Air Pollution

In 1950, the historian Henry Steele Commager wrote about the Tennessee Valley Authority, the New Deal agency that brought electricity and economic development to seven states in the rural South. It was, he said, no less than “the greatest peacetime achievement of twentieth-century America,” a triumphant alliance of “science and…

India's poor face outsized air pollution death risk PARIS, France– The poorest 10 percent of Indians face a risk of dying from air pollution that is nine times higher than for the richest 10 percent, according to research released Monday. This photo taken on July 21, 2021 shows a worker…

DENVER — Reducing exposure to air pollution may slow brain aging and reduce the risk of dementia, new research reveals. The results have implications for individual behaviors, such as avoiding areas with poor air quality, but they also have implications for public policy, study investigator, Xinhui Wang, PhD, assistant professor of…

Hong Kong was blanketed in smog on Friday, with air pollution reaching “serious” levels as a tropical cyclone approached the mainland’s east coast. The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) at the city’s 15 general and 3 roadside stations all indicated either a “very high” or “serious” health risk to the…

Smoke from the wildfires engulfing the U.S. West and Canada and carrying harmful air pollution has triggered air quality alerts in the Upper Midwest and East Coast cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Driving the news: The coast to coast…

Wildfire smoke may contribute to raising coronavirus infection rates, according to a new study by the Center for Genomic Medicine at the Desert Research Institute (DRI), Washoe County Health District (WCHD), and Renown Health (Renown) in Reno, Nevada. The study, published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, examined…

Giant retailers, including Amazon and Ikea, have pledged to go green, but their shipping is still pretty dirty. Now shoppers can now see how much pollution some of the biggest retail companies in the US each generate while bringing goods into the country, thanks to a new report. In 2019,…

New research examines commuter characteristics to better understand how factors such as departure time, frequency, and commute length are associated with exposure to air pollution. Using personal air pollution monitors, the research clustered commuters to determine whether these clusters were associated with traffic pollution exposures. The study reveals that commuters…

Microscopic particulates that form from the use of fossil fuels for energy, transportation, industry and agriculture are the main cause of deaths from air pollution. The main sources of air pollution are from coal for energy generation and the various uses of oil for industry and transportation. There are also…

Something unusual happened this year in Idaho. Fire and health officials began issuing warnings about the health risks of wildfire smoke several weeks earlier than normal. With almost the entire U.S. West in drought, it was only a matter of time before the risks became reality. Smoke is now graying…