No Safe Haven

If the air in San Francisco was any worse, she'd be wearing a mini-skirt

Bad air is every one's problem.

Scientists at the US Department of Energy and the California Air Resources Board examined airborne lead isotopes in San Francisco and they discovered that one third of that specific type of pollution originated from China. That means:

1. Everyone, not just the chemically injured/chemically sensitive, should be concerned with air pollution.
2. Due to the autonomy of countries regarding local regulation and the ability of air pollution to travel internationally, global regulation is necessary.
3. As previously mentioned, bad air is every one's problem. Your race doesn't matter, neither does your sex. Your economic status doesn't matter. Your country of origin, your religious beliefs or the absence of them, your political orientation doesn't matter. None of it does. Pollution is an equal opportunity destroyer, and quite a well-traveled one at that.

Sadly, previous agreements like the Kyoto protocol have largely been abandoned and were instead replaced with polluter-friendly cap & trade agreements. America, which has opted to not follow the Kyoto Protocol for nearly 14 years, mainly bases the refusal to join on economic terms.

Here are the countries that participated in the Kyoto Protocol in 2009. Green is a participating country, red rejected the protocol, yellow means they participate with some restrictions, and gray is undecided.



Here's how it looks in 2010.

So China doesn't just make the majority of consumer goods purchased in America, they also produce some of our pollution. And both get delivered to America's shores and cities. By the way, I say thank you to Canada, eastern Europe, the Nordic countries, Australia & New Zealand for continuing to uphold the protocol.

Back in the States, a BPA ban in children's products was not made law.

As for the first picture and the mini-skirt comment, well someone created a dress that monitors air pollution and reacts to it by contracting, providing a visual cue about the presence of unhealthy air by wrinkling and shrinking. As a chemically injured/chemically sensitive person, the idea is correct but the execution is backwards. The dress should expand and cover the skin in the presence of pollution.