Breathe in that fresh...Times Square air? According to the most recent New York City Community Air Survey (below), those Times Square pedestrian plazas are doing their job. The report shows, "After the conversion to a pedestrian plaza, NO pollution levels in Times Square went down by 63 percent while, NO2 levels went down by 41 percent." Just maybe don't hang out in all those places around the pedestrian plazas...where the diverted cars are. more ›

A new DOH study [PDF] tracked levels of fine particles like elemental carbon, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide throughout the city's summer air. And though all the maps are different, they paint the same picture: New York is really soiled. more ›

One of the city's wealthiest neighborhood is also among its most polluted, according to a new air quality study. Researchers examined data from 150 sensors mounted atop light poles to figure out which communities had the highest levels of air pollution from contaminants like elemental carbon, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, which "can irritate lungs, worsen asthma and boost the risk of heart attacks" — and the Upper East Side turned out to be one of the worst, according to the Daily News. more ›

If the Weather Service forecast is right, today will be the hottest day of the year. There's been three days, including yesterday, where the high has reached 92 degrees. The NWS is forecasting a high of 94 in the city today. The Weather Channel and AccuWeather don't see us getting that warm. Then again, AccuWeather said yesterday's high would be 85. more ›

As tankengine's picture above attests, today's air quality is not so good. Heat, humidity, stagnant air and lots of sun have combined to raise our ozone and particulate counts high enough to warrant an Air Quality Alert. The hot and humid air are going to fall just shy of the mark needed to declare a heat advisory, but it will still be plenty miserable outside. Gothamist mentioned tips to beat the heat yesterday. more ›

April showers lasted one day into May with an entertaining thunder and lightning display last night. A big high pressure system over northern Ontario is slowly making its influence felt over New York. A bit of moisture and clouds are still with us, so far keeping the afternoon cooler than expected. Once that moisture is pushed away temperatures are expected to jump to around 70. more ›

Gothamist is hoping for an inch of rain today. It's not going to happen, but we're hoping anyway. Why? An inch of rain would make this the wettest April ever, topping the 14.01 inches that dumped on Central Park in 1983. The rain from the nor'easter a couple of weeks ago alone was enough to make the current month the fifth wettest on record. Add to that Friday's two inches and we were within striking distance of the April milestone. more ›

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg presented PlaNYC: A Greener, Greater New York, his administration's thinking about what the city needs to do by the year 2030 in order meet sustainability goals. The plan involves 127 initiatives under the areas of Brownfield Remediation, Housing, Open Space, Transportation, Energy, the Water Network, Water Quality, Air Quality and Climate Change, but the big topic was congestion pricing. After much speculation, Mayor Bloomberg even acknowledged that congestion pricing was the "elephant in the room" and explained that the city would ask the state to embark on a 3-year pilot program:

I’ve thought about [the congestion pricing] question a lot. And I understand the hesitation about charging a fee. I was a skeptic myself. But I looked at the facts, and that’s what I’m asking New Yorkers to do. And the fact is in cities like London and Singapore, fees succeeded in reducing congestion and improving air quality. Many people are already paying to drive into Manhattan – there are tolls on most bridges and the four tunnels. But to avoid those tolls, many people drive through neighborhood streets. That not only clogs the streets, it increases air pollution – and asthma rates... more ›

The Village Voice has extensive September 11 coverage online, and one of the stories is about a movement from Stuyvesant High School students demanding health insurance after being exposed to the toxic dust when they returned to their school on Chambers Street. Lila Nordstrom, a senior during the 2001-2002 school year, sent a letter to officials:

"As victims of 9/11, and, especially, victims of the misinformation campaign, we served as ‘draftees' in the media campaign to reassure the American people. At the least, in recognition of the risks we undertook simply by attending school, we should be guaranteed health insurance for the rest of our lives." more ›

The Times this morning has a story about air pollution in Los Angeles. The city and state have been very successful in reducing pollution from cars –ozone alert days reduced by half, but are growing concerned about the increasing levels of pollution from particulates. Particulates are fine particles, less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter that lodge themselves in your lungs and cause all sorts of problems. Particulate pollution is increasing because the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are booming, the ships and trucks that carry their cargo both run on diesel fuel, and, unlike with automobiles, the state of California doesn't have jurisdiction to set pollution limits. more ›

- Plus $5 million to study problem areas more ›