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Flickr photo by Steven Buss Smog shrouds Los Angeles
First you’ll get cooked and then you’ll get choked.
That's what a new state government report is predicting: As climate change causes temperatures to rise in California, ozone levels will climb, too.
The report predicts that by the year 2050, Californians will experience between six to 30 more days per year that exceed the federal government’s ozone safety standards.
In 2005, the number of ozone alert days ranged from 0 in coastal counties, such as Santa Cruz, to 110 in San Bernardino.
The study was sponsored by the California Air Resources Board, and prepared by researchers at UC Davis and UC Berkeley.
"We already know that climate change will bring us increased forest fires, shorter winters, hotter summers and impact our water supply," said Mary Nichols, California Air Resources Board Chairwoman, in a statement. "Now we have scientific evidence that higher temperatures are hurting our lungs, too. To protect public health, we need to take cost-effective measures to slash greenhouse gases now and continue to ratchet down all sources of smog-forming emissions and harmful soot and particles."
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