Clean, North Country living

It’s probably no surprise to most people living in the Adirondack North Country that the region’s clean air is a healthy thing. This is the land of cure cottages, after all. And for anyone who makes a summer trip to New York City, Montreal or even Syracuse, that brown haze hanging over the metropolis is clearly bad news.

A definitive link between air pollution and lung cancer was reported seven years ago this week by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Now we have, ‘Long-Term Ozone Exposure and Mortality.’ It’s the latest research summed up in a report by the New England Journal of Medicine. It was the subject of an NPR story this morning. The headline at NPR.org summarized the research neatly: Smoggy Skies May Cause Respiratory Death.

Here’s part of the first sentence from today’s story:

People living in the smoggiest cities are 30 percent more likely to die from respiratory diseases, including pneumonia, than those living in the least smoggy areas….

In a way, these findings make the air we breathe in the North Country a kind of commodity. And a highly desirable commodity, at that. Lots of people will say it always has been. But studies like the two mentioned above can prod the unconvinced to see their environment differently. And possibly even take steps to protect it.

What’s your reaction to these studies? Does it make you happier to live in a place with relatively less smog? Do you feel healthier? Now that you know your air quality contributes significantly to your health, will you do anything differently?