We're all pretty familiar with what O2 is. I hope so. You need to breathe it to live. Yes, O2 is oxygen, that life-giving gas, but what is O3? O3 is another gas essential to our survival but it's definitely not for breathing. O3 is ozone high up in the stratosphere. It's made naturally and absorbs harmful ultraviolet rays from the Sun. Without it life as we know it wouldn't, couldn't exist. We need the ozone layer in the stratosphere. We want it, we rely on it. But don't get too used to singing ozone's praises. High ozone levels at lower altitudes, what we call the troposphere, where we live and breathe or anything but natural and beneficial. In fact, down here it turns out to be a toxic atmospheric pollutants. Yep, you heard me right. ground-level ozone primarily exists due to human activities that burn fossil fuels. Transportation, our power and industrial plants, and other activities expel nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons. When those compounds interact with sunlight, voila, ozone is created a contributor to smog. that's why I ozone levels increase during the summer months when sunlight is abundant. Yes, smog love summer just like many of us. We run, bike, hike, fish, play, stroll, oh yeah, and breathe. Yes, the fact that more people are outside when it's warmer makes us particularly vulnerable to Ozone's harmful impacts.

Ozone is a harmful oxidant when we inhale it it's like getting a sunburn inside your lungs and it can be particularly serious for the young, old, active, and those with respiratory conditions at any age. And it's not just humans that are vulnerable ozone harms plants, crops, and agricultural yield interfering with pretty important processes like well, photosynthesis and even our economy. To make matters worse ozone production increases with higher temperatures which are occurring more frequently with climate change.

The EPA sets national ambient air quality standards for several pollutants in the United States including ground level ozone. When a county is out of compliance they need to know what can be done to improve air quality. and let's not forget that air pollution is a global comments. air pollution is shared from surrounding cities states and also country's halfway around the world. What can we do, what are we willing to do to improve current levels? Drive less, carpool, avoid car idling, set your home's thermostat higher in the summer and lower in the winter, avoid gas powered lawn & garden tools on severe ozone days.

There's a lot to do and lots to know about air quality knowing more about the sources and contributors to ozone and other atmospheric pollutants will help us chart our course.