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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Ava Sasani

Vast swaths of US will be exposed to polluted air by 2054, says report

People wear masks with orange sky over a city beyond them
People wear masks in New York City on 7 June 2023 as smoke from Canadian wildfires envelops the city. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Getty Images

Vast swaths of the continental US will be exposed to unhealthy, polluted air by 2054, according to an alarming new report.

Researchers at First Street Foundation, a non-profit that analyzes climate risk, found that one in four Americans are already exposed to air that is deemed “unhealthy” by the Air Quality Index (AQI), which provides daily air quality readings. That number is expected to grow by 50% in the next few decades, with an estimated total of 125 million Americans experiencing dangerous air pollution by the middle of the century.

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