Aaron Rendon - Super Blog 2

For the first source that I “found”, I was actually lucky enough to have had a classmate suggest it to me when we did peer reviews. What I really liked about this particular source is that it is less specific to the Los Angeles Air Pollution Control District. While my final paper is going to focus on the LAAPCD, I did finally figure it may be a good idea to get safely more broad than the specific details about the LAAPCD. It focuses more on Los Angeles air pollution as a whole. It is almost a bit more anecdotal than my other sources, but I think that could help me to flesh out my argument.

My next source I found is a journal article. What I like about this one, however, is that it was written in 1951. This was only four years after the establishment of the LAACPD, so it was still in its early days. It is fascinating to see their viewpoints on air pollution and smog despite it being a newer problem in the world, rather than the age old issue we know it as today. It gives insight on what they knew about smog at the time, as well as going into detail about the smog problem in Los Angeles, as well as the LAACPD. However, the source also includes a graphic showing a sort of map that represents the way in which the topography of the Los Angeles area affects air pollution.



The next source is actually a photograph that I found within an article. It includes a “before and after” picture that features a building before and after the smog cleared up around it. This will do well to show not only the effects of the LAACPD, but more importantly what Los Angeles was turning into had it not been for the LAACPD. The photos are almost shocking to see when you realize the immense difference between the skyline with and without smog. Not only does it affect the Earth’s natural beauty, but it also shows how dangerous it can be to us. 

My next source is actually a primary source. It is a news article I found via the California Digital Newspaper Collection on the UCR library databases. The article, written in the San Pedro News Pilot, is from the year 1949, and goes into the state of air pollution in the Los Angeles area at the time. On top of that, the article also discusses the LAACPD and what they are doing in order to combat air pollution. It got to a point where the LAACPD needed to ask refineries and plants in Southern California to shut down temporarily due to the air pollution being so dangerous it was considered an emergency.

Lastly, I’ve included another journal article. This one was written by A.J. Haagen-Smit in the Scientific American. What is so great about this particular journal article is that it really goes and dives deep into the real problems caused by air pollution, especially in Los Angeles. The air pollution in the area is described as being an “at times dangerous situation. Two-thirds of the year, smog is evident through eye irritation, peculiar bleach like odors and a decrease in visibility that coincides with the appearance of a brownish haze”. Needless to say, the article does not paint a pretty picture for air pollution. Although not pretty, it is descriptive and will surely be very important for me to help flesh out my argument, especially in terms of how bad air pollution was at the time.

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