Forbes put together a list of the vehicles in America that pump out the most CO2 based on a 15,000 mile per year estimate. Click here to read how they came up with their list.

The cars (starting with the worst):

BMW X5M
BMW X6M
Cadillac CTS Sport WagonDodge Challenger SRT8
Maserati Quattroporte (how many of these do you see on a daily basis?)
Mercedes-Benz C300
Nissan Titan
Toyota Sienna

Kind of surprised to see the Sienna on the list but not any of the other big American trucks (GMC, Chevy, Ford).

The Poisoned Places Project is a collaborative effort put forth by the Center for Public Integrity and National Public Radio intended to present air pollution in a new way and tell the stories of communities around the country fighting to protect their health and environment.

Like most things NPR it is a pretty compelling tale of the struggles some people are fighting against air pollution. Check out the home page for the effort here.

A humorous list of good questions to ask co-workers you may be carpooling with.

Need carpool partners? Check out www.cicarpool.com

The smell of burning leaves is a familiar one in my neighborhood at this time of the year. The sometimes pleasant smell can quickly become a nuisance (or worse) when everyone on the block has decided to start a foliage-based bonfire.

The problem is that these leaves (oftentimes moist, which makes the smoke worse) give off chemicals called hydrocarbons, which irritate the eyes, nose, throat and lungs. The smoke can also spur an asthma attack in susceptible individuals. Even worse, the airborne particulates that the burnt leaves generate can end up deep into lung tissue. According ot the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, several leaf and yard waste fires burning in one particular location can create air pollution that rivals that of a factory!

So, what are you supposed to do with the darn things? If there is no municipal pickup you can compost them or use them as mulch for your lawn. I’ve found that if you just mow them over without a bag attachment you break them into pretty small pieces which end up decomposing over the course of the winter and spring.

Sources:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/burnleaves.html
http://environment.about.com/od/pollution/a/burning_leaves.htm

This whole health angle on air quality has got me pretty interested. I’ve been digging up some other news stories with some interesting tidbits for you:

- The World Health Organization estimates that exposure to tiny particles in air pollution are responsible for about 8% of lung cancer deaths worldwide, 5% of cardiopulmonary deaths, and about 3% of all respiratory infection deaths.

- A new study reports that living near a busy road could account for 15-30% of new cases of asthma in children..

- 35,700 premature deaths could be prevented in the US every year of the EPA strengthens the health standards for fine particulate matter – aka soot – according to the American Lung Association.

Sources:

http://www.expressandstar.com/lifestyle/interiors/2011/11/16/something-nasty-in-the-air/

http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2011/35-700-deaths-could-be-prevented-annually-by-strong-soot-standards

A hot topic right now is the debate over whether or not environmental regulations are a hindrance to the success of business. A big piece of these regulations is the Clean Air Act, which was enacted in 1970 by then President Richard Nixon. In March of 2011 the EPA completed a report called the “Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act From 1990 to 2020.”

The report estimates that, “the benefits of reducing fine particle and ground level ozone pollution under the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments will reach approximately $2 trillion in 2020 while saving 230,000 people from death in that year alone.” Comparatively, the report calculates that the costs of public and private dollars will reach $65 billion by 2020.

What’s really interesting is the number of health problems that the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments prevent:

Looks worth it to me!

Well, maybe not. But, more and more research is pointing towards vehicle emissions as a precursor to depression, anxiety, and a slew of other neurological conditions.

For the full scoop, check out this article from the WSJ

Some of the highlights:
- breathing street level fumes for 30 minutes can change brain activity that is responsible or behavior, personality, and decision-making.
- breathing normal city air for 90 days can change the way that genes turn on or off amongst the elderly, and even leave a permanent molecular mark on the genome of a newborn
- children born to mothers living within 1,000 feet of a major road or freeway in LA, San Fran, or Sacramento were TWICE as likely to have autism