During a town hall meeting about climate change Tuesday night, citizens learned Madison County fails miserably when compared with other Illinois counties for clean air.

At "Climate Change: How Does It Affect Alton?" - part of a global warming education series, at the National Great Rivers Museum - the American Lung Association's Linda J. Smith revealed that Madison County's air quality received "F"s for ozone and for particulate matter, along with Cook and St. Clair counties.

According to the American Lung Association State of the Air Report 2007, Madison County had 18 "orange" ozone air quality days last year, Cook County had 14 and St. Clair County had six, while all other tested counties had an average of less than one day of orange air quality. The three worst colors signifying air quality - red, dark red and black - were not recorded in Illinois, but also these days were reported only in California, where unprecedented wildfires raged.

Madison County also had 20 orange days caused by particulate matter content, which are micrograms of toxic, invisible matter that people breathe into their lungs, increasing strokes, lung inflammation, cardiovascular diseases and asthma.

"Illinois had the highest death rate in the '90s for asthma, but it has gotten a little better, but we're still one of the worst counties for air quality in the state," said Smith, who is a registered nurse with a master's degree in nursing of children from Saint Louis University and a doctorate in education, instructional process, from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Madison County is 30 percent higher, at 11.2 percent, for children with asthma in Illinois; the statewide rate at 9.9 percent is just above the national percentage of 8.3, she said. Smith also is a professor emeritus for Lewis and Clark Community College and a board member of the Upper Midwest Region of the American Lung Association and member of its national assembly.

Most people in the audience of about 50 people were surprised at the state of Madison County's air.

"It makes me want to move," said Bob Vandalia, a member of College Avenue Presbyterian Church, which is in the Alton Cluster of the United Congregations of the Metro East, a social justice organization that believes human activity causes global warming.

United Congregations of Metro East sponsored the free town meeting along with the Illinois Environmental Council and the Piasa Palisades Group of the Sierra Club. The series' purposes are to hear citizens' concerns and spread education about climate change, while urging citizens to contact their legislators about their environmental concerns.

"You have (state) Senator William Haine, (D-Alton), who doesn't always vote the way we would like, but he listens," said Illinois Environmental Council Executive Director Jonathan Goldman. "If he hears from enough citizens, he'll take it into consideration."

The global warming education series debuted June 24 in Decatur, with dates of subsequent global warming town meetings Aug. 26 in Carbondale; Aug. 27 in Belleville; and Aug. 28 in Peoria.

"Climate Change: How Does It Affect Alton?" emphasized the legislative solutions to climate change featured in the Global Warming Response Act, a bill promoted by the Illinois Climate Action Network, a coalition of environmental, health and faith groups formed in 2007. The legislation contains initiatives that build on the recommendations of Illinois' Climate Change Advisory Group, formed in 2006.