A very large percentage of air pollution is due to international trade. Many of these pollutants caused by exporting are spreading across the globe. Pollutants all the way from China have been seen distributed over the western part of the United States. Trading goods is a two man job. It requires someone to transport goods and someone to buy these goods. The global distribution of pollutants has no direct source, instead it has one global source. Since transporting goods adds so much to the total amount of pollution, cutting down the amount of goods transported around the world can greatly reduce pollution emissions. A great place to start reducing transportation of goods is buying local produce in your community. High pollution levels can affect our health as well, so it is important to watch the amount of pollution. AirCasting is a platform which records environment and health to help others see the relationship between the pollution and well-being. For more inf ormation here is an article from Discover. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/citiz … ircasting/

I disagree with you. International trade is one of the most important things we have. It makes the world a better place for everyone.  No one country has everything (i.e.natural resources and factories) they need to sustain or improve their standard of living/quality of life. That is why all countries trade with each other. If there was no international trade you would not have the computer you were typing on, you would not have the car you ride in or many other things we all use every day. Without international trade, the global economy would come to a grinding halt - countries would not even have money to address air pollution. 

I understand you want to prevent air pollution, but stopping international trade would be bad for every country since we all have to help support each other.  There has to be a better way to address pollution.  Maybe we carpool or ride a bike instead of driving.  The problem is, though, if the U.S.A. spends the time and effort to fight pollution (which imposes costs on business and citizens alike) and other countries do not (i.e. China) then  the U.S.A. is put at a competitive disadvantage and other countries at an advantage.  So, all countries need to be on the same page in the fight against pollution or there will be winners and losers.

I agree with you Caroline! I believe that it is good to have a limited amount of goods transported from different countries all around the world. It is also good to have food locally grown, decreasing carbon footprints. The goods made within the country provide jobs for citizens of the country increasing the employment rate. Also, air pollution would be decreased if we limited the amount of goods, then the carbon footprint would be reduced; this would result in a lower average for a person in the specific country.

Madison, I am aware that international trade is very important in our world. I was not suggesting to end the transportation of goods. I merely suggested buying local produce from your community. The ways in which we transport these goods is what adds pollution to the air. Some of the supplies that are transported end up wasted. There are more energy efficient ways to transport these supplies. It is not my goal to stop international trade around the world.