Category:Air Quality

Particulate air pollution is the single greatest threat to human health globally.

The AQLI establishes that particulate air pollution cuts the average person’s life short by nearly 2 years—more than devastating communicable diseases like tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, behavioral killers like cigarette smoking, and even war.

Particulate matter (PM) refers to solid and liquid particles – soot, smoke, dust, and others – that are suspended in the air. When the air is polluted with PM, these particles enter the respiratory system along with the oxygen that the body needs.

When PM is breathed into the nose or mouth, each particle’s fate depends on its size: the finer the particles, the farther into the body they penetrate. PM10, particles with diameters smaller than 10 micrometers (μm) whose concentration in the air is included in measures of “total suspended matter” (TSP), are small enough to pass through the hairs in the nose. They travel down the respiratory tract and into the lungs, where the metal elements on the surface of the particles oxidize lung cells, damaging their DNA and increasing the risk of cancer.[1] The particles’ interactions with lung cells can also lead to inflammation, irritation, and blocked airflow, increasing the risk of or aggravating lung diseases that make breathing difficult, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), cystic lung disease, and bronchiectasis.

More deadly is an even smaller classification: PM2.5, or particles with diameter less than 2.5 μm—just 3 percent the diameter of a human hair. In addition to contributing to risk of lung disease, PM2.5 particles pass even deeper into the lungs’ alveoli, the blood vessel-covered air sacs in which the bloodstream exchanges oxygen for carbon dioxide. Once PM2.5 particles enter the bloodstream via the alveoli, they inflame and constrict blood vessels or dislodge fatty plaque, increasing blood pressure or creating clots. This can block blood flow to the heart and brain, and over time, lead to stroke or heart attack. In recent years, researchers have even begun to observe that PM pollution is associated with lower cognitive function. They speculate that PM2.5 in the bloodstream may cause the brain to age more quickly due to the inflammation. In addition, it may damage the brain’s white matter, which is what allows different regions of the brain to communicate. White matter damage, such as due to the decreased blood flow that PM2.5 may cause, has been linked to Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Though some particulates arise from natural sources such as dust, sea salt, and wildfires, most PM2.5 pollution is human-induced.

The fact that burning coal pollutes the air has been known for some time. Around 1300, King Edward I of England decided that the punishment for anyone who burned coal in his kingdom would be death. Today, fossil fuel combustion is the leading global source of anthropogenic PM2.5, acting through three distinct pathways:

First, because coal contains sulfur, coal-fired power plants and industrial facilities generate sulfur dioxide gas. Once in the air, the gas may react with oxygen and then ammonia in the atmosphere to form sulfate particulates.

Second, combustion that occurs at high temperatures, such as in vehicle engines and power plants, releases nitrogen dioxide, which undergoes similar chemical reactions in the air to form nitrate particulates.

Finally, diesel engines, coal-fired power plants, and burning of coal for household fuel all involve incomplete combustion. In this type of combustion, not enough oxygen is present to generate the maximum amount of energy possible given the amount of fuel. Part of the excess carbon from the fuel becomes black carbon, a component of PM2.5 that is also the second- or third-most important contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide and perhaps methane....

2018

#WorstAirQuality IN THE WORLD, CITIES

1. #Delhi

2. #Dakar

3. #Mumbai

4. #Beijing

5. #Johannesburg

6. #Jakarta

7. #Tehran

8. #Jerusalem

9. #Melbourne

10. #Lima

11. #Seoul

12. #Rio

13. #Bangkok

14. #Milan

15. #MexicoCity

16. #Tokyo

17. #Paris

18. #LA

19. #London

20. #NewYorkCity

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https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Air_Pollution

Trump's war on California's clean air standards, damage to the state, damage to the country

In the U.S., the election of Donald Trump in 2016 has resulted in an unprecedented assault of environmental standards and practices put together over the past half century. The costs of this deconstruction have yet to be fully calculated with a full cost accounting, but future generations will undoubtedly have a harsh judgment toward policies that deliver long-term damage. The decisions being made today are impacting clean air, clean water, climate change, health, locally and internationally.

SJS / Siterunner: Years ago the smog in LA was so thick and so persistent that the city was regarded as one of the worst cases of air pollution in the world. Out of that mix of environmental disaster, and damage to a generation of kids whose lungs were affected, came the beginnings of the modern environmental movement. Los Angeles and California were at the forefront of the first set of environmental laws, incl air quality. George E Brown, a mentor and friend for over 30 yrs, was a drafter of the original EPA legis and many other key initiatives that are now at the center of green politics. George would have had strong opinions about the latest moves in the US Congress (circa 2014-2017) to move away from the roll of science and roll back the EPA, environmental protections, the responses to climate change, and the leadership role of the United States that's critically important in today's world...

Particulate matter can cause similar adverse respiratory consequences and also trigger a range of cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks, strokes, congestive heart failure, and reduced blood supply to the heart. These problems can result in increased hospital admissions or premature death. Particulate matter can also trigger premature birth, raise the risk of autism, stunt lung development in children, and increase the risk that they develop asthma. Recent studies also implicate particulate matter in an increased risk of dementia.

See a snapshot of the 'modern environmental movement' and first-gen environmental laws

https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Environmental_movement

● The first generation of Air Quality / Air Pollution laws and regulations have, over the past fifty plus years, served as a green political model in the United States and globally.

● Now, internationally, countries and cities are adopting "green best practices". Clean-up laws, regulations and technologies are improving energy, transportation, housing and key sectors of local/regional and national economies.

● Much progress remains to be planned and accomplished.

● Models for action are being shared and scientific monitoring is now being conducted worldwide.

● Global atmospheric conditions connect all nations and the work to be done is international.

Air Quality Maps / Global

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkY5oFQD2cc

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtAd4p22NRo

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ezG7qbh784

● https://www.facebook.com/onearth.org/videos/10153613217993712/

● http://grist.org/news/terrifying-video-shows-smog-taking-over-the-earth/

● http://www.salon.com/2015/02/03/frightening_video_shows_asias_air_pollution_spread_across_earth/

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See "Air Pollution" -- https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Air_Pollution

"Air Quality Index"

Join the environmental movement, act for clean air, clean water, healthy lives, quality of living

Even an app can change the world ...

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/with-wearable-devices-that-monitor-air-quality-scientists-can-crowdsource-pollution-maps-180954556/

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(In the US) economic health and public health haven't been locked in a zero-sum battle. The air is indisputably cleaner today, even after decades of economic growth. As the Obama administration tries to apply the Clean Air Act to a new environmental problem — climate change — it's worth wondering if past performance ever guarantees future results.

An annual report on air quality from the American Lung Association includes a revealing chart that tracks the percentage change in air pollution, gross domestic product, vehicle-miles traveled, population, energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions since 1970, when President Richard Nixon signed the Clean Air Act.

The question before the world is whether we can send climate-warming pollutants in the same direction while unlinking carbon emissions from economic growth. At the heart of the economic argument against Obama's Clean Power Plan, which uses the EPA's authority to phase out the most polluting coal plants, is that we just can't afford it. An analysis commissioned by America's Power, a group representing the coal industry, predicts that Obama's plan would cause electricity prices to spike by double digits and could cost the economy up to $39 billion a year.

"I’ve doing this over 25 years," said Paul Billings, senior vice president of advocacy for the American Lung Association. "I’ve heard this from industry every single time EPA has tried to tighten a standard."

Early evidence from carbon-cutting programs suggests that economies are not left in ruins. Nine northeastern states would have produced 24 percent more emissions if they hadn't formed the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in 2009. From 2009 to 2014, their combined GDP grew by about 8 percent. British Columbia enacted a carbon tax in 2008. Emissions per capita fell 12.9 percent below its pre-tax years—3.5 times larger than the overall decline in Canadian per capita emissions—and the province has not become an economic basket case.

The EPA has studied the effects of the Clean Air Act repeatedly. A first major review came in the 1990s, when researchers found that from 1970 to 1990, cumulative benefits—which include reductions in deaths and illnesses from asthma, heart attacks, and stroke — outweighed costs by an average ranging from $22.2 trillion to $563 billion... it's possible to reduce pollution without crimping economic growth, defying doomsayers' predictions.

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February 10th, 2017 -- One Day's Toxic Air News Pulled from the Headlines

http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21716672-pollution-shortens-londoners-lives-between-nine-and-16-months-plan-clean-up-britains

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-air-pollution-levels-soar-as-mayor-issues-exercise-warning-a3464436.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/european-smog-27-times-more-toxic-chinese-air-pollution-china-quality-a7572051.html

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170210084550.htm

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http://e360.yale.edu/features/origins-of-north-indias-air-pollution

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http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-air-pollution-alzheimers-20170131-story.html

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http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/news/20170210/air-pollution-may-raise-risk-of-type-2-diabetes#1

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https://qz.com/905656/air-pollution-is-increasing-in-africa-along-with-rapid-urbanization/

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170202122751.htm

Decades ago Mexico City's air pollution was so poor, birds would fall out of the sky -- dead. Locals said living there was like smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, according to one report. In response, Mexico City took several steps to try to improve air quality including restricting driving one or two days during the weekdays. The program has had negligible results.