1689 ug/m3 for Cape Town doesn't seem plausible, even on a bad day?
Are there any studies on how dirty air affects plants and animals? Crops?
What still shocks me is that millions of people in all these polluted cities and areas around the world supplement the air pollution they breath every day by also smoking a pack a day too. Many even vape to supplement the toxic smoke with a toxic vapor! I guess particulate pollutants are not enough to provide the nicotine hit they crave so they have to smoke toxins with addictive substances to keep them hooked.
In addition to the trillions being made polluting and warming the air billions of people and many living creatures need to live, billions are also being made from tiny portable pollution generating devices. Weird, New Delhi air in a pack of smokes.
I wonder why the polluting industries haven't blended nicotine into all they discharge into the atmosphere - you know, to get us addicted to pollution and stop complaining.
4
The stated EPA limit is incorrect. The 24-hour block average National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) is 35 micrograms per cubic meter. The annual NAAQS is 12 micrograms per cubic meter. The intent of NAAQS is to limit inhalation exposure, defined as concentration multiplied by time. Comparisons of hourly peak concentrations to these 24 hour and annual average standards are inappropriate because they do not properly represent exposure.
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Note also the flashes of pollution in Indonesia as that country does the same thing Brazil is doing, incinerating its rainforests. And on the west coast of Africa, the oil fields of coastal Nigeria that keep flashing black to remind us of the environmental nightmare taking place there--and dozens of other places across the planet, as we kill ourselves in a desperate sprint after money.
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If you ever drove through California's polluted Central Valley you'd never eat produce from there again. I know I stopped.
Living south of Tucson AZ for 10 years, now I know why asthma I have had my whole life and that had been under control with medication increased so much in the last two years that I have had attacks, visits to the ER and finally to the Mayo Clinic to get a better treatment plan.
Some time ago Big Ag companies (let’s not take names, but 2 of those companies begin with M and S) started dumping their seeds here. They introduced schemes to lure farmers – telling them they’ll save money on pesticides, etc. Now the animals do not eat the husk produced; so, farmers burn the refuse. Why is rice even being grown in northern India on such a scale one might ask. Because exporting basmati turned out to be very profitable. Fields have to be rested between crop cycles. Are these rest periods being followed in the north? We suspect not, because…hit in revenue.
So why haven’t successive governments done anything? For the same reasons why governments, policy makers around the world - be it the US, EU or anywhere - aren’t really doing what so evidently needs to be done to tackle the root causes of pollution - whether air, water, noise or light. Cultural differences aside, people are pretty much the same everywhere. And moving problems overseas is not a solution.
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The EPA has a 24-hour short term limit (35 ug/m3, annual 98th percentile) and long-term limit (12 ug/m3, annual average) for PM2.5. So while it is true that any given hour can result in a high Air Quality Index (e.g. brown or purple), health risks are much better estimated using 24-hour and annual averages.
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So the US has “some of the cleanest air in the world”.
Yet Liberals believe we can somehow take actions here that will clear the air over China and India.
Maybe they mean a tax on US workers so we can send our money to China and India. Is that the plan?
Saying something is 35 times smaller than something else is nonsensical. Presumably you mean one-thirty-fifth the size.
You mean "clean beautiful coal" is not best for the environment??? It is amazing to me how easy it is for the profiteers and our disgrace of a president and his party{no longer Republican, only trumpian} to be so uncaring as to promote a devastating ignorance among their uneducated [and proud of it] followers. Terrifying!
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Relax and take a deep breath!
Well I just checked and here in Vermont (just north of Stowe about 40 miles from Burlington) the current measurement is 3.7 micrograms.
Now that is well below the 12 micrograms that is upper limit for good. But it is actually a little high for this part of Vermont. I think it is because of the woodstoves that are keeping us nice and warm as we look out on the snow covered wonderland.
The unemployment rate is also about 3%. Come for a visit and you might stay.
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It is a very informative article. Recent research seems to suggest that nano-particles of size less than PM2.5 are the real culprits and they cause the maximum damage to the the health of the people. It is necessary to identify the sources of emission of nano-particles. I hope that instrumentation to measure the levels of emission of nano-particles is developed and a more comprehensive approach to containing the dangers of pollution is adopted in the coming years. Whatever India spends on public healthcare gets neutralised to a large extent by the adverse impact of the high levels of pollution.
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Yikes! This article informs but also identifies a vector for rural conservatives to actively harm liberals for simply breathing. Supporting roll backs of pollution prevention measures has little impact on rural areas since the density of transport exhaust is so dilute, but preventing blue states and urban areas from forcing improvements hurts liberals in cities. How long before FOX is preaching this as a reason to vote GOP?
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I’ve spent a lot of time in Delhi and, believe me, the air quality is only getting worse, especially when the Punjabi farmers burn their fields and the deadly smoke wafts into the crowded and cramp city to mingle with kerosene fumes and a host of other contaminants.
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Once again the "Liberal Media" is using "facts" to bring attention to air pollution. A failsafe solution to this problem is simple. The worst air in every country needs to be pumped directly into the homes of every leader and politician. In America, that would mean that the worst air would go into the home of each and every member of the GOP. I bet that America's air quality would be pristine in six months.
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The BBC reported: "The biggest killer of all never makes the headlines, isn’t regulated, and is barely talked about beyond niche scientific circles (despite their best efforts to change that narrative): it’s nanoparticles." The article said the majority of PM2.5 pollution does not penetrate to the blood stream, whereas nanoparticles can "wreak havoc" in any organ. If the BBC report is accurate, it would be good to see this story updated to include the apparently more deadly nanoparticles.
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The way countries define pollution levels in an attempt to minimize their annual impact is the same game used to minimize urban noise pollution ratings. In San Francisco when a major new hospital was proposed in a densely populated urban area, one that included a helipad on its roof, the builders brought in the acoustic scientists. Their tool of deception was the SENL (single event noise level). Basically the reasoning was that if a large bomb detonated (or helicopter flyover), but only once a month this blast averaged out over 30 days became acceptable. The hospital got built with helicopters now flying in and out keeping us up at night.
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How adorable.. and avoiding mention cause ( we are concentrating on effect). Now the steel mills and other polluting factories one common across the USA and providing many jobs for
Americans have been moved--often to India, one of the few places in the world which allows for the recycling of heavy metals like chrome. (The process is very dangerous in terms of human lives).
And of course why mention human over reproduction one of the factors in massive construction projects. I have no idea what tax breaks real estates developers get in India. (NYC has tons of new development IMO directly related to the various federal, state, city tax breaks for such activities.
I remember the days when garbage was incinerated in NYC-- and perhaps burning all the awful plastics really is the answer to that-- and there were cinders (greasy ones on window sills and on car).
I remember when Ohio River water was polluted all the way from Pittsburg where the Allegheny and the Monongahela merge to form the beautiful river.
I have no idea why this essay? Should we feel superior or guilty for shipping our polluting jobs overseas and so shareholders can have more profit! or should we question Indian customs concerning reproduction and the ability of workers to strike for a decent wage? Many rich people in India and elsewhere benefiting from the present "mess"/situation.
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The pollution challenge cannot be met without addressing the issue of overpopulation. More people equals more pollution. In India and China we have the largest populations in the world along with the foulest air. I know that correlation is not the same as causation, but the correlation cannot be denied. As the supply of clean water and air diminishes, so does our mortality. It is a condition that affects all of us.
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PM 2.5 currently 157 in Sydney 4 Dec 2019. This is the first time I have heard of “over suppression of wildfires”. Is it a thing? Governments are expected to throw everything at a wildfire to protect lives and homes. They will be accused of neglect if they let them run. And if they let them run there is no way to ensure that a wind change won’t make them a real threat again. And do not forget about wildlife. A thousand koalas dead. Many more injured. And that is just one species.
@Roger H I think that the suppression comment was meant about the US, and even if it wasn’t, suppressing natural fires can do more harm than good. A lot of very important plant species are regenerated with the burning of a fire. The extinction of koalas because of the fires in Australia may have started “naturally,” but there is no doubt that a dryer season (bc of climate change, man-made) led to that fire not going out when it should have naturally. The loss of koalas is absolutely devastating, and suppression of that particular fire is necessary. In CA, putting out natural wildfires can be detrimental to the ecosystem, but if the fire poses an immediate threat to human life, obviously it should also be suppressed.
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It stands to reason that we do ourselves a great disservice (and even greater harm) by ignoring the small-particulate contribution of indoor pollution—such as by burning candles, especially in restaurants or bars, where they’re in use non-stop, and in quantity...
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@Marion Appel most restaurants around here use LED candle lights. put them in a frosted dish, you can hardly tell the difference except the lack of that waxy sooty smell.
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Another reason to not buy things made in China if it is made in North America, there will be less energy used to make it and ship it.
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@Robert
Ocean-going cargo ships are in fact the most efficient form of transportation, far more so than the freight trains and trucks used to ship items within North America.
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The article should distinguish among the various kinds of particles (carbonaceous soot, smog, mineral dust) that likely have different healthconsequences.
Edmonton, Canada - Extreme 728 ug/m3
It was the end of spring, after a miserably cold and tenacious winter that started in October and seemed to never end, finally loosened its grip on the capital city and in the last week of May we had wonderful spring/summer weather.
Then that Thursday, the forest fire smoke blew into town, pushing us past 10+ on the Air Quality Index. A haze hung over the city, and bits of ash swirled and swayed in the air. It was as if winter had returned in disguise, trading the usual white blanket of silvery snow for a yellow dingy dishcloth.
Yet, like many others, I still went to work and ran my errands, covering my nose and mouth and trying to stay indoors as much as I could.
It was gone within a few days, and we returned to a pretty average summer. We returned to the air quality we just expect to always have.
Yet those in other parts of the world live with much worse air quality almost every day of the year. Every day they go about their business breathing in some of the worst quality air ever.
Don't they deserve decent air quality? Doesn't everyone?
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White Plains' quality air is due to many factors. A smaller city than NYC it does not build contiguous air trapping walls of skyscrapers like Manhattan. Streets, roads and avenues are very broad. I never saw alley ways. Most buildings have plazas. The sea level elevation of White plains is 295' as compared to 102 ' for the island of Manhattan in NYC. Kensico Dam in Valhalla, is where the Bronx River starts its flow down through white plains emptying to the East river. The water has cleaned up in the river so much that now it sustains turtles in 2019. It also has the huge county Saxon Woods park. There are also a few golf courses in the area.
If you have doubts of climate change and it's relationship with carbon pollution how about the health consequences of PM2.5 pollution also linked to carbon. A combined concern is a no brainer. What is the US waiting for...more "profits"?
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The 5 or 6 days the Bay Area was covered w poor air from the Paradise fire left residents staying inside. If they had to go outside, we wore masks. The entire experience was surreal.
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I commend the NYT for such an excellent article and graphics on a really important issue. The dangers of exposure to P.M. 2.5 are generally not met with enough urgency by Americans because we are so fortunate to be spared the extremes that are experienced abroad. But reductions in particulate pollution is best addressed by burning less fossil fuels, especially coal. This translates to a moral responsibility for the U.S. to stop exporting coal abroad to poison others!
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Great article. It's important to separate the concept of air quality out from climate change. Of course they're directly related, but we need to start thinking about how we will deal with the specific impacts of each new challenge that climate change brings to life on earth. I fear this article only touches upon a huge story that wants to fade fast into the denial dungeon. The thought that the air we breathe could be slowly killing many of us, breath by breath, is just too hard to accept. I live in Los Angeles and, yes, while the air is better than it was, we need to stop leaning on that old saw. The air here is still deeply hazardous to our health, something I fear most Angelenos choose to ignore. Respiratory issues aside, research shows that ongoing PM2.5 exposure accelerates hardening/thickening of the arteries, which can cause heart attacks and other life threatening illnesses. Awareness is essential, no matter how hard it is to process. How we "fix" our mess is another matter, one I hope our global leaders and citizens take on with urgency and vision.
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Very informative. Charts from India are through the roof, how can they even manage their daily lives? It’s funny to see that most local cities in Belgium are stating that pollution is through the roof, even though it’s mostly green on the charts.
This makes me so scared for the future. How can we get the rest of humanity to care enough to not only demand change to to actually change themselves?
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Only one African city listed? The continent is bigger than South Africa. Nigeria, Ethiopia and Egypt all have more than 100 million residents.
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Dear NYT, Neither my city (Monrovia, Liberia) or any cities close by (Freetown, Conakry, Abidjan) or even further away (Accra, Abuja, Lagos) so basically none of the 376 million people in West Africa are reflected.
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Where is Wayne? There is more than one.
The government air monitors are strategically located to give the best readings not the worst. Check out the Purple air map, buy a purple air monitor
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Hard to know what to make of this beyond a generic conclusion that things are bad and are getting worse.
The article starts with an interactive feature that announces, "This is pollution in Poway on the worst air quality day this year. Hazardous particulate concentrations reached 196 µg/m3 during the highest hour, a level that would be considered “very unhealthy.”
Today's PM2.5 rating in my location is 3 µg/m3.
The graphs in the article comparing my location to the Bay Area, New Delhi, and Beijing all show that Poway with a single line reaching almost 200 in the middle of January. No other line exceeds 50 and most appear to be less than 20.
We do not typically have wild fires in San Diego during January or other weather events leading to poor air quality. Other air quality reports issued by the local Air Quality District do not indicate ~200 µg/m3 days in the region.
My conclusion is that the NYTimes data reflects a defective measurement derived from a single source. Unfortunately, by leading with the scare number of 196, the article tends to undercut its own validity.
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Readers beware. Although there is some good info, this article relies on Berkeley Earth data funded in part by Koch and other energy foundations.
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Yeah, those pesky regulations.
While the particulate matter data are especially alarming, considering toxicity in particulate matter's pervasiveness reveals the more pernicious threat to human health and the environment. Humans aren't the only species.
Imagine all of that dissoved into water. I find the 200lbs of garbage in a whale's stomach quite disturbing.
God bless the Great Lakes. In 100 years, Michigan's freshwater coasts will be the new SoCal.
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Great to clear the air on this toxic topic.
Appreciating points raised by:
@Julia (this article discusses air particles, not climate-changing gases),
@Polaris (particles in the air are only one form of harmful substance. Harmful gases—such as ozone—do not appear on charts like this),
@Ram (the "worst day" of the year does not equate averages),
@S. Rosenberg (very little data revealed and none explained in relation to Africa),
@Michael Maher MD (investigating causal links between air pollution and specific health problems remains a key area for continued coverage).
Now, the article stated, "particulate pollution" caused "an estimated 4.2 million deaths worldwide in 2015" and "people of color tend to breathe dirtier air than white Americans".
@Erik responded: "Does The New York Times have to bring race into the forefront of every issue?"
But did they?
(1) According to Paul Mohai (co-author of a 2016 study), we see "a consistent pattern over a 30-year period of placing hazardous waste facilities in neighborhoods where poor people and people of color live" and "places that are already disproportionately populated by minorities, and where their numbers are growing, have the best chances of being selected."
(2) Some places (like Newport News) with insufficient monitoring likely under-report.
(3) Only one African city appears in the drop list: Cape Town, South Africa with 1689 µg/m3.
41 times the rate of Manhattan; nearly twice New Delhi's rate. No discussion.
Why not?
2
India and China.....the worst. Two Country's that prove that overpopulation is the major underlying problem that no one seems to want to talk about.
Continue on the same course and overpopulation will cure itself...with the demise of the human species.
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@Steve Dumford
China has successfully managed its population through mandatory family planning. Its population is set to peak in the near future.
1
The effects of air pollution on developing (and even mature) brains is hard to overstate, but apparently easy to ignore. Somehow, driving a car in cities is still more important to most people than the mental development of their children, or their own risk of developing dementia, even when other transportation options are available. This is where public policy fails us, also here in NY, where not even idling laws are being enforced. While this article presents a very good overview of the issue, it is still relying on data likely obtained largely from monitoring stations that are for the most part far removed. We need data from the side-walks, from the street that we cross as pedestrians after 5 trucks have passed, from the street corner populated by multiple car and truck owners checking their phones or having lunch while letting their vehicles idle, without the slightest chance of getting ticketed. If we had such data, the air pollution in Manhattan would likely look quite a bit worse than presented here.
2
Air purifiers sales are going up. We have two in our apartment.
Having clean air is becoming a privilege. I'm sad that poor families and individuals cannot afford air purifiers themselves and the increase in electricity bills.
2
It's very sad seeing the pollution levels in Asia, especially in India and China. Most of us knew about Beijing and other Chinese cities for a long time, but seeing India to other parts of the world with dangerous levels of pollution scares you. It scares me for the fact the negative health effects it may have on it's people, but also the environment in general. Sadly the fires in California aren't preventable, but seeing Delhi to Beijing was all man made. Sadly I see many countries failing to meet the Paris accord as we continue.
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The transmission line that caused the Paradise fire was almost a hundred years old and hadn’t been maintained. A worn-out hook caused an explosion that led to the fire. Last maintenance was almost two decades ago. Human caused because profits were more important than basic maintenance. Many of the fires are set by humans or caused by their actions, however unintentional—and that doesn’t include the daily actions we all take that add to CO2 buildup.
34
@CB That's a very fair and accurate rebuttal. I do know some fires are nature related, but more frequent due to climate change. My point is the constant air quality issues in Beijing to Delhi are all man made.
9
@Patrick
You know about pollution in Beijing and other Chinese cities because American media has a habit of focusing on China's problems, even if similar problems exist all over the world. You should notice seeing 10 times the coverage on Hong Kong riots as compared to riots in Iraq, Chile, etc.
14
Air Pollution comes in different flavors.In coal country it comes from burning and mining coal, in Beijing from car exhausts and industrial activity, in Fairbanks, Alaska from burning wood, in Fresno from agriculture. Common denominator is unregulated or poorly regulated human activity. We all pay the price though, even if we live far away from direct sources of pollution as small particles do not know or obey state or country borders. Most vulnerable (children and elderly) suffer most. Prevalence of respiratory diseases is higher in California Central Valley than in many other regions of USA. Unfortunately EPA deregulatory actions under current administration will make pollution problem worse and it may take decades to reverse it.
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@ProudLiberal
What? Did we not elect Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump to get government off our backs?? You actually want the EPA to regulate killer air!
6
Policy can vastly improve air quality, as we've seen here in NY. When I was young, back in the 70's, NY air quality was often terrible. I don't know what the measurements were, but I do know that the sky sometimes looked like a bruise over New Jersey. Now things are very much better. I believe that this was almost entirely due to policy changes -- limitations on incinerator burning, car emissions, and so on and so forth. Now, as you point out, even the progress we have made here in the States is slipping back. This is yet another of the terrible things we are doing to our children.
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@Anne M.
By the 1980s Con Ed changed to low sulfur or no sulfur pulverized coal fuel which eliminated the caustic smog.
13
For anyone who denies climate change, I encourage them to live and work in China for 1 year. During my teaching contract in an Eastern province (Shandong) between 2017 and 2018 I lost my voice 3 times and had an aggressive cough every 2 to 3 months. In terms of my foreign co-workers, 1 got bronchitis, another pneumonia and another a chest infection. For the locals, the outcome was even worst due to their prolonged exposure which entailed either weeks of recuperating at home or spending time at the hospital. We may enjoy our made-in-China products, but it is killing them and eventually us. And we are much more complicit in this exchange then perhaps we want to admit.
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@Krysta I totally agree with you that China is partially responsible for climate change, but the particulate emissions described in this article are actually "just" pollutants, not (necessarily) a driving factor of climate change. Of course, many particulates are generated by CO2-intensive coal burning or through internal combustion engines, but these types of particulates can generally be reduced/removed through technology, whereas the CO2 itself can't.
34
@Julia
Is it at all possible to blame the CEOs of Walmart, Apple, Frigidaire, etc. ? People there work in US owned factories and shareholders are doing very well indeed. (People shopping in a Walmart were asked on a 60 Minutes show whether they would be willing to pay more for whatever so that a garment worker in India could buy better food for her family. The answer was NO. So much for altruism.)
23
@Julia Black carbon is itself a climate pollutant—second only to CO2.
4
If this incredible visual display of actual air pollution can't convince the climate change skeptics in the congress to act, then nothing can. Or maybe texting a snapshot of their location by the inhabitants of the congress districts to their representatives might do the trick.
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The problem is they're not "skeptics", but denialists.
It's not that they question the established, proven science. It's that said science contradicts their lies and poses a threat to their paychecks from the fossil-burners that heat the planet, so appeals to facts won't pierce them.
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@AS Just a caveat if you were thinking of using this article to support a discussion of climate change: particulate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are not equivalent terms, although often related.
CO2 and other greenhouse gases may be produced at the same time as particulates, but particulates can often be reduced/removed through better technology like filters or optimized combustion processes, whereas it's much more difficult to reduce greenhouse gases. "Clean coal" would be an example of a process in which nasty particulates are "scrubbed" out, but where high levels of CO2 are still produced. So not necessarily a particulate issue, but still a climate change problem.
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@Julia
Thank you for expanding the conversation, and in particular your careful clarity on this topic.
5
Great article.
Delhi's pollution problems reflect a political falure:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/prakashdolsak/2019/11/02/saving-delhi-from-the-toxic-smog-regulations-have-failed-but-financial-incentives-could-work/#2e8254271188
Super job with the graphics.
2
My small town in Illinois allows outdoor burning of yard waste and firewood. This is bad enough - about 1/4 of the time, year-round, the air smells of smoke - and on the worst days, our whole neighborhood is cloaked in visible, reeking stuff that tears your eyes and sends folks indoors coughing. Never mind having your windows open - someone will start a fire at 8 p.m. and the house will be full of smoke before you can get out of your chair.
But the absolute worst is the guy down the street with the wood-burning, outdoor furnace. All winter long, this device emits a throat-tightening, invisible cloud of death. The people that live downwind nearby are subjected to it constantly - I don't know how they manage.
Why has air pollution worsened since 2016? Among Mr. Putin's goals for the president are that he deconstruct government, and so weaken the US. Today we witness the president whose threatening word salad attacks our allies and benefits Mr. Putin.
All the while the Banana Republican band plays on.
This spoiled my appetite as I ate lunch at my desk. Particularly as a person from the Midwest who grew up around many steel, coal etc plants. Where do we go from here as a global society?
The worst pollution in the Seattle Area is due to smoke and dust blowing in from China and Siberia. Last year, we did get smoke from the fires burning in California and some from fires in British Columbia and Alaska. Nevertheless, not as bad as many cities in the US that have to put up with poor air quality on a constant year round basis.
This article lacks mentioning recent available tools that empower citizens right away. The Copernicus satellite air pollution data is real time available worldwide. Go to e.g. https://www.windy.com/-PM2-5-pm2p5?cams,pm2p5,20.879,8.262,3,m:fn6aeR5 and you see PM2.5 data now and the development for the coming 5 days (click play button in the left under corner)
S02, and more important NO2 data is also available in the 'air quality' menu item at the right of the screen.
This data is a treasure to get citizens aware about what they breathe on a daily basis. We e.g, need car free bike lanes in all major cities around the world.
As someone else pointed out, many cities in Europe are missing. Why? Are they all clean? The worst city on the list was Cape Town SA. Is that right? Never hear much about that city and from my recent visit there didn't find too many smoke stacks of factories like one does in New Delhi.
Air quality was improving under President Obama but now has decreased under Trump. Since, per this article, air quality results in deaths, he is literally killing people with his policies.
My area is generally OK. I guess living in a backwater burg has its benefits in some ways.
Time to watch the delightful movie, "Wall-E". A commentary on homo sapien's rush to commit mass suicide via poisoning our environment combined w/ obesity and horrible diet - all wrapped up in the cutest cartoon ever.
2
Apparently the worst offenders are the Chinese and Indians. Therefore it is incumbent on them to carry the burden of cleaning up the worldwide climate crisis that overpowers our environment - not the U.S. taxpayer...
@dlglobal What do say about the fact that a substantial portion of the pollution "caused" by China and India actually stems from the American demand and consumption of goods manufactured in these countries?There's a drastic toll in terms of lives and productivity of a society (due to health damage) that isn't priced into those goods they we in the U.S. demand, more so than any other nation of consumers.
5
Particulates have negligible contributions from "gasoline in cars" or "car exhausts"--in the vehicle sector, they come from DIESEL exhaust which is not popular for U.S. cars (<3%) and are essentially limited to commercial trucks. This is part of the reason European cities have much higher particulates than US cities (~50% diesel cars), although your data seems limited to London. EU cities such as Rome, Paris, and Frankfurt would be even worse.
3
This article fails to address a serious root cause of pollution: culture. The culture of burning trash and agricultural waste plays a significant and toxic part. For a large part of the world, there is no trash collection service so burning household waste, including plastics and organic waste, is the only way to get rid of the materials. The culture of burning the fields after a harvest has been resistant to change because there is no easy solution to the organic matter (composting takes more time, labor and space) and the culture of burning goes back thousands of years.
5
Our area in Ontario has gone off coal but we get the foul air from Central US states, hopefully they will make improvements.
2
Is there any way to get a closer look at the graph for a specific city? Nashville's graph is a bit confusing, as it looks like there was one specific date that skewed our results (it even looks like it might have been July 4th - we have one of the nation's largest fireworks displays). I loved this piece on the whole and found it very informative!
People who live along very high diesel truck traffic corridors also show the harm of breathing air containing diesel particulates. When you chart the rates of lung and pulmonary system disease including cancer there is a high correlation. At one time, we charted these rates and they were printed in the NYTimes. I am sorry that I can't find the reference because I am not with my data base but the evidence is compelling. There is also evidence that the rates of fetal lung and brain development is negatively impacted.
One of the solutions that I and others have proposed is to haul freight trucks in magnetic levitated carriers like the one invented by Drs. James Powell and Gordon Danby that operate alongside the rights-of-way of the Interstate Highway or Rail Systems to haul both loaded freight trucks and delivery vans on Maglev carriers for 300 mph overnight service.
The operating and maintenance costs of this system are much cheaper than hauling on our highways. The savings would pay for the guideway and Maglev vehicle systems.
This kind of system will be necessary for the future of civilization simply because of global warming, traffic congestion, public health and the depletion of fossil energy reserves. I suggest that the U.S. should take the lead and develop and test this system as a public carrier. This system also operates well in heavy snow and ice.
4
@james jordan
Yes, a good idea. But you are forgetting that even Maglev needs power. Where do we get power in most states? From fossil fuel burning power plants. Until we can make a switch to sustainable sources of power, can Maglev make serious inroads in reducing pollution.
@Red Rat
Maglev itself operates with zero emissions. And the superconducting Magnets just sips electrons because there is not resistance in the wire. This system uses about 1/13th, the electric power of a standard electric motor.
Thankfully, I will continue breathe the clean air where I live.
1
So where are the actions to take on this? We know this, but there is no leadership for big issues other than us on the front line. I wish these articles would give steps to make things better instead of repeating the bad news.
1
@Calleen Mayer
Vote wisely, go electric and minimize plastic consumption
I believe that progress is inevitably coming. When CEO's, their children, and their families begin to sicken and choke from bad air, enterprising wizards of technology, subsidized by our tax dollars, will devise and implement systems that provide abundant purified air and water to those who can subscribe to it (like Amazon Prime).
The rest of us will also benefit from ever-improving filtration systems. The stylish mask will become a must-have fashion accessory.
@JD Yes but by the time CEO's take corrective action because their children get sick, children and adults around the world will be dead. We can't wait for CEO's. The absolute minimum action we can take now is to join and support the student's actions. The maximum action we can take now is to vote this Nero out of office.
@JD Only then.
I've lived in NYC/Brooklyn for nearly 60 years to find that our air very nearly pure. But I always knew New York was the healthiest city on Earth!
4
Keeping us informed about the world we live in as only The New York Times can. The older I get, the more I appreciate the ability to access information like this, based on solid science and easy to grasp. Many thanks to the authors.
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yup we are an invasive species actually. we breed too much, we use up the natural resources acting as if it's ok. i live in santa fe. we do have good air. i used to live in the jemez mountains. my neighbor contracted with a deep well site to dispose of slag from the excavation, he dumped the slag (full of heavy metals) in the local river resulting in a fish kill down stream for about 15 miles. when questioned about motive his purported response was "the planet can clean its self". this happened many years ago, he's dead but if you disturb the river bed toxins are released and more fish die. (he did have to pay a hefty fine and lost his company but the damage was done and i am sure he blamed the EPA, which at that time was doing it's job)
8
The first step in cleaning up the environment is getting rid of Donald Trump and his Republican enablers.
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@Bo Baconator
Trump is just starting to pollute as much as possible. He has just removed the regulations against the Dow Companies. He has plans to set up oil rigs in the national parks.. OUR national parks.
He has convinced a good number of states-decently governed states, Minnesota, Pennsuylvania, to arrest people who are fighting fracking and pipelines for criminal activity when they are only carrying out their Constitutional rights to free speech and right of assembly.
I don't see the useful comparison between Vicenza, a small industrial city in Italy, with giant cities like Bejiiing, New DElhi. Does Vicenza have the qualities we should strive for?
12
@Bo Baconator
Scott Pruitt's efforts to put highly polluting renovated old diesel trucks back on the roads were unprecented and inexcusable.
28
@Occupy Government
Per the article, the United States "has some of the cleanest air in the world."
1
We, humans, are a virus on this planet... Eventually, virus' either end up killing the host or the host develops an immunity to the virus and kills it off. Right now we're doing our level best to bring our mother to her knees. The thing I think we humans lack is the ability to look at the very big picture. After we kill ourselves off by making the host toxic to our very survival, this rock will keep spinning, the sun will continue to rise, waves will continue to crash against the shore and the moon and starts will still light the night. Once we're gone (or significantly reduced in number) maybe, just maybe this planet can get back to being the paradise it once was without the anthropological epidemic we humans have inflicted upon it. We should all hang our heads in shame for what we've done here, every single one us.
13
it is interesting to see the pollution in Hammond, IN, which is only a few miles from where I live.
I'd like to know what the pollution level is in the town located next to the BP Oil processing plant that is approximately 25 minutes from my place.
I went there on a protest a few years back. Opened the door and could hardly breath. I was absolutely shocked at the level of pollution from BP Oil. That is something that needs to be studied. Politicians should require a clean up..HA. The red state of Indiana doesn't recognize the pollution that is in our own back yards.
After the Indiana Department of Environmental Management issued an air permit for the expansion to process filthy tar sands oil in 2008, the Natural Resources Defense Council sued to block it. Although the EPA initially approved the expansion, it later filed Clean Air Act violations against the oil giant. With the Justice Department, the EPA also alleged the expansion violated a 2001 consent decree.
"The permit that BP and the state of Indiana drafted did not reflect reality," said the NRDC's Ann Alexander, lead attorney for the environmental groups. "And as the country wakes up to the mess being made by tar sands all over the country, it will be harder and harder for them to keep trying to play these games."
8
@Carol Ring see https://www.windy.com/-CO-concentration-cosc?cosc,41.628,-86.583,7,m:eN6adKv
Lots of CO concentration over there indeed. This can be partially attributed to industrial output like the BP plant you mention.
1
Clean air may be a basic human right, but too many people believe that burning wood in a fireplace is also a basic human right.
The air quality in your city might be in a good range, but if you live downwind from someone who likes to keep a fire in the fireplace, the air quality in your yard and home might frequently be in an unhealthy zone.
It's not OK to force unhealthy air quality on your neighbors and community.
24
@Maria
You underestimate the scale of the 'agricultural burning' in India mentioned in the article. Your neighbor's fireplace is the wrong place to seek solutions. We must look outside of our respective bubbles to understand the scope of the issue.
18
@Andy Deckman Maybe all sources of particulate should be reduced. Fireplaces, agricultural burning, industrial emissions - all sources are important and no one should have the right to foul the air. Wet wood in old stoves can release a lot of smoke, but at high density, even clean-burning wood stoves may raise particulate levels too high.
@SRunyan
Maybe efforts should be focused where they have the most impact. I was told for years that sorting my household recycling would help save the planet, and I did so dutifully. If you keep up with the news, you know how it turned out.
3
Lived in the Sierra for 15 years and had to deal with all of the summer burning of pine needles and such. Moved back to the Bay Area and had to drag out my N95 masks for all of the wildfire smoke.
1
And New Delhi is not even on the list of 10 most polluted cities in India.
4
"...people of color tend to breathe dirtier air than white Americans, despite contributing far less to overall pollution."
Of course pollution is racist. But it's not. Poor people, because they are poor, live in less desirable neighborhoods, many of which have industrial buildings, excessive truck track, and other pollution sources. People of color are more likely to be poor than white Americans.
More importantly, when most of these neighborhoods were built the residents were mostly poor whites.
Does The New York Times have to bring race into the forefront of every issue?
11
Why no mention of Africa? In the global animation there appear to be large clouds of pollution swirling over Africa yet it gets no mention in your text.
4
Great work, NY Times (Nadja, Blacki, Karthick, Anjali, and Jon)! Absolutely fascinating.
7
" ... contributed to 88,000 premature deaths in 2015 — making this pollution more deadly than both diabetes and the flu." Very soft science here. As with second hand smoke, Real effects are net to impossible to quantify.
2
Our clean air and water can be attributed to two Republicans - Nixon and Reagan. A pseudo Republican (Trump) is undoing their legacy. A recent study linked fine particles and Alzheimer’s. Denying Americans healthcare and safe living conditions is signing our death warrant. Big pharma is providing the opioids. Trump is looking to export our deadly cocktails to Europe.
8
So I am to believe from the calculator that Manhattan has cleaner air than the alps. I think not.
4
@Jonny Walker Because you are in possession of actual data that proves otherwise or you have an opinion that supersedes facts?
Hard to believe San Francisco has dirtier air than New York. Might that be the result of unrestricted Uber access to SF and the resulting gridlock?
When will the real problem be addressed? For those unaware of what the real problem is,let me help. It is overpopulation. One does not need a degree in rocket science to understand this.
32
I loved all the graphics in this article. That visual makes pollution easier to understand. People don't seem to realize how pollution created in one place will travel around the world to cleaner destinations. We live in a sealed capsule floating around in a universe inhospitable to life. The US which once was a leader in preserving our environment is now backsliding. Consumerism and overpopulation is taking us to a world where we will end up drowning in our own garbage.
6
I was curious how the air quality in NYC right after 9/11 would compare to the levels in this article. This was not for any profound reason, but I suspect that is the most polluted air I have breathed in my lifetime.
I read the fact sheet "Mount Sinai Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit WTC Particulate Matter Fact Sheet". I have no background in environmental sciences, and would appreciate corrections.
As I understand it, in the immediate aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks, there were hourly levels reported as high as 200 micrograms per meter cubed. This is comparable to the Bay Area after the Camp Fire, but still far, far below Mumbai currently.
The fact sheet also emphasized that while some hourly readings were quite high, the 24-hour average was comparable to what NYC had seen before - high, but nothing extraordinary. (The paper did not address this, but I wonder if the shutdown of usual day-to-day traffic that occurred on 9/11 would have contributed to this?) The paper also mentioned that the higher readings were short in duration.
This is somewhat comparing apples to oranges: The paper mentioned that large particulates (not looked at in this NYTimes article) increased, which was believed to have contributed to the coughs of many first responders and nearby survivors. And none of this addresses the substances in these particulates.
And finally, NYC before 2000 appeared to have had higher pollution levels than today. Good job NYC.
If this doesn't make the urgent case for solar, wind, energy storage, and electric vehicles.... I don't know what does.
19
Interesting article.
During the recent past fires this year in CA I had been checking the air quality in San Francisco with AirVisual every day, which displays individual readings from many sensors throughout the city. Some neighborhoods would have readings of >150 while others would have readings of <20. I’m not a scientist but the amount of pollution across a city seems like it isn’t uniform.
I assume the presented graph for SF is taking the average over the whole city which includes areas that got essentially no pollution. Nothing wrong with looking at the average, but my guess is that the averages presented are sadly lower than the residents are experiencing.
1
In Beijing the schools use the Air Quality Index to determine if children can go outside to play for recess every day. Makes me thankful every day for the US government regulations that help keep our air mostly clean in many places. Directly or indirectly we all pay the healthcare costs for dirty air.
5
@Nancy Rowe In Dallas too.
What effective ways to present and compare complicated, difficult to process data. Well done!
11
There is currently no plan to address the major driver of the fraction of atmospheric PM2.5 caused by human activities: overpopulation. Without our intervention, nature will probably do it for us, with increasingly toxic effects of air and water pollution.
21
@RC Thank you! Overpopulation is indeed at the heart of the problem.
3
I now check daily for the air quality as one does for the weather, knowing if it is a Green Day to go for a bicycle ride. My question is, our air quality right now is unhealthy for all or Orange, when the wind blows and the air quality turns green or good again, where does all that is unhealthy orange air go?
2
@Juliana James If it is ozone, it is produced during the day and the reaction reverses at night. And if the right circumstances are not the there next day, much less or no ozone is produced.
I was impressed by the data - especially that you had information for my little city. It agreed very well with our experiences this year with smoke from forest fires. I thought the situation was poor here and stayed indoors, so it gave me perspective to see that in Beijing or Delhi what I experienced for a week was a year long occurrence.
7
I am wondering what causes the particulate pollution at the far southern latitudes on Earth. The "global movie" displayed in this piece shows it to be significant, yet I can hardly suspect industry in southern Chili. Is it particles from South American desert dust?
While stationed in southern New Zealand, we used to brag of having the cleanest air on Earth (as per the few intervening land masses along the atmospheric circulation), but the graphic
belies this claim.
I really doubt the data that the spiffy particle visualization is based on. One would conclude that air quality is worse in Los Angeles than in Bangkok, Mexico City, New Delhi, etc which is certainly not the case (just to name cities I have visited) The air is close to unbreathable much of the time in those foreign cities and certainly not in LA.
1
@mdieri Why would one conclude that?
1
Further investigation is suggested for one only has to visit California's San Joaquin Valley between July and September to see a level of particulate pollution that rivals any polluted air basin on earth. Yet the air district that regulates industry in the valley is mum about the problem for it emanates from agricultural harvesting operations which are "exempt" from regulations that would land other perpetrators in jail. Unlike particulate from sources such as coal, the dust aerosol-ized is left over insecticides and fungal spores which likely result in "Valley Fever" and other ubiquitous diseases that affect the residents unlucky to live in the fetid area.
13
@Robert Benz - Or SLC and Denver in the winter… as more and more peeps rush to live in our "pristine" mountains.
No data for Rome, Italy? But almost everywhere else?
How is that possible? Perhaps with Rome being the capital all that political hot air carries pollution to the stratosphere.
4
The irony of our political system is that the EPA spends billions to monitor air quality, conducts a 50 state exhaustive rivers and streams study every four years, NOAA conducts ocean and atmospheric research using satellites and ocean buoys and many government scientists study climate change, while the President cancels one EPA rule after another and appoints a fossil fuel lobbyist to run the EPA.
Then our Consitution hands the power of judicial and executive confirmations to the undemocratic Senate.
Our founding fathers must have had a strange sense of humor.
25
@Look Ahead Here is the consequence of the trend of the majority of eligible voters NOT voting. The tail is now wagging the dog--a tyranny of the minority, which is the opposite of what the Founders feared about a tyranny of the majority. They couldn't foresee the communication technology that can magnify lying propaganda for a segment of the populace across the country, as well as a political party that can exploit to the hilt that trend in majority not voting. My hope is that there will be a turnaround in that trend like last year, with some significant changes for the better. I hope--go out and VOTE accordingly.
4
@Look Ahead
I saw a bumper sticker that read: Stupid Beyond All Comprehension. Second best was Rex Tillerson Was Right.
2
Fantastic piece. This breaks it down to understandable information and graphics in relation to where we are, and how that compares to other parts of the world.
3
Really informative and helpful article. Graphics are very helpful in drawing attention. Now, how do we change the course set by this federal administration in dealing with pollution? An election is coming up. Dealing with climate change and sustaining a healthy environment have to be a top priority when casting your vote.
7
@Fred Dorer - Bad as the Trumpettes are, the course wasn't set "by this federal administration". The course was set, and maintained, and accelerated, by each of us Fossil Fuel addicts. We enable our addiction by blaming Others and waiting for a New Administration to save us - fat chance of that one. Just listen to Pelosi re: the Green New deal.
If we really cared enuf', we could start by taking individual responsibility - driving and flying less; carpooling, walking, riding a bus; sealing leaks in our houses; turning the lights off when not needed; not eating beef, yada, yada. We could - but we don't.
Instead, we respond to this existential environmental catastrophe by creating more GHG in every sector except electricity - the result of burning less coal which The Fat Man is trying to reverse ASAP.
It ain't gonna' change unless we all change - and the odds don't look good…
3
@Miss Anne Thrope
Agree. Our population numbers drive pollution. More people with houses further in suburbs . More food transported all over the country, roads, cutting down forests. We will get more and and more crowded. Land for agriculture will diminish.
2
Great article. Thank you.
I wish that more emphasis could be placed on variation on air quality within cities. In East Boston, local air quality activists (Airport Impact Relief, Incorporated -AIR, Inc., in collaboration with Aerodyne Research, Inc. and Olin College of Engineering) are building a real-time air quality monitoring and reporting network to provide airport pollution exposed residents with data about current air quality.
The sensors will work in conjunction with a proposed in-home and in-school air filtration project (which is being piloted). The net result is a community pollution defense system which responds to the local variation in air quality mentioned in this great article.
The peak levels of pollution which are possible in localities- even in cities with comparatively clean air are a serious concern. It would be worthwhile for this report to include a little more information on those peak levels, and a provide analysis on how long term exposure to those levels can impact human health.
6
Missing data alert: We do have the clean air act which has made it possible for us to have much healthier air than many of the rest of the world but don't worry, the Trump administration has proposed more allowable pollution for pollutants like PM 2.5 claiming it is an egregious regulation that gets in the way of making profit.
49
This article would benefit from a little extra explanation. "PM2.5" refers to particles that are so small that they are not captured by the fine hairs that line our airways - that's why they're dangerous to breathe. They're also not visible in the air. Visible particulate pollution is caused by particles that are so large that they are not very dangerous to breathe. Early electrostatic smokestack filters, which claimed to capture something like 99.9% of the mass of particulates emitted by steel mills and power plants, made the effluent visibly cleaner but not safer, because the fine stuff was not captured at all. These fine particulates are not captured by standard cheap paper dust masks, either. Mass distribution of those masks is a cosmetic substitute for real action.
38
@Paul Kolodner - Um, Paul, from the article:
"The particles are too small for the eye to see… PM2.5 can evade our bodies’ defenses, penetrating deep into the lungs and even entering the bloodstream. It has been shown to exacerbate asthma and other lung disorders, and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke…" yada and yada…
2
Pittsburgh once had very bad air pollution. Now it does not.
Why? Government regulations.
The first order effect of regulation was to reduce industrial emissions. But the regulations added costs, so there was a second order effect of industry leaving the city and largely going abroad. (Of course, wage differentials also played a large role.)
In essence, free trade agreements enabled the U.S. to export its pollution to China, Mexico, India, etc. This does indeed have the benefit of giving the U.S. cheap products AND better air quality. (The only direct cost to the U.S. has been the decimation of our industrial base, and all the social costs that this incurs.)
But the citizens of the exporting countries are paying a big price for our cheap goods, as this article shows.
Here is an idea. Let’s create a comprehensive pollution index for every country, including CO2, particulates, heavy metals, volatile organics, etc. We could then apply an Environmental Tariff on imported products, depending on their pollution index.
184
@John
Best idea yet!
I value clean air and back in the early 70s when I was taking a teaching job my wonderful wife hunted for quality air among all my choices. It turned out that Chapel Hill had good quality air and a great university. That was an important factor in our moving here. I am happy to see that it still holds up well despite all the growth.
12
@John
I really like this idea of an Environmental Tariff -- maybe a comprehensive score that also includes labor practices? -- but how to monitor and fairly enforce it?
As a recent Times article about generic pharmaceuticals showed, there's a whole lot of cheating, false data, and corruption for overseas manufactures to meet standards, and that's in a high-margin, high-scrutiny industry!
6
@John Excellent idea. Been around for a few decades in the ecological economics literature. Forbidden by World Trade Organization rules, which in their religious zealot's enthusiasm for "free trade," forbid tariffs based on production practices and thus induce a race to the bottom in pollution control.
18
Particulate pollution is very dangerous but it is only one type of air pollution. Since this measures only that one type, any area that shows low levels here could easily have very high levels of other types of dangerous air pollution, especially ozone.
Some areas that may look clean in this article could really be highly polluted. That context was not made specifically enough.
62
@Polaris This is a really good point, and should have been made in the article.
3
India has worst if both worlds ..a massive population with massive needs and a messy democracy like ours where competing forces that hinder collective progress over individual rights
23
Just wondering why an entire continent (Australia) isn't represented.
4
@Sandy The Delhi comparison chart has a drop down search field and selector to its left that allows you to search various Australian cities.
@Sandy Use the drop down menu and type in an Australian city.
You do not have the capital of Canada,Ottawa, on this list. How did you came up with Gatineau, which is across the river from Ottawa? This displays willful ignorance of Canada.
4
@Rita Neale Likewise the list includes Brossard instead of Montreal.
@Rita Neale probably a result of Environment Canada's monitoring station being east of the river. They can only provide data they have.
@Rita Neale Uh, no it doesn't. It isn't a comparison only of world capitals, but of average cities. Gatineau is chosen in Ontario, and Brossard instead of Montreal in Quebec. This doesn't display "willful ignorance", but if you're ready to take offence at anything then knock yourself out.
2
The sound of a million laptop fans spinning up to display the graphic is a better illustration.
3
The animation also shows how Saharan sand falls and builds dunes I've seen in western Venezuela.
2
@MB I am wondering if grains of sand can be that small? a few times poor visibility is mentioned. But if you can see particcles then they are not small enough (same for dust).
But anyway this is a solvable problem in a reasonable time frame. CO2? It does look that this is not going to be solved in time (even with the current too optimistic estimates)
@Dick Bierman My Venezuelan wife told me about the sand. Seemed unbelievable, but apparently not.
Thank you for creating such a clear picture of dirty air. I encourage you and your colleagues to keep advancing such data visualizations. Please keep emphasizing facts before opinions. This will keep me supporting the Times in these trouble times.
25
The powerful don't listen. Why?
Perhaps the super-rich see global cooking as an easy way to kill off Billions of "unprofitable" poor people?
Unfortunately for them, their plans have backfired, and they're now in a panic to rip off all the wealth in the world. But in the end, it won't protect them. And they and their children will die as well.
16
What about the ChemTrails? I'm not talking about the normal CONtrails jets put out that dispurses almost immediately, I'm talking about the CHEMtrails that stay and expand across our skies. Look them up, look up what's in those trails!
Streaks across the sky. Checkerboard patterns, daily spraying of chemicals in our skies? Loaded with chemicals. Attempts to change our weather, they are failing and poisoning out Earth.
6
@Krystyn Knights
Chemtrails aren't in the article because they are an unfounded and widely debunked conspiracy theory, promulgated by the intensely credulous.
@Krystyn Knights Lol
@Krystyn Knights
Chemtrails ??? No science anywhere acknoledges the existance of chemtrails. Sadly they are outright lies that have become a source of great anxiety for good well meaning people.
How does one change the city that is displayed in the article? I would like to look at different US cities.
1
@Trish Wurtz
At the top of the article, when it first mentions your city, it should be boxed with an arrow. Click there and a drop down box will appear with other cities to choose from (but not many).
An excellent and sobering article! Can you expand on what is going on in Africa in the worldwide pollution graphic? Is that man made or naturally occurring, like the seasonal sandstorms in western China? Thank you!
110
@Elizabeth I was wondering the same, but I believe most likely is the natural sandstorms over the Sahara, that from time to time reach even to South America. There are no large cities or industrial regions there. Also, I believe black dots north of equator on Nov-Feb are fires in dry season (north of equator the dry season is Nov - March; at least that's the case in Venezuela where I am from), while black dots south of the equator (DRC and Angola for instance) are fires in dry season in that region (June - August; dry season north and south of the equator are at different times).
5
@LAP I used to live in Nigeria. The pollution was very bad in Lagos, which is one of the most populous cities in the world and is constantly full of traffic jams. The oil industry in the Niger Delta also generated a lot of pollution, especially from gas flares, which are giant flames that burn day and night to dispose of unwanted natural gas released at oil wellheads. There was also harmattan, a type of wind that carried dust from the Sahara at certain times of year, but I am pretty sure at least some of the pollution you see in West Africa will be man-made and will be coming from Lagos or the Niger Delta.
15
@Elizabeth—Agreed on both points.
Not only that, it could feel helpful to have more info in general about African countries rather than only the caveat at the end ("Air pollution is not reliably measured on the ground in many parts of the world, including much of Africa and South America"). The drop list only contains one city from South Africa, Cape Town. It had a far worse rate than anything mentioned in the article (1689 µg/m3 compared to New Delhi's 900 µg/m3) yet no discussion.
Also, if you do a search for cities in the box where your city appears, you find no data at all on dozens of African countries including Libya, Nigeria, Sudan/South Sudan, Senegal, Chad, Niger, Ghana, the Gambia, Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Namibia.
They do however have data from Arusha, Tanzania 52 µg/m3 (slightly less than Albuquerque); Guercif, Morocco 38 µg/m3 (same as Brooklyn); Nairobi, Kenya and Arish (Egypt) in the 150 range; Gaborone, Botswana at 287 (more than Beijing); and Maseru (Lesotho), Pretoria and Johannesburg (South Africa) in the 300-500 range (all 3 more than Mumbai).
But we get zero information on any of them and none of them appear in the drop box list.
One billion people living in Africa received no attention and no respect in regard to a global issue.
So yes, great article but good intentions get us only but so far.
May the winds of change not only help rid us of particle pollution but of unconscious racial priorities as well.
Looking forward to more coverage!
23
Those that weaken air pollution regulations are nothing less than criminal mass murderers.
87
@Jab - All of us who continue to burn excessive amounts of Fossil Fuels - we who fly and drive for optional ego travel; refuse to walk, ride a bike, take a bus, or even carpool; over-heat and cool our underinsulated McMansions, blah and blah are, yes, "criminal mass murderers".
We here in the USofA create, on average, 3 times as much GHG as do you French peeps, while we waste 2/3 of our overall energy, 75% of transportation energy and half of our food. MAGA!
Oh yeah, large numbers of us are clueless enuf' to continually vote for those (R)egressive, wholly-owned-by-polluting-industries politicians that toil endlessly to "weaken air pollution regulations", 'cause, you know, Profits Uber Alles!
17
@Jab The air is much cleaner in the US that it is in France and just about all of Europe. I hope you are not thinking it is our fault.
@Erik
The US is a huge country, and France is relatively small by comparison, though much larger than some European countries. Levels of air pollution, if you read the article, varies highly, so much that one neighborhood in a city can be far more polluted than one close by. So your assertion that "the air is much cleaner in the US than it is in France" is so vague as to be absurd.
2
I've been waiting for an article like this for a long time. At long last people will finally realize that Pittsburgh is a city of clear blue skies and fresh air. Most people I meet in my travels perceive Pittsburgh as an industrial city. Heavy industry died here 40 years ago. Incredibly, people go on about how wonderful cities like LA, Phoenix and Houston are. The skies in Southwest cities are literally brown! How can you claim to have a quality of life when the very air you breath is a stinking, toxic stew?
4
@Epicurus Fully disagree. I lived in Pittsburgh (South Hills) from 2005 to 2011. There is a fine sooty dust in the air that you need to clean from patio furniture and windows on a regular basis. Nothing you can see day to day, but after a week it is there. When we left Pittsburgh the entire family noticed the difference in air quality; much better up here in suburban Boston. Also, the irony that you are writing about "clear blue skies" during the 4+ months of grey season is also funny.
All of that said, Pittsburgh is an absolutely terrific city with a high quality of life.
2
@Epicurus and here in Houston we're widening the major freeways all the time!! talk about a lack of insight on multiple levels --- how about some green public transportation? I'd like someone to do an article on the particular matter breathed in by people on the highways in major cities. recirculating the air in the car helps but we still breathe in a lot of PM. especially when idling in rush hour traffic.
16
In South Carolina we still have some citizens so uninformed, so inconsiderate, so recalcitrant that they will engage in open burning. And don't even ask about some of the most greedy developers who believe they have a right to burn debris from land clearing in the pursuit of maximum profit. Then of course there is the issue of lung disease from even small amounts of second hand cigarette smoke.
4
Fantastic use of data--the visual presentation was super! Thank you.
10
Excellent!
But depicting "worst air quality day of the year" - which is just for one day in an year - doesn't necessarily translate to how "unhealthy" the air quality is in an year. This leaves room for criticism from cynics.
To make that connection between health and air quality strong, some other statistic such as 'yearly average' or 'average of the worst 30 days' would be better.
19
@Ram Determination of whether an area is meeting national air quality standards is based both on annual and 24 hour PM2.5 concentrations. I'm guessing the Times chose to focus on the 24 hour measurement because it's so dramatic.
1
This begs the follow on question of how this affects the planet over time. Particulates do not disappear they disperse. Are these getting into the upper atmosphere and deteriorating overall air quality, when rains delivers particulates to the planet's surface does it affect soil, water, and cling to surfaces? Clearly the effects of climate change are measurable in yearly temperature readings but an insidious background of unknown hazard surely lurks to be teased out by [bogus, if you're a denier] science.
27
It would be nice to have more data sets in Africa. There's a constant big great cloud from West to East and north to the Maghreb, yet the only city available is Cape Town, all the way down South.
Still, great article and great, and scary, visualization.
40
Great article; also shows that meaningful plan to address climate change will have to include India and China..
9
Very nice display of data. Simple is best but maybe you could add a visual on the bar charts that shows health effect.
44
@Michael Maher MD
A few years back I visited Bakersfield CA, a city that has an oil refinery on the Main street! It also sits in a valley surrounded by mountains and the air that gets trapped in that valley is blown there from San Francisco - it's bad.
On the first morning (it was December) I drove to work and wound down my window thinking it was a nice day. After a 15 minute trip I sat at my desk with my eyes streaming and coughing; the people there asked me if I'd had my windows open driving to work and told me to close them as the TV was reporting dangerous air quality.
After a few days I woke up to clear skies and saw mountains in the distance in every direction; I didn't know they were there before as I hadn't been able to see them through the polluted air.
12