How clean is the air in your county? Now you can find out, by going to the home page of the American Lung Association and typing your zip code in the little white box. Too hard? The ALA also offers this clickable map of the 50 states to get a reading on what, exactly, you breathe everyday. A summary of the association’s 2006 State of the Air report can be found here. Here an excerpt:
The State of the Air: 2006 report shows
that an estimated 42.5 million Americans – nearly 15% of the U.S.
population – live in 34 counties with unhealthful levels of both ozone and particle pollution. Cities ranking among the worst in the nation for both pollutants include:
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West: Los Angeles, CA; Bakersfield, CA; Fresno, CA; Hanford, CA; Visalia, CA
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Northeast: New York, NY; Newark, NJ.; Bridgeport, CT
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Mid-Atlantic: Washington, DC; Baltimore, MD.; Pittsburgh, PA
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Midwest: Cleveland, OH; St. Louis, MO