Cook County’s Air Quality Slowly Improving

April 27, 2011 - PRLog -- Editors’ Note: Multimedia toolkit including broadcast quality b-roll and photographs are available at www.stateoftheair.com.  Trend charts and rankings for metropolitan areas and county grades are available at www.stateoftheair.org.

CHICAGO, IL (April 27, 2011)  - The American Lung Association in Illinois’s annual report card on air quality is in and, while Cook County’s grades remain the same, the numbers show improvement.  The 2011 State Of The Air report gives Cook County a passing grade for annual levels of particle pollution and shows a near 20% decrease in high ozone days.

“Cook County has taken efforts to reduce pollution in the county,” says Harold Wimmer, President & CEO of the American Lung Association in Greater Chicago.  “Converting fleets of buses and trucks to low-emissions vehicles and keeping emphasis on public transportation has brought some much needed improvements to air quality.”

The American Lung Association’s  State Of The Air report gives “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” and “F” grades for air quality in the 23 Illinois counties with enough data to be scored. The report is based on data collected and confirmed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the years 2007-2009.

Individuals can do their part to protect our air by driving less, walking, biking, carpooling or using public transit.  They can use less electricity by turning off the lights when they’re not in the room, refraining from burning wood or trash and encouraging their local school systems to use clean school buses.

To learn how your community ranks in State of the Air 2011 visit  www.stateoftheair.org. For the first time, people can compare the findings for different metropolitan areas online.

About the American Lung Association in Greater Chicago:   Our mission is to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease. With your generous support, the American Lung Association is "Fighting for Air" through research, education and advocacy. For more information about the American Lung Association or to support the work it does, call 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872) or visit www.lungil.org.

# # #

The American Lung Association in Greater Chicago is the leading organization working to save lives by improving lung health & preventing lung disease in ChicagoLand. Through research, education & advocacy, the American Lung Association is “Fighting for Air”.