Why the current Air Quality Index tool should go the way of analog T.V.

The public needs and deserves AQI simplification – why? When I was teaching a digital electronics principles class at California State University, Long Beach during the 1987-’88 academic year, this is the class I liked the best – I taught three different electronics classes in all. The students, besides being taught material that in comparison … Read more

The great L.A. smog that really no one saw coming

The summer of 1943 was a season that Los Angeles citizens would do well to always remember. For it was during this time that the L.A.-area’s first major smog episode occurred. According to the California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board (CARB), associated fallout from this event included, among other things, upset stomachs and “burning … Read more

New rule to further smog-forming-pollutant reduction in heavy-duty trucks in California adopted

The below Aug. 28, 2020 press release is from the California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board. The California Air Resources Board late yesterday [Aug. 27, 2020] approved a multi-pronged regulation that will dramatically reduce smog-forming emissions from heavy-duty diesel trucks. The “Heavy-Duty Low NOx Omnibus Regulation” will require manufacturers to comply with tougher emissions … Read more

Air pollution, digestive tract disorders and the connection between them – revisited

Strong evidence suggests there is a link between air pollution and compromised gut health. This topic was first explored on the Air Quality Matters blog on Feb. 26, 2014 in the post: “Air pollution, digestive tract disorders and the connection between them.” Since that time, some important developments have surfaced in the academic, medical and … Read more

California ports poised to get cleaner, greener with new state rule

The below Aug. 27, 2020 press release is from the California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board. The California Air Resources Board today approved a new regulation designed to further reduce pollution from ocean-going vessels while docked at California’s busiest ports. The rule builds on progress achieved by the groundbreaking At-Berth Regulation adopted in 2007. … Read more

Air quality in the broader context of a planet undergoing surface warming

The past four or five years are unquestionably among the hottest in history ever recorded: An oft-repeated message and a condition personally witnessed and attested to by myriad people. If world warming of late seems unprecedented that’s because it is. So, too, it would appear is air-pollution-contributed premature death: 7 million worldwide annually according to … Read more

Messing with weather: Is that messed up – or what? Maybe, maybe not

Fooling with Mother Nature is almost certainly asking for trouble. Where this is going is nobody wants a planet that climate change-wise or temperature change-wise reaches the point of no return. If that happens, it’s theoretically curtains. But, don’t think for a second that humankind can’t change weather or climate. We can and have. Want … Read more

Climate change: Making or not making air pollution in America worse?

There are three distinct possibilities: There is evidence that climate change has altered the concentration or level of pollution in air The evidence of the effect climate change has on the concentration or level of pollution in air is lacking Climate change has no influence on pollution in air period The American Lung Association seems … Read more

Federal court judge reinstates methane-waste rule; BLM rule-rescission-attempt fails

The below Jul. 16, 2020 press release is from the Center for Biological Diversity. A federal judge late yesterday reinstated the Bureau of Land Management’s 2016 methane waste rule, aimed at protecting people and the climate from methane waste and pollution from oil and gas extraction on public lands. The ruling is the third defeat … Read more