By Kathy Chaffin
May 2-6 is a good time for all of us to stop and appreciate the air we breathe.
The week is designated as National Air Awareness Week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service.
Dr. John Wear, director of the Center for the Environment at Catawba College, said air quality affects many aspects of our lives. A big concern is the way it affects the health of individuals in general, he said, “especially those most susceptible to air quality problems, which tend to be our very younger and older populations.”
The respiration rate of young people is higher than adults. “So the air quality affects the development of their lungs,” Wear said. “Those air quality issues are real serious and cause permanent lasting effects. I think it’s something all of us should be aware of and a good reason we should all be involved.”
Solving the air quality problems “is really about all of us looking for ways to lessen our use of fossil fuels,” he said, “and there are a lot of ways to do that in the way we live and work.”
The Center’s Campaign for Clean Air works with organizations and businesses in the region to determine ways to reduce harmful emissions and improve local air quality.
Air quality is a serious concern for residents in Rowan and Cabarrus counties as the 2011 State of the Air Report by the American Lung Association (See related story) ranked the Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury metro region as 10th in the nation of those monitored for the worst ozone pollution. The ranking is based on three-year averages, with the 2011 report using ozone level data from 2007, 2008 and 2009.
The 2010 report, which also ranked the region as the 10th worst in the nation for ozone pollution, used data from 2006, 2007 and 2008. Though the ranking did not change, the region’s actual ozone levels were lower in the 2011 report.
Rowan’s 2010 ranking as the 17th worst county in the nation for ozone levels (not all counties are monitored) also remained the same even though the actual levels were also lower than in the previous report.
The Center’s Campaign for Clean Air was launched in the fall of 2009 to educate residents in Rowan and Cabarrus counties and the surrounding region about air quality issues and to empower them to take action to improve it. The catalyst for the campaign was the 2008 State of the Air Report, which ranked the Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury as the 12th worst ozone-polluted region in the United States. (Kathy, we were involved in this before 2008 so I’m taking this sentence out.
Every day during Air Awareness Week, the EPA website features educational air quality segments beginning with “Ozone and Particle Pollution” on Monday. Other segments are as follows: Tuesday, “What Causes Poor Air Quality;” Wednesday, “Keeping Your Lungs and Heart Safe;” Thursday, “How to Get Current Air Quality Information;” and Friday, “What Can You Do to Help Make the Air Cleaner?”
Tom Mather, public information officer for the N.C. Division of Air Quality, said the EPA has traditionally released the report at the beginning of the ozone season, though the season has begun starting earlier in recent years.
Mather said forecasts for ozone levels used to be available from May through September but have now been extended from April through October. The N.C. Division of Air Quality issues forecasts for Rowan and Cabarrus counties — which are featured on the Center’s Campaign for Clean Air website — and much of the rest of the state. The Forsyth County Environmental Affairs Department issues forecasts for the Triad region.
Though the division doesn’t have any special programs going on during National Air Awareness Week, Mather said its focus for the month of May is on getting people to reduce idling their vehicles. The Center’s Campaign for Clean Air staff worked with China Grove Middle School on what turned out to be a very successful  no-idling program encouraging parents to turn off their vehicles while waiting in line to drop off or pick up children and even posted a toolkit on its website for other schools to follow.
Jonathan Navarro, environmental senior specialist for the N.C. Division of Air Quality, said staff there are also doing a pilot project at a Wake County elementary school, where flags will be raised daily to identify the air quality index for that particular day.  
“The goal is to protect children’s health and to improve air quality on those days,” he said. “They’ll get tips sent home on what people can do to reduce air pollution.”
Also during National Air Awareness Week, the division’s partners and coordinators will be sending out tips through e-mail blasts informing people about what they can do at the workplace and in homes to reduce harmful emissions. “We have a lot of events happening all the time,” Navarro said.