Los Angeles, air pollution. Photo source: ©© Ben Amstutz
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A panel of federal judges on Wednesday upheld California’s first-in-the-U.S. mandate requiring fuels producers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions…
The Global Toll of Fine Particulate Matter, NASA
Occasionally, short-term meteorological conditions merge with ongoing human emissions to produce extreme outbreaks of air pollution. In January 2013, a blanket of industrial pollution enveloped northeastern China. In June 2013, smoke from agricultural fires in Sumatra engulfed Singapore.
In most cases, the most toxic pollution lingers for a few days or even weeks, bringing increases in respiratory and cardiac health problems at hospitals. Eventually the weather breaks, the air clears, and memories of foul air begin to fade. But that’s not to say that the health risks disappear as well. Even slightly elevated levels of air pollution can have a significant effect on human health. Over long periods and on a global scale, such impacts can add up.
But exactly how much exposure to air pollution do people around the world get? And how much health damage is it causing?
