Our BreatheEasy project continues to measure air quality at different sites across the Ottawa region.
How is the air in Ottawa? Generally speaking, the air quality in our city is fairly good. However, we have also identified a number of air pollution "hot spots".
December 3, 2020 @ 12:00 noon eastern time
Free webinar featuring Beth Gardiner author of “Choked - Life and Breath in the Age of Air Pollution” - sign up HERE
So there I was on that sunny summer afternoon, just getting started with our Sierra Club Canada project, “Breathe Easy,” to measure air pollution all across Ottawa. I was working from home, all the windows open, when suddenly there's a cacophony of clattering noise starting up somewhere in the neighbourhood and a real stinky smell wafting into the yard and in through my windows. I investigate to find that a local hedge trimming company has unleashed a team of three ardent cutters on my adjacent neighbour's back yard. I close up all my windows and whip over to see what's going on.
What prematurely kills some 500 people in Ottawa every year, and about 14,600 in Canada?
It’s air pollution. How serious is that? As I stated in an opinion piece published in the Ottawa Citizen, that’s about as deadly as the COVID-19 pandemic. During 2020, about 500 people died in Ottawa from the Covid-19 virus and about 15,000 in Canada.
