Over the next few months, Joseph Reznik will present a series of articles on the challenges of sustainability: Meeting our basic needs today without harming our resources so that future generations can also meet their basic needs.

As Pittsburghers are very well aware, our city has been the poster child for poor air quality, often called the Smoky City. There are several photographs in the archives at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh’s Frick Art Collection that show the street lights on at noon because the air at midday was as dark as night. You can still see the evidence of coal soot embedded in many buildings.

Improved air quality, however, has been one of the best local and national successes over the past few decades. This is clearly demonstrated in a 2009 Harvard-Brigham Young study that demonstrated that the regulations put in place to reduce fine air particulates increased life expectancy in the United States by five months and locally by an average of 10 months, twice the national average.

Studies have shown that poor air quality increases the rates of diseases like bronchitis, asthma and air pollution. Economically, car, truck and bus emissions cost the nation approximately $56 billion a year in medical expenses, according to a 2010 study by the National Research Council.

When you consider that the Pittsburgh region represents about 1 percent of the national population according to 2009 Census Bureau estimates, this is a cost of $500,000 per year to the local economy.

Poor air quality diminishes our environmental quality by decreasing our local biodiversity. Maintaining a high biodiversity of plants and animals allows for redundancy in the environment by providing ecological services.

So what does that mean? As an example, many plants in your garden need pollinators to produce fruit. If there was only one pollinator, or low pollinator biodiversity, and this pollinator was lost to bad air pollution, then there would be no pollinators to pollinate your garden.

By having several different species of pollinators, or high pollinator biodiversity, then if one species is lost in the region to environmental pollutants, there are other species that can do the job of pollinating your garden. So by decreasing air pollution, we provide an environment in which more species can persist.

Socially, diseases associated with poor air decrease our quality of life. There are steps everyone can take to improve the local air quality. Planting trees improves local air and also gives you the opportunity to exercise in a social setting with family and community and boosts your spirits.

For more information about planting or caring for trees in Pittsburgh, visit Tree Pittsburgh online at www.treepittsburgh.org.

The Pittsburgh City Council is currently considering legislation to clean up diesel emissions from heavy construction equipment. Air pollution from diesel emissions is associated with heart disease, asthma and lung cancer. To show your support for this initiative, you can contact Northside Councilpersons Darlene Harris, District 1 by calling 412-255-2135 and Daniel Lavelle, District 6, by calling 412-255-2134.

Next month, I’ll continue on another aspect of air quality: climate change.