Desert Messenger

October 7, 2020 www.DesertMessenger.com 13 Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ DesertMessengerNews Follow on Twitter @DesertMessenger @QuartzsiteRain T��� ����� ������� �� D����� M�������� Read Desert MESSENGER ONLINE @ DesertMessengerOnline.com 800-656-HOPE Donald Hughes passed away on August 16, 2020 after a long illness at home in Quartzsite, Arizona. Don- ald was born in Washington State on June 22, 1941 and was raised in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Donald called Oklahoma his home state and was always a cowboy. He loved working with horses while working on ranches in Eastern Oregon. He lived in Quartzsite for 30 years, but enjoyed heading to the mountains during the summer. He really took pleasure making knives and giving them away to his friends in Quartzsite. He is survived by 2 sisters and 3 brothers and friends who were his Quartzsite family. His ashes are interned at Quartzsite Hi Jolly Cemetery. In Memoriam By Jackie Deal What were we breathing? The ob- vious answer is smoke but it's more than smoke. We've been breathing charred trees and shrubs, synthetic material from homes and other structures that burned and a variety of gasses. Makes you want to quite breathing, doesn't it? The sooty stuff that tried to bury our cars is black carbon. What we can't see are carbon mon- oxide (deadly poison) and carbon dioxide. Trees are good guys that absorb carbon dioxide from the air but when they burn they release the carbon dioxide right back into our air. Carbon dioxide is the "bad air" you exhale. We don't need to inhale it back again. Tiny particles known as PM2.5 (that's particles smaller than 2.5 microns), are released into the air by fires and they can "weasel their way deep into human lungs." (from website "Wired"). Get used to PM2.5 it's a new part of your vocabulary. How big is 2.5 microns? Well, pull a hair from your head and look at it closely: it's about 30 microns in width! Just think how tiny those PM2.5 are! So how do scientists know what's in the air? They fly air- planes with specialized little tubes that stick out to take air samples and then they test it. How long will these chemicals remain in our air? Rebecca Horn- brook, an atmospheric chemist at the National Center for Atmo- spheric Research tells us: "Benzene, a highly flammable compound that easily evaporates into the air, can stick around for two weeks. Form- aldehyde lasts only a few hours. As the smoke plume travels through the atmosphere, the heavier par- ticles are going to start to fall out as time moves on." Rebecca Buchholz, an atmospheric chemist at the Na- tional Center for Atmospheric Re- search says, "But then those sticky, partially burnt carbon gases are go- ing to start to coagulate and become more particles again. So you're los- ing particles out of the smoke, but you're also gaining particles as the air processes through time. The West Coast has its own ozone problems because smoke has been recirculat- ing through the region. It's staying in the same place, and you're getting the same pollution from yesterday," says Buchholz. The more time that goes by, "the more this ozone can be produced with sunlight." Oh, great! The sunlight we welcomed could make things worse! We face a triple whammy: out-of- control forest fires, the Covid pan- demic, and influenza. "All of those things on their own can take a big hit to the immune system," say the researchers. Together? Wow! We've all heard the number scales for air quality. But what do they mean? The EPA (Environmen- tal Protection Agency) considers scores up to 100 — indicating an average 35.4 micrograms of par- ticulate matter per cubic meter of air over 24 hours — generally safe. Scores from 101 to 200 pose a risk to children and those with heart or lung diseases. Above 200, every- one should cut down on physical activity outside. At 300 or above, More than smoke with at least 250.4 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter of air, every- one should avoid going outside. Do you recall that at one point we were told our air was almost 500? That's dangerous for all of us, right? Next big question: can a mask protect you from wildfire smoke? "Cloth masks are effective at pre- venting transmission of SARS-CoV- 2 (the virus that causes COVID-19.) But they don't do anything to protect the wearer from exposure to wild- fire smoke," says "Science News." Surgical masks provide some pro- tection. But "an N95 is the best pro- tection." N95 masks are designed to filter out at least 95 percent of air- borne particles. My understanding is that N95 masks are only available for medical providers and they're in short supply. So if we must stay indoors, how can we keep indoor air clean? "If central ventilation, turn that to re- circulation," "Science News" says. You can also use a High Efficiency Particulate Air, or HEPA purifier to smoke-proof a single room. And those who cannot afford a HEPA cleaner can put together a makeshift purifier using a MERV-13 furnace filter and a box fan; they're not as good as the proper devices, but they do provide some protection."(again from "Science News".) Anyone who can explain that last bit of advice, please do! They also advise it helps keep the air clear by not using gas stoves or candles, or even vacuum- ing — which can stir up particles in- side the home. I really like that last advice, a per- fect excuse, no? I always thought vacuum cleaners were dangerous. But seriously there's not much else we can do. Rain helps so pray for more rain!

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