Photo courtesy of EPA
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Knowing the air and water quality of your local area is important, and the EPA has a handy tool to help you keep tabs on the greenness of your city, county, and surrounding areas.
How the MyEnvironment Tool Works
- Visit MyEnvironment and type in your zip code.
- Check out the Air Quality. You can get information on your local area's ozone forecast, which tells you how healthy the air is that you're breathing that day, and what pollutants are affecting it. You can also find out the UV light intensity, and even how much particulate matter is in the air. In other words, if you want to know whether or not to go out and breathe deeply or stay in with the windows shut, this tool will tell you.
- Find out your Water Quality. Get specifics on the sources and (quality of the water you're drinking http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/score-tap-water-database.html), what watershed conditions are like and the groups working to preserve your local watershed, the water conditions for the lakes, rivers and streams near you, and more.
- Look up facts about Health Risks for your area, including cancer risks from air toxicity to mortality rates.
- Discover land health and clean-ups of any toxic materials or hazardous waste that is happening in your area.
What to do with the information you find from MyEnvironment
It can be a real eye-opener to see what's happening in your area, either reassuring or worrisome. The tool can be a way to uncover how you want to help improve the health of your community. Is water quality low? Perhaps you want to get involved in clean-up efforts or interact with politicians who can help green the quality or source of water. The same goes for air quality—perhaps you want to get involved in (improving air quality by boosting the bikeability or walkability of your city.
More Ideas for Keeping Tabs on Local Green Info:
Open Green Map Launching Globally to Solve Your Eco-Travel Issues
Citizen Scientists Needed for Studying Climate Change
Do You Know Your Green World?
Educate Kids With Local Green Adventures
Got a tip or a post idea for us to write about on Planet Green? Email pgtips (at) treehugger (dot) com.
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