<p>Title says it all, is the air really that bad in Philly and does it translate to Penn at all? [America’s</a> Most Toxic Cities, 2011 - Yahoo! Real Estate](<a href=“http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-most-toxic-cities-2011.html]America’s”>http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-most-toxic-cities-2011.html)</p>
<p>i live near philly and im still alive!!
that sucks to hear that though :(</p>
<p>Yes. A dark evil smog cloud hovers above Penn all the time. When we breathe it, it makes us temporarily less intelligent. Repeated exposure could lead to permanent brain damage.</p>
<p>Take for what it is, but personally I think no city can be as toxic as New York City.</p>
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<p>Or some parts of Shanghai</p>
<p>Well, many Penn undergrads have been known to spontaneously mutate into various types of wild, sub-human creatures.</p>
<p>Oh, wait, never mind–those are just side-effects of Spring Fling and Hey Day. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Unless Penn is built on a Superfund site, you’ll be fine. Just stay away from the nutso Philly sports fans, I do believe they have been exposed to all kinds of stuff which makes them crazy and dangerous.</p>
<p>The air isn’t that bad in Philly. The area had a grand total of 2 bad air days last year, 41 fewer than Bakersfield, CA, #2 on the list. (They were both in the summer, too, so largely irrelevant to Penn students unless they live here year-round.) The issue that put Philadelphia at the head of the list is the large number of Superfund sites in the larger SMSA, which includes huge chunks of southern New Jersey and Delaware, the original home of America’s chemical industry, as well as a bunch of old refineries and lots of brownfields sites in depopulated areas of the city. Smog isn’t a big concern.</p>
<p>NYC is number four on the list, and although one can think of many reasons to not attend Columbia, the toxicity (in a literal sense) of NYC is not one of them.</p>
<p>Philly can’t be that much worse.</p>
<p>Thanks for those that answered seriously!</p>
<p>While you seem to have the answer already, Philly’s air really is fine. I live in NJ, but I visit PHI frequently because of family. Outside the city and over in Camden. University City (where Penn and Drexel are) is not bad in terms of air pollution.</p>
<p>Breathing air in Mumbai for a day is the equivalent of smoking half a pack of cigarettes</p>
<p>A couple of weeks ago I visited Princeton and then ended up taking the SEPTA train out of Trenton into Philly to see UPenn. Man, I have to say that train ride was one of the most depressing rides I have ever taken – mile after square mile of bleak, post-industrial landscape. Parts of Jersey and then North Philly looked like neutron bombs had hit them. Dilapitaded, rusting buildings and no people walking around – just seemed to go on forever. More depressing than the approach to most cities in North America virtually all of which are horrifying to some degree – you almost can’t believe you’re in a first world country.</p>
<p>one word for the OP:</p>
<p>…tar </p>
<p>the smell permeates Center City, esp West Philadelphia…I can still remember it and it’s been 25 years since I lived there…</p>
<p>^ I’ve lived in Philly as an adult for over 20 years now–haven’t noticed a tar smell. Didn’t notice it as a Penn student in the 1970s, either. Guess it depends on how sensitive your nose is. :)</p>
<p>Tar??? I was living in West Philadelphia 25 years ago – I was there 1983-1992 – and working in Center City all that time, and all the time since. I have absolutely no idea what rodney is talking about. I’ve never heard anyone complain about tar smells, unless maybe someone was resurfacing the road in front of their house. (And, believe me, that does NOT happen often enough to complain about. The problem is more the opposite.)</p>
<p>The oil refineries in South Philadelphia near the airport give off a tar-like (or worse) smell but I don’t think the smell blows over to Center City or West Philadelphia.</p>