We're Number Nine! Oh, Wait...
Topic: Indianapolis In the News | Indianapolis Living
Posted: Tue, May 1, 2007 
Hey, Indy made a national Top Ten list, yay! But it's for having crappy air quality, boo.
Blame Indianapolis' dirty air—attributed mostly to our dependence on the car—for the state's capital landing in the top 10 of the American Lung Association's most polluted American cities. The association today gave Indy a failing grade for particulates—soot and chemicals—in the air. The city received a D for ozone or smog pollution.
—Indianapolis Star, May 1, 2007
Here are a few things the Star article says we can do to reduce our impact:
- Carpool
- Fill your car with gas after 6:00 p.m.
- Urge funding for mass transit programs
I'd like to throw out another idea, swiped from a city nearby: a Green Roofs initiative. Check out the Chicago Green Roofs program to see how that city is working to improve air quality, lower heating and cooling bills, clean and retain rainwater, lower air temperatures, and more. I wish someone with power would be forward-thinking enough to bring an idea like this to our city—and to rise above the idea that clean air is a "Democrat vs. Republican" issue.
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Comments
1. May 2, 07 02:52 PM | Dustin said:
Mayor Peterson spoke for a few minutes before Al Gore's presentation at Congregation Beth-El Zedeck on April 24. He mentioned the city's forthcoming plans for a "greenprint" that's been under development for some time. Since it hasn't been officially announced yet, he was light on details (although Gore mentioned that he had seen an earlier draft and was impressed).
Peterson also mentioned that the city had held their first green roofs meeting a few weeks prior, and it was a big success. He didn't say where it was held, but he mentioned it overfilled the meeting room where it was held with, I think, over 100 attendees. Maybe there will be more meetings like that -- with better publicity -- because of the success of the first one.
It's also noteworthy that Indianapolis is one of hundreds of U.S. cities that has pledged to be a part of the Kyoto Treaty. Still, there's obviously a long way to go. Ozone has been a problem for years, and the most any administration has done about it so far is the rather weak KnowZone ad campaign. I'm hoping the "greenprint" will have more to offer.
And why oh why do we not have tailpipe emission inspections? If the main problem with Indy air quality is car exhaust, shouldn't we at least hold the owners of cars to a certain environmental standard?
2. May 2, 07 03:37 PM | Rachel Wolfe said:
Thanks, Dustin -- that's great information. I'm so glad to hear a greenprint program is underway, and will look for more information on that in the coming months. I'd love to attend a green roofs meeting -- that first one surely wasn't well publicized, which is too bad, but I'm glad to hear it had good attendance anyway.
I second your call for emission inspections! Unfortunately you can bet there will be serious lobbying against that idea, if it ever comes to the legislature for consideration. And I hope that any discussions on light rail include the idea of a line running around the city perimeter, for there is such huge residential and commercial growth around the I-465 ring; so far I've only heard talks about lines running from suburbs like Fishers into downtown Indy...