Now that air pollution hotspots have been identified, let’s find solution

A long time ago, I was in school on the Near North Side, and they sent me to a doctor in Evanston. As soon as I got off the CTA, the first thing I noticed was how fresh the air was.

No, I was not in an industrial area with a lot of diesel trucks, but there were hundreds of trees forming a canopy over the streets.

The recent Sun-Times/WBEZ/ MuckRock report on air pollution pockets in the city showed a wide variance in air quality, which is a good thing. That means that the problem is local and not general.

If the whole city was engulfed in massive air pollution, any solution would be significantly harder.

Everybody hates pollution. I get that. But often the proposed solutions eliminate thousands of jobs, add to the cost of businesses providing goods and services to neighborhoods and move many of those jobs, goods and services out of communities that will complain later about lacking them.

I would like to suggest a study of tree coverage in the city. Then superimpose that map on the pollution map. Trees use carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. They also remove pollution out of the air.

There is so much talk about the environment, and all the solutions proposed cost billions of dollars, require a major reinvention of our economy and end up making so many things we use everyday far more expensive.

We need to explore other options that are cheaper and don’t have unintended, unforeseen and undesirable consequences.

Larry Craig, Wilmette