The Smells of Hamilton

[BrianE]

Yes, it's a well known fact that all the major parties but the Conservatives have the ability to prevent slight easterly breezes and atmospheric temperature inversions.

Also, I heard that the Liberals have a plan to ban lake effect snowfalls and the NDP have a plan to create more pleasant lake breezes.

[geoff's two cents]

Originally Posted by BrianE

Yes, it's a well known fact that all the major parties but the Conservatives have the ability to prevent slight easterly breezes and atmospheric temperature inversions.

Also, I heard that the Liberals have a plan to ban lake effect snowfalls and the NDP have a plan to create more pleasant lake breezes.

You're missing the point. The environment is simply not a significant part of the Conservative platform. Nor should this be surprising, given the roots of the party in oil-rich Alberta. Compare the wording of the issue on the various party websites - From the Conservatives, it really does sound like half-hearted lip service. In fact, occasional bigotry aside, it's my only serious beef with the party.

For an excellent rundown of the differences between the various environmental platforms put forward this fall, see Ryan McGreal's article in Raise the Hammer. http://raisethehammer.org/blog.asp?id=1100

[raisethehammer]

Originally Posted by BrianE

Yes, it's a well known fact that all the major parties but the Conservatives have the ability to prevent slight easterly breezes and atmospheric temperature inversions.

Also, I heard that the Liberals have a plan to ban lake effect snowfalls and the NDP have a plan to create more pleasant lake breezes.

Lol....classic stuff.

[FairHamilton]

Seriously, in this city Green's should have major traction, period. But they don't seem to, and that's puzzling (then again, maybe not).

http://thespec.com/article/423128

http://thespec.com/article/418290

http://thespec.com/article/343230

http://thespec.com/article/402264

http://thespec.com/article/415096

To date, the federal conservatives and the provincial liberals have done nothing. Heck, I may have done more then the two combined when I had the Ministry of Environment at my house for 1 hour in mid-August to take my report and my pictures from the plume the night of the Ticat game.........

[geoff's two cents]

I agree, FairHamilton. There was a day in early October last fall when there was a thick "fog" that was actually faintly green/brownish. Many people I spoke to suggested it was probably mist from the escarpment. I should add that I had particular difficulty jogging that night. Owing to breathing problems, in fact, I had to cut my routine in half. Guess that mountain gets pretty misty, eh? My recent home on the west coast was certainly not immune from air quality problems, particularly in the suburbs, but I have to say that living in a major manufacturing town (with, for some reason, 5 lane one-way streets downtown) brings the issues of climate warming and air pollution into sharp relief. It would be great to see the Greens have somewhat of a presence out here, or anywhere in Canada for that matter.

[thistleclub]

Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller recently released an Annual Report that offered up a frank assessment of where we're at. Apparently we aren't getting nearly enough smog days.

Miller writes:

In Ontario, air pollution is a public health crisis, with thousands of premature deaths attributed to air pollution each year. To help the public reduce or modify their exposure to poor air quality, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) monitors and provides regular updates on regional ambient air quality through its on-line Air Quality Index (AQI) (see www.airqualityontario.com). MOE’s 40 monitoring stations measure six key air pollutants known to be harmful to human health, including ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

Unfortunately, Ontarians who rely on the government’s AQI may be lulled into a false sense of security about the quality of the air they breathe. MOE’s monitoring stations are intentionally located away from local sources of pollutants in order to provide representative information about regional average exposure to air pollutants; while MOE’s data is useful for predicting air quality on a regional scale, it does not provide information about local – “street-level” – air quality at any given location. Current reporting of air quality by MOE based on the AQI may lead Ontarians to believe that air quality on the streets is better than it actually is.

To illustrate this concern, in the summer of 2007 the ECO asked air quality experts to monitor the air quality at street-level at a variety of locations across Ontario. The results revealed that levels of particulate matter were consistently higher at street-level sampling locations than at MOE’s equivalent AQI monitoring stations. For example, while street-level samples collected in downtown Toronto recorded concentrations of particulate matter equivalent to the AQI’s “very poor” category, MOE’s Toronto downtown AQI station reported air quality to be “good” at that time.

[adam]

So it stands to reason that a car and its driver at street level are flooded with this higher level of pollution (an air filter can only do so much) constantly throughout their daily commute. Not a great way to start each and every day IMHO