EJQ4 - Spring 2025 - Journal - Page 21
Contrast that with past perceptions that Derek Webb, president and CEO
of cleantech engineering company Biorem perfectly describes. “With air
you don’t see most particulates, so you don’t see what’s harmful.” As a
consequence, he feels that air quality in the past hasn’t always received
the same attention as other sources of pollution. Underscoring that observation, he o昀昀ers that “if a river is red and you see 昀椀sh 昀氀oating in it,
you (immediately) know you’ve got a problem.”
Of course now we Canadians, along with our counterparts in the U.S. in
the wake of the recent California wild昀椀res, are 昀椀nally beginning to appreciate just how devasting wild昀椀res and air pollution can be.
Measuring what’s in your backyard
The starting point for both identifying and 昀氀agging air pollution whether
seen or unseen, is to monitor and measure air quality on an ongoing basis
at the local level, which here in Canada is now being done both through
public and private means.
Established in 1969 to measure the quality of outdoor air, Canada’s National Air Pollution Surveillance Program has 286 sites in 203 communi-
E N V I RON M E N T J OURN A L QUA RT E RLY RE PORT • S PRI N G 2 0 2 5 • P AGE 2 1
