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ALBANY, N.Y., July 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) announced that Thursday, July 21 is an Air Quality Action Day, a day when air quality will be unhealthy, especially for sensitive individuals, such as children, seniors and people with asthma and other respiratory ailments, due to forecasted high levels of ground-level ozone pollution. The alert is issued for parts of the New York downstate metropolitan region (the five boroughs, Long Island and lower Hudson Valley).

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Recent studies have shown that poor air quality can cause respiratory and heart disease, restrict fetal growth and even cause premature death. Cars and trucks account for about 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. NYSDOT encourages metro area residents to leave their cars at home and/or stay indoors as much as possible.

To help prevent air pollution on an Air Quality Action Day, New York area residents are asked to take the following simple steps:

• Stay indoors when possible.
• Combine errands into a single trip, rather than separate trips.
• Take the subway, bus or train to and from work or other destinations.
• Share a ride. To find a carpool partner or vanpool, visit 511NYRideshare.org or 511ny.org.
• Refuel after dark. This prevents certain pollutants from being emitted into the air that react with sunlight and heat to create ground-level ozone.
• Bring lunch to work instead of driving out to get it to save time and money while helping to improve air quality.
• Avoid car idling.
• Avoid operating gas-powered gardening equipment such as lawn mowers. Such equipment releases chemicals that form ozone into the atmosphere.

To receive real-time Air Quality Action Day updates, text AIR to 42269 or visit cleanairny.org.  You can also receive automatic updates on Facebook and Twitter –search for "Clean Air NY" to opt in.

About Clean Air NY

Clean Air NY is an initiative sponsored by the New York State Department of Transportation in support of regionwide air-quality efforts. Clean Air NY educates the public on simple everyday changes that reduce driving and provides real-time updates on Air Quality Action Days via text messaging, e-mail and media notifications. To learn more, visit CleanAirNY.org.

SOURCE Clean Air NY