BEST OF THE BEST: Air Pollution: The Low Hanging Fruit of Our Hellish Future

Cast your mind back to Episode 79, when Quinn & Brian discussed: Optimism in the air (can it be?).

Our guest is: Beth Gardiner, an environmental journalist and the author of Choked: Life and Breath in the Age of Air Pollution. The Guardian writes, “You couldn't ask for a better guide for ... concerned citizens,” which pretty much sums up our audience.

We’re replaying this fan favorite during this crisis for two timely reasons: 1) breathing in pollution creates underlying conditions that dramatically elevate the risk of complication from diseases like COVID-19 and, CONVENIENTLY, 2) Trump just rolled back Obama’s vehicle tailpipe rules. 

This change should amount to “as much as 923 million more metric tons of carbon dioxide being emitted,” according to The Washington Post, which they report “is equivalent to the emissions from running 237 coal power plants for a year.” 

SO ANYWAYS. This is one place where we can actually make a difference in reversing the climate crisis, so Gardiner’s tips for citizens who want to affect change are critically important right now.

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INI Book Club: 

• “Field Notes from a Catastrophe” by Elizabeth Kolbert
• https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3
• INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Twitter: twitter.com/Gardiner_Beth
• www.bethgardiner.com
• Read: Choked: Life and Breath in the Age of Air Pollution
• Read: “Trump administration rolls back rules on mileage standards, dealing a blow to Obama-era climate policy”

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• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
• Artwork by Amrit Pal

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media