Find out what you're breathing at the 2010 Expo
The first step to getting blue skies at the 2010 Expo -- and beyond -- is knowing what's in the air.Although it might not tell you what you’re breathing in, the new real-time website from the EPA and 2010 Expo folks will now tell you at least how bad (or good) the Shanghai air is. This, according to EPA officials, is part of Shanghai’s overall plan to help clear the often “thick blanket of smog” from the region.
Called AIRNow International, the online system links the EPA's technology with Shanghai’s air quality monitoring network, which previous only provided “day-before readings,” not real-time results. The system will monitor for PM10, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, and will report if levels of each are simply "Good," "Bad" or "Excellent."
"There's a real power in real-time data. Once you make data available hourly, you can forecast and people start paying attention," said Jeff Clark of the EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
The AIRNow International website is one part of the overall plan this year to clean up Shanghai’s air -- we're hoping the new proposal to ban smoking in public and the workplace is the next step. Although the city took measures to reduce car emissions and move polluting factories out to the suburbs, the region as a whole still is a work in progress.
