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This is the time of year when many students head back to school. Did you know that up to 20 percent of weekday morning traffic is school-related? Living in areas with lots of traffic can prompt even more parents to drive children to school to ensure safety. Increased traffic and idling vehicles create air pollutants [...]

Did you know that idling your car for two minutes uses the same amount of gas used to drive  about one mile? Cars with larger engines typically waste more gas idling that cars with smaller engines.  An idling car also emits air pollutants. During the summer months, ground-level ozone pollution is created when these pollutants [...]

Did you know that almost 60 percent of Americans live an area with unhealthy levels of air pollution? Just like a recipe, the atmosphere needs all the right ingredients to make ground-level ozone – a harmful air pollutant that is common during the summer months.  When the temperature rises and the sun is shining, heat [...]

Urban heat islands form as vegetation is replaced by asphalt, concrete and other “hard” surfaces for infrastructure like roads and buildings. These surfaces absorb rather than reflect incoming heat from the sun, causing overall urban temperatures to rise. Rising temperatures increase demand for energy for air conditioning, contribute to the creation of ground-level ozone air [...]

May is National Bike Month and May 17-21, 2010 is Bike to Work Week.  The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that there is one adult-sized bicycle per U.S. household, but few adults report taking a bike trip outdoors.  Taking your two-wheeler for a spin not only helps keep you healthy, it also saves money, reduces [...]

Friday, April 30 is National Arbor Day.  Trees add beauty to our landscape, but they also provide many environmental benefits:

Just one acre of forest puts out about four tons of oxygen – enough for four people for an entire year.
Adding trees around your home can increase its value by up to 15 percent.
One young, [...]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that only about 10 percent of cell phones are recycled. When cell phones head to the landfill, so do precious metals, copper and plastics.  Reusing or recycling these materials prevents air and water pollution, and also reduces emissions from manufacturing and processing. For every one million cell phones that [...]

Did you know the burns are a common form of injury during  heavy snowfall or freezing rain events? Winter storms may break utility polls or disrupt electric lines, cutting off some households from power, heat and communication. Those unaccustomed to using candles, wood stoves and other heating devices can suffer from burns and other injuries. Wood burning and use of [...]

 
 About 15,000 emergency room visits and 500 deaths occur each year because of unintentional carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. As a matter of fact, this colorless, odorless gas is the most common cause of poisoning deaths in the U.S. CO is produced when a fuel – natural gas, propane, oil, kerosene, wood, charcoal – is burned. [...]

January is National Radon Action Month.
Radon gas: You can’t see it, smell it or taste it. But if it’s in your home, it can make you sick. As a matter of fact, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. (smoking is first). Radon is produced when uranium in soil, rock [...]

Wood smoke is one of winter’s most distinctive smells – but while smoke may smell good, it’s not good for you. Smoke from wood fires contains a mixture of gases and tiny particles of ash, soot and wood tar. Particles that are less than 2.5 microns in size – 30 times smaller than the width [...]

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality estimates that Texans discard 1.5 million computers annually and depend on an average of six wireless (battery-powered) products daily! Computers, electronics and batteries contain metals like nickel, aluminum, mercury and lead. When these items end up in landfills, metals may vaporize into the air when burned or leach into [...]

October is Children’s Health Month. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), when food, water or air is polluted, children are more affected by that pollution than adults. Children eat, drink and breathe more per pound than adults. Also, their bodies are still developing and their behavior can expose them more to chemicals and organisms.
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According to EPA’s AIRNow Program, the summer of 2009 had better ozone air quality than years past. Many U.S. cities experienced at least 80 percent fewer days when ozone air pollution reached levels that were Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (USG) or higher on the Air Quality Index. This trend was especially apparent in the Midwest, [...]

On warm days, outdoor air pollution concentrations often rise to levels that can impact our health. But did you know that air pollution inside can be worse than air pollution outside? The air we breathe inside a sealed building can be 25 to 100 percent more polluted than the air outside. The U.S. Environmental Protection [...]

Just like a recipe, the atmosphere needs all the right ingredients to make ground-level ozone – a harmful air pollutant that is common during the summer months.  When the temperature rises and the sun is shining, heat and sunlight mix with nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds that come from car exhaust, power plants, refineries, [...]

Just like a recipe, the atmosphere needs all the right ingredients to make ground-level ozone – a harmful air pollutant that is common during the summer months.  When the temperature rises and the sun is shining, heat and sunlight mix with nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds that come from car exhaust, power plants, refineries, [...]

Just like a recipe, the atmosphere needs all the right ingredients to make ground-level ozone – a harmful air pollutant that is common during the summer months.  When the temperature rises and the sun is shining, heat and sunlight mix with nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds that come from car exhaust, power plants, refineries, [...]

Just like a recipe, the atmosphere needs all the right ingredients to make ground-level ozone – a harmful air pollutant that is common during the summer months.  When the temperature rises and the sun is shining, heat and sunlight mix with nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds that come from car exhaust, power plants, refineries, [...]

Just like a recipe, the atmosphere needs all the right ingredients to make ground-level ozone – a harmful air pollutant that is common during the summer months.  When the temperature rises and the sun is shining, heat and sunlight mix with nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds that come from car exhaust, power plants, refineries, [...]