What Color Is Your Roof?

Breathe New Hampshire helped fund the state’s first green roof in 2007. The idea was first introduced by the UNH Cooperative Extension Initiative in 2002. The roof of Manchester New Hampshire’s City Hall was recently converted from its original asphalt to a grid of lush vegetation, making it the first “green roof” in the state. A green roof consists of vegetation and soil, or a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. Additional layers, such as a root barrier and drainage and irrigation systems may also be included. Read on.

Learn more about green roofs:

http://www.greenroofs.com/

http://www.greenroofs.net/

http://www.epa.gov/hiri/strategies/greenroofs.html

http://greenroofs.wordpress.com/

http://extension.unh.edu/FHGEC/GreenRoof.htm

Improving lung health since 1916

Since 1916, Breathe New Hampshire has been dedicated to educational programs, public health advocacy, and the support of scientific research that help prevent, eliminate, and treat lung disease.

Today, two of the primary threats to our respiratory health are the quality of the air we breathe and the resulting global climate change that is taking place.

The air we breathe is being polluted everyday by vehicle emissions, burning coal and oil, and human activities like filling your car with gas or dry cleaning your clothes. The accumulation of this pollution has caused the earth’s protective ozone layer to deteriorate and higher levels of bad ozone are staying at ground level longer. The resulting climate change can have significant effects on our health, especially for people living with allergic asthma. In fact, climate change negatively affects asthma and allergies more than any other disease.

Global Warming and Asthma

Breathe New Hampshire Board member, Dr. Mark Windt was one of two American physicians to participate in the first ever international workshop and discussion regarding the public health impact of global warming in Leuven, Belgium in Mid-March. Read on.

Policy Changes Lead to Healthier Air

In 2007, Breathe New Hampshire advocated successfully for the installation of scrubber technology at coal-burning power plants in the Granite State. This technology will decrease by at least 90 percent the sulfur dioxide emissions caused by the facilities. Sulfur dioxide is a known trigger for asthma episodes.
A second major success for clean air in New Hampshire was the September 17, 2007 implementation of an amendment to the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act that allowed for smokefree environments in all New Hampshire bars and restaurants. Prior to the amendment the state’s hospitality workers were not protected from the health hazards associated with exposure to secondhand smoke.

The NH Senate recognized Breathe New Hampshire for its “hard work and diligence in supporting efforts to make New Hampshire’s bars and restaurants smoke-free.”

Celebrating Air Quality Awareness Week

On April 30, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) and Breathe New Hampshire sponsored a “Clean Air Hike” up Pac Monadnock for teachers and approximately 80 eighth grade students from Conant Middle School in Jaffrey. The group learned about how air quality affects their health and the environment. Once on top of the mountain, the students visited the DES air monitoring station and see the real time data being recorded. Read more.

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