The average UK commuter spends about 1.5 hours a day at the wheel. While not great for stress levels in general, there are other ways that the daily churn through traffic can negatively affect health…
It’s no surprise that dirty air kills. In fact, air pollution was recently placed in the top ten health risks faced by human beings globally. In the UK high concentrations of polluting particles cost health…
Air pollution is harming India’s wheat farmers.
EPA
Researchers have long known that man-made climate change will harm yields of important crops, possibly causing problems for the world’s food security. But new research shows air pollution doesn’t just…
Despite firefighters’ efforts, the Hazelwood mine fire showered the nearby town of Morwell with pollution.
AAP Image/Country Fire Authority
I’m quite nervous about writing this. I’m going to stray from my familiar academic world into a political one, and it’s on an issue that may very well have killed several people. My reputation has already…
China’s air pollution reached crisis levels last year - but dealing with it could also mitigate climate change.
William Veerbeek/Flickr
Last month was the hottest May in terms of global surface temperature in a historical record that extends back 130 years, according to NASA, and with an El Niño forecast for the end of the year, we could…
City-dwellers consider cycling or walking to work to be part of a healthy routine. But latest studies on air pollution show that nanoparticles – unseen pollutants – are a major concern. In the UK, the…
Two-stroke scooters are “super-polluters” in developing countries, according to a study from Switzerland. The study found…
The South Australian town of Port Pirie – home to a historic smelter – has some of the worst reported toxic air pollution in Australia.
Photo by Imre Hillenbrand www.universalfocus.com.au
Australians living in poorer communities, with lower employment and education levels, as well as communities with a high proportion of Indigenous people, are significantly more likely to be exposed to…
Taking precautions in Manchester.
Dave Thompson/PA Archive
The visibly high levels of pollution southern England is experiencing have drawn all of our attention to the ill-effects bad air quality can have on our health. Wherever we live, there is always a risk…
Being perched off the northwest edge of Europe means that people in the UK are not often reminded of the vast Sahara desert situated only a few thousand miles to the south. This great desert is located…
The UK news media has been buzzing with reports of air pollution alerts associated, at least in part, with the long-range transport of dust from the Sahara. Colleagues from Africa have asked why British…
It might seem strange to some that dust from the Sahara is falling on their cars in England. Stranger still, that Saharan sand is mixing with general air pollution from both continental Europe and the…
Forbidden forest to replace the Forbidden City?
myheimu
Smog has become an unfortunate feature of Chinese city skylines. Air pollution has gotten so bad in recent years that citizens have rallied and the government has declared a war upon it. One weapon in…
Firefighters say they have the Hazelwood mine fire under control, but it’s still expected to burn for some time.
AAP Image/Incident Control Centre hazelwood
The Hazelwood coal mine fire shows that Victoria’s current mining laws are not strong enough to prevent a similar disaster in the future. While the mine’s owner GDF SUEZ has vehemently rejected claims…
Visibility is slightly better than last week.
EPA/Adrian Bradshaw
Pollution has gotten so bad in China that Prime Minister Li Keqiang opened the annual meeting of parliament on Wednesday declaring a “war against pollution”. This followed the surge in smog over Chinese…
Tourists wear protective masks in smoggy Tiananmen Square on February 26, 2014, when the air quality was officially ‘hazardous’.
EPA/Rolex Dela Pena
Beijing has once again experienced extremely poor air quality, in what is becoming a regular event for the Chinese capital and other parts of the country. But has anything changed since the last “airpocalypse…
Firefighters battling the blaze at an open-cut coal mine in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, with Hazelwood power station in the background.
AAP Image/Incident Control Centre Hazelwood
Victoria’s Hazelwood coal mine is still burning, nearly three weeks after it started from a grassfire during severe fire conditions. Police are currently investigating the original fire for arson. Meanwhile…
Some chemicals are still used in industrial products or are found in the environment.
Solovyova Lyudmyla/Flickr
The news that toxic chemicals may be triggering a rise in autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia in the United States has rightly prompted concern among parents. But what…
We pay for the product, but not the carbon cost.
Kin Cheung/AP
Glen Peters, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo
Is it fair that China is blamed for the carbon dioxide emissions it generates to manufacture products destined for the West? Would the West do more to reduce greenhouse gases if it had to pay for the emissions…
Have catalytic converters changed the cost-pollution-benefit in petrol’s favour?
Mike Egerton/PA
Which is the better option for cars in cities, diesel or petrol-driven engines? As a report reveals the new fleet of green, hybrid electric-diesel buses in London produce less CO2 but more harmful pollutants…
Professor & Chair in Air Quality and Health; Founding Director, Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), Co-Director, Institute for Sustainability, University of Surrey, University of Surrey