Air pollution decreases on Yom Kippur in Israel

Once a year, on Yom Kippur, Israel shuts down for this holiest day of the year. Most streets and highways are closed to vehicles. Places of entertainment are closed, radio and TV broadcasts have gone off the air It is quiet, and the air is clean. For the non-observant, on that day, the streets become the preserve of children on wheels. It is also an opportunity to measure reductions in air pollution in response to greatly reduced traffic. It's a country-wide carfree day.

Biking on the Ayalon Freeway facing south (Isabel Maxwell)

http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/6829.htm

Sounds of the City

By Isabel Maxwell October 14, 2005

6.30am on this Thursday morning -- the sounds of Yom Kippur ---- s i l e n c e. Not one car... but the whispering wind in the blue, blue sky. It is a gorgeous day. Soon enough will come the first sounds of the "Bicycle Festival" as this holiday has come to also be known by the more secular population of the city, who use the occasion to take to the streets on human-powered wheels. But right now, at this dawn hour, not only the usual traffic noise sounds are gone, the energy of the streets feels completely different -- than that of the middle of any night for instance. It's the quiet of a city taking stock.

Soon enough the streets are filled with bicycles and skaters and parents getting their first real exercise in a year, puffing after their children -- all excitedly in the middle of the streets talking animatedly, riding higgledy piggeldly, laughter of the older children and shrieks from the little ones as they taste their new found freedoms testing out the roads they have never been allowed to go near before -- "

Daddy! Mommy!" The traffic lights are madly blinking stop! Go! Stop! Go! And of course, no one is taking any notice. The birds are calling to each other above the roof tops. Caw caw!! Chirp chirp!! Wooooo wooooooo goes the dry north wind. You can even hear crickets by the usually bustling beachfront promenade. it is all quite delightful.

11am. I roll my own bike out and head north to see a friend near Bene Brak. The long stretch of Rokah Boulevard, usually filled with streams of hurrying cars and taxis honking their horns without relief, is totally empty except for all the bicycles and roller skaters with their dogs panting galllantly along on leashes, trying to catch up.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/906705.html

Report: Air pollution 100 times lower during Yom Kippur
By Zafrir Rinat, Haaretz Correspondent
Air pollution in Jerusalem and the Dan region was 100 times less on Yom Kippur than on ordinary days, when cars are on the roads, air pollution monitors from the Environmental Protection Ministry found.

According to the figures released by the ministry Sunday, levels of nitrogen oxide in the Dan region over Yom Kippur were two to 12 parts per billion - but when the holiday was over, the figure rose to 205 parts per billion. In Jerusalem, the numbers declined from 250 parts per billion in the afternoon before Yom Kippur to between two and 12 parts per billion during the holiday.

Nitrogen oxide is the compound emitted by vehicle exhaust pipes and is one of the prime urban pollution indicators. One component of this kind of pollution, nitrogen monoxide, is considered particularly dangerous to health, causing chronic and even fatal respiratory conditions.

Last week, the Environmental Protection Ministry released figures for 2006, which indicated that some areas of the country exceeded World Health Organization pollution standards for ozone in the lower atmosphere. One of the causes of ozone pollution is the release of nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere.

Air pollution in Jerusalem and the Dan region was 100 times less on Yom Kippur than on ordinary days, when cars are on the roads, air pollution monitors from the Environmental Protection Ministry found. According to the figures released by the ministry Sunday, levels of nitrogen oxide in the Dan region over Yom Kippur were two to 12 parts per billion - but when the holiday was over, the figure rose to 205 parts per billion.

In Jerusalem, the numbers declined from 250 parts per billion in the afternoon before Yom Kippur to between two and 12 parts per billion during the holiday. Nitrogen oxide is the compound emitted by vehicle exhaust pipes and is one of the prime urban pollution indicators. One component of this kind of pollution, nitrogen monoxide, is considered particularly dangerous to health, causing chronic and even fatal respiratory conditions.Last week, the Environmental Protection Ministry released figures for 2006, which indicated that some areas of the country exceeded World Health Organization pollution standards for ozone in the lower atmosphere. One of the causes of ozone pollution is the release of nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere.