Air pollution continues to plague many large U.S. cities, where coal plants and tailpipe emissions poison the air with asthma-aggravating, cancer causing ozone and particle emissions. But the picture, and the air, is much clearer in Peoria, Springfield and a few dozen other mid-sized meccas, according to the American Lung Association’s annual report. See what the air rates where you live.
Tags: · air, American Lung Association, Asthma, car emissions, Carbon Dioxide, coal plants, COPD, diabetes, heart disease, lungs, Ozone, particle pollution, pollution, smog
Laurie Johnson, chief economist, The Climate Center, NRDC
Last Friday, just before the holiday weekend, President Obama caved to GOP demands by withdrawing plans to strengthen the nation’s public health standard for ozone pollution (“smog”) under the Clean Air Act.
It’s hard to make sense of. Tightening the ozone public health standard to 70 parts per billion (as EPA intended) from the current level of 75 ppb would save 4,300 lives and prevent 23,000 cases of aggravated asthma, 770,000 hospital visits, 2,200 heart attacks, and 2.6 million days of missed work or school, every year.
Tags: · EPA rules on smog, greenrightnow.com, Obama and smog, OtherVoicesBlog, smog, smog controls
Has Obama thrown over the health of the American people to win a little love from pro-business forces by nixing tighter smog standards?
That seems to be the question of the week, following the Administration’s surprise announcement last Friday that stronger smog controls being readied by the EPA would have to wait until 2013.
Tags: · BarbaraKesslerBlog, environmentalists angry about Obama decision on smog standard, greenrightnow.com, Obama Administration, outdated smog standard, smog, smog standards
Many American’s are feeling the stress of extreme heat and drought this summer, but we’re also experiencing a worsening smog problem. Most of the nation – from seaside suburbs to our national parks – has experienced health-threatening “bad air” days this year due to smog pollution, according to a new analysis of government air pollution data by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Tags: · bad air, greenrightnow.com, Natural Resources Defense Council, orange alerts, smog
The American Lung Association has released its list of the 11 biggest “clean air” events of 2010. Eight events marked milestones that provide greater protection from dangerous air pollutants, while three represented delays that have life-threatening consequences. This year’s Lung Association list also commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Clean Air Act, the historic law credited with helping protect Americans from breathing dirty, unhealthy air.
Tags: · American Lung Association, Charles D. Connor, Clean Air Act, diesel engines, greenrightnow.com, Gulf oil spill, industrial pollution, Ozone, particle pollution, pollutants, power plants, President and CEO of the American Lung Association, smog, tailpipe exhaust, toxics from cement
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
You know those smoggy, hazy days when you look toward downtown to find the skyscrapers obscured behind a ripply, gray veil? What horrible pollution, you think. And it may be.
But watch out, those other days when the skyscrapers blaze brightly under clear blue skies may be deceptively hazardous to your health as well, or maybe more so.
Tags: · Air Pollution, arterosclerosis, Asthma, carbon dioxide emissions, cardiovascular illness, diabetes, exhaust fumes, micro particles, National Environmental Public Health Tracking Record, particulate matter, respiratory illness, smog
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Quick get me to a de-tox chamber!
I hate to pile on, but underneath all the bad news about our sickly economy and fragile atmosphere is an oil slick of foreboding tidings about our ailing everyday environment.
Take last week’s study in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that people living in the smoggiest cities are more likely to die from respiratory diseases. The study of nearly half a million adults found that ground-level ozone has a longer-term impact than previously recognized, resulting in “a significant increase in the risk of death from respiratory causes”. That makes so much sense. We’re warned to stay in on “alert” days when ozone levels are high; especially the young, the old and people with asthma. It stands to reason that ozone could be cumulatively damaging.
Tags: · 1, 4 dioxane, BarbaraKesslerBlog, brain tumors, breast cancer, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, cell phones, formaldehyde, pharmaceuticals, respiratory illness, Silent Spring Institute, smog, Susan G. Komen for the Cure
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Just like you hunt for that Energy Star tag when examining a fridge or washer, people in California can now duck under the hood of any new 2009 model car to get an at-a-glance emissions rating.
The Environmental Performance sticker, mandated to begin on Jan. 1 for all new model cars, will include two scores, one rating the car’s smog emissions and the other its greenhouse gas output. The air pollutants for the latter include carbon dioxide emissions, which make up the greatest volume of greenhouse gases. Gas engine cars emit nitrous oxides, methane gases, hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide and other emissions.
Tags: · Air Resources Board, California, Electric Cars, Environmental Performance, Greenhouse Gases, Hybrids, smog
Barbara Kessler
Andrew Winston
Danielle Nierenberg
Anthony Swift