New York City contains a hell of a lot of people all jammed into a small-ish amount of space. On top of that, we have power plants, mack trucks passing through, giant boats in our harbors and everyone with a car drives where they’re going even if they could walk there faster. So color us shocked, shocked, that a report from the American Lung Association says New York City has terrible air quality and we’re breathing poison every day. What else did you think made New York City residents so tough and resilient?
The news comes courtesy of CBS, who reports that according to the ALA, New York, Queens and the Bronx all got F’s in the association’s annual air quality report. Specifically, our air is full of ozone and particle pollution, which can cause wheezing and coughing, and asthma attacks if you’ve got asthma. Brooklyn didn’t even have a monitor, because it’s not like anyone who wants to keep on living was gonna stand around near the BQE or even along Schermerhorn during peak hours measuring air quality.
When asked for comment on their air being full of pollution, New Yorkers in all five boroughs declined, stating that they “had somewhere to be soon” and that they “knew traffic would be a bitch” before driving onto a highway next to a residential area packed full of essentially parked cars.