Happy July 4th! I'm sure many of you are excited for the fireworks show that will occur tonight in many cities, large and small. Yes, the fireworks are beautiful, but it's important to think about how it's impacting our environment. It has already been proven that fireworks increase pollution in the atmosphere, but I recently learned that fireworks also emit a fine particulate matter that can travel into your lungs and cause major health issues. I, personally, never really thought about this because fireworks seemed too far away to directly affect any of us. However, an article I read recently proved otherwise. According to a study, the "average concentrations of fine particulate matter, taken over a 24-hour period, are 42 percent greater on July Fourth, compared with the few days before and after the holiday". I found this statistic very concerning because I never really thought about the health impacts of fireworks until now. Moving on, let's talk about the effects of fireworks on the environment. It's already been proven on several occasions that fireworks contribute to air pollution. However, these particles that are launched into the air can't stay up there forever. Most chemicals and particles travel down to the ground at some point, and these are the substances that can negatively affect both human health and environmental health. In general, fireworks contribute to a large amount of air pollution in the United States, and it's predicted to continue this way unless we reduce the number of fireworks we use each year, which I don't see happening anytime soon. July 4th is one of the only times US residents can go out and watch the fireworks, or even light some of their own, so I don't see its usage declining anytime in the near future. Anyways, when you go out to watch those amazing fireworks tonight, don't forget to think about their long term impacts on the environment and human health.
To learn more about how fireworks are affecting the environment, read this article:
To learn more about how fireworks are affecting human health, read this article: https://www.livescience.com/51408-july-4-air-pollution-fireworks.html
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