Articles 

Air Toxics  
EPA Region 5 provides information on hazardous air pollutants and air quality regulation, with links to other information sources.

How Energy Policy Affects Public Health 
A paper by Joseph Romm and Christine Ervine, available through the Solstice website, illuminates the connection between energy policy and increased levels of respiratory and cardiopulmonary disease. 

Evaluating Exposures to Toxic Air Pollutants: A Citizen's Guide 
An EPA publication that defines toxic air pollutants and outlines a four step process for evaluating exposure. 

Air Pollution Emissions Overview 
The EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards describes numerous pollutants, where they come from, and how emissions data are used. 

Clean Fuels: An Overview 
This EPA fact sheet profiles alternative vehicle fuels that create less pollution. 

Environmental Externalities in Electric Power Markets: Acid Rain, Urban Ozone, and Climate Change
This paper from the Energy Information Administration discusses emissions resulting from the generation of electricity by utilities and their role in contributing to the environmental problems of acid rain, urban ozone, and climate change. 

Ozone Action Days 
This Special Alert for People with Asthma and Other Respiratory Problems, from EPA Region 5, describes the harmful effects of ozone pollution and outlines steps for pollution prevention. 

On Eve of Olympics, Salt Lake City Joins World in Support of Kyoto Protocol
Describes Salt Lake City's pledge to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. To help meet that goal, the city will establish a scientific, detailed tracking of its greenhouse gas emissions. Through the city's "Salt Lake City Green" program, the city plans to cut emissions by encouraging the construction of "high performance" energy-efficient buildings while promoting alternative fuel vehicles, electricity conservation, and other measures.

Shaklee Heats Up Environmental Commitment By Going Climate Cool
Profiles a four year partnership between a corporation and an environmental non-profit that has proven noteworthy in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Signs of Thaw in a Desert of Snow
Inuit leaders note that glaciers are melting, coastlines eroding and frosts are coming much later in the Arctic north of Canada. Scientists, who in the past have dismissed traditional knowledge, are increasingly turning to the Inuit for information about changes in weather patterns in the north.

Stabilizing the global 'greenhouse' may not be so hard
The Christian Science Monitor reports on a study published in the journal Nature by Princeton University researchers Stephen Pacala and Robert H. Socolow, showing that currently available technologies could be used to prevent carbon dioxide emissions from rising over the next 50 years.

Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases 2000 
An annual report from the Energy Information Administration (released in 2002) on the Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases program, in which companies report on measures taken to reduce, avoid or sequester greenhouse gas emissions.

Yule Logs Are Hazardous to Your Health
This article was posted by Burning Issues, a group that provides public information about health hazards of wood smoke. 

Publications

The Pew Center on Global Climate Change has released two reports examining options for a mandatory U.S. greenhouse gas reduction program. Emissions Trading in the U.S.: Experience, Lessons, and Considerations for Greenhouse Gases draws lessons from a review of six different U.S. emissions trading programs, while Designing a Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program for the U.S. evaluates options for a reduction program based on environmental effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, administrative feasibility, distributional equity, and political acceptability.

A Breath of Fresh Air: How Smarter Energy Choices Can Protect Public Health in New Hampshire examines the potential of affordable, clean, and renewable sources of energy, the use of which could reverse fossil fuel-related public health problems.

Confronting Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region: Impacts on Our Communities and Ecosystems, a report from the Ecological Society of America and the Union of Concerned Scientists, combined climate modeling with historical data to produce projections of future climate change in the Great Lakes region. It finds that climate change will present challenges to the environment, economy and people of the region. The authors call for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and planning by government leaders to lessen damage from climate change.

The U.S. Climate Action Report 2002 finds that the United States will see dramatic changes in some ecosystems brought on by global warming. The report links climate change to the use of fossil fuels and suggests that alpine meadows and coastal marshes may disappear, heat waves may become more prevalent, and snow packs diminished.

The EPA Office of Air and Radiation website offers many reports and references on air pollution, air quality, regulations and health effects, including Air Quality Trends Report, an annual report on the status of and trends in the nation's outdoor air quality. Downloadable in PDF format.

The Plain English Guide to the Clean Air Act 
This 1993 publication from EPA provides a concise and easy to read guide to the Clean Air Act. 

The Clean Cities Roadmap  
PDF documents from DOE explain how your city can become one of many Clean Cities working to help accelerate the introduction and expand the use of alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicles. 

Alternative Fuel Vehicle Fleet Buyer's Guide Incentives and Laws  
In this document the Clean Cities program provides a listing of state, Federal, and private incentives for the expanded use of Alternative Fuel Vehicles. 

State of the Air 2003
American Lung Association conducts this annual assessment to provide citizens with easy-to-understand air pollution summaries of the quality of the air in their communities. Air quality in counties is assigned a grade ranging from "A" through "F" based on how often their air pollution levels exceed the "unhealthful" categories of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index for ground-level ozone (smog) pollution.

The Clearinghouse for Inventories and Emission Factors  
This EPA program informs the public about new emission estimation tools, conferences, and other information relating to toxic emission factors and inventories. 

Ozone Protection Regulations  
EPA provides fact sheets on the various sets of ozone protection regulations under Title VI of the Clean Air Act. 

Alternatives to Traditional Transportation Fuels 1994 : Volume 2, Greenhouse Gas Emissions 
Addresses the Energy Information Administration's efforts to fulfill its reporting obligations under the Energy Policy Act of 1992 regarding alternative transportation fuels and replacement fuels. 

The Climate Change Action Plan 
The U.S. Climate Change Action Plan of October 1993 calls for limited, and focused, government action and innovative public/private partnerships to meet the challenges posed by the threat of global warming. 

Air Quality Management in the United States
A 2004 report from the National Academies National Research Council says the Clean Air Act is working, but a multipollutant, multistate approach and stronger focus on results are needed to meet future challenges.

The Burning Issues Particulate Pollution Project Bibliography 
This 1996 bibliography cites extensive resources on particulate pollution research and prevention. 

Indoor Air Quality: the Inside Story  
This EPA Handbook presents strategies for reducing the level of indoor air pollution in your own home. 

Last updated: November 19, 2004

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