After moving to New York, I would go spend the summers with my extended family. It was great! I looked forward to perfect weather, my grandmothers plush gardens that had all my favorite fruits, and going to the beach just a bike ride away. My home state of California is a beautiful place; it has a wonderful variety of this to do and see. There is one not-so pleasant sight, and that is the smog. I never noticed the severe pollution until I got older. I saw it coming out of smoke stacks in the same view of Redondo Beach. I noticed it looking out the window of the airplane seeing thick, ugly smog covering Los Angeles.
Smog is a kind of air pollution that usually comes from burning fossil fuels, used in industries but mostly car emissions. The sulfur dioxide produced from the fuels and smoke combine to make classic smog (green-planet). This nasty stuff has a horrible effect on building surfaces, crops, human heart and lung, and more (msnbc). Over the past decade, California has had at least half of its counties fail clean air tests (msnbc). Some levels have even violated the Federal Clean Air Act but there doing something about it. They’ve initiated the Smog Check program. This requires biennial inspections for all vehicles (except diesel powered, electric, natural gas powered vehicles over 14 tons, hybrids, motorcycles, trailers, or classic cars) to ensure that car emissions do not increase beyond a certain standard so as to not have exceptional polluters en masse; all failed vehicles must be repaired (Calepa). People mock the Smog Checks because it’s inconvenient and there’s a fee but I like it. When you really look at their plan, California officials are trying to promote a shift to clean transportation, even if subtly. They recognize that car emissions are a problem and had to make an unpopular decision to hopefully clean up California.
I’m not saying that smog checks are going to reverse everything and make it all better. I’m just really proud that something practical is being done about it. We have climate change this and ozone that, an oil crisis and sustainability issues. They’re all complex, with no answer to make it right but something must be done. I don’t want the heirs of this mess, generations from now to say of mine that we were too scared, to selfish, and too stupid to try.
http://www.calepa.ca.gov/Publications/Reports/repgov.pdf
http://www.green-planet-solar-energy.com/smog-air-pollution.html
No comments:
Post a Comment