Episode 7: The History of Air Pollution and Air Quality Efforts (Part 2)

Welcome to part two of the history of air pollution and air quality efforts. The history of air pollution is a history of our response to crisis. Although air quality laws have saved countless lives, air pollution levels in many cities still exceed safe limits. On a global level, over 90% of the population breathes polluted air on a daily basis, with Black, Brown, and poor folks being disproportionately affected.

Transcript

Hey everyone and welcome back! My name is Ms. Carmen, and I am your host. The goal of this podcast is to provide you with science-based information about air quality issues so that you have the information you need to make the best decisions for you and your family. Since this is such a big topic, I'll be covering it in bite-sized pieces throughout the podcast. At the time of recording this episode, the temperature in Brooklyn, NY is 52 degrees and our current AQI is 31. 

Welcome to part 2 of the history of air pollution. In Part 1, we journeyed a bit through time, from ancient Rome’s smoky streets to the dark, coal-filled skies of 19th-century industrial cities. We learned that air pollution was nothing new, and that humans have long been aware of its dangers. But here’s the thing—change didn’t come until the problem became much too big to ignore.

We’ll pick things back up in the mid-20th century, where environmental disasters (yep, more than one) would trigger the first real efforts to address the problem.


In December 1952, London experienced a catastrophic environmental disaster that resulted in thousands of deaths. Until about this time, air pollution was accepted as a consequence of industrial activity and people just dealt with it. That is, until a “pea-souper fog” blanketed the city for five whole days, trapping deadly levels of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter in the air. The smog was so thick that Londoners couldn’t even see their own feet. Imagine that for a bit. And after you imagine it, look up the pictures, it’s really something else. The Great London Smog or The Great Smog of 1952 is what you’re looking for.


The biggest impact of this event is that thousands of people died, approximately 12,000 due to respiratory failure and other complications directly caused by the air pollution event. Although the action wasn’t immediate, this tragedy is what finally forced governments to do something. What’s wild though, is that at the time that this air pollution emergency was taking place, Winston Churchill, the prime minister at the time, continued to burn coal to give off the illusion that everything was just fine. Bro, wut?? Anyway…

Four years after The Great Smog, the British government finally passed the Clean Air Act of 1956, which was groundbreaking. This law, a first of its kind, introduced smokeless zones in urban areas, encouraged the use of cleaner fuels like natural gas instead of coal, and introduced the development of modern emission controls for factories and power plants. Big big deal.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic in the United States…

Cities like Los Angeles and Pittsburgh faced their very own air quality nightmares. In the 1950s, smog in Los Angeles became so bad that it led to frequent “killer smog” alerts. These were short periods of very heavy air pollution that people were warned about. There was a time not that long ago where yellow smog and ash in the air coated American cities. Right here in New York City, the air was once so polluted, that the NY Times reported you could touch it. In the 1950s and '60s, hundreds of people in NYC died prematurely from exposure to air pollution.


1963 finally saw the introduction of the Clean Air Act in the U.S. – a landmark piece of legislation that aimed to control air pollution on a national level. This resulted in more aggressive reforms later on in the 70s which included the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of new air quality standards. This right here laid the foundation for what we now recognize as modern air quality efforts.

As air quality laws took hold, the 1980s and 90s brought about a time of greater global awareness on the issue. We acknowledged there was a problem, gave it a name, and were starting to do something about it.

In 1987, the Montreal Protocol was signed to protect the ozone layer. This showed how international agreements could work to make a difference on a global scale. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) then began tracking air pollution and its effects on global health, raising awareness that air pollution doesn’t stop at borders. By the early 2000s, thanks to laws and regulations, many cities were experiencing dramatic reductions in pollutants like sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. But since then new challenges have emerged:

Fine particulate matter and ground-level ozone remain a threat especially in growing urban areas. Climate change, which is happening in real time, is now linked to directly affecting air quality in many different ways. More on that in a future episode.

The history of air pollution is a history of our response to crisis. As the global population grows and urban areas expand, our work is far from over and needs to take a more proactive approach. Although air quality laws have saved lives, air pollution levels in many cities still exceed safe limits. On a global level, over 90% of the population breathes polluted air on a daily basis, with Black, Brown, and poor folks getting the disproportionate end of the stick here. Education, advocacy, and cooperation on a global scale are needed now more than ever.

Individual action does matter, but we also need systemic change—through policy, technology, and innovation. Despite the tremendous strides we’ve made, there’s still a lot more work to be done. And current efforts are working hard to set us back and undo our progress. The current administration has ended the global air quality monitoring program which measured the AQI at US embassies throughout the world. This free and incredibly useful data is no longer available.

The deregulation of mercury emissions from power plants and vehicle tailpipe emissions are two examples of recent rollbacks by the current administration that directly affect air quality and your health. Not just now, but for years to come. Remember, polluted air doesn’t disappear, it moves on and around our planet and it does eventually come back to not just us, but our children.

Other rules and policies on the chopping block include: air quality standards for fine particulate matter, so basically how much crap the government is gonna decide is cool for you to breathe in. The current administration is also doing away with wastewater regulations on coal-fired power plants, Clean Air Act regulations on the oil and gas industry, and they’re doing away with limits on greenhouse gas emissions. 

If you happen to think this isn’t all a big deal, let me remind you why the rules got put there in the first place: people were dying because the air was toxic and we couldn’t just keep going down that route like everything was all good. Because it wasn’t.


In the next episode, we’re shifting gears from history to actionable advice. How can we clean the air around us? We’ll cover the basics of air purification and how you can make your indoor air environment safer. If you’re looking for some action before that, holla at your local elected representative and find out what they’re doing to protect the air we breathe.


Thanks for tuning in, I hope you’ve been finding this information helpful! If so, please share with a friend. And if you’re looking to learn and chat more about air quality and air pollution, connect with me on BlueSky at MsCarmenScience. You can also check out our Facebook page, named exactly after this podcast. Have a question or comment? You can send us fanmail through Buzzsprout. Until next time, breathe easy and don’t forget….  we’re all in this together. This is Ms. Carmen signing off from Inhale, Exhale, an air quality podcast.