AIR!!!!

(Submitted to the Indianapolis Star and NUVO, March 19, 2007. Think GLOBALLY. Act LOCALLY.)

I just got in from my evening walk and I feel like I was just poisoned. What is happening with the air in Indianapolis? When I moved here in 2003, this was a clean city. I don’t remember any bad air days. But these past two years our city has really started to stink.

Several mornings I have noticed that smell like a big old rotten french fry. I’ve been told that is the smell of boiling pigs bladders - used in the making of insulin. But tonight was different. Tonight (Monday, March 19, 2007) it was like breathing atomized nail polish. My tongue is numb. My eyes are watering. My head feels light. My nose is burning. It is really bad out there.

I live right in the heart of downtown - the most densely populated census tract in the State. What happens here affects all the students living at and around IUPUI, the teaming throngs of young professionals in Riley Towers, and the doctors and other professionals living along the canal.

Why does our city stink? What is being done to change it? Who is working on this? It’s really time to clear the air.

rbs