My nomination for Word of the Year 2007
If there were such a contest around here, that is. SFGate.com does it every year, so maybe I'll start my own new tradition here. Anyway.
My nomination for 2007 Word of the Year for Phoenix is "particulate matter." It's on my mind and in my nostrils! I've noticed it's actually a part of the Phoenix weather report on the Weather Channel. I keep hearing this phrase wherever I go: particulate matter. It's actually bothered me for some time as I've noticed feeling sick for no reason some odd days, and then realizing later it was not a good air quality day here in town because of particulate matter.
I visited BrinkBackBlue.org today after seeing their billboard at 7th St./Cave Creek and hearing their commercials (likely on my radio station but I can't remember). To say particulate matter has become my pet peeve in the last year and a half is nothing compared to my longtime hatred of leafblower guys. I was nearly postal at the apartment complex I lived at last year because the leafblower guys would begin to make their rounds at 6am! A team of them hits my current complex once a week. Aside from the obvious noise pollution, it's the air pollution that gets me as well even though today is classified as a "good" day according to the Weather Channel.
I think we can ban the leafblower guys in Phoenix just like Palo Alto, CA did years ago. It's about time. I've noticed some of the biggest offenders in the realm of particulate matter are construction companies, but they frequently get busted and fined. It's the leafblower guys who are making us suffer daily without any repercussion, yet I could get in trouble for using a chiminea in the backyard (if I had either) on a no-burn day. (I actually get to enjoy the lovely Southwestern chiminea fire at my parents' house once in a while). We have so few days a year when we can enjoy a fireplace or chiminea, I'd rather get rid of the leafblower guys altogether and make no-burn days a thing of the past.
I plan to live here for a long time yet, so I'd like to clean the place up a bit, you know, restore it to the way it was in the 1980s when I grew up here.
More links:
*Phoenix visibility web cams
*Our air quality forecast
*Southwest region air quality forecast from Weather.com
My nomination for 2007 Word of the Year for Phoenix is "particulate matter." It's on my mind and in my nostrils! I've noticed it's actually a part of the Phoenix weather report on the Weather Channel. I keep hearing this phrase wherever I go: particulate matter. It's actually bothered me for some time as I've noticed feeling sick for no reason some odd days, and then realizing later it was not a good air quality day here in town because of particulate matter.
I visited BrinkBackBlue.org today after seeing their billboard at 7th St./Cave Creek and hearing their commercials (likely on my radio station but I can't remember). To say particulate matter has become my pet peeve in the last year and a half is nothing compared to my longtime hatred of leafblower guys. I was nearly postal at the apartment complex I lived at last year because the leafblower guys would begin to make their rounds at 6am! A team of them hits my current complex once a week. Aside from the obvious noise pollution, it's the air pollution that gets me as well even though today is classified as a "good" day according to the Weather Channel.
I think we can ban the leafblower guys in Phoenix just like Palo Alto, CA did years ago. It's about time. I've noticed some of the biggest offenders in the realm of particulate matter are construction companies, but they frequently get busted and fined. It's the leafblower guys who are making us suffer daily without any repercussion, yet I could get in trouble for using a chiminea in the backyard (if I had either) on a no-burn day. (I actually get to enjoy the lovely Southwestern chiminea fire at my parents' house once in a while). We have so few days a year when we can enjoy a fireplace or chiminea, I'd rather get rid of the leafblower guys altogether and make no-burn days a thing of the past.
I plan to live here for a long time yet, so I'd like to clean the place up a bit, you know, restore it to the way it was in the 1980s when I grew up here.
More links:
*Phoenix visibility web cams
*Our air quality forecast
*Southwest region air quality forecast from Weather.com
posted by Heather Larson at 1:36 PM
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