It is a rough start to 2022 (hence the lack of title), with COVID, working in the schools and so many unknowns. But I am SUPER proud of myself for starting this blog.  I mentioned it to a co-worker, who graduated recently from a Master’s program that requires cadaver dissection;  he offered something very interesting to me for this blog, “people who live in cities automatically have lung damage.”

Before I share what I found, I have always been aware of the risks of living in a congested city–and New York City to boot. I am not lamenting that this city should become more like the country so that my lungs are better off. Yet, either making a choice to live in the city, or living here because you were born here, or your family is here and moving is hard; should not automatically mean our lungs should be more damaged.

If you look at this picture is is pretty dramatic. And sad. And I get it. I am not getting rid of all the cars, trucks or buses in Brooklyn. They have to run. People have jobs to do, places to go and families under their care. However, we can get rid of the excess pollution. 

A quick google search of city lungs vs. country lungs (which came up immediately) found me several quotes, all similar. Here is the one that struck me the most, “Long-term exposure to air pollution can exacerbate lung disease as much as a daily pack of cigarettes, a study has found. Researchers looked at how exposure to four main pollutants affected lung health in 7,071 adults aged 45 to 84 living in six US cities.”

I have a story. I was at my children’s dance class last May. Right outside was a running van. There was no person in the van, but it was running and the black soot coming out of the tailpipe was visible on a warm day. We got there 20 minutes before class started, and that van was running. It was still running when we left over an hour later. No driver in sight, but loads of angry people. I called 311, and I knew they could not do anything about it. But I also know that I can’t call 911 for such an offense. I am a realist. BUT, 90 minutes of driver free idling???? It is disgusting and unacceptable.    

As citizens of this city, we should NOT be ok with this. My lungs matter just as much as yours, or the person down the street, or even the person who disagrees with me about idling. So, our officials–how can we stop this? I am not suggesting that every time I see a car idling for five minutes I should call an agency. BUT 90 minutes? In front of studio where children are coming in and out, they are not even being given a fair shot for clean lungs.

The human body is an amazing thing. It can self heal when we stop loading it with toxins. So is the environment. When the world stop for the pandemic, we got snow–snow we had not had since my older child was one or two; snow my younger child had never seen in her lifetime. The only thing damaging the self-correcting properties of earth and our bodies, is our human minds. The solution to pollution is really just a simple twist of the wrist. If you are not going anywhere, turn your car off. Please. Not for me, but for you and your love one’s.