Sierra Nature Notes

Sierra Nature Notes, Volume 1, November 2001

Continued from:
Understanding Smog in the Sierra
by E. F. van Mantgem

IV. The Solution to Pollution Is Dilution, Redux

A Clear Sierra Day: by producing fewer pollutants, we can make this a typical summer's view once again.

So now that you have a basic understanding of air pollution, it's appropriate to wonder about the solution. How can we possibly clean up this mess? Unlike elephants, ocean-going yachts and your bathroom, air molecules are tiny and difficult to clean. The answer is this: just as chains of coordinated, cumulative human action put these pollutants in the atmosphere, it will take coordinated, cumulative human action to remove them.

The good news is that this is happening right now! Informed individuals are choosing to drive fuel-efficient cars or just driving less. They're even maintaining their cars with tune-ups and fully inflated tires. Alternatively, the mechanically inept might decide to help the effort through recycling, refraining from lighting wood fires, or by avoiding the use of CFC related, household chemicals. By reducing power usage in the home, or by supporting research to perfect alternative power sources, billions of gallons of oil and coal are conserved. We can each act like a little Pacific storm, scrubbing our environment clean with minute lifestyle changes. Each one of these commonsensical minor decisions narrowly avoids the production of billions of bad air molecules (Table 2).

It's probable that none of these random acts of air kindness are new to you. We all know that they're things we should do anyway, just to save life, time, and money. Air clean-up is merely another inspiring reason to JUST SAY NO when someone offers to bag your cellophane wrapped box of individually wrapped goodies at the store. Because it's even becoming fashionable to prefer low eco-impact purchases and lifestyle choices, television and other commercial media are beginning to use environmental awareness to promote their products. Just look at all the ads with wind power towers in the background. These days, good public relations always include a statement about sensitivity to the environment, no matter how small the print.

As a result of newer technologies and clean-up programs, automobile carbon monoxide emissions are 90% less than they were for an average car in the 1960's.

Due in part to government incentive as well as the desire to contribute positively to a community, many businesses are also participating in regional clean air programs (e.g. Spare The Air programs). Local and state governments actively promote the clean-up trend by helping to monitor regional air quality, a practice making it possible to adhere to mandated, Clean Air Act standards. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) coordinates and funds national monitoring programs, and it now requires that regional haze be reduced and air pollution constituents be kept below certain concentrations (Table 3). Although some of these "health" limits are still above healthy, scientific recommendations, at least they're enforceable by the EPA, as outlined by the 1990 Clean Air Act.

A Success Story
To finish, here's an example of a fairly successful clean-up campaign: the battle against carbon monoxide pollution. The original Clean Air Act (1970) set strict legal standards for carbon monoxide levels for the United States. In an effort to meet the standards, most cars were built with catalytic converters by 1975. Now automobiles have oxygen sensors, catalytic converters, improved converters, the availability of fuels containing alcohol, and evolving, mandatory Inspection and Maintenance programs. As a result of newer technologies and clean-up programs, automobile carbon monoxide emissions are 90% less than they were for an average car in the 1960's. In fact, new cars are so much more fuel efficient, that overall ambient carbon monoxide levels decreased by 40% between 1981 and 1990, even with an overall increase in driving miles (100 to 170miles) per automobile. This is a remarkable trend. Let's just hope that we don't surpass that 90% improved fuel efficiency by driving several hundred more miles per year on an individual basis, or by driving some gas-sucking urban assault vehicle (S.U.A.V.)!

Table 1: State and Federal Air Quality Standards*

PollutionSpecies	AveragePeriod	California Standards	Federal Standards
Ozone	1hr	90ppb	120ppb
Nitrogen Dioxide	1hr	25ppb	53ppb
Suspended Particulate Matter	Annual	30ug/m3	50ug/m3
Suspended Particulate Matter	24hr	50ug/m3	150ug/m3
Visibility Reducing Miles	8hr	10 miles	No standards

*Values taken from the 1996 SNEP report (Cahill et al. 1996).

Table 2: Five Random Acts of Air Kindness on Your Own Turf*

TURF SETTING	1	2	3	4	5
In the Car	Consolidate your errands and trips.	Drive at steady, moderate speeds.	Don't idle the engine, stop it.	Carpool to work.	Don't use the air conditioner too often.
In the Garage	Get regular tune-ups (including new sparkplugs).	Buy a car with more miles to the gallon.	Use EC oils (energy conserving) & clean gasolines	Inflate your tires.	Don't "top-off" the gas tank.
In Your Home	Conserve electricity!! Turn off lights and computer. Do laundry and dishes after 7:00 pm. Buy fuel-efficient gardening tools, outboard motors, etc.	Don't pour paints, solvents, motor oils, or pesticides down the drain.	Either recycle or repair all that you were planning to throw out.	Use the fireplace or woodstove less frequently.	Burn only well-seasoned, dry wood.
In Your Community	Learn about local air quality trends.	Start with the AQI (air quality index) in the newspaper.	Learn about local air quality programs. Initiate a clean-up program.	Report problems to your local air quality agency.	Consult Table 3 for information on national air quality programs.

*These suggestions are taken from Pollution Solutions.

Table 3: A Short List of Air Pollution Types & Monitoring Programs in California

Pollution Type	Sources	Global Effects	Examples of Monitoring Programs*
AMBIENT OZONE (Increasing Ground O3)	Fossil fuels (i.e. burning gasoline or coal, etc.)	Economic impacts Environmental impacts Lung & immune system compromise	NPS (National Park Service)-Gaseous Pollutant Monitoring Network
OZONE HOLES (Stratospheric O3 Depletion)	CFC's from aerosols and cooling systems	Skin cancer Cataracts Environmental impacts	NPS (National Park Service)-Gaseous Pollutant Monitoring Network
ACID RAIN [IncreasingSulfates (SOx) &Nitrates (NOx)]	Fossil fuels	Economic impacts Environmental impacts Lung & immune system compromise	NADP (Nat. Atmospheric Deposition Program) CARB (California Air Resources Board)f CASTnet (Clean Air Status & Trends Network)
PARTICULATE MATTER (Increasing PM)	Fossil fuels Dust Soot & Ash Pollens Molds	Economic impacts Environmental impacts Lung & immune system compromise	IMPROVE (Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments) NWS (National Weather Service)

*PRIMEnet (Park Research and Intensive Monitoring of Ecosystems Network) helps to fund and coordinate all these programs. This is a state monitoring program, while the rest are federal monitoring programs.

Bibliography & Useful Information Sources
(*main sources cited)

*Air Pollution Solutions. www.jp.kids-commons.net/vc96/vc-13/solns.htm
*Cahill, T.A., J.J. Carroll, D. Campbell, T.E. Gill. 1996. Air Quality. Pp. 1227-1261, In Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project: Final report to Congress, vol.II, Assessments and scientific basis for management options. Davis:University of California, Centers for Water and Wildland Resources.
*CARB 1999. Emissions Website. www.arb.ca.gov/emisinv/emsmain/emsamin.htm or www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/past/past.htm,California Air Resources Board. Sacramento CA.
*Jimmo, Felici. 2000. Ozone and Human Health: Adaptation, Attenuation and Health Messaging. The Lung Association: Ontario. 8pp www.on.lung.ca/resource/
*Malm, W. C. 2000. Introduction to Visibility. Colorado State University:Fort Collins, ISSN 0737-5352-40. 68pp.
*Miller, P.R., K.W. Stolte, D.M. Duriscoe, J. Pronos. 1996. Evalutating Ozone Air Pollution Effects on Pines in the Western United States. Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, USDA:Berkeley. 79 pp.
*Olson, R.K., D. Binkley, M. Bohm. 1992. The Response of Western Forests to Air Pollution. Springer-Verlag:New York. 532 pp.
*San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD). www.valleyair.org/default.htm
*Spare the Air. www.sparetheair.org
*Sullivan, T.J., D. L. Peterson, C.L. Blanchard, K. Savig, D. Morse. 2001. Assessment of Air Quality and Air Pollutant Impacts in Class I National Parks of California. National Park Service-Air Resources Division:Denver. www2.nature.nps.gov/ARD/.
*The American Lung Association. 2001. Trends in Air Quality. 20pp. www.lungusa.org
*U.S.Environmental Protection Agency. 1993.The Plain English Guide to the Clean Air Act. EPA 400-K-93-001. 28pp. www.epa.gov/airnow.
Alexis A., P. Gaffney, C. Garcia, C. Nystrom, and R. Rood. 1999. The 1999 California Almanac of Emissions and Air Quality. California Air Resources Board. Sacramento CA. 310pp.
Blanchard, C.L., E.L.Carr, J.F.Collins, T.B.Smith, D.E. Lehrman, and H.M.Michaels. 1999. Spatial representativeness and scales of transport during the 1995 Integrated Monitoring Study in California's San Joaquin Valley. Atmos. Environ.