DO NOT BREATHE THE AIR IN LA

The most pressing issue in Los Angeles County right now is air quality, but AQI, the only tool at our disposal is regulated by the EPA that left every one out to dry after 9/11...

Since I saw horizontal black smoke in my backyard, I’ve been worried about air quality. I dug around the internet for information every day, but every thing just pointed me back to AQI readings, the EPA’s measure for communicating air quality. As I read the AQI each day, I felt something was up. Even as the Sunset Fire was burning in the Hills, there were pockets of LA that still had green readings denoting that the air was “well”!

So I did some quick research and realized that the Air Quality Index communicated from the EPA is a POLITICAL TOOL pursuant to the Clean Air Act. The same EPA that told people it was safe to return to Downtown New York after 9/11.

The AQI pursuant to the Clean Air Act only measures for:

Ground level ozone

Particulate matter (also known as particle pollution, including PM2.5 and PM10)

Carbon Monoxide

Sulfur Dioxide

Nitrogen Dioxide

When it comes to health and safety, I no longer trust our government. Why would I after seeing the response to 9/11, Katrina, and the Flint Water Crisis? Oh, yeah, remember Covid? LOL.

The Clean Air Act, the Paris Accord, these things are better than nothing but all of these environmental acts are too little too late. We can no longer wait for our government to warn us of health risks; we have to get in front of it ourselves.

Even today January 22, 2024 the Air Quality Index is good to moderate for most of Southern California, which it is not. I’ve scoured news articles, scholarly articles, Instagram, etc for definitive information and the most comprehensive resource I found was a 2.5 hour webinar conducted by the Coalition for Clean Air attended by multiple scientific experts.

This webinar was a god send explaining the effect of the wild fires and I’m going to break down the presentation for people who don’t have 2.5 hours to watch because I don’t want to see my friends and neighbors sick from the air. This shit is gut wrenching to live through, but exacerbated emotionally by the complacency and negligence of our political leaders.

The wildfire smoke poses severe and fatal long term health risks, PERIOD.

I’m writing this article to try and help people understand the magnitude of what we’re dealing with. I’m not telling you to leave LA. I don’t want to scare you, it may not be popular, but I feel people should have this information.

For the record, before you read, the shit is wild fucked up. If you don’t have the bandwith, read later. It’s bad.

Here it is…

The first slide here explained what AQI reads for and what scientists can even read for with the tools that we currently have. A big issue with urban wildfire is that we don’t even have to tools to measure for toxic chemicals in real time. A lot of the analysis has come from studies after the acute phase of the fire and damage. But it’s that information from 9/11 and previous fires that helps us today.

When talking about the above slide, the scientist said, “It doesn’t mean that they’re not in the air. Just cause we’re not measuring it does not mean that it’s not in the air.”

After establishing that we can’t measure things in real time but that the issues still remain, they spoke about the scope of destruction.

She mentions that what we’re dealing with is on the level of a bomb dropped on an entire city the size of SAN FRANCISCO.

Then, they make the comparison to 9/11 reminding the viewer that the geographic scope and literal size of the destruction in the LA fires is significantly larger.

At the 19:36 mark of this presentation, they explain what you’re breathing in urban wildfires based on what they saw post-9/11. The microscopic view of debris from 9/11 breathed by the people who returned downtown is fucking tragic.

These are the toxic emissions from previous fires and studies.

I will take a moment to say that using common sense, this is why I left LA. Think about the things in your house, the things in your friends house, the things in the most diabolical person you know’s house. Now imagine all that shit on fire and the gasses it emits…

You don’t want to breathe any of that and there are about 40,000 of those houses in the air right now. Then think about the cars that burned and look at the following slide…

I really appreciated the sentiment from the slide below explaining the interests being balanced by LA County and California’s leaders. I empathize with them and understand every thing they are balancing but you have to put health and safety first. You cannot lose the trust of your constituency in trying times like this. The economy is already shambles after 3 strikes. I want to work in and save Hollywood as much as anyone, but I’m not going to catch lung cancer for it and I doubt anyone else I know wants to either.

If they do, more power to them. But they should have the fucking information.

Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass should be informing people about how actually serious these risks are.

The furthest Mayor Bass went was to urge residents to “stay aware of the risks posed by toxic air pollution, which can affect both respiratory health and overall well-being.” There have been multiple scientific studies done after 9/11 and the wildfires of 2018 to definitively tell people the dangers of urban wildfires, but our leaders are balancing their economic agenda, fear, and health/safety. To me, you have to save lives first.

Newsom has issued multiple executive orders with the primary goal of rebuilding Los Angeles to the detriment of other issues. Here is the exact text from his website:

Supporting recovery, protecting survivors

Governor Newsom has issued a number of executive orders in response to the Los Angeles firestorms to help aid in rebuilding and recovery, create more temporary housing, and protect survivors from exploitation and price gouging:

• Providing tax relief to those impacted by the fires. California postponed the individual tax filing deadline to October 15 for Los Angeles County taxpayers. Additionally, the state extended the January 31, 2025, sales and use tax filing deadline for Los Angeles County taxpayers until April 30 — providing critical tax relief for businesses.

• Rebuilding Los Angeles faster and stronger. Governor Newsom issued an executive order to streamline the rebuilding of homes and businesses destroyed — suspending permitting and review requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Coastal Act.

It is important to rebuild LA, but what about peoples’ health and safety? Shouldn’t we be maintaining environmental protections at a time like this?

I understand that it is politically unpopular to tell people it is unsafe to return to the area. It would be a gut punch to the economy. There are videos of people looking for their dogs, loved ones, belongings. I fully understand that and if people want to risk their lives to do those things, they should be allowed to.

BUT, we should be providing people with the full scope of the damage to make informed decisions. We cannot send people back into areas where they will be exposed to long term fatal health risks without the proper information and precaution.

The final slides show the clear scientific evidence of wildfire smoke’s impact on human health. I have nothing left to add and just hope every one stays safe. I’m really bummed out. I’m mad about Elon Musk throwing up Nazi Salutes. I didn’t vote for Trump, but at this point I just hope whoever is in office does a good job. That’s all I can hope for now.

Every one has fucking failed us.

Someone needs to put the people first and do the right god damn thing.