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Air pollution in India

February 19, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

India is one of the world’s most polluted countries. In fact, of the 30 cities with the worst air pollution around the globe, 21 of them can be found in India.

India’s capital city, New Delhi, is the most polluted city in the world. Concentrations of fine particulate matter (known as PM2.5) in Delhi, which is the name of the larger city that includes the capital New Delhi, are nearly 10 times greater than the World Health Organization guidelines.

To reduce air pollution in Delhi, officials have focused on measures within the city limits, including boosting public transportation and regulating pollution from industry.

But according to a review carried out by the University of Surrey and regional government officials in Delhi, the city will also need the help of its neighbors to tackle its killer smog problem. Some of the pollution plaguing Delhi comes from rural areas in the region – from things like crop burning, wood stoves, and power plants. The review, which was part of a paper recently published in the journal Sustainable Horizons, also recommends drafting regional air quality plans, producing smog forecasts, and creating airshed councils to help improve coordination.

Exposure to air pollution can cause all sorts of major health problems, including asthma, respiratory inflammation, as well as jeopardize lung function, and even promote cancer. Long-term exposure to PM2.5 is linked to premature death. In fact, air pollution causes an estimated 670,000 deaths every year in India.

Since air pollution doesn’t respect boundaries or borders, solutions require collaboration and the need to focus efforts more broadly in order to achieve emissions reduction goals.

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Delhi smog: India’s cities must look beyond their limits to clean up air pollution

Photo, posted December 27, 2019, courtesy of Ninara via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Wildfires And Air Quality | Earth Wise

October 26, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

People in the Northeast have been dealing with unhealthy air quality in recent times because of smoke from hundreds of wildfires in Canada. Canada has experienced a much higher than average incidence of blazes this year with nearly 500 fires burning uncontrolled at times.

It turns out that states far away from Canada aren’t necessarily free from the impact of the fires. Early in October, smoke from a wildfire burning in Quebec made its way south all the way down to Florida and created unhealthy air quality and reduced visibility across much of the state. Smoke from the same fire had created hazy air in Boston, New York City, and parts of Connecticut before heading south.

It took a rather unusual set of atmospheric conditions to make this happen. The smoke drifted from Canada into the western Atlantic. From there, it got trapped behind a cold front and was then pushed south along the east coast until it finally moved inland across Florida.

Wildfires produce a variety of particles and gases from the burning of vegetation such as organic carbon, black carbon, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and hazardous air pollutants. The mixture of particles and gases in wildfire smoke is associated with respiratory symptoms like shortness of breath and reduced lung function, as well as dangerous cardiovascular effects.

Smoke from increasingly frequent and increasingly large fires has started to undo decades of gains in air quality brought about by air pollution policies. According to researchers, wildfires in the United States in recent years have undone about 25% of past progress in cleaning up air pollution in states from coast to coast.

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Wildfire Smoke From Canada Creates Unhealthy Air Quality in Florida

Photo, posted June 8, 2023, courtesy of Anthony Quintano via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Oil Drilling In Los Angeles | Earth Wise

February 24, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Movies were not the first industry to boom in Los Angeles. Oil was. There was a lot of it, and it flowed close to the surface triggering rampant drilling all over the area. By the 1920s, Los Angeles was one of the largest oil-exporting regions in the world.

A century later, there are over 20,000 active, idle, or abandoned wells spread across LA county, home to 10 million people. Some are hidden behind facades; others are plainly visible, pumping away day and night. About a third of Angelenos live less than a mile from an active well site. In the last 20 years, improved oil extraction technology has actually led to a resurgence of oil drilling in Los Angeles.

Studies of the health impact of LA’s oil wells found that asthma is significantly more common among people living near oil wells than elsewhere in the county. Surveys of residents’ lung functions revealed lower function on average when people live near wells. Measurements of toxins in the air – such as benzene, toluene, and n-hexane – showed that levels of these substances were significantly reduced when oil production at a site stopped.

This issue has finally come to the forefront after a nearly a decade of community organizing and studies of adverse health effects. In a unanimous vote on January 26, the Los Angeles City Council took the first step toward phasing out all oil and gas extraction in the city by declaring oil extraction a nonconforming land use. The LA County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to phase out oil extraction in unincorporated county areas. Los Angeles’ long, troubled history with urban oil drilling appears to be nearing an end.

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Los Angeles’ long, troubled history with urban oil drilling is nearing an end after years of health concerns

Photo, posted March 26, 2016, courtesy of Giuseppe Milo via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.