Cape Karen
Did you finally succeed in quitting smoking? Or, are you a non-smoker who depises cigarette smoke, and who does not allow it in your home? Do you always make it a point to sit in the non-smoking section of your favorite restaurants? Have you taught your children and your grandchildren about the dangers of smoking? Well, that's great, and I'm really proud of you!
But, wait a minute, did you know that you're still breathing dirty, toxic polluted air on a regular basis? And, if you live in an oceanfront tourist area, or out in the suburbs far away from the city, you're still not exempt.
The air at the National Seashore on Cape Cod, each July and August, becomes more polluted than the air inside the city of Boston ~ because all those summer visitors arrive in their automobiles. If you have a chance to go out on a boat in the summer, look over at the Midcape Highway, (Route 6) and you'll see a mustard-colored, horizontal cloud hanging over its entire length. That's just some of the air pollution. Most of it is invisible.
According to the American Lung Association's State of the Air 2005 report, released on April 28th this year, more than 152 million of us are living in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone and particle pollution. There are illnesses and deaths every year, directly attributed to simply breathing the air, all throughout the USA. Air pollution affects everyone. Every day, the average adult breathes over 3,000 gallons of air. Children breathe even more air per pound of body weight, and are thus they are even more susceptible to air pollution. Long-term exposure to air pollution can cause chronic health concerns such as cancer; as well as long-term damage to the body's immune, neurological, reproductive, and respiratory systems.
How are you feeling today?
Yep! We can all be proud ~ America leads the world in air pollution. How tragic is that? And, despite the well-known, critical need for strict enforcement of the Clean Air Act, our president, our vice-president, and their 'well-monied' cronies and lobbyists, are working hard to weaken a landmark public health law; in favor of ~ what else ~ big business, of course!
And, you'll love this one. . . in an attempt to confuse us, they have named their new, EPA approved, piece of legislation (S. 131) the Clear Skies Act. As John Stossel would say, "Give me a break!"
In 2004, an organization called, Environmental Defense, blasted the EPA's announcement that it will not characterize carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas contributing to global warming and dirty air, as a pollutant. "Refusing to call greenhouse gas emissions a pollutant is like refusing to say that smoking causes lung cancer. The Earth is round. Elvis is dead. Climate change is happening. It's time to stop the denial and start focusing on solutions," said Melissa Carey, climate policy specialist with Environmental Defense.
But, we can stop this denial. We can take back the power. We can take a minute and speak out against sneaky legislation like this, whenever and wherever we find it. We can send an e-mail to our state Senators and demand strict enforcement of the Clean Air Act. We can oppose this piece of crap legislation, designed only to allow big business a delay of 10 years; yes - you read that correctly - a whole 'nother decade - before they'll be required to comply with the mandates of the Clean Air Act.
I don't know about you, but even being a relatively non-political person, and an armchair environmentalist, I can't just sit back and let them get away with this one!
Remember, we're all 'cough-cough' in this together . . . .