I grew up out in the semi-rural areas just outside the suburban area of the city. So not a farm, but halfway between the farms and the suburbs. One of the things I really missed when I moved to the city for school was breathing clean air. I took it for granted when I lived with my parents, but I very quickly realized at school that I hated breathing the dirty city air. There’s no way that can be good for your health, and I’d wager a guess that a pretty big percentage of asthma or any other related health problems for people in the city can be traced back to constantly breathing in the fumes from cars.
Buses are perhaps the worst offenders. I would literally hold my breath every time a bus rolled by because the cloud of fumes trailing behind it is almost unbearable. And yet people are used to it.
I can’t see myself going to the gym, working out with weight lifting equipment, or maybe at home with home gym equipment, and then after that going outside and breathing in fumes any time I need to walk someplace in the city. I guess if you never walk anywhere in the city then you’re ok, but then that’s how you get fat. Lose lose situation.
There isn’t an easy solution either. However, a good first step would be requiring buses to run on electricity or natural gas. Forget the benefit to the “environment,” which is pretty clear, and focus on the human element of the problem. You literally have vehicles spewing out toxic gases and spraying them on every pedestrian on the sidewalk. Why are we ok with that?