What Color Is Your Air Quality Today?

Washington D.C.

I live in a world where the only significant change that Air Quality has on our daily lives, is whether or not you get to ride the bus for free.

You see, in the Northern Virginia area, if the Air Quality Index is red or higher, you can take the Metro Bus without paying.

Some people love it and look forward to bad air. Others hate it because ridership goes up and commute times increase.

But a few questions must be asked.

What exactly is air pollution and how is it caused?
How is it measured?
What are it’s effects?
What is being done to stop it?

But before we get into the science, lets take just a second and talk about recent air quality topics in the news.

We’ve been reading and talking about the controversial decision made by the Chinese government to pull millions of cars off the road in Beijing prior to the Olympics in an effort to clean up the air quality. But did it work? Doesnt any type of pollution take a long time to dissipate or clean up? After all, millions of people say that the pollution we put out today will take years (if not decades or hundreds of years) to clean up.

Well, THIS news story just came out 5 hours ago. Entitled “Beijing’s best air in a decade due to Olympic Measures” it says:

“Main pollutants were down 50 percent from normal during the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics, and 45 percent for the whole month, the bureau said on its website.

“This was the best level in 10 years,” the bureau said.

Among drastic measures to ensure clean air for the Beijing Olympics, private cars were only allowed on the roads on every second day using an odds and even number plate system.

This took about one million of the car’s 3.3 million cars off the roads.

More than 100 heavily polluting factories were also temporarily shut down, while some construction work was suspended.”

So we know that cutting down on the causes of air pollution can result in immediate benefits. Lets not say it cant be done. (though they did take drastic measures and we cant expect to institute these types of changes overnight)

So what exactly is air pollution?

Air pollution is the human introduction into the atmosphere of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the environment.^[1] Air pollution causes deaths^[2] and respiratory disease.^[3] Air pollution is often identified with major stationary sources, but the greatest source of emissions is mobile sources, mainly automobiles.^[4] Gases such as carbon dioxide, which contribute to global warming, have recently gained recognition as pollutants by climate scientists, while they also recognize that carbon dioxide is essential for plant life through [[photosynthesis].Air pollution is caused by Factories,Car Fuems and much more. (Wikipedia)

Now do me a favor. Go back up to the first sentence of the bullet above and read it again. Discomfort, Damage, Death and Disease. That’s pretty scary stuff, yeah?

How is it measured?

The E.P.A. uses Automatic Methods. These methods are capable of producing quantitative measurements of individual pollutants, on an hourly cycle. The level of pollutants such as ozone, oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulates can be determined very accurately. The equipment used includes apparatus which analyze the air using a range of spectroscopic methods such as infra-red or ultra-violet absorption, ultra-violet fluorescence and chemiluminescence.

So even after having read this, the answer to me is still “I have really no idea, but there is some pretty fancy equipment out there being used to determine whether or not people get to ride the bus for free.”

What are the effects of air pollution?

Air pollution can lead to Acid Rain, poor Air Quality, high levels of Chlorofluorocarbon, Global warming, Haze, Ozone depletion and Smog, to name just a few things. Of course it can also exaserbate the breathing ability of the elderly, children and anyone who is prone to lung conditions. It can be detrimental to those with heart conditions and it’s long term effects can result in a host of diseases and according to some studies, cancer.

In the Shenandoah Valley, where I like to hike and camp, the haze is so thick that from the tops of some of the Appalachian Mountains, on bad days, the view is restricted to 5 miles or less. Just 20 years ago, you could see for more than 50 miles from these same spots. The majority of this “haze” comes from air pollution being created in the Ohio Valley! Wind currents and topography funnels the pollution right into the valley. Of course, trying to pass legislation from constituents in Virginia, to stop pollution in Ohio, isn’t very effective.

What is being done to stop it?

United States, the Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1963, the Air Quality Act in 1967, the Clean Air Act Extension of 1970, and Clean Air Act Amendments in 1977 and 1990. Numerous state and local governments have enacted similar legislation, either implementing federal programs or filling in locally important gaps in federal programs. (Wikipedia) As you can see, changes were made on average, about every 7 years from 1963 to 1990. But its been 18 Years since the Federal Government has updated the Clean Air Act!

The Federal Government has decided to leave the question of Air Pollution up to the individual states, and for their credit, many states have done a good job legislating change. (others however have not ) This does nothing to help those states who suffer from another states pollution.

What can we do? The things that we can do is almost to numerous to mention in one article. But the big ones are:

Utilize mass transit (if it is available in you’re area)
Do most of you’re weekly errands at one time instead of driving around town every night after work.
When the time comes, switch to an L.E.V. (A low emission vehicle (LEV) is one that emits reduced greenhouse gas emissions compared to others of a similar type and/or function. An LEV is defined as “within 25% of the best in the class”. My wife and I recently purchased one and we are getting between 35 and 40 m.p.g. (If you would like to learn more about them, drop me an E-mail._
Know where you’re fossil fuel burning electrical plants are and find out how much pollutents they are off gassing. Are they instituting Co2 capturing technology? Are they supplement power along the grid with Wind Energy? Does you’re utility company give you an option between black power and green power?
Keep reading articles like this. Learn about the issues. Share this article. Make the change you want in you’re life.

As always, don”t forget to Alter the Eco and keep up the good fight,

Adam

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