Ozone pollution in US national parks is almost the same as in large cities
- National parks in the US tend to represent the very best nature has to offer, but over the past century, pollution has infiltrated pristine park environments.
- In 2015, a national advocacy group released a report giving many popular parks poor grades for unhealthy air, haze, and impacts from climate change.
- To look further into the issue, researchers analyzed levels of ozone and their impact on visits to 33 national parks from 1990 to 2014.
- The study found that although cities used to have more unhealthy ozone days per year, today parks and metro areas have virtually the same number of "bad air days" on average.
- The study also found that 35% of all national park visits occur when ozone levels are elevated.
"Another glorious day, the air as delicious to the lungs as nectar to the tongue" — John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra (1911)
Most Americans associate US national parks with pristine environments that represent the very best of nature. In the 1916 law that established the National Park Service, Congress directed the new agency to "conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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