Air Pollution in Durango
BY SOMA SMITH
“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” This quote was written by John Muir.
When I was nine years old my parents told me we were going to take a year off of school and travel the world! As you can imagine as a curly haired young women I was ecstatic! We traveled in a small camper van and went to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. I had the time of my life! I spent my days climbing, surfing, eating exotic new foods, meeting new people and spent my nights studying in our camper van about animals like the warthog, kangaroo and the kiwi bird. What these six months taught me is how powerful yet fragile our environment is and that it needs to be preserved! I also learned that humans get so distracted in their daily lives and forget to think about how they can help positively impact our world.
You can help our local community by preserving our air quality. Even though Durango doesn’t have bad air pollution it could be better. Over time if we continue to keep the train running as frequently as we do, and Durango continues to grow in population, our air quality will get worse. Of course we can’t have perfect air quality but, we can only help prevent our air from getting worse. Here are a few things you as an individual can do to help preserve our air quality.
#1 - Reduce the amount of time spent in the car. Try to carpool, take a public transit, bike or even walk to your destination. This is so important because of how often we drive, the carbon emissions add up. When you are driving avoid accelerating quickly, braking hard and driving at high speeds. Remove extra weight from your car and unused roof racks or bike carriers, which cause drag.
#2 - Resist the urge to burn wood. If you don't rely on burning wood as your primary source of heat, then I would think twice about building a fire. It emits Carbon Monoxide into our atmosphere. Carbon Monoxide can cause harmful health effects by reducing oxygen delivery to the body's organs like the heart and brain.
#3 - Don't idle your car. According to Utah Clean Cities' Idle Free program, idling vehicles in the U.S. consumes more than two billion gallons of diesel and gasoline each year! This is a lot of wasted fuel and emissions without even moving your car.
#4 - Conserve Energy. Try to turn off lights, computers, and electric appliances when not in use. Use your microwave instead of the oven to heat small items, and use fluorescent light bulbs instead of standard light bulbs.
#5 - Less packaging. The process of manufacturing packaging releases harmful emissions into the atmosphere. No matter what you're shopping for, try to choose items that have less packaging. Buy from brands that use as little packaging as possible. Recycle everything you can: aluminum, paper, glass, plastic and cardboard are all easy things to recycle.
These are just a few examples out of many ways you can help reduce air pollution. It’s important to note that doing these things may seem difficult at first, but eventually it becomes a habit and you are doing your part for our community!
The Durango and Silverton narrow gauge railroad train also has an impact on our community’s air quality. The train burns coal and emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. “The Skeptical Science Glossary” states that “Nearly all scientists have reached the same conclusion: if we increase the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the Earth will warm up.” Some greenhouse gases occur naturally, while others come from human actions like cement production, deforestation as well as the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. Thousands of tourists ride the Durango and Silverton train every summer without knowing the negative impact it has on our atmosphere. Since Durango thrives off of tourism, I propose that we run the train less often. In certain seasons two trains run every day. This is way too often. Perhaps there is a way to limit the number or trains that depart every day. Maybe we could develop a way to capture the smoke and emissions.
Good air quality is critical to our health and well being. Breathing in air pollution can cause respiratory and cardiovascular problems. It can irritate your eyes, nose, and throat, cause shortness of breath, aggravate asthma and even affects your heart says “Spare the Air”. Not only does bad air quality affect our health, but it affect birds! “Audubon” states that “Birds are exposed to more airborne particles because they have a higher breathing rate and spend more time in the open air. Extra fine particles, those less than 2.5 microns are small enough to lodge into the deepest branches of birds lungs.”
In conclusion, our environment is a very important part of our world, and it’s unjust if it’s not treated with respect. Every action has a reaction, and sometimes these reactions are wide reaching and negative. We should all all be aware of the world around us and how are actions can affect our community as a whole. It can be comforting to know that every action can help our world be a better place to live in. Even trying to do one single action everyday to help the environment can make an impact because, eventually it becomes habit. As you now know, preserving our air quality is paramount because it affects the appearance of our beautiful clear skies, our health and the health of innocent animals! Please try to do your part and keep our earth green.
Works cited:
"The Impact and Effect." The Steam Locomotive. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
"Climate Science Glossary." Skeptical Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
"Why Good Air Quality Is Important." Ministry for the Environment. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
23, 2015 By Kenneth QinJuly. "Birds Suffer from Air Pollution, Just like We Do." Audubon California. N.p., 03 Mar. 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016
"Top 5 Things You Can Do to Improve Air Quality in the New Year | KSL.com." Top 5 Things You Can Do to Improve Air Quality in the New Year | KSL.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
BY SOMA SMITH
“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” This quote was written by John Muir.
When I was nine years old my parents told me we were going to take a year off of school and travel the world! As you can imagine as a curly haired young women I was ecstatic! We traveled in a small camper van and went to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. I had the time of my life! I spent my days climbing, surfing, eating exotic new foods, meeting new people and spent my nights studying in our camper van about animals like the warthog, kangaroo and the kiwi bird. What these six months taught me is how powerful yet fragile our environment is and that it needs to be preserved! I also learned that humans get so distracted in their daily lives and forget to think about how they can help positively impact our world.
You can help our local community by preserving our air quality. Even though Durango doesn’t have bad air pollution it could be better. Over time if we continue to keep the train running as frequently as we do, and Durango continues to grow in population, our air quality will get worse. Of course we can’t have perfect air quality but, we can only help prevent our air from getting worse. Here are a few things you as an individual can do to help preserve our air quality.
#1 - Reduce the amount of time spent in the car. Try to carpool, take a public transit, bike or even walk to your destination. This is so important because of how often we drive, the carbon emissions add up. When you are driving avoid accelerating quickly, braking hard and driving at high speeds. Remove extra weight from your car and unused roof racks or bike carriers, which cause drag.
#2 - Resist the urge to burn wood. If you don't rely on burning wood as your primary source of heat, then I would think twice about building a fire. It emits Carbon Monoxide into our atmosphere. Carbon Monoxide can cause harmful health effects by reducing oxygen delivery to the body's organs like the heart and brain.
#3 - Don't idle your car. According to Utah Clean Cities' Idle Free program, idling vehicles in the U.S. consumes more than two billion gallons of diesel and gasoline each year! This is a lot of wasted fuel and emissions without even moving your car.
#4 - Conserve Energy. Try to turn off lights, computers, and electric appliances when not in use. Use your microwave instead of the oven to heat small items, and use fluorescent light bulbs instead of standard light bulbs.
#5 - Less packaging. The process of manufacturing packaging releases harmful emissions into the atmosphere. No matter what you're shopping for, try to choose items that have less packaging. Buy from brands that use as little packaging as possible. Recycle everything you can: aluminum, paper, glass, plastic and cardboard are all easy things to recycle.
These are just a few examples out of many ways you can help reduce air pollution. It’s important to note that doing these things may seem difficult at first, but eventually it becomes a habit and you are doing your part for our community!
The Durango and Silverton narrow gauge railroad train also has an impact on our community’s air quality. The train burns coal and emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. “The Skeptical Science Glossary” states that “Nearly all scientists have reached the same conclusion: if we increase the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the Earth will warm up.” Some greenhouse gases occur naturally, while others come from human actions like cement production, deforestation as well as the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. Thousands of tourists ride the Durango and Silverton train every summer without knowing the negative impact it has on our atmosphere. Since Durango thrives off of tourism, I propose that we run the train less often. In certain seasons two trains run every day. This is way too often. Perhaps there is a way to limit the number or trains that depart every day. Maybe we could develop a way to capture the smoke and emissions.
Good air quality is critical to our health and well being. Breathing in air pollution can cause respiratory and cardiovascular problems. It can irritate your eyes, nose, and throat, cause shortness of breath, aggravate asthma and even affects your heart says “Spare the Air”. Not only does bad air quality affect our health, but it affect birds! “Audubon” states that “Birds are exposed to more airborne particles because they have a higher breathing rate and spend more time in the open air. Extra fine particles, those less than 2.5 microns are small enough to lodge into the deepest branches of birds lungs.”
In conclusion, our environment is a very important part of our world, and it’s unjust if it’s not treated with respect. Every action has a reaction, and sometimes these reactions are wide reaching and negative. We should all all be aware of the world around us and how are actions can affect our community as a whole. It can be comforting to know that every action can help our world be a better place to live in. Even trying to do one single action everyday to help the environment can make an impact because, eventually it becomes habit. As you now know, preserving our air quality is paramount because it affects the appearance of our beautiful clear skies, our health and the health of innocent animals! Please try to do your part and keep our earth green.
Works cited:
"The Impact and Effect." The Steam Locomotive. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
"Climate Science Glossary." Skeptical Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
"Why Good Air Quality Is Important." Ministry for the Environment. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
23, 2015 By Kenneth QinJuly. "Birds Suffer from Air Pollution, Just like We Do." Audubon California. N.p., 03 Mar. 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016
"Top 5 Things You Can Do to Improve Air Quality in the New Year | KSL.com." Top 5 Things You Can Do to Improve Air Quality in the New Year | KSL.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.