that the air in the nation's 25 smoggiest cities has improved over the last year.

Lung Association President, Charles Connor, said in a statement:

"The progress the nation has made cleaning up coal-fired power plants, diesel emissions and other pollution sources has drastically cut dangerous pollution from the air we breathe."

While it looks like the air is getting cleaner, the report unfortunately still found 154.4 million people (over half the nation's population) live in areas where the air is filled with dangerous levels of ozone and particle pollution.

Yikes! That's not good!

The two cleanest cities were found to be Honolulu, Hawaii and Santa Fe, New Mexico. The most polluted was, you guessed it, El Lay, baby! Ha!

Darn.

[Image via AP Images.]

Tags: air quality, america, american lung association, el lay, honolulu, ozone, pollution, santa fe, smog