 Why were most of the cyclists in this photo wearing masks in November 1977? Was it to avoid breathing polluted air? If so, thank goodness we have the EPA now; I hope we can address modern threats to air quality, like climate change related wildfires, rather than giving up and letting the air become difficult to breathe again.  7 comments
 @skyfaller I grew up not far from the Lehigh Valley Velodrome. I can remember some of the cyclists wearing either balaclavas or masks in smog season. Most didn't but nobody seemed to care about people who chose to protect themselves from particulates back then. @oreoteeth When was smog season back then? I assume summer because of heat domes and similar weather phenomena, but I suppose it could also be related to some local industrial process with some other logic to it. Was it regular and predictable? Do you remember smog season not being a thing anymore at some point? @skyfaller July and August for the most part in the 70s and early 80s. The radio station with all the weather gadgets that used to do the local measurement was bought out somewhere around the mid 80s when I was at college. So I can't say if the air quality improved or not. It was just that people stopped checking it. @skyfaller Well, we do get those freakishly warm fall days sometimes. It's def possible that there are smog days in the spring or fall. I mostly went to the Velodrome on summer nights. Couldn't say if LV cyclists were still masking in the fall. And of course it's also possible that local industry smokestacks were pumping out more pollution than normal on that particular day.  @skyfaller this short article suggests it was both practical and symbolic. https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/they-wore-surgical-masks-for-the-first-earth-day-too |
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@skyfaller The air was definitely wildly filthy in the '70s, and riding in traffic could truly make you sick. At the same time, I don't ever recall seeing a cyclist wearing a mask, so it makes me wonder what's up.