the American Lung Association has a website that allows you to check the state of the air in your city. i don’t think it gets more local than by county, but i’d like to do some comparisons against other counties in PA when I get more time. it actually lists the # of people who have respiratory problems, as well as particle pollution grades.
allegheny county gets a grade of ‘F’.
http://www.stateoftheair.org/2008/states/pennsylvania/allegheny-42003.html
they also show a map where pittsburgh ranks #1 for most short term particle pollution.
http://www.stateoftheair.org/2008/most-polluted/most-polluted-short-term-pm.html
they also have a “take action” link that takes you here: http://lungaction.org/campaign/SOTA2008
from here you can get more involved, i urge everyone reading this to do so. they make it easy to send letters to local representatives and congress.
here’s a website from the U.S. government that shows air quality by region: http://www.airnow.gov/
it actually shows visibility cams like this one in Frostburg, MD. there weren’t any for Pittsburgh. How do we get one of these?
Pittsburgh Pollution 2008: Pittsburgh town is STILL a smoky old town 