Dear Donna,
I have a question about Los Angeles.
Is it true that there are certain parts of the city that have relatively cleaner air than say the Valley? Or is the entire city plagued by severe air pollution? I would appreciate if you could elaborate on this.Much thanks,
Lisa Reik from Israel
Dear Lisa,
There are folks who believe that coastal areas like Santa Monica and Malibu have cleaner air than the San Fernando Valley.
For the most part this is true because pollution settles in the Valleys, and temperatures are higher. When sun mixes with air pollution, toxins and ozone--the stuff that burns eyes and lungs and aggravates asthma--are created and magnified.
But all of Los Angeles County suffers hot temperatures; it's a matter of degrees: Hot. Hotter. Certainly the Valleys and inland areas are worse than the coasts.
As you see from top photo I took last spring, air pollution extends over the ocean. You don't see this everyday but you see it often.
The next photo I took from a plane two summers ago, descending into LAX from the east, meaning this is a photo of Los Angeles neighborhoods on the flatlands, in other words, areas some people think are better than say, the San Fernando Valley.
According to the 2009 State of the Air Report put out by the American Lung Association, Los Angeles County received an F for particulate pollution and an F for ozone pollution.
Winds generally blow air pollution east, which means inland areas may well have more pollution than the coasts.
But is the air truly cleaner on the coasts than in other parts of Los Angeles?
I personally don't feel the difference is significant when you consider multiple environmental and man-made factors:
Ships pollute our coastal region's air, as they make their way to America's two largest ports: Long Beach and Los Angeles. Many of these ships use filthy bunker fuel. Even the tiny port of El Segundo, which I believe only takes in two ships at a time, has created massive amounts of black carbon in the sky. I saw special "radar" from an air pollution specialist at USC.
And there's the international airport LAX, where planes take off and land overhead day and night, polluting our skies.
Winds tend to blow east but they change directions and also blow soot from transportation and fire sources west toward the beach.
A friend lives on Ocean Ave. across from the Pacific in Santa Monica, and she has two air purifiers in a studio apt. She must change her filters all the time because they fill up with soot so fast.
Los Angeles is a car, truck, and ship off our coasts polluted environment. It is prone to fires because of drought, dry brush, and triple digit temps. The sun cooks toxins in the air making them more dangerous to inhale.
As I write, the biggest fire in Los Angeles history is burning with over 4000 firefighters fighting. A plume of smoke was two miles high in the sky for days. The fire season is now considered year-round. The "cleaner" air area of Malibu has been at the center of more than one fire storm.
Global warming and drought are real and Los Angeles is an example of what happens.
Some people like to live in the hills and say, "I live above the smog." They'd have to live pretty high and never come down to bypass smog. Hills have more dried out trees and brush, and usually the areas where fires find their fuel.
Living in the flat areas usually means living near a major freeway or roadway, which can have health consequences. To read health impact studies, check out the Smog & Health category at The Clean Air Guide.
I love Los Angeles in many ways but the air quality bothers me and I don't have lungs of steel, hence I spend much of my time out of Los Angeles, chasing clean air, trying on different lifestyles the way I once tried on dresses.I wish you easy breathing...Something many people in LA today can't take for granted due to smoke from fires.
Thanks for writing.
Best wishes,Donna
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