Breathing Clean Air

Smog pollution what is smog and how does it affect our health, and for those unaware of the term “smog”, it is simply put, a combination of the words “smoke” and “fog,” and that is essentially what it is. Smog forms when particles of dust, smoke, industrial emissions, or other pollutants mingle with water droplets in the atmosphere. Because it is heavier than smoke or fog alone, it tends to collect in valleys and hollows.Read more on <a href="http://greenplanetethics.com/wordpress/smog-pollution-what-is-smog-and-how-does-it-affect-our-health/" target="_new" rel="follow"><b>Smog Pollution What is Smog...Read Full Story

Dentist Abroad Health News. Nearly 900 people are dying in Moscow every day because of the heat wave and resultant smog. Moscow , the capital city of Russia is now enduring its  third week of searing heat and resultant smog from the many fires that have erupted. It is reported that at the weekend the concentration of carbon monoxide and other pollutants in Moscow’s air exceeded the safe limit by almost seven times. Normal summer daytime temperatures are about 24 degrees C, but ecently they...Read Full Story

Lancaster California is home to the first battery powered, solar paneled house with roof tiles claiming to reduce as much pollution as the average car creates annually. The 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1519 square foot home, received the roof tiles embedded with a catalyst that helps reduce smog causing nitrogen oxide pollution when the catalyst is exposed to sunlight. This prototype home was built by KH Homes and BYD, a manufacturer of clean energy technologies, providing the solar panels, solar...Read Full Story

Montreal has a smog alert today as it has several times in the last two weeks, which is a little ironic, considering that yesterday Quebec Premier Jean Charest pledged to cut the emissions by 20 per cent compared to 1990 by 2020.On a per capita basis, the province's emissions would drop to eight tonnes, considerably less than Quebec’s previous target of 11 tonnes per capita. In comparison, the European Union targets are nine tonnes per capita, while the Harper government aims to reduce them...Read Full Story

When a taxi driver complains about Bixis cutting back on clients you’ve got something that is more than just a gadget.The big question for me when the Bixi, Montreal’s bike share program, was rolled out last spring was: who would use them? Bike riding has grown around here in the last few years, as more bike paths have been constructed on busy streets. Bike traffic is even approaching a critical mass on some side streets. Everybody who might want to ride a bike already has one, right?  No...Read Full Story

What’s wrong (or right) with this picture? Jean Charest is getting praise from Arnold Scharzenegger, but it looks like Harper will be a no-show in Copenhagen. The Republican governor of California has just praised Quebec’s announcement about amibitious plans for green house gas reductions. “Like California, Quebec is not waiting for national and international commitments; they are taking action now to reduce emissions and dependence on fossil fuels,” he’s quoted as saying. “This is another...Read Full Story

The health of Montrealers depends on Mount Royal: if there were any doubt about it, new research to be published shortly in Social Science and Medicine shows that the mountain and neighborhoods next to it are much less polluted.  Dan Crouse, a doctoral candidate at McGill University in geography and epidemiology, has been keeping track of nitrogen dioxide--a good indicator of overall pollution-- at 129 points around the island of Montreal for the last couple of years, checking each device...Read Full Story

Heatwave in Moscow has begun. It has been one of the most talked about global news today. It has been very alarming for most of the people living in Moscow. Moscow has been known for its extreme winter or cold season and it has never experienced such weather until now. Most of the people in [...]Read Full Story

Lots of background noise this morning when I woke up—it’s an effect I’ve noticed frequently lately as temperature inversion layers settle over Montreal. Then when I walked into a cloud/fog as I climbed Mount Royal in the cemetery, I noticed how progressively quieter things became, until at the top the roar of traffic appeared very distant.  There are climatological reasons for this, it seems. To make a long story short, sound is deflected downwards by the inversion which acts sort of like a...Read Full Story

This is supposed to be the fourth day of a smog alert in Montreal. We went the summer without a smog day because of cool temperatures and a lot of rain and wind: the air was so pure that a suburban transit agency which had promised free rides on smog days to cut down on automobile travel didn't have to cough up any. This week, though, a very calm air mass accompanied by a temperature inversion layer has settled over Greater Montreal. Temperatures are above normal—as high as 18 C (about 70 F...Read Full Story