User:Oscott101/San Joaquin Valley

Air Pollution
The San Joaquin Valley supplies a quarter of the food on American plates which means there are millions of beef and dairy cattle, acres of crop-dusting, and the trucking industry to transport these operations. This creates airborne particles that carry on and swirl in the pollution, trapping bowl made by the mountains. The cattle are on land that spreads out to be 800 or more, meaning trucks haul 6,000 miles a day to feed the cattle lots. Along the way, these trucks release nitrogen oxide from their tailpipes, which reacts in the air to create nitric acid. Once it's in the air, the molecules of nitric acid blend with the molecules of ammonia gas that rises from cow manure and urine, creating ammonium nitrate. Ammonium nitrate is especially dangerous and inhalation of high concentrations can cause respiratory tract irritation. (Elyse's edits)

sources: [https://www.sparetheair.org/understanding-air-quality/air-pollutants-and-health-effects/whos-at-risk#:~:text=Poor%20air%20quality%20can%20irritate,can%20cause%20more%20serious%20problems. -]

multimedia

 Air Pollution Affect: Asthma  (Priscilla’s edits)

The percentage for adults and children who suffer from asthma in the San Joaquin Valley increases yearly. Asthma in this region is typically caused because of poor air quality. There is poor air quality because of farming that is continuous and there is too much pollution that is floating around from machinery and even let out of almond trees. On average, 20.8% of all adults in this region have been diagnosed with asthma. The significant cause of this is from being outdoors and being exposed to unhealthy air as most who have been diagnosed work outdoors. Adults who work in agriculture and construction are more likely to report any signs of asthma because of the amount of time that is spend outdoors. 34.3% of all children ages 1-17 in the SJ Valley have been diagnosed with asthma. Asthma has long term effects and can shape a child’s life. Children with asthma experience more emergency room visits than the average person as well as poor attendance in school. All who have been affected by asthma continue to suffer and there is no significant change in this Valley since there is reliance on agriculture.

Sources I used:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/california-has-some-of-the-worst-air-quality-in-the-country-the-problem-is-rooted-in-the-san-joaquin-valley

[https://0-www.sciencedirect.com.pacificatclassic.pacific.edu/science/article/pii/S1309104220300209? https://0-www.sciencedirect.com.pacificatclassic.pacific.edu/science/article/pii/S1309104220300209?]

https://www.healthiersanjoaquin.org/pdfs/2016/asthma%20and%20air%20quality.pdf

https://chhs.fresnostate.edu/ccchhs/documents/childrens-institute/asthma.pdf

Negative Effects on Public Health (Elyse's edit)
source:multimedia

The San Joaquin Valley suffers from extremely high ozone levels that tend to increase even more on hot days. Poor air quality affects the health of all demographics. Children are especially vulnerable to air pollution because they breathe more than adults in general, which means they inges t more air pollution than adults do. This can cause asthma as well as many other respiratory illnesses that affect their breathing. In California, more than 5% of children under the age of 6 have blood lead levels that put them above state and federal reporting guidelines for lead exposure. Active adults that exercise and are healthy are in danger as well. Exercising outdoors and deep, fast breaths means they’re exposing themselves to breathing in high levels of pollutants.Seniors or older adults may have pre-existing health conditions that affect their hearts and/or lungs that makes ingesting poor air much worse. The soil in and around homes have been proved to be contaminated with lead and arsenic due to a battery recycling plant. Although the plant closed and a cleanup was funded, thousands of homes are still contaminated. Lead exposure from industrial emissions and lead paint in old homes are major contributors to finding lead in children's blood levels. Children breathe in the neurotoxins through the small flakes and paint dust that are prevalent in older, poorly maintained homes. Exposure to lead in children at such a young age can lead to developmental problems such as learning and hearing disabilities, lowers IQs, behavioral problems, hyperactivity, and delayed puberty.

Valley Fever
Coccidioidomycosis, also known as Valley Fever, is an infection caused by the fungus, Coccidioides. The most common way to get Valley Fever is by inhaling Coccidioides spores in the air. Symptoms of valley fever include fatigue, fever or night sweats, coughing, headaches, muscle aches, and rashes. People at high risk of getting Valley Fever are people of color, others with underlying diseases, pregnant, and people who live in areas heavily surrounded with soil dust. Although this isn’t a chemical like the other air pollutants, it is spread the same- airborne particles that are blown around in the air through dust emissions.

Oral Health
Oral health and oral health accessibility are developing public health topics of interest in the San Joaquin Valley. Currently, demographics point to accessibility to Oral Health services in the Central Valley as being limited due primarily to a shortage of licensed providers. Additionally, many residents of the San Joaquin Valley face other barriers to dental care such as lack of insurance, transportation, and language incompatibility. However, leadership at both the state and local levels have launched a variety of initiatives to combat the problem. In 2019, Fresno County launched San Joaquin Valley's first ever Oral Health Improvement Plan, a county-wide evaluative process to improve the quality and accessibility of oral care in consultation with community members and industry experts.

Connie's Edits (Cpediav)

Owen's Edits

I have contributed to the article titled "San Joaquin Valley." This has been my edit to the article:

"This drought is not only affecting humans, with farmland  taking much of the blow, but also the wildlife  in California as well. The drought continues to worsen as the amount of groundwater and rainfall decreases across the state." I have cited this sentence as there are a few links on the main page of this article. For reference, this was stated after the statement, "The valley has experienced a severe and intensifying megadrought since the early 2010s."

I am hoping to added more information on the drought, such as possible ways we are already contributing to end it. There are a couple of strong sources I can use as seen in a few of the sources below.

Sources I used:

https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fsoilsystems5040058

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7577470

Luke's Edits (BelfurBlue)
Studies conducted in 2010 of the health of fish in the San Joaquin River have found that the levels of mercury found in fish are high. The same study found that the anglers who ate these fish were being exposed to those high levels of mercury. State agencies attempt to make changes to protect the anglers but these proved ineffective against the issue of the consumption of contaminated fish.

Fish in this region have also been registered to contain a neurodevelopment toxin called methylmercury caused by pollution of old gold mines. In the Delta region, a journal study from 2007 reported 95% of women consumed commercial fish, and another 32% consumed sport fish. Of these women, 29% consumed over the consumption limits.

My Sources: Shilling, Fraser et al. “Contaminated fish consumption in California's Central Valley Delta.” Environmental research vol. 110,4 (2010): 334-44. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2010.02.002

Silver, Elana, et al. “Fish Consumption and Advisory Awareness among Low-Income Women in California’s Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta.” Environmental Research, vol. 104, no. 3, Jan. 2007, pp. 410–19. EBSCOhost, https://0-doi.org.pacificatclassic.pacific.edu/10.1016/j.envres.2007.03.003.