The longest-running study of its kind reviewed death records in the path of pollution from coal-fired power plants. The numbers are staggering − but also falling fast as US coal plants close.
People with a lung condition are among those particularly vulnerable to bushfire smoke. But you can prepare for the season ahead.
Thick wildfire smoke blankets the landscape near Water Valley, Alta., in May 2023. Evidence linking wildfire smoke with adverse health effects has been accumulating for years.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
The notion that wildfire smoke is ‘natural,’ and therefore less harmful than other types of air pollution, is not supported by the evidence. Wildfire smoke has been linked to adverse health effects.
Wildfire smoke filled the air at Chicago’s Wrigley Field on June 27, 2023.
AP Photo/Kim Johnson
Fires in Canada have sent smoke across several US states, leaving cities including New York, Chicago and Denver with some of the worst air quality in the world – even far from the flames.
Norway’s Magnus Carlsen competing in Dubai in 2020.
Associated Press/Alamy Stock Photo
Timothy Welch, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Cruise liners are back and demand is reportedly strong. But given their environmental impact and relatively low economic benefit, how sustainable is this kind of tourism?
A farmer works with his tractor in front of the Kusile Power Station located in eMalahleni. In Gauteng province residents can sometimes smell the pollution coming from this direction.
Wikus de Wet/AFP via Getty Images
Johannesburg occasionally smells like rotten eggs. The wind brings the smell from the east or the southeast, where most industries are located.
Wildfire smoke contains a mixture of toxic pollutants that can be harmful to both the lungs and the brain.
Bloomberg Creative/ Bloomberg Creative Photos via Getty Images
Pollution from more frequent floods and wildfires – exacerbated by the warming climate – is threatening human health and poses particular risks to the brain.
Those directly exposed to toxic dust and trauma on and after 9/11 carry with them a generation of chronic health conditions, which are placing them at higher risk during the pandemic and as they age.
A$50 million could provide all NSW school classrooms with air purifiers with HEPA filters. This pales compared to the roughly $220 million-a-day cost of Sydney’s lockdown.
A road running through Kigali, Rwanda.
Stephanie Braconnier/Shutterstock
These results emphasise the high significance of the transport sector in Kigali’s air pollution levels and the need for further action to address air pollution from the sector.