Air pollution has had profound effects on the economy of the United States in addition to the ongoing health issues. A recent study conducted by the CDC and WHO estimates that the economic cost of air pollution that resulted in increased healthcare expenses at around $21 billion. This staggering number leaves no room for misinterpretation as it can be used to combat other problems that are present in the country. To improve the quality of life around the world, greenhouse gases must be eliminated and replaced with clean air. This would mean cutting jobs in the fossil fuel sector but those jobs would almost certainly translate to the building or maintenance of safer and less costly renewable energy plants. An economic model built by the US Council of Economic Advisors shows that clean energy job growth exceeded just over 110,000 and it accounted for about 4% of all jobs added nationally in 2018 (US Econ Report, February 2,2019). With these studies, the financial incentive regarding healthcare and economic stability for removing air pollutants from the environment for better health care are clearer now than they have ever been. These lifestyle influences are only going to become more prominent and extreme in the coming years if air pollution is not addressed. The financial offsets that air pollution has on people are great enough that it should warrant change itself. Add on to this the fact that food supply is being cut because of increased pollutants in the air and air pollution can become an even bigger disaster for people all over the world. 

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.