User:Natalie cali222/Los Angeles Smog

Los Angeles, California is one of the most touristic cities on the west coast, also being one of the most polluted. The city of Los Angeles has battled air pollution and smog for years, and has developed ways to reduce the level of pollution within the last hundred years. The industrial productivity and traffic of the city are the main producers of pollution.

The Cause of Smog in Los Angeles


The primary causes of smog over the city of Los Angeles are automobile traffic and manufacturing/industrial industries. The California Air Resources Board (C.A.R.B.) found in studies that around 50% or more of the air pollution (smog) in Southern California is due to car emissions. Automobiles have become the primary source of air pollution in Los Angeles because it has one of, if not the busiest interstates of California running through it. This would be interstate 101, which goes all the way through Northern to Southern California. There being so much traffic running through this city has lead The C.A.R.B. to create laws and restrictions towards the conditions and efficiencies of cars. This act was done to reduce the amount of polluting automobile emissions being released. This was the only approach taken, since reducing the amount of circulating traffic on interstate 101 was inevitable. An extremely large proportion of the commuters on I-101 are people working in downtown Los Angeles with commercial jobs. There being so many industrial jobs centering in Los Angeles has created the traffic on the highway to be unbearable and causes cars to pollute far more emissions. The cars having to sit through traffic much longer make them pollute more since using more and more gas.

Smog Rate Over the Last 100 Years


Los Angeles is known and proven to be one of the most polluting cities in California, let alone the United States. The city is noted to have heavily polluted air, which has generally created a cloud(layer) of smog that hovers over it. Amazingly, the high level of smog had fallen in Los Angeles starting in the 1960's-70's. This was due to there being more technological advancements and studies based upon air pollution. Programs like the California Smog Check were started, and more efficiencies were created to produce less polluting carbons that potentially create smog. Also, the enforcement of stricter laws were put into place once the city/state realized that the city was highly pollutant to the ozone layer and was causing air to be unhealthy and unsanitary. The enforcement of the United States being the most polluted country in the world, led to the necessity of having to reduce any form of pollution that adds to global warming.