For those who want to keep an eye on what’s happening around the country in terms of wildfires, climate, and air pollution, there’s an interesting resource from AirNow.com, where the federal EPA maintains maps and other tools for showing air quality across the country.
Users can locate a variety of national maps, including current air quality, and fire and smoke maps.
They can access smoke advisories, and look at information by state.
The EPA and partners describe the site this way:
“AirNow is your one-stop source for air quality data. Our website and app highlights air quality in your local area first, while still providing air quality information at state, national, and world views. AirNow’s interactive map even lets you zoom out to get the big picture or drill down to see data for a single air quality monitor. AirNow’s Fire and Smoke map, a collaborative project with the US Forest Service, uses a variety of products including low-cost sensors to provide detailed, up-to-date information that can be critical to users experiencing smoke events.”
On the site, readers can also see what’s coming out of U.S. embassies, with resources that the U.S. department of state provided through the website.
There’s also a range of educational resources and activity guides for schools.
For example, teachers can point students to resources like this one from the Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory which states:
“The Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory has a mission to discover the key processes in each component of the Earth’s climate system and the interactions among them; represent this understanding in models and thereby provide a basis for prediction of climate; and apply this understanding and these models to scientific problems of societal relevance.”
All of this is intended to help citizens to plan for reactions to the air quality that they see around them.
National Indicators
Unfortunately, what a lot of people see on this site is that many American cities have dangerously high air pollution levels.
You can see color coded indicators, showing the amount of air pollution in a given city, and plan accordingly, or you can check out the detailed maps that show fire and smoke pinpoints across the country.
Why are wildfires having so much of an impact? The answer has to do with PM 2.5 which consists of small particles caused by wildfire combustion or other sources.
The small particles can get embedded in the lungs and cause problems like lung cancer or COPD.
Children and pregnant mothers are at higher risk; so are those with compromised immune systems or respiratory conditions, but everyone is vulnerable to this kind of air pollution.
We’ve written about some of the things going on at a federal level to help lower pollution at the point of source.
But people also want to put protections in place in their homes or business spaces, to improve the quality of their indoor air.
Inevitably, some of these outdoor environmental hazards will come into the indoor air in a building. But there are also other contaminants that are potentially harmful, such as formaldehyde and different kinds of VOCs or volatile organic compounds. These can be caused by the off-gassing of consumer products, furniture or flooring, for example.
So get access to modern air purifier machines, to help cycle your indoor air and clean it, making your home more safe and livable.
The first step is to use air monitors to see the levels inside of your home.
Modern air monitors can show you, at a glance, what’s in your air, so that you can make those important decisions about mitigation.
Then you can put in place the system that you need to scrub your air, cleaning it with HEPA filters and activated carbon and more.
US Air Purifiers LLC™ will help: we have a great track record of helping customers to get what they need for improving indoor air in their homes and businesses. Let us help you to get the most out of your purchase!