i sense a flaw in the system

[the_siobhan]

The website that cincinnatus_c_ pointed me at will email you when the smog advisory kicks in for your area. I thought that was kind of cool in a Look! Technology! kind of way, so I signed up for it.

It actually emails you in the middle of the afternoon, which although interesting, isn't terribly useful. But the time I got it I'm already at work with my bicycle so I'm kinda committed. (Turned out there was an advisory for yesterday. I rode home anyway, hoping that by the time I get out of work in the evening it's not so bad. Um. Yeah, I was hoping.)

The email includes a bunch of "tips" on what to do when there is a smog advisory in your area. Under Travel Tips the list includes;

-leave your car at home - walk, cycle, carpool or take public transit

Under Health Tips the list includes;

- avoid exposure to vehicle exhaust fumes
- avoid strenuous exercise in the heat of the day

Why are they advising people to walk and cycle if they should avoid exercising outdoors?

Is anybody reading these things?

Comments

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

Reading, maybe. Nobody seems to be EDITING them... (;

[shara.livejournal.com]

Ugh.

Maybe they mean just "take transit".

I love that virtually every day over 25 degrees this summer has been a smog day. Isn't this a legitimate national emergency yet?

[montieth.livejournal.com]

It's probably a difference of optional tasks vs mandatory tasks.

Optional being the ride around town for exercise.
Mandatory being the ride to work to the nearest bus stop.

Short term, you're probably more at risk from trying to take your housemate's bike. ;-)

Any thoughts on getting yourself a particulate/organic vapor respirator for more protection from your smog issues?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who wears a respirator and he swears by it. I'm probably going to go shopping for one based on his recommendation.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

I have some issues with mine. I wear it a lot in the winter, but not in the summer because it's REALLY hot and traps a lot of heat and moisture.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

He did warn me that it's really hot. Unfortunately summer is when I need it, because the air quality is so poor.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

Yeah, for sure. The reason I wear it in the winter is actually just to keep in heat and moisture -- I mostly wear it if it's notably below zero. I bought it for the summer, though. A couple of days each year I end up trying it just because the air is *so* bad, but I can't stand the heat. If you're less heat-averse, it's pretty good. (Also bear in mind that I have a goatee, so the heat-and-moisture-around-my-mouth might be more of an issue.)

[blackavar.livejournal.com]

Hm. It might be useful to try a half-face PAPR, if you can put up with the looks. They're remarkably comfortable to wear for what they do.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

It might also considerably reduce the number of bugs I swallow on my rides home. :-p

[eveofdstruction.livejournal.com]

It might make a little bit of sense if the health tips were intended for at risk populations and the travel tips for the general population. That doesn't seem to be the case though. I never knew how spoiled we are for good air out here.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Can be just a little bit cranky that the people who are the worst contributors to the problem by driving around everywhere in their air-conditioned cars are the ones least affected by it?

[eveofdstruction.livejournal.com]

Crank is certainly justified. Seattle is reasonably eco-conscious for a US city, and I still get looked at like I'm crazy for walking the 2.5 miles to the post office and back rather than driving it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/cincinnatus_c_/]

That's quite striking: it's a conflict between what are supposed to be the top two "values" in Canada currently, The Environment and Health. (But it's also a more banal conflict between what-to-do-for-others and what-to-do-for-yourself.)

I wonder if anyone avoids using gas-powered machinery or solvents on "smog advisory" days. Funnily enough, days that will almost certainly produce smog advisories (and actually on your first point, my impression is that these things are highly predictable: if the temperature exceeds 30, it's at least partly sunny (which it almost always is when the temperature exceeds 30), and the winds aren't coming from the north or northeast (which they usually aren't when the temperature exceeds 30), there will almost certainly be a smog advisory--air pollution levels very tightly correlate to temperature, sunlight, and wind direction) are also the best days for putting down driveway sealants. I'm not sure whether hot and sunny days are also the best for outdoor painting, but I guess they're better than most.

The thing about that sort of stuff is, hardly anybody wants to cut the grass (etc.), anyway; almost everyone who does it is doing it because they owe it to someone else (if only the neighbours). So it's not a straight matter of ethics vs. self-interest; it's a matter of balancing obligations, and your more particular obligations to more particular people to cut the grass are going to win out over your more abstract obligation to The Environment (with its very general and indirect obligations to other people) every time--unless you're exceptionally deeply committed to The Environment, in which case you're unlikely to have a lawn, let alone use a gas-powered mower, in the first place.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I suspect you are correct when it comes to things like cutting the lawn of sealing the driveway. (Unless one works for a landscaping company.)

However, the days that are most likely to be smog days are also more likely to be days when people choose to drive, because their cars are air conditioned, and walking to the bus stop is not.

Somebody (rufus? Maybe?) posted a recent study that places that have air conditioning are hotter than places in approximately the same climate that don't - well yeah, the heat has to go somewhere. And the extra need for energy means more power plants etc. People tend to think in terms that end when they get as far as the plug in the wall and then stop. They are conscious of decisions that make them cooler, but less so of how that results in increase the ambient temperature for everybody.

(Apologies for late night incoherance. It's, well, late.)