Working together to make the right choices for cleaner air

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/mccarry.jpg” caption=”Brian McCarry, professor and chair, department of chemistry”]That grimy looking film on your windows might prompt you to add, “wash windows” to your spring-cleaning list.

It may surprise you that the unattractive bucket of dirty water that's left over from that chore likely holds a nasty brew of contaminants – the result of toxic compounds in the air.

Brian McCarry, chair of the department of chemistry and the Stephen A. Jarislowsky chair in Environment and Health, is optimistic that we can find a solution to reduce the fine particulate material, nitrogen oxides, ozone and other gaseous pollutants in the air around us.

McCarry will speak about his research at Tuesday's (April 12) Science in the City lecture, titled Air Pollutants: Sources, Fates and Health Impacts.

In an interview with the Hamilton Spectator, McCarry says, “It's going to be, I think, a very understandable lecture. When I've put things together for city hall and have talked down there and shown them data, the councillors down there can understand me. If they can, I think most folk can.”

McCarry's message is a simple one, “it's our lifestyle that's driving the poor air quality, primarily. It's what we do and what we choose to do. It's the cars we buy, the decisions we make about how to build our cities.”

His lecture will discuss the sources of air pollutants in Canada and the U.S., the scale of smog problems around the world and the impact of these pollutants on our health – in Hamilton alone at least 100 people die and hundreds more arrive at our hospitals each year.

This free public lecture takes place in the Hamilton Spectator Auditorium, 44 Frid Street in Hamilton. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the lecture begins at 7 p.m.

To reserve you seat call 905-525-9140, ext. 24934 or e-mail sciencecity@mcmaster.ca