Friday, December 13, 2013

The Air is Killing Us and Our Surroundings


Air pollution is a big factor to people's everyday lives. In the article Air Pollution as a Heart Threat
in the New York Times by Deborah Blum published November 15th, 2013 she talks about how air pollution is threatening human health.
Air pollution is killing our cardiovascular system and we need to start helping our environment out to put a stop to this or decrease the chances of severely hurting our cardiovascular system. Scientist Dr.Adar tells us that the reason why our cardiovascular systems are dying.
Dr. Adar tells us that people’s cardiovascular systems are dying because "there are fine particulates adrift in the cloud of unfriendly gases shrouding many of our communities."These particulates adrift in the cloud of the gases can penetrate deep into the lungs and soon after embedding into the tissue of one's body and sets off a cascade of inflammatory effects. Eventually this would reach the circulatory system.
Many things we do every day we would never suspect they could lead to heart disease. Something as little as driving your car can lead to heart disease. The exhaust from your vehicle is harmful to humans that drive them and are near them.
Dr. Joel D. Kaufman, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington in Seattle states "There’s increasing evidence that there’s something about traffic-related pollution in particular." People who are stuck in traffic all the time getting to and from work everyday have a greater chance of having heart disease.
Depending on what type of vehicle you drive can increase your risk. People who drive smaller vehicles will penetrate deeper into the body. This is a big medical issue for many people and our environment. If we can all reduce our vehicle use then this horrible cloud particle will soon go away.
This relates to what we were doing in class with the cardiovascular system. Our heart is a very important part of our body and keeps us alive everyday. In honors biology class we learned about how coronary heart disease occurs and how to cure it if you do end up getting it.
 
Not only does air pollution effect people it also effects other organisms around us.many animals habitats are being destroyed by this. The pollution is very bad for the water that the animals drink and therfore they will become sick.
I wanted to write about this article because I am very interested in the heart and it is very interesting to know that if we all work together we can put this pollution to an end and be healthy. Pollution is really hurting our human health and the environment around us.

11 comments:

  1. This is a very informative post. I was unaware, as I'm sure most people are, that the pollution in our air can harm more than our climate; it can harm the people living in it. The part of this post that stood out to me the most was that people driving in traffic have greater chances of getting heart disease. This is a scary thought because most people cannot help their long commutes to work and I'm not sure if there's a solution to this. This article tied in very well to our biology class through the cardiovascular system. I really enjoyed reading this.

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  2. This article was very interesting. I had no clue that pollution in the air can effect our hearts, which can lead to heart disease later on in our lives. Now I know that pollution isn't just hurting the environment, but it's also directly hurting us and our health. It was also interesting how different sizes of cars can effect our bodies, and hearts differently. I also liked how you connected the article back to what we learned in class. So overall I think you did a very good job.

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  3. Good job Kathryn. You summarized the article very well and just stuck to the important over all facts. I was not aware that air pollution to lead to heart disease, I never thought of that. The quote that you picked worked perfectly because it explained how it happens. Although there was some spacing issues in your blog post and a few other mistakes. Also I was confused when you said " People who drive smaller vehicles will penetrate deeper into the body" Are you trying to say the smaller the vehicle the smaller particles? And why is that? But overall good job.

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  4. You did an outstanding job Kathryn. I was really able to connect to this article because I go for runs a lot and when I go by main street I find it hard to breath from all the cars. You did a really good job of getting this article's point across and how we are killing our selves and the environment. I liked how you included that if you get stuck in traffic a lot you are more likely to get heart disease. I also liked how you connected this to what we are learning in class about the cardiovascular system. You did an excellent job!

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  5. This was an interesting post on an exceptionally interesting topic. I knew about air pollution and how it was a lacking of O2 and excess CO2. I had no idea about this giant particle cloud that we live in and breathe every single day. I did not know that said particles would have the ability to embed themselves in our tissues. I did know however that emissions from cars are causing big problems for humans. Your post was very informative and well written, just a couple grammatical errors. Over all I think you had good post.

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  6. This was a very well written post containing some shocking information that I had never known about. I have read articles saying that pollution can cause things such as cancer but now there is heart disease involved. I am shocked to hear that by just driving a car to work, someone can increase their risks of getting heart disease. I am a little confused by what these particles do inside a person’s cardiovascular system but I am intrigued to find out. A would also like to know how having a smaller car gives someone more of a risk to get heart disease than larger cars. However, this was a good post and it was quite the attention lifting article.

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  7. I liked how you stated right in the title what the increasing levels of pollution are doing to people, killing them. I found it interesting that the big problem isn't the gasses themselves, but the small particles that float around in them. It was also nice to read about an issue that talks not only about cardiovascular health, but ties in to our previous unit about the carbon and nitrogen cycles, and the problems that we are causing by modifying these cycles.

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  8. I thought your title was really interesting, as I think most people think of the environment when they think of the effects of pollution, not humans and their cardiovascular systems. I was surprised when you explained that even driving cars can cause heart disease, and even more when you said that smaller cars penetrate deeper into the body than bigger cars. Overall, your post was very informative and you did a good job.

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  9. Nice Job Kathryn! Your blog was really interesting because I never knew that pollution could cause heart disease as well as cancer. I think it's important for us to know that vehicles cause most of the pollution problems. When you say " People who are stuck in traffic all the time getting to and from work everyday have a greater chance of having heart disease." It worried me because so many people nowadays commute to and from work and the traffic is ridiculous. If all of these people have a higher risk of heart disease our population could decline. I thought you made many strong points in your blog and your connection to Bio class was great! Awesome Job!

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  10. Good job! I never had thought that air pollution could have that big of an affect on humans but your article did a really good job of explaining it. I liked how you kept in the most important parts that really showed what air pollution could do to our bodies. It amazed me that driving your car can lead to heart disease because cars are supposed to make our lives simpler, not make us sick. Why do smaller cars penetrate deeper into the body? I find it interesting that smaller cars are worse for you because I would think bigger cars would have more of an affect since they use more gas. Over all great job with summarizing the article and adding useful quotes to help explain the topic.

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  11. Good job Kathryn! You did a very good job at sticking with the main parts of the article and summarizing it. I had no idea that air pollution could lead to heart disease. I was very surprised that smaller cars are worse for you than larger ones. I think that this problem should be talked about more because I don’t think a lot of people are aware of this problem and its risks. It’s scary to think that just sitting in traffic can increase your chance of having a heart disease because there are so many people that drive to and from work every day. I also think that the heart is really interesting to learn about. Overall, I really liked this blog post and found it very intriguing.

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