Chicago Is The Sixth "Wheeziest" City In America
By Jim Bochnowski in News on May 15, 2015 2:15PM
In an honor no one wants, Chicago has been named the sixth "sneeziest and wheeziest" city in America due to our terrible air quality.
A report by the Natural Resources Defense Council crowned Chicago sixth on a list of American cities, and after spending a few days with Chicagoist staff members actively fighting off allergies, red eyes and sniffles, this really comes as no surprise.
The organization analyzed where "unhealthy ozone levels overlap with the presence of ragweed, also taking into account other medical risk factors." The data they used came from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Agriculture and a report by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. That report cited "relatively high death rates for asthma, asthma-related emergency room visits, and bad air quality related to ozone" in the city. Chicago is only behind Richmond, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, and Chattanooga on the list.
According to the group's spokesman (and Chicagoist contributor), Josh Mogerman, "I think people with respiratory problems are well aware of this and dealing with it on a daily basis. For those who don't, this might help explain why we're seeing more runny noses and red eyes on the 'L' train in the morning."
In order to solve these problems, the organization has called on the federal government to "strengthen and finalize standards to limit carbon pollution from power plants, the largest source of carbon pollution" and "lower the allowable standard for ozone in air to a level that will adequately protect public health." And they're pushing a bill in Springfield that would gradually wean the state off of fossil fuels.
But with congressional forces directly opposed to even the thought of acknowledging climate change, we'll see how that goes.