Ozone Season Just Ahead :: essays research papers

With ozone season just around the corner, big cities everywhere are getting dysphoric about low visibility and magnified allergies. The season begins Monday, May 1st and extends through September 30th. Jilayne Jordan, Spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Transportation says that, Elderly people, kids with asthma attack or allergies and people who exercise outdoors that when theres a smog alert day, its extremely hard on the lungs. Mark Ressler, sr. Meteorologist at The Weather Channel, says weather tail assembly worsen the problem. The stagnant conditions of summer can make it worse. You get into the same pattern where the air mass isnt changing. You build up air matter day to day. You get those steely-gray skies and visibility goes down, he said. That means large cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Atlanta are prime targets. Atlanta, in particular, is liner a backlash not just from the environment but from the government as well. According to Jordan, the Federal government has frozen transportation funds because the southerly city is not in compliance with current air quality standards, set by the Environmental Protection Agency. We didnt address it when we first realise and now were paying the price, said Jordan. The reason, big cities are so vulnerable to ozone season is a simple matter of numbers. Jordan says that Its becoming a problem where there are a lot of people and a lot of cars. Industries are a problem to. With so many residents suffering from allergies, the conditions can be very uncomfortable. Strategies designed to improve the atmosphere by reducing emissions include carpooling, traveling at non-peak hours, combining trips, biking or walking, and topping off splatter tanks after dark. One of the biggest contributors to poor air quality is the building of roads and the use of cars. So if an area cannot comply with the health-based air quality regulations, the government isnt going to provide funds to continue to buil d roads that will just worsen the problem, said Beth Osborne, Policy Analyst for the Southern Governors Association.