Ever wonder why your canine just can't stand to be contained in your car with the windows rolled up? Did you always assume they love the wind blowing in their face? Did you simply appreciate the free drool car wash?

While dogs have an undeniable sense of adventure, it is their formidable sense of smell that understands something more toxic in your car: the extremely poor Indoor Air Quality.

The outdoor air pollution of vehicles is well documented, and with the second highest asthma rate of anywhere in the city, Dorchester is well acquainted with this problem. But most people remain unaware that the air inside a car with the windows rolled up is significantly worse than the air outside. Volatile Organic Compounds(VOCs) such as benzene, styrene, formaldehyde and others have levels several times higher in cars than outside. In fact, that new car smell some claim to love are really poisonous VOCs that off-gas into your lungs.
Next time you walk through a freezing Bostonian wind chill and someone refuses to let you cross the street, at least you can console yourself in the fact that the your air is several times cleaner than theirs.

School Buses no better...

The vast majority of school buses in the US use diesel fuel. The dismal indoor air quality of these diesel schools buses should come as a shock to parents and school authorities:

A 2001 study by two environmental groups, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Coalition for Clean Air, produced especially worrisome findings. These groups tested levels of diesel exhaust (including "black carbon" and PM2.5) in California school buses. They found that diesel exhaust in the school buses reached levels up to four times higher than in cars traveling nearby. Levels were especially high in the back of the bus, when the windows were closed...based on observed exposure levels, children's lifetime risk of cancer was elevated twenty-three to forty-six times above the level the EPA considers "significant".

-Urban Sprawl and Public Health

So what can you do about it?

A few things:

1. Ride your bike or walk whenever possible!
2. Keep your car and bus windows open
3. Advocate for greener buses

On the last point, cleaner alternatives for buses already exist today such as propane, natural gas and hybrid buses - see Chapter 3 of the NRDC report here: http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/schoolbus/sbusinx.asp. Cleaner buses could make Boston more livable, improve children's health and cut our impact on global warming... and with Mayor Menino committing to cut fuel usage from the city's fleet by 5% by 2012 perhaps the people of Dorchester can make cleaner school buses a priority.