The striking visual of auto exhaust

Last year I went to the exhibit of human bodies that had been embalmed with plastic preservatives. One display showed the lungs of someone who had never smoked in his life, but they still had black spots on them. The exhibit guide explained that the spots were from air pollution, the result of having lived in an urban area.

Fast forward to mid-July of this year, when I signed up for the “Fire Up Your Foot Power” campaign hosted by MassCommute, the professional group of Massachusetts Transportation Management Associations.

Unless there was some sort of technology glitch, I saw that every mile I biked spared the environment almost a pound of carbon dioxide. A POUND?!

Suddenly, I became very concerned about what my lungs might look like after biking through the rush-hour traffic of the North Shore. I now find myself glancing at the exhaust pipes of cars and trucks, usually as I pedal past them while they’re sitting in traffic, and wonder how much of their chronic vehicular halitosis is messing with my lungs.

Then I thought about the National Hockey League’s strategy of helping TV viewers “see” speeding pucks by attaching a blue computer-generated streak behind them. Remember that?

Anyway, I wondered what it would look like if we could somehow see the exhaust from cars and trucks as we pedal along. Probably a horrifying thought, huh? Is it possible we’re at greater risk of lung disease because we ride bikes to work?

Yes, I’ve given strong consideration to finding some kind of mask to filter the air I breath while I’m on the road. Am I being paranoid here? Has anyone else thought about wearing a face mask?

Do any even exist that can effectively filter out all the cr*p being belched into the air by all those internal combustion engines?

--Wordsmith 1953