Air Quality

How Can You Protect Yourself from SMOG Pollution:

What Does Smog Pollution Do to a Human Lung?

• Ozone, one component of smog, reacts chemically with the lungs and throat, resulting in a breakdown and irritation of the tissue.
• Short term symptoms include minor chest pain, sore throat, coughing, wheezing, and persistent lung irritation.
• Most short term symptoms disappear within 12-18 hours. · Long term damage is still unknown, but animal studies have shown a scarring on lung tissue, called fibrosis.
• Statistically significant studies have been difficult to conduct because of the lack of a control group- all of us are exposed to smog pollution on some level.

Who is Most at Risk?

Research scientists at the American Lung Association have identified five groups that are at a greater risk than the general population:

1. Children
2. Elderly citizens
3. Asthma sufferers and those with other allergies
4. People who exercise or work outdoors, especially runners, inline skaters, bicyclists, and tennis players (at courts near busy roads).
5. "Responders," or the 20% of the population who will develop a specific allergy to ground level ozone pollution

Why is Outdoor Exercise So Dangerous on High Smog Days?

• Exercise increases the volume of air inhaled into the lungs by a factor of 10!
• The air is inhaled deeper into the lungs, in order to provide the needed oxygen for muscles to function at a higher level
• Humans breathe through their mouth during exercise, bypassing the natural pollution filters in the sinus and nose.

Why Are Children at a Higher Risk?

• Children spend more time outdoors, up to 50% more than adults
• They also spend more time exercising, up to three times more time each day than adults
• Children breathe more and faster relative to their body weight and lung surface, resulting in a higher dosage of smog poisoning than adults doing the same activity.
• Children have narrower airways, so the same lung or throat inflammation in a child can trigger a crisis situation rather than a simple irritation.

What Can You Do to Protect Yourself During Exercise?

Keep an Eye on the Calendar: Smog is the worst from May to September.

Keep an Eye on Your Watch: Smog levels are highest when the day is the hottest. Avoid staying outdoors during midday and late-afternoon rush hours on Smog-Alert Days.

Keep an Eye on the Weather: Watch for Smog Alerts in the paper and the weather report. Smog is the worst on sunny, hot days, when there is little or no wind. Use the Ambient Air Pollution Monitor on the web just before you exercise.

Keep an Eye on the Traffic: The particulate matter concentrations of smog are dramatically higher near busy roads. Avoid congested streets and intersections as much as possible.

Do Your Part: Try to take a commute alternative to work just one day a week, link your auto trips together- or make them by foot or bicycle. Postpone your yardwork until late evening or early morning. Or, best of all, live close to work, and buy an energy-efficient, cleaner burning vehicle (sport utility vehicles, trucks, and mini-vans are allowed to put out 3-5 times the smog pollution of a typical car).

Resources

Perimeter Transportation Coalition: helps you find alternatives to your solo commute, including discount transit, carpool and vanpool matching, bicycle safety classes and more!

Ambient Air Monitor, from the Environmental Protection Agency: real-time smog pollution measures, so you can adjust your activities around the danger level. For current ozone measures, be sure to choose "Ozone Raw Data."

Clean Air Campaign: your resource for air quality information and how air pollution affects health, community and the environment. Detailed information about SMOG, monitoring air quality, protecting your health, how to sign-up for SMOG alerts, and what to do to "Go Green."

1-87-RIDEFIND: is the rideshare agency for metro Atlanta. It helps connect carpool and vanpool partners and provides the Guaranteed Ride Home Program to commuters taking alternatives to/from work.