How toxic is the air in your neighborhood?

[M. Henley]

What in H*** ?!?

Now I can't, for the life of me, figure out why the air is purer in Wiswell, 4 miles down the road west, than it is here on the outskirts of town (other than ordinary household chemicals), any more than there are in the Wiswell Hamlet.
Any thoughts on this??

The emissions are from the Toxics Release Inventory database. Emissions from mobile sources (which includes all vehicles, trains, aircraft, and ships) are most assuredly not included. Neither are emissions from many facilities that are not traditional "smokestack" industries, such as municipal wastewater treatment plants. Emissions from agricultural operations are also not included.

 

[camachinist]

I love the smell of fungicide/herbacide/pesticide in the morning. I miss the crop dusters flying over my house at 4am since most applicators have gone to ground methods.

Then there's cow emmisions

I remember, in years past, scheduling my vacation during cotton defoliant season, as the defoliant, sprayed by air, made me ill. I kept getting agent orange flashbacks...

Pat

 

[pjrose]

..... correlation is not causation, and it was inappropriate to make those connections based on simple correlation...... when the methodology didn't give them the answer they wanted their instant response was that the researchers had obviously botched the study.

Both issues that I cover at length, and it's great to have additional real examples to add to some of my usual ones:

Ice cream causes rape, an obvious conclusion from the fact that ice cream sales are higher in months with higher rates of rape.

Big feet cause an increase in reading ability, as easily confirmed by the fact that children with bigger feet have higher reading scores.

Aaarrrrrghhhhhh.

 

[Rose Pink]

...
Many people have a totally naive assumption that anything "pure" and "natural" does not have chemical risk. With that assumption they consider the sum of imputed or assumed "synthetic" risks as the associated risk of using the product.

That is simply not the case. Plants and organisms on earth routinely produce a variety of toxic chemicals for protection, defense, or just simply because they do. All life on earth has developed defense mechanisms to deal with those toxic chemicals.

In a variety of situations those natural risks, including natural carcinogenic risks, simply overwhelm the risks associated with synthetic chemicals.

Thanks for the reminder. One of my pet peeves when I was practicing dietetics was the claim that a supplement or herb was not harmful because it was "natural." I used to say, "dog poop is natural, too, (and so is tobacco, etc etc) would you eat that?"

I am more concerned at present with the indoor air quality in my home. I once read a very long time ago about certain houseplants that were supposed to be the best at cleaning indoor air. As I recall spider plants and mums came in at or near the top but for different reasons. Any body heard any reliable data about houseplants and air quality?

 

[AwayWeGo]

It's Not Nice To Fool Mother Nature.

I used to say, "dog poop is natural, too, (and so is tobacco, etc etc) would you eat that?"

Lots of all-natural stuff is to be avoided whenever possible -- jimson weed, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, snake venom, spider venom, scorpion venom, etc. -- not to mention the whole panoply of disease-causing all-natural viruses & all-natural bacteria, etc.

Shux, a case can be made that everything is natural.

Even stuff that's artificially processed in factories consists of molecules that obey the rules of nature. Sure, it might take a bunch of heavy-duty chemical engineers to get various molecules to do some of the things that the processing plants make'm do. But if there are things the molecules flat-out can't be made to do under any circumstances, then not even an MIT chemical engineer equipped with a truckload of catalysts can change the nature of that.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Even stuff that's artificially processed in factories consists of molecules that obey the rules of nature. Sure, it might take a bunch of heavy-duty chemical engineers to get various molecules to do some of the things that the processing plants make'm do. But if there are things the molecules flat-out can't be made to do under any circumstances, then not even an MIT chemical engineer equipped with a truckload of catalysts can change the nature of that.

Quite true, Alan. As far as I know, the only people who make something out nothing are top-rank timeshare salespeople.

 

[luvsvacation22]

Steve - I'd love to hear proof that it's wrong, because I'm very concerned about the air quality in Modesto. Not just this report, but all reports give Modesto a very bad air quality rating.

Hey neighbor! I am here in Oakdale! Our rating is 74th percentile.

Dorene

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Steve - I'd love to hear proof that it's wrong, because I'm very concerned about the air quality in Modesto. Not just this report, but all reports give Modesto a very bad air quality rating.

Forgot to add a comment about Modesto.

Most of the San Joaquin valley has poor air quality for particulates and ozone. But that is a totally different issue from (and, IMHO, much more significant issue than) air toxics.

 

[Icarus]

It's also worth noting that the study totally excludes any naturally-occurring toxic chemicals.

Kula and Makawao both have pretty high numbers, but they mention sulfuric acid. I assumed it was the blowover from the Big Island. Are you saying that it isn't?

-David

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Kula and Makawao both have pretty high numbers, but they mention sulfuric acid. I assumed it was the blowover from the Big Island. Are you saying that it isn't?

-David

The methodology link at the USA today site said the data was from the TRI inventory, which would not include Kilauea. OTOH, I can't imagine any significant source of atmospheric SO3 in the islands other than Kilauea. So perhaps Kilauea data were merged into the inventory??

 

[Icarus]

OTOH, I can't imagine any significant source of atmospheric SO3 in the islands other than Kilauea. So perhaps Kilauea data were merged into the inventory??

When there are Kona winds (basically when the normal trade winds stop) we get a lot of vog here, Steve. Oahu does also. You can feel the difference.

-David

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

When there are Kona winds (basically when the normal trade winds stop) we get a lot of vog here, Steve. Oahu does also. You can feel the difference.

-David

I'm reasonably familiar with Hawai'i meteorology. (I've had some involvement with odor management issues at O'ahu wastewater treatment plants.)

And, yeah, southeasterly Kona winds are going to move the VOG directly to the other islands with relatively little mixing. Add in some high humidity and you should have a pretty potent acidic mist. One that's strong enough to put weakened individuals in the hospital.

A southwesterly Kona wind would create problems in Hilo and the Hamakua Coast, but wouldn't affect too much beyond that.

 

[CalifasGirl]

wow!

So, I moved to the Central California coast, not too far away from the WM Marina Dunes resort. I checked on the school that my stepson goes to...94th percentile. Very rural with agriculture all around.

My family still lives in Southern California. My parents' home is near a school that scored 66th percentile. Of course, Exxon Mobil and Conoco Phillips is not far away.

My sister lives walking distance to a school that is 34th percentile. Exxon Mobil is spewing fumes less than a mile away.

I find it amazing that my parents and my sister aren't that far away from each other, and the scores change dramatically.