Clearing the air of contaminants

Re “Inhaling a heart attack,” Opinion, June 23, and “A factory goes silent, and state gets the blame,” June 23

In the Opinion section, we learn that the toxic smog we collectively create and conspire to breathe raises the risk of heart attacks.

The article points out the difficult personal, political and economic choices we will have to make to deal with the mounting evidence that the air we share is a contributor to a significant health problems.

Elsewhere, we are told of the loss of 300 manufacturing jobs when a company decides it is better to leave the state than to comply with requirements of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The company chooses to move rather than clean up the mess it has created.

Do we lament the loss of 300 jobs or celebrate the cowardly retreat of an unrepentant polluter?

Robb Russell

Long Beach

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We have little smog in Santa Barbara. What we do have in this affluent community is a lot of ash from the fire and a lot of leaf blowers circulating the ash and other contaminants. Everything from ragweed to heavy metals goes airborne with leaf blowers.

Beyond the well-established health consequences, there is the simple principle that it is wrong to blow the contaminants from your yard into someone else’s yard, nose and lungs.

Lane Anderson

Santa Barbara