Discourse for all interested in all things air-quality related
The 21st annual Conference of the Parties (COP-21) meeting in Paris, France is about to get underway. The two-week conference, which begins Nov. 30th and ends Dec. 11th, convenes leaders and climate-change negotiators from 196 nations. There is hope that reached will be a binding accord. Meanwhile, more than a month ago, the World Health Organization … Read more
November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month as so-declared by the Lung Cancer Alliance. Meanwhile, ClimatePlan reports that 20 percent of lung cancer cases in women are non-smoking related. As it relates, on a local broadcast news service reporting on the weather, the subject of wood-burning came up. It’s a regular feature of the weather reporting … Read more
Quite familiar to me are those “Pardon-our-dust” signs, warnings – call them what you will. These are most typically found at sites where construction is taking place. In those situations, the creation of “dust” is often unavoidable. Where I am going with this, well, yesterday, I was in the back yard tending to some yard … Read more
Subsurface enclosed-concourse train stations can be breeding grounds for soot and other harmful air pollution. Such is the case with some train boarding and alighting platform areas at Chicago’s Union Station, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its Nov. 5, 2015 “EPA Study Finds Elevated Particulate Levels in Air on Train Platforms … Read more
Almost two months have passed since news broke on Sept. 18th of the emissions-altering “defeat-device” scandal affecting an estimated 11 million Volkswagen diesel motor vehicles worldwide. VW is possibly already on the hook for an estimated $7.3 billion as it has to do with redress, independent of and without regard to the outcome of any … Read more
This is the second installment of two in this series. As before, individual experiences may vary. From the first installment, basically, what resulted from the STAR performance test where the initial vehicle emissions evaluation was conducted was that my motor vehicle failed to meet spec. At 15 miles per hour and at a revolutions-per-minute (RPM) … Read more
This series chronicles my experience with the STAR vehicle emissions-testing process. Individual experiences may vary. The renewal registration bill arrived in the mail. Registration must be renewed by Dec. 2. The envelope containing the vehicle renewal notice has a postmark date of Sept. 23, 2015 printed or stamped on it. On the “Vehicle Registration Renewal … Read more
As an East Coast resident all of 19 years at the time, prior to my Los Angeles, Anaheim, Fullerton, San Francisco visit in Sept. 1972 – my first trip to the Golden State – I had little idea of what smog was. I was going to Disneyland to take in all the sensory experiences this … Read more
The American Public Transportation Association reports that 71 percent of public transportation (transit) ballot measures put before American voters on Tuesday, Nov. 3 (election day in many states), passed. One in Utah is too close to declare one way or another as of this writing, though, according to a second source, the outcome of the … Read more
Lead in the air is a serious matter. As it has to do with when (and where) present in the air, it is important to rid the air of this extremely unhealthy substance. Which is why eight years earlier, as it happens, “Clean Air Act standards for lead pollution were formalized,” noted the Center for … Read more