Hi, there, Make it Green Girl here, with more Quick and Dirty Tips for an Earth Friendly Life. Today, I'm going to talk about ozone, a small molecule that has a big impact.

Most business professionals have tried to remotely access their office computers, but unless you're an IT guru, set up can be a nightmare. Your solution is simple - use GoToMyPC. Set up takes two minutes, just visit gototmypc.com to set up an account, download Go To My PC, and you're ready to access your office desktop from any computer with an internet connection. For your FREE 30-day trial of Go To My PC, just visit gotomypc.com/podcasts. That's gotomypc.com/podcasts.

The Good

You might remember in the twentieth century, aerosol spray cans became the devil overnight. Everyone stopped buying hairspray cans, because the first aerosols were propelled by chemicals that gobble up the ozone layer. Those chemicals have since been banned, so you can stop worrying about your cooking spray. However, these chemicals can still be lurking around in older homes, appliances, products, and some other countries. In this episode, learn how to seek those ozone-depleting chemicals and destroy them!

The Bad

On the flip side, you might remember hearing about ozone from your weather man, too. Other smoggy components like VOCs and NOx interact with ultraviolet radiation from the sun to produce ozone. For more on these pollutants and what to do about them, check out Make-it-Green Girl Episode 8 at quickanddirtytips.com. Needless to say, driving less is one of the ways you can help. In fact, you can make that your mantra right now. Ommmm. I will try to drive less. Ommmm.

The Ugly

OK, the ugly. California is on fire. Literally, forest fires are burning up the state right now. We didn't have such great air quality to begin with--Los Angeles being the famous example--but the forest fires are throwing tons more particulate matter, smoke, and ozone into the air of California. In some areas, the levels of ozone are downright hazardous. Fortunately for us, and everyone across America, you can find out what air conditions are like in your area by visiting airnow.gov. That's a-i-r n-o-w dot gov. This website has maps of the entire US, with a helpful index of conditions like "good," "moderate," and downright "unhealthy" to let you know you air quality conditions, including ozone, in real time.

OK, so how can ozone be both good and bad? First the good.

Stratospheric Ozone--Can't Live Without It

Ozone exists naturally in the stratosphere, which is a layer of the atmosphere between 6 and 30 miles up. The ozone layer helps block ultraviolet radiation from reaching our habitat, the troposphere. It protects humans from sunburns and ultimately skin cancer; we wouldn't be alive without the ozone layer.

Ozone depleting chemicals called CFCs have the ability to destroy ozone molecules very efficiently--they are the commandos of the chemical world. These molecules are so tough, they can travel all the way to the stratosphere from the earth's surface, where one molecule can destroy up to 100,000 ozone molecules before eventually being destroyed itself. To add insult to injury, CFCs are also greenhouse gases, and contribute to global warming.

Beat It, CFCs!

The Montreal Protocol of 1987 banned CFCs from manufacture and sale in most parts of the world, but there still may be sleeper cells of these chemicals waiting to strike.

You can do your part by making sure you properly dispose of old car air conditioning fluids, refrigerators, window AC units, dehumidifiers, and aerosol spray cans, which still might contain CFCs if they were manufactured before the ban. Don't just throw out your old appliances, or ask your waste hauler to come pick up your old fridge without being sure--waste management companies might not have the equipment to extract the CFCs, so the CFCs might go with your appliance to the landfill and be released into the air. Waste haulers can get in big trouble for this, too, facing huge fines for allowing ozone depleting chemicals to escape.

If your think your appliance might contain CFC refrigerants, there are three sources you can turn to. Your cities public works department might have recycling programs for old appliances, or collections for used refrigerants. Your mechanic might be able help with collection of used refrigerant (it has to be sucked out of the appliance before the appliance can trashed or recycled). Or, you can check with appliance retailers (since you're probably going to need a new one anyway) to see if they have a disposal program.

Surface Ozone

Ozone in the troposphere, also referred to as "surface ozone" can have detrimental health effects. Waste water treatment plants use it as a disinfectant because it kills microorganisms in the water, so just think what it's doing to your lung tissue. It's not good for plants either. A recent article in Nature magazine cited research showing plants grow slower and take up less CO2 when ozone levels are elevated, reducing their ability to fight global warming.

Unlike the CFCs that destroy it, ozone formed from auto emissions can't migrate all the way up to the stratosphere before it breaks down, so tropospheric ozone just causes a mess with all your sensitive respiratory tissue, without the benefit of blocking UV radiation. So, while stratospheric ozone is beneficial, even crucial, tropospheric ozone is an air pollutant that damages our quality of life. A clever slogan the EPA has come up with to help you remember this is "Good Up High: Bad Nearby." (http://www.epa.gov/oar/oaqps/gooduphigh/)

Fight Tropospheric Ozone!

To help reduce ozone levels in your community, you can do two things. One is that you can prevent ozone from being formed at all. By driving less, you can reduce the emissions that lead to ozone formation. Ozone is at it's peak during commuting hours, so walking or biking to work, taking public transit, or telecommuting can help your city breathe easier.

The second thing you can do is to prevent volatile organic compounds from escaping into the air at the gas station. Fill up at night, if you can, to cut down on the interaction between VOCs and sunlight, which is one source of ozone. Also, be responsible about fueling--don't top off the tank, and wait a few seconds before you remove the nozzle, to prevent a whole bunch of unnecessary fuel from evaporating away.

Unfortunately, ozone is an invisible gas, so you can't just look outside to see if it's there. If you do need to know, check out airnow.gov. If you live in places where ozone is especially high, this tool can help you monitor the levels outside to see if it is safe for "sensitive receptors" like children and those with respiratory diseases to be working out of doors.

Thanks for listening to Make-it-Green Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for an Earth Friendly Life. Don't forget to check out your free trial of Go To My PC at www.gotomypc.com/podcasts.

You can find a transcript of this show, and the whole Quick and Dirty Tips podcast family at quick and dirty tips dot com. If you're a Grammar Girl fan, you'll be able to pick up a copy of the new audio book, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogarty wherever books are sold on July 8th. Reserve a copy now or preorder one from your favorite online retailer. Go Grammar Girl! Oh yeah, and send me those questions and comments to greengirl@quickanddirtytips.com, or leave me a voicemail at 206-600-3051.