Smog builds when sunlight "cooks" everyday emissions from motor vehicles, industry, paints, solvents and gasoline fumes. When pollutants "cook" in the hot sunlight, they form ground-level ozone, the main component in smog. Smog-forming pollutants are primarily generated by traffic and activities in urban areas, but often the pollution is blown away from cities and follows wind flows to outlying suburban and rural areas.
Smog is a problem for the Puget Sound area during the summer months. Temperatures near 90 degrees or higher have the most potential to create smog, especially when winds are stagnant or light. Weather is one of the key factors in any kind of pollution formation, and it is also true for smog. While we can't control our weather, we do have the ability to change our smog-producing activities. This is vitally important when our weather won't cooperate with our desire to have clean air.
Smog causes breathing difficulties, eye irritation and reduced resistance to lung infections and colds. It is especially harmful to young children, the elderly, and those with existing respiratory problems. Many children and active people who bicycle or jog can attest to breathing problems when smog pollution is elevated.
Smog is also related to visibility problems. On hot days, we often have a brown, hazy ring around Mt. Rainier and other area mountains. The U.S. Forest Service reports that smog-related pollution has damaged trees, moss and lichen in Pacific Northwest forests.
Smog can also reduce economic growth in the Puget Sound region. If we exceed
the federal health standard for ozone, the main pollutant in smog, more than
three times in three years, we will not be able to maintain our status as
a 'clean air region.' We may be stigmatized for having dirty air. If this
were to happen, new businesses may not want to come to the Puget Sound.
When we talk about smog, we are really referring to ground-level ozone, which
is the main component in smog. This can be confusing, since we usually
talk about ozone -- the ozone layer -- as something we want to save. The
simple answer to this confusion is that there are two kinds of ozone -- a
'good' ozone, one we want to preserve, and a 'bad' ozone, one we can do without.
Good ozone is found naturally in the earth's stratosphere. It
protects the earth from the sun's harmful ultraviolet light. Ozone
in this layer is made and destroyed naturally all the time, but many man-made
chemicals are destroying it too. Bad ozone is found closer to the earth's
surface in a layer called the troposphere. This kind of ozone is made
up of a number of noxious gases that combine and change in the presence of
sunlight. We see ozone as the ugly brown ring on the horizon,
but the real problems are for human health. High levels of ozone pollution
cause discomfort for people with asthma or other lung ailments. Ozone
may be damaging to lung tissue even in healthy people. It makes our
eyes itch, burn and water. Smog -- or ground-level ozone -- is one
problem we can do without.
In the summer of 1996, PSAPCA began its first 'Smog Watch' program. 'Smog Watch' is a pollution prevention program targeted toward getting individuals to reduce their smog-producing activities during summer hot spells. The goal of the Smog Watch program is to make sure we don't exceed the federal health standard for ozone. At the same time, we are safeguarding the health of our citizens. When weather conditions and air monitoring data indicate the probability of elevated smog levels in the next 48 hours, we will ask meteorologists, traffic reporters, news media, local businesses and other public agencies to encourage people to make voluntary changes to avoid further elevation of smog levels.
seo companies in uk These short-term changes include:
You bet there are. By adopting some of these permanent behaviors, you can help us keep smog, as well as other pollution, in check:
Employer support was strong from the start. In summer 1996, the Boeing Company responded to a 'Smog Watch' by giving their employees free bus passes. The company has pledged to continue doing this in future 'Smog Watch' situations. Boeing has also issued company-wide e-mail messages about a 'Smog Watch.' Other companies, like Virginia Mason Medical Center, have supported the 'Smog Watch' program in various ways such as writing articles in employee newsletters. With the help of the business community, we successfully avoided an exceedance of the federal health standard for ozone.
Updated October 1996
