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Southern California just saw its longest streak of bad air in decades

latimes.com

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Re: Southern California just saw its longest streak of bad air in decades

#21

Post by briandear »

gascan wrote: post #7
Panino wrote: post #5

> Joseph Lyou, a South Coast air quality board member who heads the Coalition for Clean Air, said he’s concerned that although the intensity of Southern California’s air pollution has dropped, its longevity is increasing. If air quality becomes more consistently bad then maybe wearing a mask, like in some Asian countries, will become more socially acceptable. Sometimes I'd like to wear one but I'm scared people would…

Masks help with particulate, which I think is Asia's core problem (from all the coal). But most bad-air US cities struggle with ozone, and I don't think masks help with that.

However the masks worn on the streets in Asia don’t do anything to stop the 2.5 particulates.

Re: Southern California just saw its longest streak of bad air in decades

#22

Post by ed_balls »

BookmarkSaver wrote: post #13
lwb wrote: post #12

Isn't Seattle supposed to be way worse?

Seattle's was due to fires in surrounding regions. For whatever reason, smoke just accumulates in the Sound and lingers in the city, even for fires up in Canada. In LA, typically unless there is a fire in the immediate proximity, smoke doesn't really affect it that much. This article seems to be mostly about smog and ozone, rather than temporary air quality issues that don't really have a solution. But yes, from what…

Rain also helps with reducing the air pollution

Re: Southern California just saw its longest streak of bad air in decades

#23

Post by astrodust »

refurb wrote: post #8

Los Angeles is unfortunate that due to the surrounding geography, thermal inversions are common where air close to the surface is trapped and doesn't circulate. That amplifies the air quality problems compared to say SF where the off-shore breeze keeps the air relatively clean.

A friend from Los Angeles used to say "I don't trust air I can't see."

Re: Southern California just saw its longest streak of bad air in decades

#24

Post by adrianN »

Panino wrote: post #5

> Joseph Lyou, a South Coast air quality board member who heads the Coalition for Clean Air, said he’s concerned that although the intensity of Southern California’s air pollution has dropped, its longevity is increasing. If air quality becomes more consistently bad then maybe wearing a mask, like in some Asian countries, will become more socially acceptable. Sometimes I'd like to wear one but I'm scared people would…

There is a company called Respro that makes masks for cyclists that make you look like you're on your way to a rave, not like you have TB.

Re: Southern California just saw its longest streak of bad air in decades

#25

Post by thaumasiotes »

briandear wrote: post #21
gascan wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Masks help with particulate, which I think is Asia's core problem (from all the coal). But most bad-air US cities struggle with ozone, and I don't think masks help with that.

However the masks worn on the streets in Asia don’t do anything to stop the 2.5 particulates.

I question this; "pm2.5" is a big marketing term in China. Do you think the masks are lying about what they filter, or were you under the impression that people weren't buying pm2.5 masks?

Re: Southern California just saw its longest streak of bad air in decades

#26

Post by jorblumesea »

Panino wrote: post #5

> Joseph Lyou, a South Coast air quality board member who heads the Coalition for Clean Air, said he’s concerned that although the intensity of Southern California’s air pollution has dropped, its longevity is increasing. If air quality becomes more consistently bad then maybe wearing a mask, like in some Asian countries, will become more socially acceptable. Sometimes I'd like to wear one but I'm scared people would…

The masks generally worn in Asian countries will have no impact on pollution related health issues. The dangerous particulate size, PM 2.5, require N95/N99 rating and are specialized masks. Off the shelf surgical masks or similar cloth covers are ineffective, which are the ones commonly worn in Asia. It also depends on what pollution you are trying to combat. Particles is one thing, CO2 or O3 is a different problem to solve.

The real solution is green energy production and electric transportation.

Re: Southern California just saw its longest streak of bad air in decades

#27

Post by minimaxir »

r00fus wrote: post #14
minimaxir wrote: post #3

A neat perk of iOS/watchOS 12 is that it now supports Air Quality in the Weather app/Siri, which has been very useful over the past few days!

Wow - Does AQ show up on the complication?

Nope; only on the new Series 4 exclusive watchface.

Re: Southern California just saw its longest streak of bad air in decades

#28

Post by bsder »

refurb wrote: post #8

Los Angeles is unfortunate that due to the surrounding geography, thermal inversions are common where air close to the surface is trapped and doesn't circulate. That amplifies the air quality problems compared to say SF where the off-shore breeze keeps the air relatively clean.

This is relatively straightforward to solve. You take the existing CA gas tax and have it increase a couple of pennies every single month indefinitely. Gasoline in California is still about 1/2 the price in Europe.

By making the tax small and gradual, everybody can PLAN around the fact that gas is going up instead of the dislocation from when gasoline prices whipsaw.

The problem is that we have zero political will to do this. People will attack the gas tax instead of attacking the lack of transportation options.

Re: Southern California just saw its longest streak of bad air in decades

#30

Post by swingline-747 »

bsder wrote: post #28
refurb wrote: post #8

Los Angeles is unfortunate that due to the surrounding geography, thermal inversions are common where air close to the surface is trapped and doesn't circulate. That amplifies the air quality problems compared to say SF where the off-shore breeze keeps the air relatively clean.

This is relatively straightforward to solve. You take the existing CA gas tax and have it increase a couple of pennies every single month indefinitely. Gasoline in California is still about 1/2 the price in Europe. By making the tax small and gradual, everybody can PLAN around the fact that gas is going up instead of the dislocation from when gasoline prices whipsaw. The problem is that we have zero political will to…

That won't work in the real world, it will just tax the poorest people and accomplish nothing tangible. There's very inelastic demand for travel by car in LA because everything is so spread out, making other forms of transport unworkably moot. People have to work and live, so they're just going to hate you for making their lives harder while they have no workable options. Heck, the auto industry even had the 19th/20th c. era local commuter trains ripped up so they wouldn't compete with the automobile.
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