Air Quality Health Advisory Again!

Air Quality Health Advisory issued for Milwaukee, Waukesha, and Brown Counties

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is issuing an air quality health advisory for Milwaukee, Waukesha, and Brown Counties in eastern Wisconsin effective from 1:00 p.m., today Thursday, March 30, 2006 until 12:00 p.m., Friday, March 31, 2006. The advisory is being issued because of persistent elevated levels of fine particles in the air. These fine particles come primarily from combustion sources, such as power plants, factories and other industrial sources, vehicle exhaust, and outdoor fires. Current weather conditions leading to this advisory are the presence of low level clouds and light winds trapping pollutants near the ground. Air quality is expected to gradually improve for the affected area beginning Friday morning.

The Air Quality Index is currently in the orange level, which is considered unhealthy for people in sensitive groups and others, including people who are not in sensitive groups but who are engaged in strenuous activities or exposed for prolonged periods of time. People in those sensitive groups include those with heart or lung disease, asthma, older adults and children. When an air quality health advisory is issued, people in those groups are advised to reschedule or cut back on strenuous activities.

People with lung diseases such as asthma and bronchitis and heart disease should pay attention to cardiac symptoms like chest pain and shortness of breath or respiratory symptoms like coughing, wheezing and discomfort when taking a breath, and consult with their physician if they have concerns or are experiencing symptoms. To receive air quality health advisories by e-mail, visit http://dnr.wi.gov/org/aw/air/health/listserv.html.

There are several actions the public can take to reduce their contributions to this regional air quality problem.

-Reduce driving when possible and don’t leave vehicle engines idling.

-Postpone activities that use small gasoline and diesel engines.

-Avoid burning leaves, brush, grass or wood. Composting is preferred, but if you must burn and your community allows it, do not burn on an air quality health advisory day.

-Never burn household garbage, plastic, rubber, painted wood or other materials that must be recycled or landfilled and cannot be legally burned.

-Practice electrical energy conservation.

For more information:

-Federal interagency air quality web site, for information on the Air Quality Index and nationwide air quality forecasts and air quality conditions, http://airnow.gov
-DNR’s statewide air quality monitoring web page, http://maps.dnr.state.wi.us/wisards
-For local DNR air management program contacts, http://dnr.wi.gov/org/aw/air/staff/regions.htm

DNR Air Quality Health Advisory

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is issuing an air quality health advisory for Milwaukee, Waukesha, Manitowoc and Brown Counties in eastern Wisconsin effective from 11:00 a.m., today Wednesday, March 29, 2006 until 9:00 a.m., Thursday, March 30, 2006. The advisory is being issued because of persistent elevated levels of fine particles in the air. These fine particles come primarily from combustion sources, such as power plants, factories and other industrial sources, vehicle exhaust, and outdoor fires. Current weather conditions leading to this advisory are the presence of low level clouds and light winds trapping pollutants near the ground. Air quality is expected to gradually improve for the affected area beginning Thursday morning.

The Air Quality Index is currently in the orange level, which is considered unhealthy for people in sensitive groups and others, including people who are not in sensitive groups but who are engaged in strenuous activities or exposed for prolonged periods of time. People in those sensitive groups include those with heart or lung disease, asthma, older adults and children. When an air quality health advisory is issued, people in those groups are advised to reschedule or cut back on strenuous activities.

People with lung diseases such as asthma and bronchitis and heart disease should pay attention to cardiac symptoms like chest pain and shortness of breath or respiratory symptoms like coughing, wheezing and discomfort when taking a breath, and consult with their physician if they have concerns or are experiencing symptoms. To receive air quality health advisories by e-mail, visit http://dnr.wi.gov/org/aw/air/health/listserv.html.

There are several actions the public can take to reduce their contributions to this regional air quality problem.

-Reduce driving when possible and don’t leave vehicle engines idling.

-Postpone activities that use small gasoline and diesel engines.

-Avoid burning leaves, brush, grass or wood. Composting is preferred, but if you must burn and your community allows it, do not burn on an air quality health advisory day.

-Never burn household garbage, plastic, rubber, painted wood or other materials that must be recycled or landfilled and cannot be legally burned.

-Practice electrical energy conservation.

For more information:

-Federal interagency air quality web site, for information on the Air
Quality Index and nationwide air quality forecasts and air quality conditions, http://airnow.gov
-DNR’s statewide air quality monitoring web page, http://maps.dnr.state.wi.us/wisards
-For local DNR air management program contacts, http://dnr.wi.gov/org/aw/air/staff/regions.htm

2005 lcv scorecard

Last week, the League of Conservation Voters released their 2005 National Environmental Scorecard. Events were held in key states across the U.S. with LCV supporters and the media on hand.

Here is how our illustrious Congressmen scored.

Senator Feingold: 90% (Thanks, Russ!)
Senator Kohl: 75% (Hey Herb, that is a D in my gradebook!)
Representative Mark not-Green: 22% (This is a big fat F in anyone's gradebook!!!)

If you click the above names, you can see what votes they were "graded" on and email them a message about how you feel about their scores.

signs of a greener green bay

With all of the recent efforts to re-develop the city of Green Bay and to get people to live downtown, there has not been much public talk about "green cities" or environmentally correct and energy efficient development. In yesterday's Press-Gazette, there was some very hopeful reporting in the article "Mayor forecasts 'brighter future for Green Bay".

At the neighborhood level, new efforts will include a Greener Green Bay Initiative that will consider environmental factors from more efficient lighting to a policy for how long city vehicles should idle. Schmitt said he was intrigued by a similar initiative in Chicago and even discussed the possibility of a rooftop garden atop City Hall.

If they are serious about this it is very exciting news. As we move away from a fossil fuel economy, it is incredibly important that we revitalize our cities in a way that gets people to live near where they work. Chicago has made great strides in this area.

Right now, the Sierra Club has a very interesting COOL CITIES campaign that helps urban areas deal with these issues. One of their newsletters had a recent article, Cities Get Cool, about this effort. Green Bay should sign on!

eddy out,
rich