Cheer Up Charlies
Increase Ozone for Change
RECEIVED Tue., Aug. 25, 2009
Dear Editor,
The Clean Air Force of Central Texas’ warning [“Naked City,” News, Aug. 21] that we are about to exceed permitted ozone levels is almost enough to get me to buy a gasoline-powered lawnmower and fire it up every afternoon. As things currently stand, the highway lobby can shovel huge amounts of federal money into building ever more highways. In the best of cases, these highways will contribute to urban sprawl and be ongoing sources of the very pollution we’re called on to prevent. In the worst case, they will end up as hugely expensive unused white elephants as auto use declines due to the world exhausting its oil supply or as global warming concerns limit auto use. A small ozone increase now, in contrast, would force a shift in transportation funding from highways to forms of transportation suitable for the 21st century.
The Clean Air Force of Central Texas’ warning [“Naked City,” News, Aug. 21] that we are about to exceed permitted ozone levels is almost enough to get me to buy a gasoline-powered lawnmower and fire it up every afternoon. As things currently stand, the highway lobby can shovel huge amounts of federal money into building ever more highways. In the best of cases, these highways will contribute to urban sprawl and be ongoing sources of the very pollution we’re called on to prevent. In the worst case, they will end up as hugely expensive unused white elephants as auto use declines due to the world exhausting its oil supply or as global warming concerns limit auto use. A small ozone increase now, in contrast, would force a shift in transportation funding from highways to forms of transportation suitable for the 21st century.
Philip Russell
