Air Pollution

Air pollution epidemicThe lockdown enforced in most cities in China in response to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) resulted in the virtual absence of motor vehicle traffic and sharply reduced manufacturing activity for several weeks. Le et al. report some of the anticipated and unanticipated…

Car users from the world's least affluent cities are exposed to a disproportionate amount of in-car air pollution because they rely heavily on opening their windows for ventilation, finds a first of its kind study from the University of Surrey. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), air pollution kills…

Economist Jay Shimshack said the gaps between the most and the least polluted places are falling over time. Credit: Dan Addison, University Communications Fine particle air pollution in the United States has decreased sharply over the past 40 years, but communities that were polluted four decades ago remain polluted today,…

Fine particulate air pollution is referred to as PM2.5 because the particles are less than 2.5 microns in diameter – 40 times smaller than a grain of sand. Credit: Washington department of Ecology Air pollution contributes to as many as 9 million premature deaths worldwide each year—twice as many as…

While the level of fine particulate air pollution has declined considerably over the last several decades, a new study finds that its distribution has remained largely unchanged. According to the results, the most and least polluted U.S. neighborhoods in 1981 remained the most and least polluted more than 30 years…

The finding comes as the Trump administration has been rolling back clean air regulationsBay Bridge is obscured as smoke from the Camp Fire fills the air in San Francisco, Calif., on November 15, 2018. Credit: Michael Short Getty Images As California’s Camp Fire raged in 2018, soot and other pollution filled…

Pollution in Shanxi, China. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images New data says air pollution is the greatest threat to life expectancy. The Air Quality Life Index says air pollution will likely shorten the lives of billions of people.In India and Bangladesh, air pollution cuts life by up to a decade, the data…

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ben Fried made a difficult decision: He stopped riding New York City’s subway system. He was not alone. Ridership on the city’s notoriously packed commuter trains dropped 92% in mid-April, when New York emerged as an epicenter of the global health crisis. For Fried,…

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ben Fried made a difficult decision: He stopped riding New York City’s subway system. He was not alone. Ridership on the city’s notoriously packed commuter trains dropped 92% in mid-April, when New York emerged as an epicenter of the global health crisis. For Fried,…

FRANCE - Air pollution cuts life expectancy for every man, woman and child on Earth by nearly two years, according to data released Tuesday which experts said showed poor air quality is "the greatest risk to human health". The Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) said that as the world races to…