The Phoenix Sun

Snow on the Mazatzals, northeast of Phoenix

While I didn’t see any snowflakes in Phoenix yesterday (there are reports that some areas got a few flakes), I did get a nice view of snow-capped peaks in the Mazatzal Range, about 50 miles northeast of Phoenix. That’s Mount Ord — wearing the white hat and farthest to the right (south) in the distance. It’s 7,128 feet. I took the photo five minutes before the sun set — with just enough time to hike down from the saddle below Piestewa Peak and hustle back on the trail to my car — with enough light to avoid gathering chollas spines.

Climate Action in the desert

Yes, there are climate activists in Phoenix, Arizona, as the picture on the right proves. The picture is from last year’s 350.org International Day of Climate Action and shows a local bicycle club from…Cairo? Oh. Wrong desert.

Moving on…forget about last year. This year, Phoenix — and several other Arizona cities and towns — will, indeed, be enlisting desert dwellers in the fight against climate change. And, boy, do we need it. Studies suggest that the record heat and drought we’ve been experiencing throughout the Southwest may be the “new normal” — especially if we don’t take action to reduce our CO2 output.

The Sonora desert is actually one of the most biologically diverse deserts in the world — largely because we used to receive quite a bit of rain in an average year. But the diversity of life we love here is threatened by a lack of moisture and an average temperature increase.

This Sunday — 10-10-10 — is a chance to learn about what can be done to reduce global warming. And an opportunity to show that we’re serious about taking these steps, now!

If you live in Arizona, check out the maps below to see what’s going on in your area. If you live outside of the state, you can get to the original international map, here.

View Actions at 350.org

Photo by The American Lung Association

Today, the American Lung Association released its annual report card, State of the Air (pdf). The news for the 4,281,899 residents of the Valley of the Sun (the Phoenix Metropolitan Statistical Area) is not so good. We are now the city with the most polluted air in the United States. The study measures the average fine particle concentration in the air of each city, a key factor in asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory and heart ailments.

Where do the particles come from? Here’s what the report has to say about that:

Particle pollution is produced through two separate processes—mechanical and chemical.

Mechanical processes break down bigger bits into smaller bits with the material remaining essentially the same, only becoming smaller. Mechanical processes primarily create coarse particles.26 Dust storms, construction and demolition, mining operations, and agriculture are among the activities that produce coarse particles.

By contrast, chemical processes in the atmosphere create most of the tiniest fine and ultrafine particles. Combustion sources burn fuels and emit gases. These gases can vaporize and then condense to become a particle of the same chemical compound. Or, they can react with other gases or particles in the atmosphere to form a particle of a different chemical compound. Particles formed by this latter process come from the reaction of elemental carbon (soot), heavy metals, sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds with water and other compounds in the atmosphere. Burning fossil fuels in factories, power plants, steel mills, smelters, diesel- and gasoline-powered motor vehicles (cars and trucks) and equipment generate a large part of the raw materials for fine particles. So does burning wood in residential fireplaces and wood stoves or burning agricultural fields or forests.

One more reason to move quickly to a CLEAN energy economy. See if your city is on the list below, or go here to view the highlights and lowlights of the report.

25 U.S. Cities Most Polluted by Year-Round Particle Pollution (Annual PM2.5)

Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ

Bakersfield, CA

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA

Visalia-Porterville, CA

Pittsburgh-New Castle, PA

Fresno-Madera, CA

Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, AL

Hanford-Corcoran, CA

Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington, OH-KY-IN

St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL

Charleston, WV

Detroit-Warren-Flint, Ml

Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH

Louisville-Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Scottsburg, KY-IN

Modesto, CA

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, GA-AL

Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, TX

Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH

Cleveland-Akron-Elyria, OH

Macon-Warner Robins-Fort Valley, GA

Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV

Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette, TN

Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC

Indianapolis-Anderson-Columbus, IN

Parkersburg-Marietta, WV-OH

York-Hanover-Gettysburg, PA