Category:Air
This page is dedicated to air pollution. Wind power is a separate category, currently on the energy page
History
Donora PA smog in 1948 killed twenty people but led to clean air regulations
In When Smoke Ran Like Water Devra Lee Davis "epidemiologist Devra Davis confronts the public triumphs and private failures of her lifelong battle against environmental pollution. She documents the shocking toll of a public-health disaster-300,000 deaths a year in the U.S. and Europe from the effects of pollution-and asks why we remain silent. For Davis, the issue is personal: Pollution is what killed many in her family and forced some of the others, survivors of the 1948 smog emergency in Donora, Pennsylvania, to live out their lives with impaired health. She describes that episode and also makes startling revelations about how the deaths from the London smog of 1952 were falsely attributed to influenza; how the oil companies and auto manufacturers fought for decades to keep lead in gasoline, while knowing it caused brain damage; and many other battles."
The Killer Fog of '52 Thousands Died as Poisonous Air Smothered London. Includes audio (Realplayer required)
Video
Asthma and Ozone: Dr. John Balmes: At UCSF I do what are called controlled human exposure studies, where we actually have a chamber, the human exposure chamber, where we expose people to pollutants under controlled conditions. In the real world there's always a mixture of pollutants. Ozone, particulate matter, oxides of nitrogen, so it's hard to pinpoint in the real world how much of an effect is due to one versus the other ...With climate change we're going to have increases with both ozone and allergens. And it turns out that ozone, in advance of exposure to allergens, makes the asthmatic airway more sensitive to the allergen.
Researcher Kamal Meattle shows how an arrangement of three common houseplants, used in specific spots in a home or office building, can result in measurably cleaner indoor air. TEDtalk video.
air samples from planes. UCSC's Patrick Chuang does similar work. So does atmospheric chemist Rachel Pike, who provides a glimpse of the massive scientific effort behind the bold headlines on climate change, with her team -- one of thousands who contributed -- taking a risky flight over the rainforest in pursuit of data on a key molecule. TEDtalk video.
Audio
Ozone. The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing strict new standards for ozone, a main ingredient in smog. The new rules could force some rural and coastal counties to start cracking down harder on pollution. 1/10
