Explore the issues
Air quality
What is air quality? Air quality affects how you live and breathe. Like the weather, it can change from day to day or even hour to hour. Air quality is measured by the amount of five major air pollutants in the air: ground-level ozone, particle pollution (also known as particulate matter), carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Use these links to find out more about what pollutes the air and how those air pollutants are measured.
Take a look at some live pictures and corresponding air quality conditions from web-cams that are updated every 15 minutes. Choose a two sites to track over time and compare.
For student activities and some that use online real time data visit the following websites.
- http://k12science.org/curriculum/airproj
- http://extraordinaryroadtrip.org/pdfs/poundPollution.pdf
- http://extraordinaryroadtrip.org/pdfs/milkweed.pdf
To determine if air pollution exists in your community , arrange to take community surveys.
- http://extraordinaryroadtrip.org/pdfs/communitySurvey.pdf
- http://extraordinaryroadtrip.org/pdfs/autoMania.pdf
- http://extraordinaryroadtrip.org/pdfs/autoManiaWk2.pdf
Impact on health: asthma
Why is it important to have good air quality? Emissions from the 13 million diesel engines in the US(United States) are associated with respiratory illness, cancer, heart attacks and premature death. For information on Diesel Health Impacts and Solutions visit the following sites:
- Watch this video
- Read this publication
- View maps of health impacts in your community
- Find out how pollution can trigger asthma attacks
Biodiesel fuel
What is biodiesel fuel? Use these links to find out more about a fuel made from a renewable resource, its benefits to our air quality, and something about its little known history.
- http://soyohio.org
- http://auto.howstuffworks.com/biodiesel1.htm
- http://biodiesel.org/WMS/TV/historychannelCarver_2005.asx
- http://worldpeaceemerging.com/biodieselsample.pdf
Celebrity endorsements
Josh Tickell, Willie Nelson, and Darryl Hannah are just a few of the celebrities who have come on board to support cleaner air through biodiesel.
Biodiesel in school buses
Other bio-based fuels
- http://bio.org/news/video/biofuels_globe.asx
- http://biodieselamerica.org/files/articles/Biodiesel%20from%20Algae.pdf
- http://biodieselamerica.org/files/articles/alaskafishoilfs31802.pdf
- http://www.info.ag.uidaho.edu/magazine/summer07/biofuels.htm
- http://nrel.gov/learning/re_biofuels.html
- http://www.canola-council.org/canola_biodiesel.aspx
- http://www.info.ag.uidaho.edu/magazine/summer07/videoidaho.htm