Jackson Heights Life

Toddg's post about the Bulova site reminded me of Scorecard, at http://www.scorecard.org/. It's a wonderful website that allows you to plug in your zip code and look up all sorts of interesting pollution and health facts about your county. Not only will it name the biggest polluters in your area, but it describes what they're emitting and what the associated health risks are. A lot of the pollution info can come as a surprise to people--I know it has to me!

For example, while I know there are air pollution problems everywhere in New York City, I didn't realize that Queens is in the worst 90-100% for amount of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and VOCs. Or that Queens is part of the area that failed to meet the national ambient air quality standard for ozone. I realize that this isn't Jackson Heights-centric, but unfortunately air pollution doesn't pay attention to neighborhood or city lines, so this is important information for anyone concerned about environmental health.

It's not all bad news, though; none of the top polluters in Queens are found in Jackson Heights. 

So check out Scorecard...it can become quite addicting!