The issue of air pollution has been on our minds a lot in 2017. American cities are nothing like Delhi or Beijing, where toxic smog blankets the skyline and closes schools. But air quality is still very poor in far too many parts of the United States.
Today, there are approximately 1.1 billion light-duty vehicles in use around the world.
About 1.2 million, or 0.1 percent of the global fleet, are all-electric or plug-in hybrids. More than 1 billion of those vehicles run on gasoline and diesel-powered internal combustion engines.
All around the globe, air pollution impacts people’s lives — keeping people indoors, leading to conditions like asthma, lung cancer, heart disease, and even brain disease, and leading to millions of deaths each year. And no, this isn’t just a problem abroad: More than half of Americans live in areas that have unsafe levels of air pollution. Most of that air pollution comes from the toxic emissions spewing out of the tailpipes of our cars and trucks.
We’ve compiled some examples of how air pollution is affecting the lives of people from London, to Shanghai, to Los Angeles, to Delhi, to Salt Lake City and even more places in a Twitter Moment. Below is a sample of what we’ve pulled together:
Smog can sweep in like a wave. Or a faceless villain in a John Carpenter movie. As it did in Beijing on Jan. 2.
20 minutes. That’s how long it takes for this thick cloud of smog to totally envelop the Chinese city of Beijing https://t.co/4WEDVOE114 pic.twitter.com/jy0xInjgWm
— CNN (@CNN) January 2, 2017
In late January, London’s air surpassed Beijing’s in awfulness. Particulate matter, which can lodge in lungs, hit 197 micrograms per cubic meter; the recommended limit is 25.
Air pollution in London passed levels in Beijing this week, with popular wood burning stoves blamed for exacerbating the problem pic.twitter.com/48OAGRyzbt
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) January 25, 2017
Mexico City tried banning cars on Saturdays, expecting particulates and nitrogen oxides would fall 16 percent. But the gains never materialized.
Maybe the answer is to use cleaner fuels instead | Car ban fails to curb #airpollution in #MexicoCity https://t.co/u7b3bj8v0J pic.twitter.com/txrCdGAHAF
— Fuel Freedom (@fuelfreedomnow) February 6, 2017
The Wasatch front near Salt Lake City has its own air problems in wintertime, when pollution collects in the valley below the mountains.
The air is opaque in Salt Lake City. pic.twitter.com/ADuAvkz5Xl
— Tiff Frandsen (@tiffany_mf) February 1, 2017
The agency in charge improving SoCal air quality is focused primarily on stationary sources of pollution, like factories. Millions of cars are tougher to control.
In #LosAngeles, 1,300+ lives are cut short each yr due to #airpollution. That’s unacceptable. We need #cleanerfuels https://t.co/Eu19F1ALYv pic.twitter.com/yIec2TQ2fj
— Fuel Freedom (@fuelfreedomnow) February 7, 2017
Everyone deserves clean air to breathe, and that’s why we believe it’s so important that America and the world transition to cleaner fuels. This is one of the many reasons we’re fighting to ensure Americans have a choice of cleaner burning fuels at the pump. We hope you’ll join us in this fight by making a donation today.
We’ve all been stuck behind one before. A car that clearly hasn’t passed a smog check in years, spewing smoke from its tailpipe like there’s no tomorrow. You probably know that the stuff coming out of there isn’t good for you, or the environment. But what exactly is it composed of?
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Air pollution in Europe is best described with one word: deadly. About 90 percent of Europeans live in areas with dangerous air pollution levels, according to the European Environment Agency. Read more →
Picture this: It’s a regular day at the grocery store. You choose some products, go to the register, and accept some plastic bags from the cashier to carry your groceries home. When you get home, a bag wriggles out of your grasp and floats through the air. Your simple plastic bag has now joined the legion of un-recycled plastic that contributes to some frightening statistics. Read more →
The newly elected mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, recently announced a new plan to fight air pollution. One of the biggest changes he intends to make is requiring owners of the worst-polluting cars pay a fee to drive in central London. Read more →
A new report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) titled “The Economic Consequences of Air Pollution” states that air pollution could be responsible for between 6 to 9 million premature deaths by the year 2060.
We’ve known for some time that the chemical benzene is toxic to humans and can cause cancer. But we’re only beginning to learn the extent of the health impacts of BTEX, the stew of hydrocarbons that include benzene and which constitute a key additive for gasoline.
