The radio announced that we are having a code orange air pollution
alert. The anouncer told people to not run gas lawn equipment during
daylight and to try not to idle their cars unnecessarily. Nothing about
biking, walking or public transit as ways to reduce emmissions.

Code orange in many parts of NC today as well. We are advised to stay indoors and use our AC, and limit prolonged physical exertion...

I use the bike racks on Metrobuses to extend my cycling range. Todays bus segment was free.
Paul

meh...
go West young man, where the air is clean!
yeah right

Hmmm, same thing where I am. I've got a bike ride with my cycling group tonight, I guess I should take it easy and do the short route. The last time the air was this bad and I did the fast run, I wound up with shortened breath for about 12 hours. Not fun.

My understanding was that the air quality wasn't supposed to get bad until this afternoon... Meh, doesn't really matter if I understood or not I rode to work and I have yet to turn the AC on in my apartment, just have a fan blowing in the main room to keep some air movement going.

It was measured at 8:54 this morning, according to weather.ca. I can only assume that it'll get even worse as the day goes on.

To most Americans, practical use of bicycling, walking and mass transit are foreign concepts. What? Why should I exert myself that way? That is idiotic! I'll get sweaty. My hair will get messed up. I'll LOOK like I bicycled or walked from somewhere! And, mass transit ... uh, uh. I want my privacy.

Shoehorning Americans out of the motor vehicles for ANY reason is a tough sell, eh?

Especially if the pollution brings on an asthma attack.

How's that going to help?!

Well obviously you'll have to run your AC if it's hot outside and your windows are closed to keep the pollution out...

What's amazing to me is that we're being told that avoiding the pollution is the best way to keep the pollution from affecting you. Of course there's no way to actually create less pollution, right? This goes back to CaptainTandem's comment.

What pathetic advice! The AC is among the things that cause the pollution, and more physical exertion is among the things that would reduce it.

I despair when I read things like this. It makes it seem like the whole system has to be demolished...it's too late to make easy changes, and too many people are unwilling.

This is actually the advice most Americans wanna hear (based on my observations). Stay indoors. Get comfortable with the Air Conditioning. And don't exert yourself.

Stay in your McMansion. Ramp up the A/C till it's a comfortable 68F. Kickback in your easy chair and flip on the tube. Stay protected from mean Mother Nature!

Does anybody else find this completely unacceptable? Stay in your homes, the air is poison! Sit on your arse, kick on the tv, fire up some Jerry Springer! Don't forget to ramp up that AC! SAFETY FIRST! What do we suppose this same situation is going to be like in 10 years? That's not that long off. How to explain to the children why they can't play outside... rediculous...

Ever read the book of Exodus? You may notice that the people were stubborn in their ways, so God had them wander around in the desert until a whole generation had died off. There comes a point at which that's the only way to get a whole society to change is to kill off an entire generation and bring up the next Generation with proper values. And to an extent, it has already happened in North America: One generation has died off/is dying off, and a new one is being brought up by the media, indoctrinated with a whole new set of idiologys. This new generation controls the media, and that makes it more difficult to make speedy changes.

The best we can do for is to ride, gradually recruit others, and teach our children the value of the bicycle.

I hope we can do that, Lunch. I hope our kids can use the bicycle as transportation, without tremendous risk to their lungs. I considered heeding the advice last weekend and keeping them inside and out of the pool on the worst of days.

But I guess we have to go on living and not let that stuff get to us, right?

I think it depends what you mean by "get to us." The environmental and social damage caused by cars SHOULD get to us, get under our skin, get us pissed off, get us moving, learning, teaching, doing.

I guess these are the days of Exodus, as Sir Lunch-a-lot said. The largest exodus in human history--by far-- is the ongoing exodus of farmers to the slums of the world. It's important to understand how this exodus is related to cars and to the global commerce that's propped up by cheap petroleum.

Spot on! . See my sig.

Edit: The sig is from bicyclefixation.com. There's a wealth of graet material there on bicycling and sustainability.

But what do we do? I commute via bike everyday, but I pretty much skip winters because of all the woodsmoke in the air. When I get home I reek like it, in my clothes and hair. I don't mind smelling bad, but the thought of breathing it is killing me(quite literally).

It helps everyone if we ride during bad air days, but what is it doing to our bodies?

Do you think it's really worse to be cycling in the smog? Cars don't filter out the pollution, and neither do home air-conditioning systems. There's no escaping it!

As for wood smoke in your area, it sounds like your neighbors are violating the clean air laws. They probably should have catalytic convertors on those wood stoves. I would complain to state and federal environmental quality agencies.

I live on a hill, and I suck in a tremendous amount of air when I ride up it. I can't help think that by riding[on really bad air days] I'm doing my body any favors.

The key on those bad days is to keep your heart rate down. If you're sweating, you're overdoing it. I have to take the light rail and give myself extra time to do the bike leg of my commute or I cough for hours afterward. If I didn't have a suitable public transpo alternative I'd be forced to fill my lungs with smog or drive a car. That's a pretty sucky dilemma.