Trying to catch my breath
Things that don't seem odd or troublesome in Mexico City:
1. Not being able to see the mountains that frame the city in near walking distance more than a couple times a month.
2. Rejoicing in the nightly thunderstorms that shut down all activity by about 6pm because "at least they clean the air a little."
3. Thinking nothing of walking alongside eight lane freeways jammed with Volkswagen vans and Bugs belching black diesel smoke.
4. Being actively impressed to see a Volkswagen van that doesn't belch black diesel smoke.
Among the wider world, at least in my humble experience, the great City of Mexico is known chiefly for its danger and its near legendary pollution. (The burros, banderos, and mariachi bands exist, I assume, elsewhere in the country.)
People back home ask me about the pollution regularly - is it as bad as they say? is the air visibly orange? it is possible to breathe? Some locals have said, unsmilingly, that living here is akin to smoking a pack of unfiltered cigarettes a day. It took me several minutes of determined searching at the post office to find a postcard in which the skies above the cityscape was not visibly murky and languid.
The truth is, I don't really notice it, or I didn't until I woke up this morning with a sore throat and realized I am on the precipice of my fourth sinus infection in 76 days. Seriously, my friends, this is not right.
Sadly, nor is it uncommon.
Some pollution facts about Mexico City:
The atmospheric pollution here is one of the most severe pollution cases in the world. - GAIA Case Study: Mexico Urban air pollution in Mexico City
"Mexico City's air has gone from among the world's cleanest to among the dirtiest in the span of a generation... The average visibility of some 100 km in 1940s is down to about 1.5 km." - Air Pollution in Mexico City
"Mexico City used to have leaded gasoline and so the levels of lead in the blood streams of children were just too high. But the government was able to replace leaded gasoline with unleaded gasoline so that part of the program is under control. Carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide are two other pollutants that are essentially under control - their concentrations have decreased very significantly. But what remains, the two pollutants that are very difficult to control and are still very worrisome from the point of view of the health effects, are ozone and small particles- these particulates that can damage the health of human beings because they penetrate deeply into the lungs." - Air Pollution: Mexico City
"Teachers in Mexico City report that schoolchildren rarely use the color blue when they paint the sky. Instead, they use shades of brown and gray." - Staff Notes Monthly
That our bodies are having to struggle so intently just to function that we are left vulnerable to every miniscule immunological threat makes me painfully aware of the toxic stew that everyone else seems to notice exists here. To date I have done a remarkably good job at passing off the grungy air as laughable, ordinary, what the big deal smog - no worse than Toronto, I say, at least Toronto on a bad day - but I think it's time to face the facts.
Don't get me wrong: Mexico City is not dirty. I am charmed by the affectionate vigour with which Chilangos sweep, mop and scrub every inch of their property - yesterday morning I watched with some bemusement as a woman dutifully swept the tree-lined dirt patch outside her house. Litter, strangely, is not discarded on the streets but delicately and discreetly tucked into the crooks of trees, the latticework of fences, and other out of the way places (which always leaves me wondering whether it wouldn't just be easier to find a bin...). There is less spuit and gum and candybar wrappers in this entire city than you would find on one square city block back home (and we have a reputation for being so clean!!). Combine this care with the post-colonial architecture and the ubiquitous fountains and you have one quite lovely city.
Except for the air. Oh, air. Surely it should be possible to see the nearby mountains from the 28th floor of an office tower? Is that them, over there? No, there. That greyish shape in the mist. No? Yes? Maybe?
Mind-bogglingly, it's even apparently better than it was, pollution-wise. Several years back they implemented a rather inspired every-second-day driving law, based on the numbers of your license plate. This law, while not fervently followed by these rather free-wheeling people, did manage to cut down on emissions noticeably. I find this noble and impressive and wondrous, but, as I nurse another aching throat, borderline impossible to believe. It's a bit like telling me that the complete burial of Pompeii could have been worse.
The pollution - or, more specifically, my body's utter dislike for the pollution - is the first reason I've found not to stay here for very long. As charming and challenging as this city is, consciously doing this to my body for any length of time seems like a decision I will inevitably regret.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suppose Mexico did not sign the Kyoto Protocol.
1. Not being able to see the mountains that frame the city in near walking distance more than a couple times a month.
2. Rejoicing in the nightly thunderstorms that shut down all activity by about 6pm because "at least they clean the air a little."
3. Thinking nothing of walking alongside eight lane freeways jammed with Volkswagen vans and Bugs belching black diesel smoke.
4. Being actively impressed to see a Volkswagen van that doesn't belch black diesel smoke.
Among the wider world, at least in my humble experience, the great City of Mexico is known chiefly for its danger and its near legendary pollution. (The burros, banderos, and mariachi bands exist, I assume, elsewhere in the country.)
People back home ask me about the pollution regularly - is it as bad as they say? is the air visibly orange? it is possible to breathe? Some locals have said, unsmilingly, that living here is akin to smoking a pack of unfiltered cigarettes a day. It took me several minutes of determined searching at the post office to find a postcard in which the skies above the cityscape was not visibly murky and languid.
The truth is, I don't really notice it, or I didn't until I woke up this morning with a sore throat and realized I am on the precipice of my fourth sinus infection in 76 days. Seriously, my friends, this is not right.
Sadly, nor is it uncommon.
Some pollution facts about Mexico City:
The atmospheric pollution here is one of the most severe pollution cases in the world. - GAIA Case Study: Mexico Urban air pollution in Mexico City
"Mexico City's air has gone from among the world's cleanest to among the dirtiest in the span of a generation... The average visibility of some 100 km in 1940s is down to about 1.5 km." - Air Pollution in Mexico City
"Mexico City used to have leaded gasoline and so the levels of lead in the blood streams of children were just too high. But the government was able to replace leaded gasoline with unleaded gasoline so that part of the program is under control. Carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide are two other pollutants that are essentially under control - their concentrations have decreased very significantly. But what remains, the two pollutants that are very difficult to control and are still very worrisome from the point of view of the health effects, are ozone and small particles- these particulates that can damage the health of human beings because they penetrate deeply into the lungs." - Air Pollution: Mexico City
"Teachers in Mexico City report that schoolchildren rarely use the color blue when they paint the sky. Instead, they use shades of brown and gray." - Staff Notes Monthly
That our bodies are having to struggle so intently just to function that we are left vulnerable to every miniscule immunological threat makes me painfully aware of the toxic stew that everyone else seems to notice exists here. To date I have done a remarkably good job at passing off the grungy air as laughable, ordinary, what the big deal smog - no worse than Toronto, I say, at least Toronto on a bad day - but I think it's time to face the facts.
Don't get me wrong: Mexico City is not dirty. I am charmed by the affectionate vigour with which Chilangos sweep, mop and scrub every inch of their property - yesterday morning I watched with some bemusement as a woman dutifully swept the tree-lined dirt patch outside her house. Litter, strangely, is not discarded on the streets but delicately and discreetly tucked into the crooks of trees, the latticework of fences, and other out of the way places (which always leaves me wondering whether it wouldn't just be easier to find a bin...). There is less spuit and gum and candybar wrappers in this entire city than you would find on one square city block back home (and we have a reputation for being so clean!!). Combine this care with the post-colonial architecture and the ubiquitous fountains and you have one quite lovely city.
Except for the air. Oh, air. Surely it should be possible to see the nearby mountains from the 28th floor of an office tower? Is that them, over there? No, there. That greyish shape in the mist. No? Yes? Maybe?
Mind-bogglingly, it's even apparently better than it was, pollution-wise. Several years back they implemented a rather inspired every-second-day driving law, based on the numbers of your license plate. This law, while not fervently followed by these rather free-wheeling people, did manage to cut down on emissions noticeably. I find this noble and impressive and wondrous, but, as I nurse another aching throat, borderline impossible to believe. It's a bit like telling me that the complete burial of Pompeii could have been worse.
The pollution - or, more specifically, my body's utter dislike for the pollution - is the first reason I've found not to stay here for very long. As charming and challenging as this city is, consciously doing this to my body for any length of time seems like a decision I will inevitably regret.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suppose Mexico did not sign the Kyoto Protocol.
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