Monday, December 24, 2007

News On the Air

AIR QUALITY FORECASTS FROM SPACE

"Weather broadcasts have long been a staple for people planning their day. Now with the help of NASA satellites, researchers are working to broaden daily forecasts to include predictions of air quality, a feat that is becoming reality in some parts of the world."

California's Clean Air Slapdown

"Environmentalists harbor no illusions about the Bush Administration. From a 2001 decision to weaken regulations on arsenic in drinking water to its antagonistic performance at last week's U.N. climate change talks in Bali, the White House has consistently opposed green goals. But Wednesday's move by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denying California and 16 other states the right to set their own standards for carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles was an unpleasant surprise, even by Bush standards. The announcement, made by EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, temporarily torpedoes state efforts led by California to drastically reduce CO2 emissions from cars by treating the greenhouse gas as a pollutant that could be regulated like any other."

Schwarzenegger Speaks Out on Federal Pollution Rulings

"TIME'S Kristin Kloberdanz sat down with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mary Nichols, chairperson of the California Air Resources Board, in Fresno, California to discuss the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denying the right of California and 16 other states to set their own fuel emission standards. The Governor was clearly frustrated though he remained genial."

EPA Chief Ignored Staff

"The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ignored his staff's written findings in denying California's request for a waiver to implement its landmark law to slash greenhouse gases from vehicles, sources inside and outside the agency told The Times on Thursday.
'California met every criteria . . . on the merits. The same criteria we have used for the last 40 years on all the other waivers," said an EPA staffer. "We told him that. All the briefings we have given him laid out the facts.'"

TRAFFIC POLLUTION AND KIDS

"Children with asthma who are exposed to traffic pollution are at increased risk for respiratory problems and reduced lung volumes, says a study that looked at children in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez, a crossing point into the United States.

"Major cities along the northern and southern U.S. borders often have high levels of vehicular traffic flows, especially at the border crossing points. Vehicular traffic emissions from the high density of border crossing traffic may be negatively affecting the health of populations who live in nearby areas," study lead author Dr. Fernando Holguin, assistant professor of pulmonary medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement."

Sunday, December 23, 2007

purpose

The purpose statement for cleanairdesign.com reads as follows:

"Can we design better health? Air quality has emerged as one of the primary geopolitical issues of the 21st century -- impacting the environment, all nations and all economic sectors. The implications of air quality, in terms of medicine and health insurance alone, are staggering enough to call for major changes in federal policies and heroic corporate investments. Specifically, in the vaguely-defined but critically important area called 'wellness', it is time for architects, designers and developers to come to terms with the variety of parameters that affect interior air quality: climate, location, layout, materials, solar exposure, sealing/curing, ventilation, filtration, furnishings, sanitation, expense and sustainability. This page is a preliminary effort to create a forum on the hypoallergenic house: a residence providing high air quality without sacrificing comfort or esthetics. I invite architects, designers, medical doctors and other informed parties to join me in discussing the ways and means of improving air quality in our internal spaces, be they domestic, corporate or public. Insurance companies, who have a significant interest inimproving air quality, are invited to join the forum."

Saturday, December 22, 2007

process

I'm in the process of setting up shop at cleanairdesign.com. A division of Google called Google Apps is making things much simpler for me, with the added advantage of my being able to edit my pages right on the web. My urls right now carry the suffix -a.googlepages.com, but will stop doing so after my "CNAMES" are registered.

My goal is to establish a useful knowledge base for individuals, groups and companies concerned with clean air. Have a look at my pages and let me know if you have any suggestions. You may publish a comment or email me at rgrudin@gmail.com. Put "blog" in your subject window.

Thursday, December 20, 2007


Burrowing owl, slightly miffed after being evicted by a ground squirrel. Berkeley, 12/20/07

Monday, December 10, 2007

For starters

These postings are affiliated with the pages at
http://cleanairdesign.com
Watch for further developments as I test the possibilities of this blog service.