Air Pollution

Breathless (and Speechless)

By Ben Bull
Published May 09, 2007

I had to catch my breath at the Toronto Star's inside page column today, "Sun cooks up year's first smog alert".

"All this beautiful sun has come with a price," writes reporter San Grewal. "High ozone readings yesterday prompted the province's first smog advisory of the year, covering most of southern Ontario."

Grewal goes on to provide a helpful quote from John Steele, a spokesperson with the provincial Ministry of the Environment: "A lot of sun creates the photochemical reaction that results in high ground-level ozone."

There was me thinking it had something to do with - oh, never mind. It's nice to know our local papers are getting to the heart of the issue when it comes to explaining the real causes for Southern Ontario's smog days.

I heard on the radio, as I was driving to work (Ha! Busted! But have you ever tried commuting to Mississauga?) that:

  1. Yesterday's smog day came nearly a month earlier than last year's first alert and,
  2. Another warning has been issued for sometime in the next 24 hours!

Oh well. Here's hoping we get some rain soon, otherwise we'll all have to get used to catching our breath.

Ben Bull lives in downtown Toronto. He's been working on a book of short stories for about 10 years now and hopes to be finished tomorrow. He also has a movie blog.

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By seancb (registered) - website | Posted May 10, 2007 at 12:53:49

Awesome! Let's all start mowing our lawns! Just be sure to put lots and lots of my drinking water on it today to make sure it grows enough to be "worth" mowing tomorrow! Also, don't forget to let your lawnmower warm up for a few minutes the first time you use it this year, it's good for the engine y'see!

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