Environmental Success Story

Air pollution success story

Los Angeles, wedged between the ocean to its west and mountains to its east, is built for air pollution. Contaminants from cars, utilities and factories pump out particles and gases that enshroud the city in smog.

California became the first state to regulate air pollution when then-Governor Ronald Reagan signed the Air Resources Act in 1967. The U.S. caught up with California three years later when another California Republican, President Richard Nixon, signed the Clean Air Act.

California maintains its role as an environmental law laboratory. This fall it will introduce a statewide cap-and-trade program to gradually reduce its climate pollution.

Read more energy & sustainability news.

Source: Bloomberg

Air Pollution in the News

Air pollution continues to be a problem reported in the news. Here are some recent stories that caught our attention:

• Illinois - Air Quality Index over 100 - Examiner
• Connecticut - dangerous humid winds - Fox News
• New York - chemical fire - WYNT
• Kansas - air quality alert issued - KWCH
• Hong Kong - storm creates smog - Bloomberg

Smog and Stokes

Factors for stroke include: predisposition for weak blood vessels, smoking, and poor air quality. Combine any of these and you have a deadly combination.

For more on how smog increases the risk of stroke, click here to see the Video.

Symptoms of stroke:

• Numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg — especially on one side of the body
• Confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance, poor coordination
• Severe headache with no known cause

If you notice anyone with sudden onset of those symptoms, they should seek immediate medical attention.

The National Stroke Association recommends you do the following to reduce your risk:

• Eat a healthful diet
• Don’t smoke
• Be active and exercise
• Limit alcohol use
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Manage high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol

Also, purify your air. The fine particles in the air are what increase the risk of stroke. Our purifiers increase the ozone, so the particles stick together, becoming larger.

Source: Press Enterprise

The science of air pollution

When people think about air pollution, they usually think about smog, acid rain, CFC's, and other forms of outdoor air pollution. But did you know that air pollution also can exist inside homes and other buildings? It can, and every year, the health of many people is affected by chemical substances present in the air within buildings.

They recommend a wonderful activity for older students, which might make a terrific science fair project here. But young children can begin thinking about clean air with some prompts such as the one in the following scenario:

     Many communities are trying to do their part to reduce the level of black carbon pollution in the air. It is difficult for a small city or town to restrict driving or to impose pollution regulations on trucks and automobiles. However, another source of soot is from the burning ofwood in fireplaces and charcoal briquets in barbeques.
     Some communities have imposed a ban or sharp restriction on the recreational use of wood-burning fireplaces and barbeques. It is unclear whether these new regulations will be enforceable, nor how effective the new ordinances will be in reducing emissions. However, one could easily argue that these recreational activities are non-essential, and that anything which will help reduce soot production is worth trying.

Ask the children to choose a side and debate the reasons soot should or should not be restricted.

Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Library