Air Quality Overview, Environmental Awareness Website

Air pollution affects each of us in our day-to-day lives. It is not a global problem we can ignore. If you look around your community, you can see the effects of poor air quality, climate change and global warming. For example, think about the number of people you know who suffer from respiratory illnesses. Although some pollutants are a result of naturally occurring activities, the vast majority are a result of human activities such as from coal burning power plants, industries and vehicle emissions. Air pollution, smog, climate change, global warming are all terms you hear and read about in the media; it is important to understand that they are very much linked. When we take steps to improve air quality, such as by not idling a vehicle, taking public transit and reducing energy consumption in our home, we are reducing our negative impact on air quality.

The City of Pickering is committed to working with the community, public and private partners to do our part to improve air quality. As such, the City has undertaken a number of initiatives to address this matter through special programs and events as well as in day-to-day operating practices that are based around sustainability.

Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources is challenging everyone in Ontario to help fight climate change by planting trees. The ministry has set up www.ontario.ca/plantatree, an interactive website where people can tell everyone how they’re helping Ontario fight climate change by planting trees. If you planted a single tree in your backyard or are organizing a community event to plant 100 trees, let Ontario know by entering it on the Ministry of Natural Resources’ website.

GTA SMOG SUMMIT
View 2006 GTA Smog Summit Photos

The Smog Summit is an annual gathering of representatives from industry, the community and all levels of government in the GTA. Aimed at developing initiatives to reduce air pollution, the Summit encourages members to showcase their commitment to clean air initiatives by signing an Inter-governmental Declaration on Clean Air. The Smog Summits are held in June of every year.

AIR QUALITY SAMPLING EXERCISE
View 2006 Air Quality Sampling Exercise Photos

From late May to early June 2006, politicians from the municipalities of Pickering, Toronto, Markham, Burlington, Ajax and Peel Region took part in local air quality testing to gather information and raise awareness of the concerns of air quality especially for those most at risk.

Hand-held instruments were used to measure particulate matter produced from direct vehicle tailpipe emissions. Particulate matter is so small that it is measured in microns. This small dot (.) is equal to about 600 microns. Two sizes of particulate matter (PM) were measured; fine particulate matter, less than 2.5 microns in size (PM2.5) and sub-micron 'ultrafine' particulate matter, less than 0.1 micron in size (PM0.1). Individual particles cannot be seen with the naked eye, but together they can appear as grey haze or soot causing reduced visibility.

Each participating municipality sample area included a busy road and on a residential street to compare the different concentrations of particulate matter showing the local and regional effects. Levels of PM2.5 were relatively consistent across the region whereas levels of ultrafine particulate matter varied dramatically depending on vehicle traffic.

The sampling showed that air pollution is both a local and a regional issue. PM2.5 is a regional concern due to its ability to stay in the air for days or weeks and travel for hundreds of miles. PM0.1 is a more localized concern because of its size; however, research is still in its early stages.

CLEAN AIR DAY
View 2006 & 2005 Clean Air Day Photos

Clean Air Day Canada is a national partnership of government and not-for-profit groups including the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA), Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), Go for Green and the federal departments of Environment, Health and Transport.

Celebrated each year in early June, Clean Air Day is a national campaign to help raise awareness about clean air and climate change issues. Events are held across the country to encourage people to get out of their cars and walk, bike, or ride public transit as part of a commitment to a more sustainable lifestyle.

In both 2005 and 2006, GO Transit, Durham Region Transit (DRT), the City of Pickering, and Ontario Power Generation partnered to thank commuters for their contribution to a cleaner environment by greeting them at Pickering GO Station with music, free coffee, cookies and bags full of great educational literature about air quality. Commuters also checked out hybrid electric vehicles from the staff fleets of GO Transit, DRT and the City of Pickering.