Air Pollution

Written by Anuradha Mascarenhas | Pune | Updated: June 21, 2020 6:30:59 am Dr Kirk Smith at SRIHER — Household Air Pollution Intervention Network trial site at Kallakurichi, Tamil Nadu.At KEM hospital and research centre’s Vadu Rural Health Programme, Director Dr Sanjay Juvekar cannot believe 73-year-old Prof Kirk Smith —…

Satellite images show a persistent gray haze over Beijing during the lockdown. Credit: Yuan Wang The viral before-and-after images of improved air quality around the world resulting from the COVID-19 lockdown may not paint an entirely accurate picture, at least not in China. According to a new study published on…

“To change your life, you need to change your priorities.” ~Mark Twain Every year, come December, I used to obsess about air pollution. This was the time when my husband and I would take our young daughter to Poland, the country of my birth, to spend Christmas with the extended…

Fine dust from the burning rain forest could exacerbate coronavirus infections amid signs that the blazes might be particularly severe in 2020Smokes rises from forest fires in Altamira, Para state, Brazil, in the Amazon basin, on August 27, 2019. Credit: Joao Laet Getty Images Using satellite data, experts have already…

A new study conducted with WHO has suggested that regardless of global endeavors to improve air quality, vast swathes of the world’s populace are experiencing an increased level of air pollution. The study conducted by the University of Exeter analyzed patterns in global air quality between in the range of…

Nepal's tourism industry is reeling after the coronavirus forced an early end to the Mount Everest climbing season.Over 1 million workers in Nepal, from Sherpas to cooks, rely on tourism, which brings $700 million to the economy each year.A lengthy lockdown has put thousands of people in financial difficulty.View more…

NGT asks govt. to frame action plan The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has given the Kerala government three months to come up with a proper action plan on making the State pollution-free. The Bench of Justice K. Ramakrishnan and expert member Saibal Dasgupta has asked the…

NORCO, LOUISIANA - NOVEMBER 09: Steam rises from the smokestacks of a Shell petroleum refinery on ... November 9, 2019 in the town of Norco, Louisiana. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images) Corbis via Getty Images Here's a neat political trick: if you want to introduce a new law,…

It’s becoming clear that black and Latino communities in the U.S. suffer disproportionately from the novel coronavirus. The COVID-19 mortality rate for black New York City residents, for example, is twice that of white residents, and a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report has suggested that black Americans in…

EPA published a proposal in the Federal Register yesterday that critics described as an assault on minority communities coping with the public health legacy of structural racism. The agency's plan would mandate changes to the way future rules under the Clean Air Act would weigh the costs and benefits of climate and…