Cincinnati still one of the most polluted cities

Burning wood.

Have you noticed the past few years that the smell of burning wood is often inescapable if you have your windows open or if you step outside?

It's not as bad though as some of the other substances that fill our air in the Cincinnati region.

A new report by the American Lung Association says 60% of Americans now live in areas with dangerous ozone or particle pollution levels - pollution that causes conditions ranging from emphysema to heart attacks.

But Cincinnatians who think the smog is so thick they can barely see the stripes on the roads now know it's not their eyesight that's going bad: Cincinnati still ranks as one of the most polluted metropolitan areas in America - though it has been surpassed by several other areas, especially in California and Texas.

It was bad enough 20 years ago that I would've spent good money to avoid the symptoms (and I wasn't rich). Then again, I now know that my ailments were caused more by the strange pathogens at my high school than by the pollutants dealt with in this study. Still, air pollution is a serious concern in this area.

Will we see improvement? Not as long as suburban sprawl continues unchecked, and no efforts are made to build cars that pollute less. You can't say I wasn't farsighted in pinpointing these problems years ago.

(Source: http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/28/pollution-ozone-air-lifestyle-health-ozone-pollution_slide_12.html)