Personal Stories
Read about some of the individuals who have contacted us with their personal stories. Send us your story!
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| Lisolette K
It is spring in Seattle. Trees are budding and fragrances permeate the air of our neighborhood - except at our home. A penetrating sour or chemical smell of smoke envelops our house and enters our house whenever a door or window is opened.
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| Mike Aragon
The pollution that we recieve in the El Dorado county is great, I have to admit. However the winds that blow our way come from the bay area, and increase our pollution levels.
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| David Karam
I have asthma, and bad air does affect me!! My breathing is erractic because of bad air!! Asthma and sleep apnea does not go well together!! Bad air like the day Canada had it's fires and some of it hit us in Manchester NH made it very hard for me to breath It was a very hot humid day and the sun was obscured by smoke Best described as a snow sun
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| Sue
I live in the city of Minneapolis and have had asthma since I was 10 years old. When I was young in the 50's and 60's, everyone in the city burned their trash and yard waste. It caused a lot of air polution and I remember that I had lots of trouble in the fall when everyone burned their leaves. I was so happy when they banned burning in the city!
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| Shirley Huffman
I live in Parkersburg West Virginia and the nickname for our town is ""Mid Ohio Valley Crude"" I was diagnosed with COPD almost 5 1/2 years ago and have been on meds including oxygen ever since.
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| S.E. Vaughan
We live in Clairton, PA, with our 4 children. Clairton is an impovrished area that is littered with a sea of boarded up and condemned buildings. There is obviously crime. One would never realize from all the poverty that Clairton is the home of a company that is the largest in the nation. The proof that there is such an economic machine is the unending stream of hazardous material shot from the smokestacks. It is all day, every day. The class system that exists in this country allows the poor people of this area to be polluted.
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| Ruth
I have bronchial congestion plus reactive airway problem with chemical sensitivities. I live in downtown Waukesha where the air quality is poor much of the time due to the plants that are down here. Some days I can't have my windows open, and can't walk outdoors because of the polluted air here.
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| P. M.
I used to be very serious about air quality...when I lived in NJ where the folks are more environmentally aware, but then I moved to MISSOURI ! Here in this ""quaint"" little town of about 12K you can burn you trash right in your front yard...no ordinance; there is no regulation at all on commercial trash bins within the city limits...make all the stink/bacteria you want as long as you shut the hinged lid; It has only been since last autumn that there has been ""no smoking"" in the hospital!
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| Larry Fox
They had a fire in the yard for over 2 years that burnt for over 24 hours a day. I seen treated wood being dumped onto the fire by her Father, painted wood, roofing and siding shingles, big roll of carpeting.
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| Greg Cantori
I've just completed 100,000 of bicycle commuting from Anne Arundel County to Baltimore over the past 12 years.
Both areas are rated "F" in air quality. Despite all the wonderful health benefits from my 44 mile roundtrip bike commute, how much lung damage have I sustained sucking in everyone elses second-hand truck and car exhaust?
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| Fred Littleton
If I remember correctly Pittsburgh, PA was the absolute dirtiest city in the USA. I was there in 1943 to pick up an LST (Landing Ship, Tank)and head for the war in the Pacific.
I never saw the sun, not because of cloud cover. We could not even see the clouds.
All we saw was smoke, smoke and more smoke.
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| Charles Branscum
A lot of people are not aware of the dangerous effects that carcinogenic solvents such as mineral spirits, naptha, MEK, acetone and other commonly used cleaning solvents have on their health. These solvents contain benzene and other carcinogens that have been proven to cause cancer.
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| Bud Laumer
We moved out of California over a year ago, after our daughter's pediatrician said that she would have to start medications to help her breathing if we stayed.
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| Bradley S. Feuer
Having lived in South Florida for 30 years, I can remember crystal-clear skies. Whether looking at the horizon when driving along a straight roadway or when flying in or out of South Florida, the clarity of our skies more than 15 years ago was often in stark contrast to the brown haze that one would find when traveling to large cities, such as New York.
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| Barbara Cox
Why am I having so much trouble getting people to understand that smoke, in any form, is bad! I have tried to be civil with people in explaining that their woodburners or their burning garbage, really effects me badly! I have asthma and can't seem to get any cooperation with neighbors...whatever happened to empathy!
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