Clean Air Day Today
Wednesday, June 5, 2013 @ 4:33 AM
Prince George, B.C . – Today is Clean Air Day.
It started out as a B.C. event eleven years ago and is now marked right across the country.
Prince George has come a long way in improving air quality, but still faces several air quality challenges with fine particulates which remain in the airshed especially during a weather inversion. ( at right, a past air quality advisory day in Prince George- photo 250News archive)
There has been significant progress made in the past five years with industry installing new equipment and employing new technology to reduce emissions. The wood stove exchange program has also helped in reducing particulate levels in the winter. The PG Air Improvement Roundtable (PGAIR) has also provided information sessions to share info on the benefits of burning properly seasoned wood.
The City of Prince George has adopted “idle free zones” and offers free transit rides during air quality advisories.
But PGAIR wants to celebrate the person who walks the talk. They are looking for a “Community Clean Air Champion” which PGAIR describes as, “someone who contributes positively to the air we breath through their every day decisions, actions, and awareness”.
The person who is named the Clean Air Champion will receive a bicycle prize of their choice valued up to $1,000. From Koops Bike Shop. Full contest rules and entry forms can be accessed at www.pgairquality.com. The deadline for entries is Friday, June 7th.
That’s not the only contest underway, as PGAIR is also holding a Clean Air Day Poster contest for those aged 5-12. PGAIR will select two winning posters for the cover of the Ministry of the Environment’s annual Prince George Airshed Air Quality report and each winner will also receive a $50 dollar gift certificate.
Comments
Not good enough, 2 to 3air advisory per month is still to much .
Oh oh I bet trucking in hog for the Cities heat system really helps the air quality! And how about that heat system at UNBC? Where do they get their hog trucked in from?
Maybe they should encourage the
Prince George Golf & Curling Club
to replant some trees.
New trees fresher air !!!
Clean air day…..does this mean they are going to shut the pulp mills down today?!
The Prince George Golf and Curling Club sure did a lot of weed kill spraying last week…it was just AWFUL STRONG strong smell….they must have used lots!!
Correction, BC transit offers free rides the following day and only if the air quality remains poor.
The refinery is just as bad if not worse than the pulp mills.
I guess clean air day means they shut the refinery down also they ay? We should have clean air on Clean Air Day I would think.
Today I rode my bike. Fresh air after a rain is always very invigorating!
Do those who work from home get brownie points?
Replant trees at the golf course? What for? Re-sale value? Carbon credits paid to someone from someone else should provide incentive? Eh wot?
I notice we still have “drive thrus” in the city. Would seem like an easy thing to eliminate if we were really concerned with air quality.
Yep eliminate all drive thru’s. Less idling pollution, less distracted drivers and less jobs!
Posted by: NoWay on June 5 2013 2:43 PM
Yep eliminate all drive thru’s. Less idling pollution, less distracted drivers and less jobs!
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That makes absolutely no sense. Do you honestly believe that everyone will stop going to Tim Hortons if there is no drive-thru? The few who do stop going are probably better off without the donut.
Its interesting that they offer free bus rides, but they never mention the fact that one of the biggest polluters in the Bowl are the Diesel burning buses that spew black smoke into the air 16 hours a day seven days a week. Now that’s pollution.
No doubt the closure of the Pas Lumber Mill, and Lakeland mills, along with North Central Plywoods Plant had some effect on getting the air cleaner.
Most of the industry in the bowl is long gone. So if we still have an air problem, it is pretty obvious it is coming from the three pulp mills, fmc corp, and husky oil. That’s all the industry that is left in this area, that actually pollutes.
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