6 days ago
There is a bizarre red-state quest to prevent community air quality monitoring
For years, Cynthia Robertson had a particular morning routine: Every day, she would display a flag on her front porch in Sulphur, Louisiana, the color of which corresponded to the current air quality. On one far end of the spectrum, a purple flag meant there was hazardous air filled with particulate matter, and everyone's health effects were increased; on the other end, a green flag meant the air quality was 'satisfactory,' with air pollution posing little or no risk. In between were red, orange, and yellow flags.
Residents already know there's pollution in their neighborhood, thanks primarily to the 16-plus industrial plants that surround their city. 'We can smell it,' Robertson says. But the flags helped to quantify just how bad the air was on any particular day.
Robertson is the executive director of Micah 6:8 Mission, an environmental nonprofit in Southwest Louisiana. The front porch where she would display flags was actually the nonprofit's property, where there's also a community garden, an orchard, a pond, goats, chickens, and educational programs open to the community. Micah 6:8 Mission would also post a picture of the day's flag, and the color chart explaining its meaning, to its Facebook page—details that helped residents gauge whether they should be spending time outdoors, or wait it out inside.
'Particulate matter is a killer,' Robertson says, referring to particles that are 2.5 micrometers or less in size, and which can come from all sorts of pollution, from vehicle exhaust to burning fuels. 'That tells you, 'Don't go out and garden this morning. Wait until the air calms down after the overnight releases from the plants.''
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