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Resource Library / Air Pollution / Ozone Pollution

Smog Pollution in Seven Simple Steps

Fact Sheet

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Full text

Smog, or ground level ozone, is a powerful lung irritant. Children shouldn't have to breathe polluted air.

Polluters don't have the right to hurt us by using our sky as their sewer.

Ozone up high: protection from dangerous radiation.
Ozone down low: smog pollution. Dangerous for air breathers!

What is smog? 

Think NOX and VOCs. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as methane and benzene react with nitrogen oxides (NOX) — from oil and gas development, cars, trucks, power plants, and factories.

Chemicals + sunlight + heat = ground level ozone, or smog

Smog hurts little lungs

Kids play outside more than grown-ups and take more breaths than grown-ups. Smog interferes with lung development, causes bronchitis and pneumonia, and triggers asthma.

Smog hurts our grandparents too! 

Smog increases heart failure, emergency room visits, hospital admissions, and even death rates.

Smog hurts our plants and trees. 

Smog stunts tree growth and damages leaves. It makes some plants more susceptible to disease and insect damage.

We aren't adequately protected from smog — yet — and that's against the law. So EPA is proposing new national smog standards.

Tell EPA to give us strong standards that protect little lungs.

Clean air is good for economic health. 

Polluters always tell us the sky is falling when we want to clean up our air. They've been wrong for 40 years. They're wrong again.

They just want to protect their right to pollute.

What can we do about smog? 

Polluters don't have the right to hurt us. Children shouldn't have to breathe harmful air. Moms and dads shouldn't have to worry about smog.

Tell EPA to give us strong smog standards that protect little lungs.

Learn more about Moms’ work on ozone pollution, or smog.

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