Fighting for Air, Locally

By: Evan M
Published On: 8/16/2007 3:06:24 PM

Another day, another indicator that air quality matters to all of us.
Researchers in Taiwan have demonstrated for the first time that urban air pollution simultaneously affects key indicators of cardiovascular risk in young adults: inflammation, oxidative stress, coagulation and autonomic dysfunction.
- Science Daily

If Taipei seems to far away, how about Mexico:

Children who are chronically exposed to higher levels of air pollution show marked deficiencies in lung growth and function, and not just short-term breathing problems, according to researchers in Mexico. ... Strikingly, the effect of pollutant exposure on FEV1 among the children in their study was slighter greater than the effect of exposure to maternal smoking among children in the United States.
- Science Daily

There's more below the break.
Taiwan is the reason I care about this issue. In 2000 I was sent to Taipei for work, my first (and so far only) trip to Asia. I spent a week there taking meetings and discussing data centers and information infrastructure with industrialists and equipment vendors. I brought two handkerchiefs and five white shirts with me. That should have been enough for a week.


(This video is "Driving Around Taipei" by heweili on Photobucket, if you look at the sky, it looks like it's about to rain, but it's not - that's the color of the sky in Taipei.)

While I was there, I came home every night with grey soot being blown out of my nose constantly, and orange-yellow residue on the collars of my stark white shirts. I had to send my shirts and handkerchiefs to be laundered twice, just to keep myself looking clean for my meetings. By the end of the week, I felt like I had bronchitis. I cannot imagine how the locals live every day in that air.

So I didn't come by my environmental opinions honestly and idealistically, I only came by them by witnessing what happens if we don't do something about pollution before it becomes overwhelming.

Which brings me back to my home, Leesburg. Earlier this week I had the pleasure of talking to Irish Grandfield, Senior Environmental Planner for the Town of Leesburg. He comes from a long background in local government, having worked in Loudoun and Fairfax for much of his career. He has also served on the Metro Washington Air Quality Committee. He told me that Fairfax County has a policy which prohibits the parks department from mowing and using gas-powered landscaping tools on Code Red air quality days, but there is no similar policy in Leesburg or Loudoun. I know there are many participants on Raising Kaine from Fairfax, so I hope you'll be pleased to hear that Fairfax at least is leading by example when it comes to mowing and blowing on bad air quality days.

For Leesburg, Irish suggested I talk to Tom Mason, the Director of Engineering and Public Works for the town.

I spoke with Tom, and he told me that there is no current policy limiting mowing and blowing on Code Orange and Red air quality days, replying that the air quality, "hasn't been that bad out here." He said that if the Council of Governments issued a directive to limit the use of gas-powered landscaping equipment, Leesburg would probably implement a policy to do so.

I brought this issue to my town council member, Kelly Burk. (Note: I am a volunteer for her campaign.) Last Tuesday, Councilmember Burk brought this issue before the Town Council, and a recommended policy will be forthcoming in the next month or two.

"The town will come to the next meeting in September with a recommended wording for the new policy for code orange day activities.  I mentioned the mowing issue in particular."
-Leesburg Town Council Member Kelly Burk

I believe we need to get out ahead of this issue in Leesburg and Loudoun. The air will remain "not that bad out here" only if we do something to keep it that way. The issues of development, traffic and air quality are tightly interrelated. The more development we have, the more cars, lawnmowers and HOA landscaping we generate. The more cars on our roads, the more traffic and delays. The more delays and idling cars, the greater the ground-level ozone in Loudoun County. (And none of this counts the air pollution from the jets at Dulles!)

I'm hopeful that a few phone calls and an email will have done some small good in managing our local air quality. It doesn't take much effort to make a difference when you do it locally.

(Crossposted in large part from Leesburg Tomorrow)

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