May 1, 2008
NYC Air Quality Getting Worse than Other Cities
NYC’s air quality has gotten substantially worse compared to other cities, according to the American Lung Association's annual "State of the Air" survey. Since last year the city jumped from 10th worst in the nation for ozone pollution (smog) to an eighth place ranking. And in the category of short-term particle pollution (soot), NYC nabbed 13th place after ranking 17th worst in the last study. (L.A., the undisputed smog heavyweight, coasted to 1st place again.)
Among the boroughs, Manhattan had the worst soot per year, though on certain days the island was edged out by the Bronx. Staten Island owns the smog category with the worst inter-city ranking. But the silver lining in this black cloud is that the city’s boroughs have made some improvements, with Brooklyn and Staten Island reducing their soot, and Queens getting better at managing their smog.
The American Lung Association's Michael Seilback tells amNY “while we continue to fail, it's trending the right way. There's hopefully a light at the end of the clean-air tunnel.” To that end, his group is partnering with the city on PlaNYC to push legislation on cleaner home heating fuels, eco-friendly taxis and delivery vehicles, and reduced emissions from the Staten Island Ferry.
All this bad air puts New Yorkers at greater risk for heart disease and lung cancer, and it’s no secret NYC has some of the worst asthma rates nationwide. On May 31st, the ALA is holding the Breathe NYC Asthma Walk 2008 (details here).
Photo of smoke Stacks from East 79th Street at 2nd Avenue courtesy edEx.
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Sure is a good thing we don't have congestion pricing.
Thankfully congestion pricing was turned down by the nit wits in Albany. We're back on top baby!!!
FYI:
"One May 31st, the ALA is holding the Breathe NYC Asthma Walk 2004..."
This is not a good way to transmit info nor increase participation. Try proofreading just once... it really does make a difference!! (You're perilously close to Jen's editing skills here. I'm just sayin'.)
Well put, JMH.
Hmmmmmmmmm... Shoulda read:
"One May 31st, the ALA is holding the Breathe NYC Asthma Walk 2004...
Perhaps we can pump our sh*tty air into the assembly in Albany and see what they think of congestion pricing then?
Relative rankings are meaningless.. what about absolute quality? The linked website does not appear to have 2007 data.
But...but... London has a congestion fee. It has improved air quality.
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/dn13809-london-congestion-charge-did-not-improve-air-quality.html
Ok. Maybe not.
London has been growing in a number of ways in recent years, including in population and in large-scale construction. While the levels of pollutants in the air may be similar, levels of automobile emissions have decreased, suggesting that there is some other factor leading to the overall levels of pollutants and that those levels might have increased absent the congestion charge.
"A number of factors mean these do not necessarily feed through to observable improvements in air quality."
It may be safe to assume that NYC has undergone similar changes in the years. Growth in population and large-scale development need energy, and it is reasonable to think demand will increase as the city grows.
I can only imagine how much those ConEd plants spew out to power the city. And that is only one source.
I agree that every bit counts, but that only works if people actually stop driving due to the fee. Most will find a way to justify and offset the cost. Think of how the city relies on transport to go about its daily business.
Has anyone walked around the financial district lately? It is a total construction zone! WTC, condors, buildings all over the place, roads getting torn out. You literally are eating dust when you walk through there during the weekday.
That photo almost reminds me of Bladerunner.
If Bloomberg keeps outfitting his developer cronies in new big boxes, with no infrastructure or costs to them to support their windfalls, soon we'll be like Tokyo, sleeping in drawers and such, packed like sardines. If mass transit was free, people would leave their cars at home. It would be a viable solution, if so much of our tax dollars weren't going to prisons we don't need upstate, and wars we don't need in Washington.
New York doesn't need more regulation, it just needs higher smokestacks.