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POP QUIZ #1
Can you find the best air for dancer lungs?
- On Air France Flight 385
(Andrew Speaker's Tuberculosis flight to Paris)
- Your school cafeteria and gym
- Standing on the street in NYC Times Square
- In your dance studio
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Answer:
Which one did you select? It is pretty difficult
to rank these in order of best to worse because it requires some informed
guesswork. Here is the most likely order, using carbon dioxide levels as the
ranking criteria:
BEST: NYC Times Square
Greatly improved car emission standards and natural breezes mean the air
here is good enough to frequently earn a 'good' or 'moderate' ranking from
the EPA. Particulate and ozone counts can get dangerously high and dancing on
the sidewalk isn't nearly as healthy as being out in the country, but NYC
isn't as bad as you might think.
Next Best: Your School Cafeteria and Gym
In a growing number of communities, public schools will be the best
choice on this list. Green building techniques and community awareness
of IAQ issues are resulting in healthy modern schools. But since many
schools are older and have maintenance problems, this generic category isn't
a clear winner.
Nearly the Worst:
Air France Flight 385
Being trapped in an airplane for 8 hours with sick passengers is pretty
bad news. People do get sick after flying with all those germs in the
air and it is possible to be exposed to exotic diseases. But in
general the fresh air exchange rate and carbon dioxide levels are not much
worse than in an office building and this helps flush germs out of the
plane. Long flights are more likely to be a problem but passengers are
belted into the seats and are not placing big demands on the lungs.
WORST: Your Dance Studio
Sorry, but it is true in most US cities. If your studio ignores air quality issues
like an estimated 90% of studios do then this is the worst place your lungs
can be. You put in the long hours, work hard, breathe deep, and the
air is just gross. Take a look at the air quality
charts from a popular
studio here. Is yours any better? Probably not.
To Pop Quiz #2 >
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