Discourse for all interested in all things air-quality related
When I first stepped foot on Golden State real estate (I’m not a California native), I had little idea what to expect. The year was 1972 and I was all of 19 years old. For me the California experience was like no other I had had up to that time. Included in that was Disneyland, Lombard … Read more
“‘We can no longer afford to consider air and water common property, free to be abused by anyone,’” espoused a determined Richard Nixon in one of his presidential speeches as conveyed in America Revealed, Episode 3: “ELECTRIC NATION,” a 2012 Public Broadcasting System presentation. Question is: In hindsight, could air (and water) afford such a … Read more
The saying: “What you don’t know can’t hurt you,” well, that makes about as much sense as the saying: “Ignorance is bliss.” Ignorance is bliss? According to whom? Then there are other sayings like: “To err is human” or “To err is to be human.” Or, how about: “Err on the side of caution”? As … Read more
At the end of “Cutting-edge transportation: Effective emissions-reductions approaches,” in closing, I wrote: “With that said, transit might just be the best thing going when it comes to mitigating negative environmental impact.” Well, time has come to expound upon that thought. For starters it is helpful to clarify “negative environmental impact.” In the context of … Read more
In America in 2012, according to the American Lung Association (ALA), the good news is the air in much of the country has gotten cleaner. Credit improvement to Clean Air Act standards. The not-so-good news, on the other hand, is that since the ALA released its first State of the Air report in 2000, in other places polluted air … Read more
Progress, quality-of-life and standard-of-living matters are front and center in Part 1. In this, the second – and last – installment of this two-part air-quality series, I am going back in time – figuratively speaking, of course – to find reasons on how, when and maybe why this whole air pollution dilemma came to be. … Read more
Nothing like a lively debate to get the heart racing and blood pumping. On November 7th, I attended a Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP/SCS) public workshop for the county of Fresno in California’s San Joaquin Valley. The purpose of this gathering, attended by a hundred or so people, was to discuss and present ideas about how to shrink … Read more
Deep reflection on standard-of-living and quality-of-life matters is well warranted here if for no other reason than due to the importance of one knowing how the air got the way it is, why it should be cleansed and what can be done to do just that. In the first of this two-part air-quality conversation, talk … Read more
Not all air quality related news is bad. When real progress is made in areas that count more bad-air days than good, that’s a favorable sign and such news can be uplifting. And such is the case in Orange County in Southern California as it relates to the Port of Long Beach (POLB) in regards to … Read more
In the United States, transportation accounts for about 28 percent of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In California’s San Joaquin Valley, GHG emissions are estimated to be as high as 40 percent. Compared to other sectors, emissions from transportation have been increasing more rapidly. “In fact, between 1990 and 2006, growth in U.S. transportation GHG … Read more