What's the Pollution like in your town?

For anyone interested in how toxic their immediate environment is, this site will tell you!

www.scorecard.org...

Apparently, some US politicians would prefer this source of pollution information wasn't made easily available.

EPA Fast-Tracks Review of Web Links to Scorecard and Other Web Sites
Prompted by demands from two members of Congress that EPA remove its web links to Scorecard, the agency has expedited an internal review of its policy on web links to outside groups.

In a January 2004 letter, Reps. Barbara Cubin (R-WY) and Jim Gibbons (R-NV) accused EPA of inappropriately linking to web sites of extremist groups, including the Environmental Defense Scorecard and OMB Watch's RTKNet

Does anyone know if a similar pollution information website is available for the UK?

zero lift

Cool link, Hong Kong's pollution level is not good and not bad, i wonder if any1 can beat me in finding a link for Asia.

This stinks, literally. My city is in the "dirtier 40%" of all the US. Things have actually improved though. My city was a steel producer in the 60's and according to my parents the smoke was so thing you couldn't see the sun at noon.

Of course the government doesn't want us to see this! Stopping pollution hurts the bottom line, and $$$ makes the world go round. Thanks for the link.

I found 1

www.peopleandplanet.net...

Volatile Organic Compound emissions: 100%

Air Quality Index is good though it says....


Sulfur Dioxide emissions:
Carbon Monoxide emissions:
Nitrogen Oxides emissions:

80-90%

PM-2.5 emissions:

PM-10 emissions: 50-60%

You're welcome, el_topo.

The trouble with a lot of the air pollution in the UK nowadays is that a lot of the time you can't see it. The heavy soot particle smokes have been replaced with equally dangerous, but invisible, gases, so a most people don't realise there is a danger to health until it's too late.

Still hunting a UK equivalent website.


zero lift

I've always heard that you can tell if there is a lot of pollution by looking for lichen. That green and white moss looking algae/fungus stuff, not werewolves. When pollution starts to get heavy in an area, they are supposed to be one of the first things to die off.

Nice one icelid, I just found this.

www.mpm.edu...

Air Pollution, Lichens and Mosses

by Kevin J. Lyman
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is reprinted without illustrations from LORE magazine, a benefit of museum membership. �1996 Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc.

As early as the mid 1800's, botanists became aware that lichens and mosses were becoming uncommon in areas within and surrounding large towns and cities. They began to recognize that air pollution emitted from these urban areas was affecting the colonization and growth of these organisms.

In 1866, William Nylander, a Finnish naturalist, was the first to link the disappearance of lichens and air pollution. He noticed that some lichen species present within Luxembourg Gardens, Paris, were missing in other parts of the city. He attributed these differences to air quality. Over the next thirty years, fumes from coal-burning industrial furnaces gradually led to the eradication of the lichen population within the park.

Along with lichens, mosses too have been disappearing from large cities since the late 1800's. Even though some species of mosses and lichens can be found in the harshest environments (Antarctic, Arctic and deserts), most species are very sensitive to air pollution. There are, however, a few species that can survive in areas where the pollution levels are relatively high and there are several other species that can tolerate moderate levels of air pollution. By knowing which of these species are most sensitive to air pollution and documenting their presence or absence, it is easy to determine how "clean" or "dirty" the air is.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) does the most widespread damage to lower plants, even though it is only one of several air pollution components in the atmosphere. Sulfur dioxide pollution is the result of industrial and urban emissions.

Why are mosses and lichens sensitive to air pollution? Since mosses and lichens lack roots, surface absorption of rainfall is the only means of obtaining vital nutrients which are dissolved in rainwater. Lichens and many mosses lack protective surfaces that can selectively block out elements including pollutants that are dissolved in rainwater.

Lichens act like sponges, taking in everything that is dissolved in the rainwater, and retaining it. Since there is no means of purging the SO2, the sulfur content accumulates within the lichen and reaches a level where it breaks down the chlorophyll molecules which are responsible for photosynthesis in the algae. Photosynthesis is the process green plants use to convert sunlight energy to chemical energy which in turn is used by the plant. In the case of lichens, when the photosynthetic process stops in the algae, the algae die and this leads to the death of the fungus.


I'm off on a lichen hunt!


zero lift

This is the only national pollution information service in the UK. It is run by the Environment Agency.

www.environment-agency.gov.uk...

If you're concerned about air quality in London, check out this link from Kings College London

www.erg.kcl.ac.uk...

Londons air quality isn't so good at the moment


zero lift

Zero Lift,

Thanks for sharing that informative link!
Our community is laden with polluters and
it makes me wanna run for the hills!

Columbus OHIO

33% of people here in this city has mild to severe asthma conditions.

Pollution has risen 10% under the Bush Administration and their lax environmental policies.

The State of New York is SEWING the State of Ohio because all of our pollution is blowing into NY.



www.sierraclub.com...


[edit on 22-8-2004 by coronamoz]