Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesReducing air pollution has many positive effects on human health. Air quality regulations over the past 40 years may have saved 1.5 billion birds in the United States, according to a new study published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The North American bird population has fallen by about 2.9 billion birds, or about 29%, over the last 50 years. Without air quality regulations, another 1.5 billion birds might have perished, according to the study. Because the study is observational and not experimental, it can’t say definitively that air regulations saved birds.

Source: Forbes November 30, 2020 19:07 UTC