The air is deadly

Gotham is a top-ten city when it comes to national air-pollution levels. Cars, trucks and buses are the main ozone-killing and particle-pollution culprits, spewing millions of microscopic boogeymen into the air daily. And you’re breathing it in. But you can help curb the contaminants.

According to Clean Air NY (cleanairny.org), if one in ten auto commuters in the NYC metro area carpooled, worked from home or used public transit just once a week, ozone-damaging emissions would be reduced by about 5,100 tons weekly. To keep an eye on how New Yorkers are doing, sign up for the organization’s Air Quality Action Day Alerts (visit the website or text air to 42269), which notify subscribers when ozone pollution levels are expected to be high, so that you can take steps to avoid contributing to the damage. Some tips: Opt for the subway instead of a cab and try filling up the gas tank and driving after dark (sunlight and heat react more readily with gasoline, increasing pollutants).

Break out the old Huffy for Critical Mass, a grassroots group ride promoted by bike advocates Time’s Up (held on the last Friday of every month at 7pm, meet at the north end of Union Square Park; visit times-up.org). The ride raises awareness of the challenges and benefits of urban biking while visibly asserting New Yorkers’ right to pedal on car-crowded streets. “Bikes on the street put pressure on the city to make more space for bikes,” says Time’s Up executive director Bill DiPaola. Indeed, they do. On August 9, 16 and 23, the city will close Park Avenue to cars, trucks and buses for a few hours as part of a program called Summer Streets (nyc.gov/dot). In Brooklyn, over four consecutive Saturdays from Saturday 19 to August 9, a similar event, Williamsburg Walks, will close down—or, rather, open up—Bedford Avenue from Metropolitan Avenue to North 9th Street (billburg.com/walks).

Commute to work by bike or on foot—every day. “Walking or biking to work is possibly the single most important environmental action an American can take,” says Wiley Norvell, communications director of Transportation Alternatives. To facilitate the transition to two wheels, Bike New York (bikenewyork.org) offers free workshops to companies interested in exploring a cycler’s commute. Want to do even more? Dream up a new vision of city roadways for Transportation Alternatives’ “Designing the 21st Century Street” competition, which asks the public to rethink bike and pedestrian access at the Brooklyn intersection of Fourth Avenue and 9th Street (21stcenturystreet.org).

—Andrew Frisicano

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