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Our air is not good today
By adamg on Thu, 07/07/2016 - 9:13am
High levels of ozone mean the air in Boston will probably be unhealthy today for "sensitive" groups:
Active children and adults, and people with lung disease, such as asthma, should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
how about limiting cars activity instead of people
Instead of telling people to avoid being active outside when there are high ozone levels, the state should close down major roads around Boston and other measures to reduce one of the major causes of this pollution, vehicle exhaust. Telling us that we need to reduce being outside is shameful, are we in China? Reduce vehicle activity instead today.
Great! Don't drive then,
Great! Don't drive then, thanks!
The unhinged anti-Baker guy
He's only here to tell us what to do.
You missed it...
...the point of asking people to limit their activity is to protect their health -- not to address the cause of high levels of ozone.
Great, every day like this
Great, every day like this will be a day off work. Let's close up shop.
Not quite that simple though...
Ground level ozone results from a photochemical reaction between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) mostly from combustion of fossil fuels and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like gasoline fumes, solvents, even natural sources. It takes a while baking in the sun (UV radiation) for the reaction to produce O3 (ozone), so our ozone is mostly from upwind places like the NY/DC corridor, power plants as far away as Ohio and Tennessee, etc. Our NOx and VOCs also follow prevailing wind patterns ending up causing air quality problems for downwind places like NH and Maine, even Nova Scotia (off-shore wind patterns often break that up but can also cause air masses to stall and O3 build up). So EVERYONE needs to drive less so that downwind communities don't have high ozone days. Check out EPA Interstate Air Quality and Ozone Transport, for fun, see also Ozone Scavenging phenomenon, where excess VOCs actually destroy ground level ozone and AQ gets better around highways!