Does Greensboro make the grade in healthy air quality?
The American Lung Association recently released the 2021 State of the Air report, which is the organizations annual national air quality report card. The report tracks ground-level ozone air pollution (also known as smog), annual particle pollution (also known as soot), and short-term spikes in particle pollution. The 2021 State of the Air report examines air quality from 2017, 2018 and 2019. Here in Greensboro, the air quality was rated a B for ozone, an A for 24-hour particle pollution and did well with annual particle pollution. (See our full report at Lung.org/SOTA.) Ozone pollution and particle pollution are two of the most widespread and dangerous air pollutants. Breathing these pollutants can cause asthma attacks, respiratory and cardiovascular harm, and even early death. Breathing particle pollution can also cause lung cancer. Ozone irritates and damages your airways and lungs. It causes asthma and emphysema attacks and increases peoples risk of dying. It can also cause asthma, and it causes progression of emphysema in the lungs. Even two days of unhealthy ozone pollution can be harmful to health.