Dan Crouse, a doctoral candidate at McGill University in geography and epidemiology, has been keeping track of nitrogen dioxide--a good indicator of overall pollution-- at 129 points around the island of Montreal for the last couple of years, checking each device in spring, summer and winter. He’s plotted NO2 levels against socio-emographic data, and his results have been a bit of surprise, he admitted to Le Devoir.
Some of the highest levels occur in rather well-off neighborhoods—St. Laurent, Westmount and the Plateau—while the best levels were found in Montreal North, where income levels are much lower and where charges of racial profiling have been big news since a young Latino was killed by police last summer. It seems that the neighborhood is protected by being bounded by a river on one side and not having highways run through it.
And it’s proximity to heavily travelled highways that causes the largest problems, Crouse said. St. Laurent has three major highways crossing it, while Westmount despite its green and toney sections, is bounded on two sides by even busier highways. The Plateau, currently enjoying a gentrification boom which accounts for its relative high income levels, is extremely dense with much car traffic.
Nevertheless, the overall average of 12 ppb in winter , and 8 in summer, is better than that of Toronto, Los Angeles or New York: 22 ppb is the level when respiratory problems develops, according to World Health Organization studies.
But take a look at the map of his data and one thing jumps out at you: the mountain is an island in the middle of pollution. “What they say about it being the lungs of the city is indeed true,” Crouse emphasizes. Getting cars out of the city is a solution to the larger problem, he adds. “Vive the bicycle!”
As someone who walks regularly on the mountain, I'd add: "Long live getting around on your own two feet, too!"
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