Chasing Clean Air

Vote for the New 7 Wonders of Nature

The New 7 Wonders of Nature Contest is underway and you can vote on 7 of the 22 finalist destinations chosen from 440. Click here to cast your vote. Two that caught my eye:

Bay of Fundy in Canada (it's located near beautiful provinces I plan to visit) and Milford Sound in New Zealand. I'd like to see penguins waddling. :-)

Warning! Sepulveda Pass Near Church Lane No Detour Signs Where They Should Be

There were no detour signs today when I tried to guess my way home, passing unfamiliar manicured lawns and attractive houses in Brentwood Glen. 

I-405 widening project is off to a poor start.

And I'm thinking. I'm thinking while trying to figure how the heck I'm getting home today, I'm thinking, what if someone has a heart-attack or stroke or needs to have a baby now, and no one can navigate through traffic or even figure out which streets to go up or down?

Are these health events not "allowed" during two year construction period?

No detour signs today.

The Sepulveda Pass near Sunset and Church was a nightmare at 1 p.m. Meaning it took me 30 minutes longer to get home with no traffic because there were no signs telling me what to do when all roads leading to my home are blocked off. U-turn. U-turn. U-turn.

How in the world will rush hour look?

As a result of I-405 freeway widening, I predict a mass exodus from Los Angeles.

Rather than leaders asking intelligent questions like, how can we get more cars off the road--in our broke economy where schools and hospitals and libraries close or restrict hours--a billion dollars is going to widening the 405 freeway and demolishing a few bridges to accommodate the widening and make bridges earthquake proof.

Back to the reality of living on L.A.'s Westside. No detour signs today. Not where I live.

This is how my drive played out:

Los Angeles Smog

Dealing with allergies and air pollution, I thought I'd post the culprit.

Los Angeles air.

The above video was my first YouTube sort-of "video" which is really just a photo illustrating why we city folks need to figure out how to move without a car. Or drive on vegetable oil. Or solar-power. I took this Los Angeles smog aerial photo from a flight descending into LAX, August 2007. Meanwhile, everyone is mad at BP for the underwater fuel leak, and rightly so, but all of us who drive without using renewable resources is culpable to a degree, too.

The above is my baby video before I earned training wheels (iMovie). Here's a better video comparing Los Angeles soot with clean air Victoria, B.C.

More Chasing Clean Air Videos

405 Freeway & Sunset Bridge Construction & Traffic Nightmare Begins Tonight

Update: May 8, 2011

ANOTHER major construction project--The Bel Air Bar and Grill Building greenlighted near Moraga and 405 while freeway widening going on. Traffic to get much worse. I'm incredulous. Read more here.

Update: July 13, 2010

Sunset Bridge Demolition scheduled 6 consecutive nights starting July 23-28th.

WB Sunset Bl traffic to be detoured to Sepulveda Way, to NB Sepulveda Blvd to SB Church Lane, back to Sunset. (I don't quite get it. Maybe you do.) Nearby ramp closures may start as early as 7 p.m. Detour maps: Metro.net/405

The $1 Billion two year widening of the 405 at Sepulveda Pass started tonight at 9 p.m. with the Sunset Bridge, which happens to be blocks from where I stay when in Los Angeles.

(Update May 12, 2010: To read my day one experience trying to get home, click here.)

Already a congested area, no one, and I mean no one (except the contractor) is looking forward to the gridlock sure to follow demolition and construction. I can't imagine the mess.

And increased air pollution. Certain.

The demolition of the bridge at Sunset will happen later in May if all goes well, or June, if things are off to slow start.

What toxic dust will fly into the air and your lungs? 

The Sunset Bridge demolition will be followed with bridges at Skirball Center Drive and Mulholland.

Here are helpful links for Los Angeles residents impacted by 405 Freeway closures, and the demolition and reconstruction of Sunset, Skirball, and Mulholland Bridges. 

Did You Know Global Warming Contributes To Allergies and Asthma? So Does The I-405.

Did you know global warming contributes to allergies and asthma?

Hachew!

It turns out that CO2--the stuff of smokestacks and combustion, and rightly villainized as the man-made ingredient that gives climate change and global warming its oomf--also stimulates plants to create more pollen, which, is not fun.

Pollens stimulate allergies, which stimulates asthma, which, in my case, stimulates things that start with an "l" and end in a "s".

I'm not playing with you. Though I could. I suppose I have more time on my hands, and I suppose I used to talk a lot. And now.

I can't talk.

Not a word.

People are hanging up on me as if I'm a prankster or... "Hello?" they say, clearly.

"Ha--o" I whisper trying to put force behind my o and letting the vowel linger in the hope of...

"Hello! Hello!"  The pharmacist, the friend, and even my own mother...

"Ha---OOOO," I whisper running out of breath.

One by one they hang up either not hearing me or hearing enough to say, "Let's speak tomorrow."

So today I turned on the TV. I flipped channels.

Same ol' news. Same ol' Same.

The consensus was my laryngitis is allergy-induced probably from smog and pollens in Los Angeles where the air has been heavy lately. Is there anyone from L.A. reading that will give me empathy? 

Same ol'... Wait.

Finally, I found something interesting. An HBO show on global warming produced by Laurie David. That's where I learned the relevant news to my life and yours about potent pollens stimulated by CO2, impacting allergies and asthma.

Air pollution and climate change are linked at the hip, and in our sneezes, allergies, and asthma.

My doctor diagnosed my condition via email (who can drive to the doctor in this traffic?) as allergy-induced. And I'll add, probably from Los Angeles smog and a higher than usual pollen count.

So now that I'm on to what helps contributes to high pollen counts, CO2, I'll remind you that cars are one of the biggest contributors, which brings me to this frightening Los Angeles news:

A few blocks from where I live construction will start on the 405 freeway, and the rebuilding of the bridge over Sunset.

Starting tonight at 9 p.m.

I am so not looking forward to the demolition of the bridge, and all the air pollution that will create. Will the city pay for people like me, who are already suffering from bad air, to give me accommodations at the beach?

Malibu.

Will they?

This 405 construction is a billion dollar project and I want to know what's in it for me? I want a room with a view at the beach and clean air. Not dust and chemicals floating along with backed up traffic.

Environment California Fundraiser

Do you think Environment California is worth $500 a head for a fundraiser lunch?

After attending yesterday's plush Santa Monica event, I vote, yes.

Environment California is doing great work to protect us from toxins.

I got re-inspired to focus on advocacy work too, along with my clean air search.