Ozone

I am sad about all the bad air warnings. One week it is wildfire smoke, the next week it is ozone pollution. Our precious summers go too fast to have to stay inside to avoid unhealthy air. Every action matters, and we all can make a difference! Let’s all work harder for clean air.

What can you do to help ozone pollution?

• Don’t use lawn mowers or leaf blowers
• Use public transportation or carpool. Minimize the use of cars and trucks.
• Do not idle your car engine!
• Take a long break from your outdoor heaters and fires!
• Reduce your plastic use. Plastic pollutes our air and bodies at every stage of its life. Plastic is made from fossil fuels.
• Do not use cleaning products that are harmful to the environment and to us.
• Buy local products.
• Maintain air conditioners, as their malfunctions cause CFC to escape into the atmosphere.
• Spend more time indoors, where ozone levels are usually lower.
• Choose easier outdoor activities (like walking instead of running) so you don’t breathe as hard.
• Plan outdoor activities at times when ozone levels are lower (usually in the morning and evening).

Below is so interesting from Christopher Ingraham at the Minnesota Reformer https://minnesotareformer.com/

Much of the state is experiencing its third straight day of unhealthy air quality. The culprit this time isn’t wildfire smoke, but rather ozone – a colorless, odorless gas that forms when certain chemicals in the atmosphere interact under intense sunlight. 

In practical terms, ozone can cause similar breathing problems as wildfire smoke, and it’s linked to many of the same long-term health ailments, including premature death. But there are enough differences between these two flavors of air pollution that I wrote an explainer on them yesterday, in part to help me fully understand the situation.

One interesting takeaway: when it’s smoky out, experts recommend wearing a mask outdoors or running an air purifier with a HEPA filter inside, which removes smoke and other fine particles from the air. But ozone isn’t a particle, it’s a gas – meaning masks and air filters don’t work against it. 

And here’s an especially wild fact to ponder: many companies market “air purifiers” that actually add ozone to indoor spaces. Generally speaking you should steer away from products claiming to use “ionization” or “energized oxygen” to clear the air. The electric processes they rely on produce ozone and actually make the air dirtier.

Other products take this a step further – there’s an entire category of “ozone generators” that deliberately add ozone to the air, under the mistaken belief that ozone molecules remove other pollutants. It’s kind of like pumping car exhaust directly into your house to hide the smell of cigarettes. MN Reformer

And from the American Lung Association: It may be hard to imagine that pollution could be invisible, but ozone begins that way. As ozone concentrates and mixes with other pollutants, we often call it by its older, more common name—smog. It is currently one of the least well-controlled pollutants in the United States. And it is also one of the most dangerous.

Scientists have studied the effects of ozone on health for decades. Hundreds of studies have confirmed that ozone harms people at levels currently found in the United States. In the last decade, we have learned that it can also be deadly.

https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/what-makes-air-unhealthy/ozone

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