Happy Earth Day 2022!
Thanks to the U.S. government agency NOAA for the infographic posted for this very special day. There are so many good ideas represented in this diagram!
We’re so happy when our son can wake up in time to catch the school bus. Two days this week he needed me to drive him the three miles to school and we noticed 100’s of cars doing the same thing. Imagine how much pollution we can save if more kids take school buses more often! Converting to electric or CNG cars and buses will make for better air quality including less carbon emissions.
If you’ve read previous early blogs you may have heard my story but if not here’s a summary of my health/career bio: I was born with asthma so my parents quit smoking cigarettes. Air pollution growing up in D.C. area in the 1960's as well as allergies triggered many severe, almost fatal asthma attacks. There were red alert smog days when we could not go outside. Becoming aware of my sensitive lung issues made me more interested in our environment, learning about weather and earth science in high school, college, and master's program eventually becoming an environmental geologist. I spent my career working on public health issues and for seven years blogging/photographs on global sustainability!
I just posted this bio on the American Lung Association website and found great information:
What's the State of YOUR Air?
For 23 years, the American Lung Association (ALA) has analyzed data from official air quality monitors to compile the State of the Air report. The more you learn about the air you breathe, the more you can protect your health and take steps to make the air cleaner and healthier.
You can make a difference in the air that you breathe.
For the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area:
Tied for 1st for cleanest metropolitan areas in the country for Ozone
Ranked 99 for 24-hour particle pollution out of 221 metropolitan areas
Ranked 127 for annual particle pollution out of 202 metropolitan areas
Check out the air quality for where you live and see how the air has improved since issuing the Clean Air Act in 1970 but there is still work to do according to ALA:
The “State of the Air” 2022 report finds that despite decades of progress on cleaning up sources of air pollution, more than 40% of Americans—over 137 million people—are living in places with failing grades for unhealthy levels of particle pollution or ozone. This is 2.1 million more people breathing unhealthy air compared to last year’s report. Nearly 9 million more people were impacted by daily spikes in deadly particle pollution than reported last year. In the three years covered by this report, Americans experienced more days of “very unhealthy” and “hazardous” air quality than ever before in the two-decade history of “State of the Air."
Western U.S. wildfires burning more frequently and intensely are increasing due to climate change which is the main reason for the increasing air pollution. We all need to do more to celebrate this beautiful Earth every Day as well as give back and find ways to make a difference to improve all life.