This story was originally published by Grinding and appears here as part of the Climatic desk collaboration.
In cities across the country, people of color, many of them low-income, live in neighborhoods crisscrossed by major thoroughfares and highways. Housing there is usually cheaper: it is not considered particularly desirable to wake up in the middle of traffic smoke and fall asleep to the noise of vehicles on the asphalt. But the price of living there is high: the exhaust gases from all those cars and trucks cause higher rates of childhood asthma, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and lung ailments. Many people die younger than they otherwise would, and medical costs and time lost to illness contribute to their poverty.
Imagine if none of those cars and trucks emitted any smoke and instead ran on an electrical charge. That would make a staggering difference in the trajectory, quality and duration of millions of livesparticularly those of young people who grow up near freeways and other sources of air pollution, according to a study by the American Lung Association.
The study found that a widespread transition to electric vehicles could prevent nearly three million asthma attacks and hundreds of child deaths, as well as millions of upper and lower respiratory illnesses. Children, being particularly vulnerable to air pollution, would benefit the most, said study author William Barret, the association’s national director of advocacy and clean air. “Children are smaller, they breathe more air pound for pound than an adult,” Barret said. “The risk can be immediate, but also long-lasting.”
According to the study, some 27 million children live in communities affected by high levels of air pollution. Its vulnerability begins in the womb, where vehicle exhaust, factory smoke and other pollutants can trigger inflammation in the fetus and its mother, causing health problems for both and leading to premature births and congenital problems that They can continue throughout life.
Previous research by the American Lung Association found that 120 million people in the U.S. breathe unhealthy air daily and 72 million live near a major truck route; although, Barret added, there is no safe threshold for air pollution. Affects everyone.
Bipartisan efforts to strengthen clean air standards have already made a difference across the country. In California, which under the Clean Air Act can establish state rules stronger than national standards100 percent of new cars are sold there must be zero emissions by 2035. Truck manufacturers, according to the state Air Resources Board, are already exceeding projected sales of zero-emission trucks, putting them two years ahead of schedule. All that is needed is for the EPA to grant California the necessary waivers to implement these standards.
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Other states have also begun to take action, often crossing partisan lines to do so. Maryland, Colorado, New Mexico and Rhode Island adopted zero-emissions standards starting in late 2023. The Biden administration is taking similar stepsalthough it has slowed down your progress after automakers and the United Auto Workers pressured the administration to relax some of its strictest transition requirements to electric vehicles.
While Barret calls efforts to support the electrification of passenger vehicles interesting, he said the biggest culprits are diesel trucks. “These are five to 10 percent of the vehicles on the road, but they are generating the majority of smog-forming ozone and nitrogen emissions,” Barret said. Ozone is especially harmful. When ozone enters the human body, it causes what amounts to a sunburn, inflaming and degrading respiratory tissues.
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Lately, there has been significant progress on the decarbonization of trucks. The Biden administration has promised to ensure that 30 percent of all large rigs sold are electric by 2030.. California has taken aggressive steps to curb truck emissions, aiming for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to have zero emissions “where possible” by 2035, while also heavily regulating certain types of freight trucks.
Although legislative mandates and tax incentives Because those in the Inflation Reduction Act go a long way toward putting electric vehicles on the road, they do not eliminate internal combustion trucks and cars, which pose enough of a health threat that advocates urge a immediate change.
Ideally, Barret said, the Biden administration would immediately implement clear standards to reduce emissions. Are you considering truck standards That would reduce heavy vehicle emissions by 2032 to 29 percent below 2021 levels using hybrid and battery electric vehicles. The current standard only explicitly requires the use of advanced diesel engines. The study authors also strongly recommend that EPA finalize multi-pollutant regulations for light and medium vehicles, which are currently under consideration. These measures, combined with an increase in public electric vehicle charging stations, vehicle tax credits and other incentives, could change American roads, not to mention health, forever.
“We simply need to see more and more of that given the growing urgency of the climate crisis,” Barret said.