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America’s Skies Have Gotten Clearer, but Millions Still Breathe Unhealthy Air – The New York Times

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America’s Skies Have Gotten Clearer, but Millions Still Breathe Unhealthy Air – The New York Times

When asked about climate change, President Trump often shifts the focus to America’s “clean air.” “We have the cleanest air in the world in the United States and it’s gotten better since I’m president,” he said again this month while meeting with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar of Ireland. America’s air is much cleaner than it used to be, but it’s still not “the cleanest.” And recent data suggests that air pollution is ticking back up.

Are Big Houses Making Americans Unhappy? – The Atlantic

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Are Big Houses Making Americans Unhappy? – The Atlantic

American homes are a lot bigger than they used to be. In 1973, when the Census Bureau started tracking home sizes, the median size of a newly built house was just over 1,500 square feet; that figure reached nearly 2,500 square feet in 2015.

This rise, combined with a drop in the average number of people per household, has translated to a whole lot more room for homeowners and their families: By one estimate, each newly built house had an average of 507 square feet per resident in 1973, and nearly twice that—971 square feet—four decades later.