Could you please get in touch with me if you're interested/concerned about air pollution near schools in Seattle and John Marshall, Wilson-Pacific, TOPS and JSIS specifically. I am particularly interested in parents willing to speak openly about their concerns.
E-mail me at sss.westbrook@gmail.com
5 comments:
Why Wilson-Pacific? I get that the others are near I-5. Is that Aurora? Bagley is even closer to Aurora than W-P, isn't it? Air quality is surely not great at any of those.
Elem Parent
My older daughters elementary school is on Roosevelt just north of 50th. Never, ever heard any one express concern about proximity to the freeway.
We live in a city!
Having freeway access is a perk, IMO.
Not that there are not several schools near freeways/highways but it was just a query.
To summarize and rehash what was posted previously –
Exposure to vehicle emissions can reduce lung function in children and increase the risk of asthma. Children are especially vulnerable because their lungs are still forming. The health effects can be permanent, and go unnoticed, since symptoms of reduced lung function may not appear until a 10-20% reduction in lung function has occurred (ARB, 2007). Studies from California resulted in a school citing rule of no closer than 500 ft. from a freeway. John Marshall is 150-200 ft. from the freeway. JSIS, TOPS, and Maple are also close to the freeway, but as reiterated previously, “just because an existing school falls within that distance, doesn't mean it's wise to put additional school children in similar locations.“ JM is especially bad since it sits below the freeway with no physical or natural barrier. Simply keeping the windows closed on the building will not protect students and staff from exposure to the ultrafine particulates. One researcher equated living or working in such close proximity to the freeway to taking up smoking.
http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/health/healthup/march07.pdf
http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/health/healthup/dec04.pdf
http://www.scpcs.ucla.edu/news/Freeway.pdf
Distance from the freeway is a significant factor, and there is a big difference between being 150 ft. from the source vs 500 ft. from the source. It's not a linear relationship. I-5 has a significantly higher traffic volume than Aurora. More vehicles = higher concentrations.
perk?
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