As I was walking through a park in New York City one day I noticed two things, the stars were hard to find and the air seems almost thick in comparison to the air you find in let’s say somewhere nearby but still far enough like, Pennsylvania.

As most New Yorkers already know, the air is different here, it’s more polluted and we don’t see the thousands of twinkling stars in the night sky but we do have the city lights to compensate, sort of. We all enjoy the mesmerizing view of NYC’s beautiful skyline but have you ever wanted to just look up into the night sky and see the stars. So this train of thought led me to a separate station with the question of what exactly is in our NYC air?

 

Looking into the NYC environment protection website I found some interesting factors that impact our health and wellness.  

An interesting statistic is that air pollution in NYC contributes to %6 of the annual deaths; death by breathing should not be a worry on our minds no matter what the percentage. Unfortunately it is and the causes are preventable. Certain forms of air pollution that negatively affect our bodies include fine particle manner, which are airborne particle that are 2.5 micrometers in diameter or less.

 

The thing about PM2.5 is that these airborne particles take a significant toll on our health and well being causing inflammation in our airways, intensifying lung and heart disease, and contributing to infant mortality rates. The source of these particles include all types of combustion sources including motor vehicles and heating sources; these are also the sources we have to combat in order to limit and ultimately eliminate the emissions of PM2.5 in our air. Other gases include Nitrogen Oxides, which are emitted from fuel combustion; they harsh little guys irritate our lungs and can really take a toll on the ozone.

 

These are just a few of the harmful particles that we breathe in on a daily basis. Luckily, we have improved as a city but, a lot more needs to be done in order to limit the harmful affects of breathing in the NYC air has on our bodies.