Preventing Air Pollution
You can do a great deal to reduce air pollution. Here are a few ideas:
• Cut back on driving. Ride your bike, walk, use public transportation, or carpool in a fuel-efficient vehicle. When carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter pollution were reduced in Los Angeles County, the number of hospitalizations for asthma decreased.
• Keep your car tuned and well maintained. Keep your tires inflated at recommended pressures. To save energy when driving, avoid quick starts, stay within the speed limit, limit the use of air conditioning, and don’t let your car idle unless absolutely necessary. Have your car’s air conditioner checked and serviced by a station that uses environmentally friendly refrigerants (automotive air conditioners made before 1994 are a major source of CFCs). Turn off the engine when you are parked or when you run into a store for a quick errand.
Preventing Air Pollution Photo Gallery
• Buy energy-efficient appliances and use them only when necessary. Run the washing machine, dryer, and dishwasher only when you have full loads, and do laundry in warm or cold water instead of hot; don’t overdry your clothes. Clean refrigerator coils and clothes dryer lint screens frequently. Towel or air-dry your hair rather than using an electric dryer.
• Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs (not fluorescent tubes). For more information, see the box “Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs.”
• Make sure your home is well insulated with ozone-safe agents; use insulating shades and curtains to keep heat in during winter and out during summer.
• Plant and care for trees in your yard and neighborhood. They recycle carbon dioxide, so trees work against global warming. They also provide shade and cool the air, so less air conditioning is needed.
• Before discarding a refrigerator, air conditioner, or dehumidifier, check with the waste hauler or your local government to ensure that ozone-depleting refrigerants will be removed prior to disposal.
• Keep your house adequately ventilated and buy some houseplants; they have a natural ability to rid the air of harmful pollutants.
• Keep paints, cleaning agents, and other chemical products tightly sealed in their original containers.
• Don’t smoke, and don’t allow others to smoke in your room, apartment, or home. If these rules are too strict for your situation, limit smoking to a single, well-ventilated room.
• Clean and inspect chimneys, furnaces, and other appliances regularly. Install carbon monoxide detectors.
