Ozone is one of the most intractable and widespread environmental problems. Despite significant efforts including controls on refineries and cars, no major urban area in the country, with the exception of Minneapolis, is in attainment with the national health-based standards for ozone[1].
Air is essential to life on earth. Without air, people and other animals would die, and plant life would not be sustained. Yet, all too often we take this precious resource for granted, assuming its abundance and its purity. Our current life style is threatening the quality of the air we breathe. We rely heavily on automobiles and industries that pollute our air -- contributing to the formation of ground-level ozone, a major component of smog.
Ground-level ozone is rated by the Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Board as one of the top eight environmental health risks, and an estimated 140 million people (about one-half of the U.S. population) live in areas with ozone levels exceeding the EPA's health standard. Yet, in spite of its magnitude, there is startlingly little public awareness and few public education efforts about this serious problem. In fact, a recent Roper poll revealed that nearly half the population of the United States fails to consider smog to be a "very serious" problem.
The federal government has established that levels of ozone that are higher than 120 parts per billion are considered to be unhealthy for people, other animals, and plants.
According to the South Coast Air Quality Management District in California, breathing too much air that has high ozone concentrations can cause:
Although anyone can be affected by high concentrations of ozone, some people are especially vulnerable. Smog poses the greatest threat to people who already suffer from respiratory or heart diseases (angina, emphysema, bronchitis and asthma). And smog also affects the lung function of healthy people when they exercise.
The Smog Watch program is designed to empower families to learn about and to act on this pressing environmental and health problem. At the same time, the program provides opportunities for families to have fun doing science together.
The Smog Watch program addresses these key questions:
In this program, families will ask questions, collect and share data, and get to know each other as part of a scientific community. Between sessions, families will collect data at home and in their community.
The program emphasizes measurement -- including the collection and analysis of data on ozone -- as a way of empowering families to understand and act upon an important environmental issue. With many environmental problems, we know only what "officials" tell us. In the Smog Watch program, families can make their own measurements and decide for themselves how serious the problem is, how they are affected by it, and what they might want to do about it.
There are a few things you may want to prepare for before conducting the summer program, and these are discussed in the next section.
[1] Environmental Progress and Challenges: EPA's Update. Washington, DC: EPA, August, 1988. p. 18.
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